by G. A. Henty
Chapter 18: A Hakim.
"I succeeded in getting out two more bullets, and then handed theinstruments to the hakims, saying that I had shown them all I knew, andwould now leave the matter in their hands altogether; or would act astheir assistant, if they wished it. I had no fear that harm would comeof it; for, being so frequently engaged in war, I knew that they had,in a rough way, considerable skill in the treatment of wounds. I hadimpressed upon them, while probing the wounds, that no force must beused, and that the sole object was to find the exact course the ballhad taken.
"As to the amputations, they would probably not be attempted. Afighting Dervish would rather die than lose a limb; and, were he to dieunder an operation, his relatives would accuse the operator of havingkilled him.
"I remained at work with them, for two or three days. In nearly halfthe cases, they failed to find the course of the ball; but when theydid so, and the wound was not too deep, they generally succeeded inextracting it. They were highly pleased, and I took great pains toremain well in the background.
"They were very friendly with me. Their fees were mostly horses, orcarpets, or other articles, in accordance with the means of thepatients; and of these they gave me a portion, together with somemoney, which had been looted from the chests carrying silver, for thepurchase of provisions and the payment of troops. Although they made apretence of begging me to remain always with them, I refused, sayingthat I saw I could no longer be of assistance to them. I could see theywere inwardly pleased. They gave me some more money, and I left them,saying that I did not, for a moment, suppose that I could tell themanything further; but that if, at any time, they should send for me, Iwould try and recall what I had seen the white hakims do, in such acase as they were dealing with.
"In the meantime, Saleh was progressing very favourably; and, indeed,would have been up and about, had I not peremptorily ordered him toremain quiet.
"'You are doing well,' I said. 'Why should you risk bringing oninflammation, merely for the sake of getting about a few days earlier?'
"Abdullah was also better, but still extremely weak, and I had to orderthat meat should be boiled for some hours, and that he should drinksmall quantities of the broth, three or four times a day. Many times aday women came to me, to ask me to see to their husbands' wounds; andsometimes the wounded men came to me, themselves. All the serious casesI referred to the hakims, and confined myself simply to dressing andbandaging wounds, which had grown angry for want of attention. I alwaysrefused to accept fees, insisting that I was not a hakim, and simplyafforded my help as a friend.
"I had the satisfaction, however, of doing a great deal of good, for inthe medicine chest I found a large supply of plaster and bandages.Frequently mothers brought children to me. These I could have treatedwith some of the simple drugs in the chest, but I refused to do so; forI could not have explained, in any satisfactory way, how I knew onedrug from another, or was acquainted with their qualities. Still,although I refused fees, I had many little presents of fowls, fruit,pumpkins, and other things. These prevented my feeling that I was aburden upon Saleh, for of course I put them into the general stock.
"So far, I cannot but look back with deep gratitude for the strangemanner in which I have been enabled to avert all suspicion, and even tomake myself quite a popular character among the people of El Obeid.
"One bottle I found in the medicine chest was a great prize to me. Itcontained iodine and, with a weak solution of this, I was able tomaintain my colour. I did not care so much for my face and hands, for Iwas so darkened by the sun that my complexion was little fairer thanthat of many of the Arabs. But I feared that an accidental display, ofa portion of my body usually covered by my garments, would at onceprove that I was a white man. I had used up the stuff that I hadbrought with me, when I escaped from the square; and having no means ofprocuring fresh stain, was getting uneasy; but this discovery of theiodine put it within my power to renew my colouring, whenever it wasnecessary.
"About a month later. I have been living here quietly, since I lastwrote in this journal. The day after I had done so, the Emir sent forme, and said he had heard that I had taken bullets out of wounds, andhad shown the two doctors of the town how to do so, by means ofinstruments found in a chest that was among the loot brought in fromthe battlefield. I repeated my story to him, as to how I had acquiredthe knowledge from being in the service of a white hakim, from Cairo,who was travelling in the desert; and that I had no other medicalknowledge, except that I had seen, in the chest, a bottle whichcontained stuff like that the white doctors used in order to put apatient to sleep, so that they could take off a limb without hisfeeling pain.
