His mother howled? and said I had made a nice mess of the job, and had killed him. But I grinned and put on my sandal, and told her that was all part of the show, and that I would now bring him to life quite sound and well, which I proceeded to do by sprinkling a little water over his face. He gradually came to his senses, and then found that his arm was practically all right.
His own astonishment and theirs was very great, and within half an hour my tent was full of fruit and chickens and eggs as thank-offerings.
But during the next three days all the sick, the maimed, and the blind were brought in from the country round for me to cure. You never saw such a lot. Men, women, and children with every conceivable ailment, including bad eyes, which I treated by bathing with warm weak tea. One poor chap had had half his face bitten off by a bear, losing his eye and the whole of his cheek, so that all his teeth were showing in a horrible grin—the more horrible because the wound had never been properly dressed.
Then one enormously fat man asked me to do something for him. Now, what would you have done in such a case? I only had some lead lotion, some disinfectant, and a few mustard poultice leaves. So I gave him one of these mustard leaves, and told him if that wouldn't cure him I didn't know what would, and in saying that I was speaking the exact truth. I told him to wet it and put it on his "chest" when he went to bed.
Next day he came with tears of gratitude and said I had done more for him in one night than all the doctors had done for him in years. He felt that he was already growing thinner.
I moved my camp twenty miles off that day, as I thought it better to get away while I had such a good reputation, and, besides, they were beginning to bring in patients from all over the district, and I had nothing to cure them with.
But that is the kind of thing you may expect when you are travelling, and you should learn while you can how to deal with the usual ailments, so that you can be of some help to the poor creatures when you come across them.
* * * * *
THE SWASTIKA.
All the nations of the world have customs of their own, which bear a curious resemblance to each other. For instance, when a Zulu has to undertake the dangerous job of crawling up to a lion, he likes to dress himself in his war-paint before beginning.