The record-union., 1899-11-12

Il have been i'll and am now recOv-
ering; there is some wonderful native
medicine given me principally for pain
in my side, the drug to be taken once
a week in boiled; flesh of tortoise: this
has reduced pain in my side by about
one-seventh. 1t was at first thought
that I had the evil sickness of the
plague, but it was not. so, and I hope
to be cured soon by His grace" Then
followed more to the same effect.
BAH" CALCULATED the apothecary
scornfully-he was a small sleek, very
fat Goanese-'nowaday men are so
frightened they think every pain is
going to turn to plague. They have
no courage, none at all; now if I was
nervous about such things how should
have taken this appointment? He
patted himself complacently and looked
across at the empty hospital. At the
door sat Vishnu looking out over the
sea. II don't believe that boy will
stay if we get a case he thought, and
shook his head sorrowfully in anticipa-
ton of the lads detection.
"Ah, there are not many such brave
men in the world as l." and again he
stroked his pompous little person in
congratulatory way. Inside the hos
pital it was cool, dark and still; out
side the glare and heat were intense.
but the only sounds were those of the
crows cawing and the copper bird with
it's one monotonous note. 'Toohoo,"
"Toohoo," "Toohoo." Presently Wish
NUS head dropped forward on his knees
and he fell asleep.
For ten days the hospital remained
absolutely empty. Every morning
Vishnu swept and busted the wards,
after having first performed his own
additions, above all the. teeth cleaning
which is an essential part of a Brah-
minis observances. The apothecary
! in his little hut grew visibly fatter and
oilier, and was almost jocular on the
subject of the plague. from which they
seemed indeed to have a wonderful i'm
munity. There was very little to be
done all day but to eat and sleep and
ask questions of the few people from
the outer world who visited the hospit-
al Now and again an English Sahib
would come, accompanied by the doctor,
and, after seeing round the place, ex-
press satisfaction at all the arrange
ments therein. Vishnu was a part of
the arrangements, and therefore in
cluded in the general satisfactoriness.
/ The native who came occasionally to
sell sweetmeats, or the barber who
squatted beside Vishnu under a tree at
the back of the apothecarary's house to
shave him-for no Brahmin will shave
himself-brought accounts of what was
happening in the city; the latest news
of the plague, the price of grain, and
the possibility of a rise or fall in the
grain rates, and the number of bodies
burned at the principal burning CHAT
of the city; such information was i'm
parted in brief oracular sentences. On
the eleventh day patient was brought
to the hospital almost the first indi-
cation of his arrival being the sudden
departure of the apothecary, who had
prayed daily and fervently that his
services might not be required. The
sick man was laid on one of the mar
row iron bedsteads-his wife had come
to tend him, and held a baby at the
breast-it was the great attraction of
the hospital that patients might bring
their own relations to feed and nurse
them and SO run no risk of pollution by
the touch of any one belonging to a
different caste.
Vishnu set about his work cheerfully,
and did it we'll. The case was a Sc
rious one, but, having been taken in
time, not hopeless. In a few days the
patient was pronounced out of danger,
but in the meantime two other cases
had been admitted. Another apothe-
cary, q far better type of man, had
been appointed, and the doctor paid his
visits regularly three times day and