"'I have heard of such things being done by the Turkish hakims atKhartoum, but I did not believe them. It is against all reason.'
"'I have seen it done, my lord,' I said. 'I do not say that I couldtake off a limb, as they did, but I am sure that the stuff would putanyone to sleep.'
"'I wish you to put it to the trial,' the Emir said. 'One of my sonscame back, from the battle, with a bullet hole through his hand. Thehakim said that two of the bones were broken. He put bandages round,and my son said no more about it. He is a man who does not complain ofslight troubles, but yesterday evening the pain became so great that hewas forced to mention it; and when I examined his arm, I found that itwas greatly swelled. Slaves have been bathing it with cold water, eversince, but the pain has increased rather than diminished.'
"'I will look at it, my lord, but I greatly fear that it is beyond mypoor skill to deal with it.'
"The young man was brought in and, on removing the bandage, I saw thatthe wound was in a terrible state, and the arm greatly inflamed, somedistance up the wrist. It was a bad case, and it seemed to me that,unless something was done, mortification would speedily set in.
"'The two doctors saw it an hour ago,' the Emir went on, 'and theygreatly fear for his life. They told me that they could do nothing, butthat, as you had seen the white hakim do wonderful things, you might beable to do something.'
"'My lord,' I said, 'it is one thing to watch an operation, but quiteanother to perform it yourself. I think, as the doctors have told you,your son's life is in great danger; and I do believe that, if therewere white doctors here to take off his arm, he might be saved. But Icould not undertake it. The skill to do so is only acquired by longyears of study. How can I, a poor man, know how to do such things? WereI to attempt and fail, what would you say?--that I had killed your son;and that, but for me, he might have recovered.'
"'He will not recover,' the Emir said, moodily.
"'What say you, Abu? You have heard what this man says; what do youthink?'
"'I think, Father, that it were well to try. This man has used hiseyes, so well, that he has taken the white man's instruments, and drawnout bullets from wounds. I feel as if this wound will kill me;therefore, if the man fails, I shall be none the worse. Indeed, itwould be better to die at once, than to feel this fire burning, till itburns me up.'
"'You hear what my son says? I am of the same opinion. Do your best.Should you fail, I swear, by the head of the Prophet, that no harmshall come to you.'
"The wounded man was a fine young fellow, of three or four and twenty.
"'If it is my lord's will, I will try,' I said; 'but I pray you to bearin mind that I do so at your command, and without much hope ofaccomplishing it successfully. It would, I think, be advisable that thelimb should be taken off above the elbow, so that it will be above thespot to which the inflammation has extended.'
"The Emir looked at his son, who said:
"'It matters not, Father. 'Tis but my left arm, and I shall still havemy right, to hurl a spear or wield a sword.'
"I need not tell how I got through the operation. Everything requiredfor it--the inhaler, sponges, straight and crooked needles, andthread--was in the chest. The young Arab objected to be sent to sleep.He said it might be well for cowards, but not for a fighting man. I hadto assure him that it was not for his sake, but for my own, that I
wished him to go to sleep; and that if I knew he was not sufferingpain, I might be able to do the thing without my hand trembling; butthat if I knew he was suffering, I should be flurried.
"I insisted that the hakims should be sent for. When they came I calledthem to witness that, at the Emir's command, I was going to try to dothe operation I had seen the white doctor perform, although I was butan ignorant man, and feared greatly that I might fail. I really wasdesperately nervous, though at the same time I did feel that, havingseen the operation performed two or three times, and as it was a simpleone, I ought to be able to do it. Of course, I had everything laidhandy. The tourniquet was first put on the arm, and screwed tightly.Then I administered the chloroform, which took its effect speedily. Mynerves were braced up now, and I do think I made a fair job ofit--finding and tying up the arteries, cutting and sawing the bone off,and making a flap. A few stitches to keep this together, and it wasdone, and to my relief the Arab, who had lain as rigid as a statue,winced a little when the last stitch was put in.
