As Soon As The Poultice Got Chilled I
Took Her Arm Out And Cleaned It Again, And Wound It Round With
Dressing, And Had Her Ladyship Carried Bodily, Still Asleep, Into
Her Hut, And After Rousing Her Up, Giving Her A Dose Of That Fine
Preparation, Pil.
Crotonis cum hydrargi, saw her tucked up on her
own plank bedstead for the night, sound asleep again.
The chief was
very anxious to have some pills too; so I gave him some, with firm
injunctions only to take one at the first time. I knew that that
one would teach him not to take more than one forever after, better
than I could do if I talked from June to January. Then all the
afflicted of Egaja turned up, and wanted medical advice. There was
evidently a good stiff epidemic of the yaws about; lots of cases of
dum with the various symptoms; ulcers of course galore; a man with a
bit of a broken spear head in an abscess in the thigh; one which I
believe a professional enthusiast would call a "lovely case" of
filaria, the entire white of one eye being full of the active little
worms and a ridge of surplus population migrating across the bridge
of the nose into the other eye, under the skin, looking like the
bridge of a pair of spectacles. It was past eleven before I had
anything like done, and my men had long been sound asleep, but the
chief had conscientiously sat up and seen the thing through. He
then went and fetched some rolls of bark cloth to put on my plank,
and I gave him a handsome cloth I happened to have with me, a couple
of knives, and some heads of tobacco and wished him goodnight;
blockading my bark door, and picking my way over my sleeping Ajumba
into an inner apartment which I also blockaded, hoping I had done
with Egaja for some hours. No such thing. At 1.45 the whole town
was roused by the frantic yells of a woman. I judged there was one
of my beauties of Fans mixed up in it, and there was, and after
paying damages, got back again by 2.30 A.M., and off to sleep again
instantly. At four sharp, whole town of Egaja plunged into emotion,
and worse shindy. I suggested to the Ajumba they should go out; but
no, they didn't care a row of pins if one of our Fans did get
killed, so I went, recognising Kiva's voice in high expostulation.
Kiva, it seems, a long time ago had a transaction in re a tooth of
ivory with a man who, unfortunately, happened to be in this town to-
night, and Kiva owed the said man a coat. {223}
Kiva, it seems, has been spending the whole evening demonstrating to
his creditor that, had he only known they were to meet, he would
have brought the coat with him - a particularly beautiful coat - and
the reason he has not paid it before is that he has mislaid the
creditor's address.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 154 of 371
Words from 80580 to 81096
of 194943
