try,' she said. 'You have saved his life, and it is yours.'

"'Bring me the pistol that your husband had, in his belt.'

"She brought it to me. I took out the ramrod.

"'Now,' I said, 'it is most important that this should be clean;
therefore, heat it in the fire so that it is red hot, and then drop it
into cold water.'

"When this had been done, I took a handful of sand, and polished the
rod till it shone, and afterwards wiped it carefully with a cloth. Then
I inserted it in the wound, very gently. It had entered but an inch and
a half when it struck something hard, which could only be the bullet.
It was as I had hoped, the ball had been almost spent, when it struck
him.

"Saleh was awake now, and had at once consented to my suggestion,
having come to have implicit faith in me.

"'It is, you see, Saleh, just as I had hoped. I felt sure that it could
not have gone in far; as, in that case, you could never have walked
twenty miles, from the battlefield, to the point where you met me. Now,
if I had a proper instrument, I might be able to extract the bullet. I
might hurt you in doing so, but if I could get it out, you would
recover speedily; while if it remains where it is, the wound may
inflame, and you will die.'

"'I am not afraid of pain, Mudil.'

"I could touch the ball with my finger, but beyond feeling that the
flesh in which it was embedded was not solid to the touch, I could do
nothing towards getting the ball out. I dared not try to enlarge the
wound, so as to get two fingers in. After thinking the matter over in
every way, I decided that the only chance was to make a tool from the
ramrod. I heated this again and again, flattening it with the pistol
barrel, till it was not more than a tenth of an inch thick; then I cut,
from the centre, a strip about a quarter of an inch wide. I then rubbed
down the edges of the strip on a stone, till they were perfectly
smooth, and bent the end into a curve. I again heated it to a dull red,
and plunged it into water to harden it, and finally rubbed it with a
little oil. It was late in the evening before I was satisfied with my
work.

"'Now, Saleh,' I said, 'I am going to try if this will do. If I had one
of the tools I have seen the white hakims use, I am sure I could get
the ball out easily enough; but I think I can succeed with this. If I
cannot, I must make another like it, so as to put one down each side of
the bullet. You see, this curve makes a sort of hook. The