"This was the point on which I had been most anxious. I was not surewhether the amount of chloroform he had inhaled might not have been toostrong for him.
"'Do not try to move,' I said, as he opened his eyes and looked round,as if trying to remember where he was.
"As his eyes fell upon me, he said, 'When are you going to begin?'
"'I have finished,' I said, 'but you must lie quiet, for some time. Theslightest movement now might cause the flow of blood to burst out.'
"The Emir had stood staring at his son's quiet face, as if amazedbeyond the power of speech. Four Dervishes had held the patient'slimbs, so as to prevent any accidental movement. A female slave hadheld a large basin of warm water, and another handed me the things Ipointed to. I had begged the hakims to keep their attention fixed onwhat I was doing, in order that these also might see how the whitedoctor did such things.
"When his son spoke, the Emir gave a gasp of relief. 'He lives,' hemurmured, as if even now he could scarcely believe that this waspossible; and as he put his hand upon my shoulder it trembled withemotion.
"'Truly the ways of the white infidels are marvellous. Abu, my son,Allah has been merciful! He must have meant that you should not die,and thus have sent this man, who has seen the white hakims at work, tosave your life!
"What is to be done now?' he went on, turning to me.
"'He should be raised very gently, and clothes put under his shoulderand head. Then he should be carried, on the angareb, to the coolestplace in the house. He may drink a little juice of fruit, but he hadbest eat nothing. The great thing is to prevent fever coming on. Withyour permission I will stay with him, for if one of the threads you sawme tie, round these little white tubes in the arm, should slip or giveway, he would be dead in five minutes; unless this machine round thearm is tightened at once, and the tube that carries the blood is tiedup. It would be well that he should have a slave to fan him. I hope hewill sleep.'
"The Emir gave orders for the bed to be carried to the room adjoininghis harem.
"'His mother and his young wife will want to see him,' he said to me,'and when the danger that you speak of is past, the women will care forhim. You will be master in the room, and will give such orders as youplease.'
"Then he turned off, and walked hastily away. I could see that he hadspoken with difficulty, and that, in spite of his efforts to appearcomposed and tranquil, his mouth was twitching, and his eyes moist.
"As soon as the bed had been placed, by my directions, near the openwindow, the four Dervishes left the room. The hakims were on the pointof doing so, when I said:
"'I will stay here for a few minutes, and will then come out and talkthis matter over with you. I have been fortunate, indeed, inremembering so well what I saw. I heard a white hakim explain how hedid each thing, and why, to the sheik of the wounded man's party; and Iwill tell you what I remember of it, and you, with your wisdom in thesematters, will be able to do it far better than I.'
"When they had retired, the door leading into the harem opened, and awoman, slightly veiled, followed by a younger woman and two slavegirls, came in. I stopped her, as she was hurrying towards her son.
"'Lady,' I said, 'I pray you to speak very quietly, and in few words.It is most important that he should not be excited, in any way, butshould be kept perfectly quiet, for the next two or three days.'
"'I will do so,' she said. 'May I touch him?'
"'You may take his hand in yours, but do not let him move. I will leaveyou with him for a few minutes. Please remember that everything dependsupon his not being agitated.'
"I went out and joined the hakims.
"'Truly, Mudil, Allah has given you strange gifts,' one of them said.'Wonderful is it that you should have remembered so well what you saw;and more wonderful still is it, that you should have the firmness tocut and saw flesh and bone, as if they were those of a dead sheep, withthe Emir standing by to look at you!'
"'I knew that his life, and perhaps mine, depended upon it. The Emirwould have kept his oath, I doubt not; but when it became known in thetown that Abu, who is known to all for his bravery and goodness, diedin my hands, it would not have been safe for me to leave this house.'
"I then explained the reason for each step that I took. They listenedmost attentively, and asked several questions, showing that they wereintensely interested, and most anxious to be able to perform sowonderful an operation themselves. They were greatly surprised at thefact that so little blood flowed.
