THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL

CONTENTS


TALES OF ADVENTURE

I DÉBUT OF BIMBASHI JOYCE

II THE SURGEON OF GASTER FELL

III BORROWED SCENES

IV THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL

V THE GREAT BROWN-PERICORD MOTOR

VI THE SEALED ROOM


TALES OF MEDICAL LIFE

VII A PHYSIOLOGIST'S WIFE

VIII BEHIND THE TIMES

IX HIS FIRST OPERATION

X THE THIRD GENERATION

XI THE CURSE OF EVE

XII A MEDICAL DOCUMENT

XIII THE SURGEON TALKS

XIV THE DOCTORS OF HOYLAND

XV CRABBE'S PRACTICE




TALES OF ADVENTURE




I

THE DÉBUT OF BIMBASHI JOYCE


It was in the days when the tide of Mahdism, which had swept in such a
flood from the great Lakes and Darfur to the confines of Egypt, had at
last come to its full, and even begun, as some hoped, to show signs of a
turn. At its outset it had been terrible. It had engulfed Hicks's army,
swept over Gordon and Khartoum, rolled behind the British forces as they
retired down the river, and finally cast up a spray of raiding parties
as far north as Assouan. Then it found other channels to east and to
west, to Central Africa and to Abyssinia, and retired a little on the
side of Egypt. For ten years there ensued a lull, during which the
frontier garrisons looked out upon those distant blue hills of Dongola.
Behind the violet mists which draped them, lay a land of blood and
horror. From time to time some adventurer went south towards those
haze-girt mountains, tempted by stories of gum and ivory, but none ever
returned. Once a mutilated Egyptian and once a Greek woman, mad with
thirst and fear, made their way to the lines. They were the only exports
of that country of darkness. Sometimes the sunset would turn those
distant mists into a bank of crimson, and the dark mountains would rise
from that sinister reek like islands in a sea of blood. It seemed a grim
symbol in the southern heaven when seen from the fort-capped hills by
Wady Halfa.

Ten years of lust in Khartoum, ten years of silent work in Cairo, and
then all was ready, and it was time for civilisation to take a trip
south once more, travelling, as her wont is, in an armoured train.
Everything was ready, down to the last pack-saddle of the last camel,
and yet no one suspected it, for an unconstitutional Government has its
advantages. A great administrator had argued, and managed, and cajoled;
a great soldier had organised and planned, and made piastres do the work
of pounds. And then one night these two master spirits met and clasped
hands, and the soldier vanished away upon some business of his own. And
just at that very time Bimbashi Hilary Joyce, seconded from the Royal
Mallow Fusiliers, and temporarily attached to the Ninth Soudanese, made
his first appearance in Cairo.