ade an offer. "I did not trust them, so I went to a Christian house and
left three pounds there, and then I gave them three pounds and told them
if I arrived safely I would write a letter and they could get the other
money when they came back." The Arabs, finding no way of doing him
in--after much thinking, I suppose--agreed and they set off. They went
down the Shatt-el-Hai way, to the Euphrates, and after a lot of trouble,
he got through to the British lines, where he resumed his duties as
interpreter.

He was a curious mixture of daring and cowardice, like most of the
natives in Mesopotamia. He was very pleased with the hospital, but
expressed a crafty sentiment. "You have too many hospitals," he said.
"The Turks do not have these hospitals, for then all their men would
become sick. It is nicer to be in a hospital than in a desert." This
thought brings to the memory an incident that occurred in one of the
wards. A new case was admitted, and next morning the doctor overhauled
him. He found nothing wrong. "Well, what is the matter with you?"

"There ain't nothing the matter," was the reply. "You see it's like
this, sir. My pal Bill, in my platoon, he was out of 'orspital day
before yesterday, and he says: 'Ginger, me boy, if you want a nice bed
for ter sleep in, such as you've forgotten the sight of, you go into
'orspital.' So next day I reports myself sick, carrying on a lot and the
new doctor what joined us last week, 'e sends me straight 'ere. And they
washes me all over, and tucks me up between the sheets, and I've 'ad
the finest sleep since I came to this 'ere blooming country, sixteen
months ago. And I'd be obliged, sir, if you'd discharge me."

A great many men suffered from bad teeth, and the suitable treatment of
their cases became a problem. In the ordinary establishment of a general
hospital, in the Army, there are about thirty medical officers, but no
provision is made for dentists. In Mesopotamia decay of the teeth was
rapid. Dentists in small numbers were sent from India. I hesitate to put
down the amount that one dentist told me he was making each month. We
had, for some time, only one dentist, and his waiting list was several
hundred cases, all requiring urgent attention. Some of the bad cases
became permanent base men--that is, they were attached for duty at the
base--and assisted in hospital work. If each hospital had had a dentist
attached to it as a matter of routine, and a couple of mechanics for