Wat-el-Mek was safe. I knew that most of the principal officers were
either killed or wounded; but I was anxious to be assured of the fate of
the arch-ruffian, Ali Hussein.
"Where is Ali Hussein?" I asked the natives.
"DEAD!" cried a number of voices.
"Are you certain?" I asked.
"We will bring you his head, for he is not far off," they replied; and
several men started immediately.
We were very hungry; and as curry is quickly eaten, we were not long at
breakfast; this was hardly concluded when some natives rushed to the
open door, and throwing something heavy on the floor of the hut, I saw
at my feet the bloody head of Ali Hussein!
There was no mistake in the person. The villainous expression was as
strongly marked upon the features in death as it had been in life.
The natives had appropriated his clothes, which they described as "a
long white robe and black trousers." Ali Hussein had been struck by two
bullets; one had broken his arm, and the other had passed through his
thigh. He was alive when the natives discovered him; but as he had been
the scourge of the country, he, of course, received no mercy from them.
CHAPTER XXIV.
NO MEDICAL MEN.
The death of the unfortunate Dr. Gedge, my chief medical officer at
Tewfikeeyah, added to the retirement of one of the Egyptian surgeons
from Gondokoro, had left me with so weak a medical staff that I had been
unable to take a doctor from head-quarters. I therefore was compelled to
perform all necessary operations myself, and to attend personally upon
the wounded men. In the late encounter, although I had not actually lost
a soldier, seven were badly wounded. One had a broken thigh, and the
bullet remained in the leg. Two had smashed ankle-joints, in one of
which the ball remained fixed among the bones. Some of the prisoners
were also wounded and one shortly died.
Wat-el-Mek's hand was much lacerated, in addition to the loss of the
middle finger.
I dressed all the wounds with a weak solution of carbolic acid. After
some trouble, I extracted the bullet from the broken thigh, and set the
bone. (This man was one of "The Forty"; and about two months after the
wound he was again on duty, and only slightly lame.)
Wat-el-Mek had two excellent English double-barrelled guns. That
destroyed by the "Dutchman" was a gun by Blissett of London, which had
been given to him by Captain Speke when he parted at Gondokoro: the
other was my own old gun, that I had given to Ibrahim when I travelled
with him during my first journey in Africa.
