The Hakim’s movements were rapid now; he took the chief’s swarthy hand in his, and his fingers were cool and soft to the burning skin he touched. Then raising his right he laid it upon the biceps, to find all tensely swollen and fevered.
The next minute he had taken a glittering little knife from the satchel he wore at his waist, and passed the keen point beneath the coarse cotton bandage, dividing it twice, so that the edges sprang apart, for the cloth was cutting deeply into the swollen flesh.
With deft fingers then he quickly unrolled the bandage, letting the foul, badly stained cotton fall upon the sand at his feet, laying bare to the sunlight a terrible cut running up from just above the wrist to the elbow joint, evidently caused by the thrust of one of the leaf-bladed spears, and now from long neglect horribly inflamed, and threatening danger, while the suffering it must have caused had doubtless been extreme.
The Hakim’s examination was quick, and as he ran his eyes over the wound and touched it here and there, he spoke without turning his head.
“Basin, sponges, plenty of water. Lint, bandages, dressings, antiseptics, and my instruments.”
Frank bowed, and hurried into the tent, while the Hakim supported the injured arm and raised his eyes to the Baggara chief, whose gaze was fixed upon him searchingly, and gave him a calm, reassuring smile, as if saying, “Wait, and you shall be cured.”
There was another low murmur now, and the crowd was pressing closer in, but Ibrahim’s lips parted as he raised his hands in protest, and at a harsh command from the second chief the men stood fast.
The next minute Frank came out, followed by Sam bearing the doctor’s surgical case and the necessaries he had ordered to be brought, every eye watching as these were opened out.
“Come and help, Landon,” said the doctor quickly, and the great turban was handed to Sam to bear into the tent, while the professor took up the brass basin and held it ready for Frank to fill, the latter then placing his hands ready to support the patient’s arm.
During the next quarter of an hour the Baggara looked curiously on while his festering wound was manipulated by the light touches of one of London’s most skilful surgeons, armed with the newest discoveries of science. And formidable as the task was, and severe the treatment, those firm white hands, and the cleansing, cooling applications gave more relief than pain, so that the stoical patient, when the touches from glittering knife and keen needle had ceased and given way to medicated cotton wool, lint, and tenderly applied supporting bandages, uttered a sigh of relief, and the scornful look of contempt gave way to one of perfect satisfaction, for to him this was a miracle indeed.