AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE. 11 



and shut them at night. The room was kept most scrupulously 

 clean, and no one ever imagined that a flea was in it. 



That the room was tenanted by these insects I found to my 

 own proper cost. No sooner was the candle put out than a 

 simultaneous attack was made on me in all directions. From 

 every part of the room fleas came in battalions. There was a 

 nurse in the room, who was one of those persons that are either 

 impervious or objectionable to fleas, and she escaped them entirely, 

 while they concentrated all their energies on me. 



Now a damage such as I had suffered is not conducive to rest, 

 even with all appliances. The limb swells, until the skin feels 

 almost unable to resist the tension, and the burning heat is as 

 if melted lead were being continually poured over the joint. Fever 

 rages through the frame, and the first endeavour of the surgeon 

 is to subdue it as much as possible. Under such circumstances, it 

 may well be imagined that the ceaseless attacks of the flea armies 

 were not calculated to produce quietude ; and, indeed, had the 

 occupier of the bed been in perfect health and strength, one such 

 night would have sufficed to drive him into a fever. The only 

 portion of the skin that escaped was that which was covered 

 with the bandages, and even there the dreadful little insects had 

 found out the junctions of the bandages, forced themselves under 

 the edges, and driven their beaks into the skin, so that, when the 

 bandage was removed in the morning, its course could be traced by 

 the rows of flea-bites. 



The insects had never enjoyed such a chance of a banquet in 

 their lives, and naturally made the most of it. 



After this highly unpleasant experience my father 

 never seems to have taken any but a very occasional 

 part in the game of cricket, although he retained 

 his interest in it to the end of his life, and always 

 studied the cricketing news in the daily newspapers 

 with some degree of care. This accident, by the way, 

 was the first of a long series. Seldom, I suppose, was 

 there a man who injured himself more often, or with 



