“Never mind that. Ask him if he is willing. Who is this?”
“His brother, Excellency.”
“Ask him too.”
The words were interpreted, and the anxious look on the brothers’ faces gave place to one of eager hope and pleasure as they heard and replied—
“Yes, Excellency, we beg that you will do what is right, no matter what pain he suffers. He prays you to make him a man instead of the useless cripple he remains—useless to himself, a trouble to his friends.”
The Hakim bowed and turned to Frank.
“You will have to help me,” he said. “I will not ask you if you have the nerve. There is diseased bone, which must be removed, and he must be kept under an anaesthetic, for he could not bear the pain, and his sufferings would hinder me.”
Half an hour later, by the Sheikh’s orders, everyone was sent to a distance from the tent, into which the Hakim was watched with looks full of awe, as he disappeared therein, followed by Frank and the Sheikh, the brother sitting by waiting, and both looking reverently at the man whose knowledge was something tremendous in their eyes.
“Are you going to stay, Sheikh?” said the Hakim. “It would be better that you and this young man should go.”
“I should like his brother to stay and see what is done, Excellency, while I—I am the father and chief of my tribe; the people look to me, and it is through me that you are going to do this thing. My people would not be contented if I did not stay.”