{"product_id":"2940013684508","title":"Tales of Adventure and Medical Life","description":"It was in the days when the tide of Mandism, which had swept in such a\u003cbr\u003eflood from the great Lakes and Darfur to the confines of Egypt, had at\u003cbr\u003elast come to its full, and even begun, as some hoped, to show signs of a\u003cbr\u003eturn. At its outset it had been terrible. It had engulfed Hicks's army,\u003cbr\u003eswept over Gordon and Khartoum, rolled behind the British forces as they\u003cbr\u003eretired down the river, and finally cast up a spray of raiding parties as\u003cbr\u003efar north as Assouan. Then it found other channels to east and to west,\u003cbr\u003eto Central Africa and to Abyssinia, and retired a little on the side of\u003cbr\u003eEgypt. For ten years there ensued a lull, during which the frontier\u003cbr\u003egarrisons looked out upon those distant, blue hills of Dongola. Behind\u003cbr\u003ethe violet mists which draped them, lay a land of blood and horror. From\u003cbr\u003etime to time some adventurer went south towards those haze-girt\u003cbr\u003emountains, tempted by stories of gum and ivory, but none ever returned.\u003cbr\u003eOnce a mutilated Egyptian and once a Greek woman, mad with thirst and\u003cbr\u003efear, made their way to the lines. They were the only exports of that\u003cbr\u003ecountry of darkness. Sometimes the sunset would turn those distant mists\u003cbr\u003einto a bank of crimson, and the dark mountains would rise from that\u003cbr\u003esinister reek like islands in a sea of blood. It seemed a grim symbol in\u003cbr\u003ethe southern heaven when seen from the fort-capped hills by Wady Halfa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTen years of lust in Khartoum, ten years of silent work in Cairo, and\u003cbr\u003ethen all was ready, and it was time for civilisation to take a trip south\u003cbr\u003eonce more, travelling, as her wont is, in an armoured train. Everything\u003cbr\u003ewas ready, down to the last pack-saddle of the last camel, and yet no one\u003cbr\u003esuspected it, for an unconstitutional Government has its advantages. A\u003cbr\u003egreat administrator had argued, and managed, and cajoled; a great soldier\u003cbr\u003ehad organised and planned, and made piastres do the work of pounds. And\u003cbr\u003ethen one night these two master spirits met and clasped hands, and the\u003cbr\u003esoldier vanished away upon some business of his own. And just at that\u003cbr\u003every time Bimbashi Hilary Joyce, seconded from the Royal Mallow\u003cbr\u003eFusiliers, and temporarily attached to the Ninth Soudanese, made his\u003cbr\u003efirst appearance in Cairo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNapoleon had said, and Hilary Joyce had noted, that great reputations are\u003cbr\u003eonly to be made in the East. Here he was in the East with four tin cases\u003cbr\u003eof baggage, a Wilkinson sword, a Bond's slug-throwing pistol, and a copy\u003cbr\u003eof \"Green's Introduction to the Study of Arabic\". With such a start, and\u003cbr\u003ethe blood of youth running hot in his veins, everything seemed easy. He\u003cbr\u003ewas a little frightened of the General, he had heard stories of his\u003cbr\u003esternness to young officers, but with tact and suavity he hoped for the\u003cbr\u003ebest. So, leaving his effects at Shepheard's Hotel, he reported himself\u003cbr\u003eat headquarters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not the General, but the head of the Intelligence Department who\u003cbr\u003ereceived him, the Chief being still absent upon that business which had\u003cbr\u003ecalled him. Hilary Joyce found himself in the presence of a short,\u003cbr\u003ethick-set officer, with a gentle voice and a placid expression which\u003cbr\u003ecovered a remarkably acute and energetic spirit. With that quiet smile\u003cbr\u003eand guileless manner he had undercut and outwitted the most cunning of\u003cbr\u003eOrientals. He stood, a cigarette between his fingers, looking at the\u003cbr\u003enew-corner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I heard that you had come. Sorry the Chief isn't here to see you. Gone\u003cbr\u003eup to the frontier, you know.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My regiment is at Wady Haifa. I suppose, sir, that I should' report\u003cbr\u003emyself there at once?\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070242996464,"sku":"2940013684508","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013684508_p0.jpg?v=1763584516","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013684508","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}