“I have not done half the work you have,” was the reply, and after a little further argument the doctor gave way, and the watch was commenced, first one and then the other taking the lamp to bend over the insensible man, and make sure that he was breathing still.
It was about an hour after midnight that Frank’s turn had come, and as he had done some three times before, he took the lamp from where it stood, shaded from the sufferer’s eyes, and went behind him, to kneel down and watch for the feeble pulsation, breathing deeply himself with satisfaction as he found that the respiration still went on, when as he rose, lamp in hand he nearly let it fall on finding himself face to face with a tall figure in white robes, who looked at him sternly, took the lamp from his hand, and bent over in turn.
Frank neither spoke nor moved, but drew back a little, watching the face of the Baggara chief as the light struck full upon the swarthy, aquiline features for a few minutes, before the visitor rose and handed back the lamp, gazing full in the young man’s eyes. Then, thrusting his hand into his waist scarf, he freed the sheath of a handsome dagger from the folds, and without a word handed it to Frank, motioning him to place it in his own belt, after which he went silently out of the tent, vanishing like a shadow.
Frank stood motionless for a few minutes before setting down the lamp, and he was about to return to his place when the doctor’s voice said softly—
“Well, Frank, how is he?”
“Just the same,” replied Frank. “You heard the chief come in, of course?”
“The Baggara? No; surely he has not been again?”
“Yes; looked at his son, and went away a few minutes ago. Were you asleep?”
“No, I think not—I am sure not,” said the doctor. “I turned my face away from the light when I lay down; but I heard you rise, and saw the movement of the lamp over the tent side when you took it up, and again when you set it down. Well, I am not sorry that he has been. It shows that even such a savage chief as this—one who lives by rapine and violence—has his natural feelings hidden somewhere in his heart.”
The pair were silent for some little time, and then the doctor rose to look at his patient in turn.