"'It seems,' I said, 'from what I heard the white hakim say, that theblood flowed through those little white tubes. By twisting thetourniquet very tight, that flow of blood is stopped. The great thingis to find those little tubes, and tie them up. As you would notice,the large ones in the inside of the arm could be seen quite plainly.When they cannot be seen, the screw is unloosed so as to allow a smallquantity of blood to flow, which shows you where the tubes are. Youwill remember that I took hold of each, with the bent point of a smallwire or a pair of these nippers; and, while you held it, tied thethread tightly round it. When that is done, one is ready to cut thebone. You saw me push the flesh back, so as to cut the bone as high upas possible; that is because the white doctor said the flesh wouldshrink up, and the bone would project. I cut the flesh straight on oneside, and on the other with a flap that will, when it is stitched,cover over the bone and the rest of the flesh, and make what the hakimcalled a pad. He said all cutting off of limbs was done in this way,but of course the tubes would not lie in the same place, and thecutting would have to be made differently; but it was all the samesystem. He called these simple operations, and said that anyone with afirm hand, and a knowledge of where these tubes lie, ought to be ableto do it, after seeing it done once or twice. He said, of course, itwould not be so neatly done as by men who had been trained to it; butthat, in cases of extreme necessity, anyone who had seen it done onceor twice, and had sufficient nerve, could do it; especially if theyhad, ready at hand, this stuff that makes the wounded man sleep andfeel no pain.
"'I listened very attentively, because all seemed to me almost likemagic, but I certainly did not think that I should ever have to do sucha thing, myself.'
"'But what would be done if they had not that sleep medicine?'
"'The hakim said that, in that case, the wounded man would have to befastened down by bandages to the bed, and held by six strong men, sothat he could not move in the slightest. However, there is enough ofthat stuff to last a hundred times or more; for, as you see, only agood-sized spoonful was used.'
"The Emir, who had passed through the harem rooms, now opened the door.
"'Come in,' he said. 'My son is quiet, and has not moved. He has spokento his mother, and seems quite sensible. Is there anything more for youto do to him?'
"'I will put a bandage loosely round his arm, and bind it to his bodyso that he cannot move it in his sleep, or on first waking. It will notbe necessary for me to stay with him, as the ladies of the harem canlook after him; but I m
ust remain in the next room, so as to be readyto run in, at once, should they see that the wound is bleeding again. Ihave asked the hakims to make a soothing potion, to aid him to sleeplong and soundly.'
"As I went up to the side of the bed, Abu smiled. I bent down to him,and he said in a low voice:
"'All the pain has gone. May Allah bless you!'
"'I am afraid that you will feel more pain, tomorrow, but I do notthink it will be so bad as it was before. Now, I hope you will try togo to sleep. You will be well looked after, and I shall be in the nextroom, if you want me. The hakims will give you a soothing draught soon,and you can have cool drinks when you want them.'
"Things went on as well as I could have wished. In four or five daysthe threads came away, and I loosened the tourniquet slightly, andstrapped up the edges of the wound, which were already showing signs ofhealing. For the first twenty-four hours I had remained always onwatch; after that the hakims took their turns, I remaining in readinessto tighten up the tourniquet, should there be any rush of blood. I didnot leave the Emir's house, but slept in a room close by that of thepatient.
"There was now, however, no longer need for my doing so. The splendidconstitution of the young Baggara had, indeed, from the first renderedany attendance unnecessary. There was no fever, and very little localinflammation; and I was able to gladden his heart by telling him that,in another fortnight, he would be able to be up.
"The day I was intending to leave, the Emir sent for me. He was alone.
"'The more I think over this matter,' he said, 'the more strange it isthat you should be able to do all these wonderful things, after havingseen it done once by the white hakim. The more I think of it, the morecertain I feel that you are not what you seem. I have sent for Salehand Abdullah. They have told me what you did for them, and that yougave up your horse to them, and dressed their wounds, and brought themin here. They are full of praise of your goodness, and but few of mypeople would have thus acted, for strangers. They would have given thema drink of water, and ridden on.
