In the afternoon Zerwali escorted me to Hawari, where I was received at the zawia by the ikhwan and the notables of the town. After the usual words of welcome and exchange of compliments, I went to dinner at the house of Zerwali’s uncle. The Bedouin chiefs protested that I should not have come direct to Hawari but should have camped outside to give them an opportunity for a ceremonial reception. They had apparently heard how I was received at Jalo and would have liked to duplicate it for me here. I heard rumors of intrigues among some of the Zwaya chiefs, who were suspicious of my purpose in coming a second time to Kufra and, as a protest, had refused to attend the dinner. They were influential chiefs, and the news made me determined to press on to El Taj before they could send word there in prejudice of my coming.
After the meal I rode home through the beautiful moonlight and on my arrival found a difficult task before me. Egaila, Bu Helega’s eldest son, had been bitten by a scorpion. With more confidence in my medicine-chest than I had myself, Bu Helega asked that I should cure him. I took the anti-scorpion serum and went to the house, where I found the boy very ill indeed, burning with fever.
At the last moment before leaving Cairo these serums had been included in my equipment, and a doctor friend, while he was shaking my hand and I was saying good-by to people all around me, explained to me (perhaps most lucidly) just how to employ the serums. It was the first time I had ever attempted that kind of injection, and I tried to conjure up the scene and recall fragments of those parting instructions, but it only struck me how different was that dimly lit room with the anxious friends and relatives watching my every movement from the hearty send-off when the serum had been added to my stock in trade.
However, in spite of my doubts whether the case was not too far advanced for treatment, I administered the serum and went to my camp wondering what the outcome would be.
Before long I heard a crowd approaching my tent with loud outcries which sounded hostile to my ears. Probably, I thought, the boy was already dead, and his death would be laid at my door instead of at that of the scorpion.
VALLEY OF ERDI
While there remained many miles of travel for the expedition, after this valley was reached the long waterless desert treks were at an end. The march to El Obeid was by easy stages through fertile country from village to village.
DESERT BREAKING INTO ROCK COUNTRY SOUTH OF OUENAT