difficulty is
to get it under the bullet.'

"'I understand,' he said. 'Do not mind hurting me. I have seen men die
of bullets, even after the wound seemed to heal. I know it is better to
try and get it out.'

"It was a difficult job. Pressing back the flesh with my finger, I
succeeded, at last, in getting the hook under the bullet. This I held
firmly against it, and to my delight felt, as I raised finger and hook
together, that the bullet was coming. A few seconds later, I held it
triumphantly between my fingers.

"'There, Saleh, there is your enemy. I think, now, that if there is no
inflammation, it will not be long before you are well and strong
again.'

"'Truly, it is wonderful!' the man said, gratefully. 'I have heard of
hakims who are able to draw bullets from wounds, but I have never seen
it done before.'

"If Saleh had been a white man, I should still have felt doubtful as to
his recovery; but I was perfectly confident that a wound of that sort
would heal well, in an Arab, especially as it would be kept cool and
clean. Hard exercise, life in the open air, entire absence of
stimulating liquors, and only very occasionally, if ever, meat diet,
render them almost insensible to wounds that would paralyse a white.
Our surgeons had been astonished at the rapidity with which the wounded
prisoners recovered.

"Saleh's wife had stood by, as if carved in stone, while I performed
the operation; but when I produced the bullet, she burst into tears,
and poured blessings on my head.

"I am writing this on the following morning. Saleh has slept quietly
all night. His hand is cool this morning, and I think I may fairly say
that he is convalescent. Abdullah's wife came in yesterday evening, and
told the women here that her husband was asleep, but that he would come
round in the morning. I warned her not to let him stir out of doors,
and said I would come and see him.

"It has taken me five hours to write this, which seems a very long time
to spend on details of things not worth recording; but the act of
writing has taken my thoughts off myself, and I intend always to note
down anything special. It will be interesting to me to read it, if I
ever get away; should I be unable to escape, I shall charge Saleh to
carry it to Khartoum, if he ever has the chance, and hand it over to
the Governor there, to send down to Cairo.

"A week later. I am already losing count of days, but days matter
nothing. I have been busy, so busy