"Now, tell me frankly and without fear. I have thought it over, and Ifeel sure that you, yourself, are a white hakim, who escaped from thebattle in which Hicks's army was destroyed.'
"'I am not a hakim. All that I said was true--that although I have seenoperations performed, I have never performed them myself. As to therest, I answer you frankly, I am an Englishman. I did escape when theblack Soudanese battalion surrendered, three days after the battle. Iwas not a fighting officer. I was with them as interpreter. I may saythat, though I am not a hakim, I did for some time study with theintention of becoming one, and so saw many operations performed.'
"'I am glad that you told me,' the Emir said gravely. 'Your people arebrave and very wise, though they cannot stand against the power of theMahdi. But were you Sheitan himself, it would be nothing to me. Youhave saved my son's life. You are the honoured guest of my house. Yourreligion is different from mine, but as you showed that you werewilling to aid followers of the Prophet and the Mahdi, although theywere your enemies, surely I, for whom you have done so much, may wellforget that difference.'
"'I thank you, Emir. From what I had seen of you, I felt sure that mysecret would be safe with you. We Christians feel no enmity againstfollowers of Mahomet--the hatred is all on your side. And yet, 'tisstrange, the Allah that you worship, and the God of the Christians, isone and the same. Mahomet himself had no enmity against the Christians,and regarded our Christ as a great prophet, like himself.
"Our Queen reigns, in India, over many more Mohamedans than are ruledby the Sultan of Turkey. They are loyal to her, and know that under hersway no difference is made between them and her Christian subjects, andhave fought as bravely for her as her own white troops.'
"'I had never thought,' the Emir said, 'that the time would come when Ishould call an infidel my friend; but now that I can do so, I feel thatthere is much in what you say. However, your secret must be kept. Wereit known that you are a white man, you would be torn to pieces in thestreets; and even were you to remain here, where assuredly none woulddare touch you, the news would speedily travel to my lord the Mahdi,and he would send a troop of horse to bring you to him. Therefore,though I would fain honour you, I see that it is best that you should,to all save myself, continue to be Mudil. I will not even, as I wouldotherwise have done, assign you a house, and slaves, and horses intoken of my gratitude to you for having saved the life of my son.
"'Something I must do, or I should seem utterly ungrateful. I can, atany rate, give you rooms here, and treat you as an honoured guest. Thiswould excite no remark, as it would be naturally expected that youwould stay here until my son is perfectly cured. I shall tell no one,not even my wife; but Abu I will tell, when he is cured, and the secretwill be as safe with him as with me. I think it would please him toknow. Although a Baggara like myself, and as brave as any, he isstrangely gentle in disposition; and though ready and eager to fight,when attacked by other tribes, he does not care to go on expeditionsagainst villages which have not acknowledged the power of the Mahdi,and makes every excuse to avoid doing so. It will please him to knowthat the man who has saved his life is one who, although of a differentrace and religion, is willing to do kindness to an enemy; and will loveand honour you more, for knowing it.'
"'I thank you deeply, Emir, and anything that I can do for members ofyour family, I shall be glad to do. I have a knowledge of the usages ofmany of the drugs in the chest that was brought here. I have not daredto say so before, because I could not have accounted for knowing suchthings.'
"So at present I am installed in the Emir's palace, and my prospectsgrow brighter and brighter. After the great victory the Mahdi has won,it is likely that he will be emboldened to advance against Khartoum. Inthat case he will, no doubt, summon his followers from all parts, and Ishall be able to ride with the Emir or his son; and it will be hard if,when we get near the city, I cannot find some opportunity of slippingoff and making my way there. Whether it will be prudent to do so isanother question, for I doubt whether the Egyptian troops there willoffer any resolute resistance to the Dervish hosts; and in that case, Ishould have to endeavour to make my way down to Dongola, and from thereeither by boat or by the river bank to Assouan.
"A month later. I have not written for some time, because there hasbeen nothing special to put down. All the little details of the lifehere can be told to my dear wife, if I should ever see her again; butthey are not of sufficient interest to write down. I have been livingat the Emir's house, ever since. I do not know what special office I amsupposed to occupy in his household--that is, what office the people ingeneral think that I hold. In fact, I am his guest, and an honouredone. When he goes out I ride beside him and Abu, who has nowsufficiently recovered to sit his horse. I consider myself as medicalattendant, in ordinary, to him and his family. I have given up allpractice in the town--in the first place because I do not wish to makeenemies of the two doctors, who really seem very good fellows, and I amglad to find that they have performed two or three operationssuccessfully; and in the second place, were I to go about trying tocure the sick, people would get so interested in me that I should becontinually questioned as to how I attained my marvellous skill.Happily, though no doubt they must have felt somewhat jealous at mysuccess with Abu, I have been able to do the hakims some service, putfees into their pockets, and at the same time benefited poor peoplehere. I have told them that, just as I recognized the bottle ofchloroform, so I have recognized some of the bottles from which thewhite hakims used to give powder to sick people.
"'For instance,' I said, 'you see this bottle, which is of a differentshape from the others. It is full of a white, feathery-looking powder.They used to give this to people suffering from fever--about as much asyou could put on your nail for men and women, and half as much forchildren. They used to put it in a little water, and stir it up, andgive it to them night and morning. They call it kena, or something likethat. It did a great deal of good, and generally drove away the fever.
&n
bsp; "'This other bottle they also used a good deal. They put a little ofits contents in water, and it made a lotion for weak and sore eyes.They called it zing. They saw I was a careful man, and I often made theeye wash, and put the other white powder up into little packets whenthey were busy, as fever and ophthalmia are the two most commoncomplaints among the natives.'
"The hakims were immensely pleased, and both told me, afterwards, thatboth these medicines had done wonders. I told them that I thought therewere some more bottles of these medicines in the chest, and that whenthey had finished those I had now given them, I would look out for theothers. I had, in fact, carried off a bottle both of quinine and zincpowder for my own use, and with the latter I greatly benefited severalof the Emir's children and grandchildren, all of whom were sufferingfrom ophthalmia; or from sore eyes, that would speedily have developedthat disease, if they had not been attended to.
"I had only performed one operation, which was essentially a minor one.Abu told me that his wife, of whom he was very fond, was suffering verygreat pain from a tooth--could I cure her?
"I said that, without seeing the tooth, I could not do anything, and heat once said:
"'As it is for her good, Mudil, I will bring her into this room, andshe shall unveil so that you can examine the tooth.'
"She was quite a girl, and for an Arab very good looking. She and theEmir's wife were continually sending me out choice bits from theirdinner, but I had not before seen her face. She was evidently a gooddeal confused, at thus unveiling before a man, but Abu said:
"'It is with my permission that you unveil, therefore there can be noharm in it. Besides, has not Mudil saved my life, and so become mybrother?'
"He opened her mouth. The tooth was far back and broken, and the gumwas greatly swelled.
"'It is very bad,' I said to Abu. 'It would hurt her terribly, if Iwere to try and take it out; but if she will take the sleeping medicineI gave you, I think that I could do it.'
"'Then she shall take it,' he said at once. 'It is not unpleasant. Onthe contrary, I dreamt a pleasant dream while you were taking off myarm. Please do it, at once.'
"I at once fetched the chloroform, the inhaler, and a pair of forcepswhich looked well suited for the purpose, and probably were intendedfor it. I then told her to lie down on the angareb, which I placedclose to the window.
"'Now, Abu,' I said, 'directly she has gone off to sleep, you mustforce her mouth open, and put the handle of your dagger between herteeth. It will not hurt her at all. But I cannot get at the toothunless the mouth is open, and we cannot open it until she is asleep,for the whole side of her face is swollen, and the jaw almost stiff.'
"The chloroform took effect very quickly. Her husband had somedifficulty in forcing the mouth open. When he had once done so, I tooka firm hold of the tooth, and wrenched it out.
"'You can withdraw the dagger,' I said, 'and then lift her up, and lether rinse her mouth well with the warm water I brought in. She willhave little pain afterwards, though of course it will take some littletime, before the swelling goes down.'
"Then I went out, and left them together. In a few minutes, Abu cameout.
"'She has no pain,' he said. 'She could hardly believe, when she cameround, that the tooth was out. It is a relief, indeed. She has cried,day and night, for the past three days.'
"'Tell her that, for the rest of the day, she had better keep quiet;and go to sleep if possible, which I have no doubt she will do, as shemust be worn out with the pain she has been suffering.'
"'I begin to see, Mudil, that we are very ignorant. We can fight, butthat is all we are good for. How much better it would be if, instead ofregarding you white men as enemies, we could get some of you to livehere, and teach us the wonderful things that you know!'
"'Truly it would be better,' I said. 'It all depends upon yourselves.You have a great country. If you would but treat the poor people herewell, and live in peace with other tribes; and send word down to Cairothat you desire, above all things, white hakims and others who wouldteach you, to come up and settle among you, assuredly they would come.There are thousands of white men and women working in India, and China,and other countries, content to do good, not looking for high pay, butcontent to live poorly. The difficulty is not in getting men willing toheal and to teach, but to persuade those whom they would benefit toallow them to do the work.'
"Abu shook his head.
"'That is it,' he said. 'I would rather be able to do such things asyou do, than be one of the most famous soldiers of the Mahdi; but Icould never persuade others. They say that the Mahdi himself, althoughhe is hostile to the Turks, and would conquer Egypt, would willinglybefriend white men. But even he, powerful as he is, cannot go againstthe feelings of his emirs. Must we always be ignorant? Must we alwaysbe fighting? I can see no way out of it. Can you, Mudil?'
"'I can see but one way,' I said, 'and that may seem to you impossible,because you know nothing of the strength of England. We have, as youknow, easily beaten the Egyptian Army; and we are now protectors ofEgypt. If you invade that country, as the Mahdi has already threatenedto do, it is we who will defend it; and if there is no other way ofobtaining peace, we shall some day send an army to recover the Soudan.You will fight, and you will fight desperately, but you have no idea ofthe force that will advance against you. You know how Osman Digna'stribes on the Red Sea have been defeated, not by the superior courageof our men, but by our superior arms. And so it will be here. It may bemany years before it comes about, but if you insist on war, that iswhat will come.
"'Then, when we have taken the Soudan, there will come peace, and thepeasant will till his soil in safety. Those who desire to be taughtwill be taught; great canals from the Nile will irrigate the soil, andthe desert will become fruitful.'
"'You really think that would come of it?' Abu asked, earnestly.
"'I do indeed, Abu. We have conquered many brave peoples, far morenumerous than yours; and those who were our bitterest enemies now seehow they have benefited by it. Certainly, England would not undertakethe cost of such an expedition lightly; but if she is driven to it byyour advance against Egypt, she will assuredly do so. Your people--Imean the Baggaras and their allies--would suffer terribly; but thepeople whom you have conquered, whose villages you have burned, whosewomen you have carried off, would rejoice.'
"'We would fight,' Abu said passionately.
"'Certainly you would fight, and fight gallantly, but it would notavail you. Besides, Abu, you would be fighting for that ignorance youhave just regretted, and against the teaching and progress you havewished for.'
"'It is hard,' Abu said, quietly.
"'It is hard, but it has been the fate of all people who have resistedthe advance of knowledge and civilization. Those who acceptcivilization, as the people of India--of whom there are many more thanin all Africa--have accepted it, are prosperous. In America and othergreat countries, far beyond the seas, the native Indians opposed it,but in vain; and now a great white race inhabit the land, and there isbut a handful left of those who opposed them.'
"'These things are hard to understand. If, as you say, your people comehere some day to fight against us, I shall fight. If my people aredefeated, and I am still alive, I shall say it is the will of Allah;let us make the best of it, and try to learn to be like those who haveconquered us. I own to you that I am sick of bloodshed--not of bloodshed in battle, but the blood of peaceful villagers; and though Igrieve for my own people, I should feel that it was for the good of theland that the white men had become the masters.'"