Toothache 



which was like the side of a house, the thorns which 

 gripped you, and the creepers which tripped you, 

 and you may understand the physical effort which 

 it required. A bar of chocolate and a short rest at 

 the top partially pulled me together. We managed 

 to reach camp about 6 p.m., just as it became dark. 

 Eleven hours without food, and climbing hills l^^ 

 difficult and hitherto untrodden, with an elephant 

 drive thrown in, under the tropical sun and on the 

 equator, was enough to finish me up altogether, 

 and too tired to eat, I threw myself down in my 

 tent and slept for hours. 



My old enemy, the toothache, which had been 

 annoying me for some months past, now took it 

 into its head to make its presence especially 

 objectionable. As there were no forceps in camp, 

 I tried to put up with it. If only the other two 

 officers of my corps had not gone sick I should 

 have put in for leave to return to Mbarara; but 

 there was no one else on the expedition with a 

 knowledge of the Nubi dialect, which was spoken 

 by my men. It was now a case of Mahomet and 

 the mountain, so a runner was sent into Mbarara 

 for the forceps. This would have ordinarily taken 

 sixteen days, but the runner, suiting himself to the 

 urgency of the case, did it in much less time. The 

 Indian hospital assistant extracted the tooth, and 

 although physically muscular, it required all his 

 power to remove it. My jaw suffered from the 

 severe wrench, and I had a day's pain afterwards, 

 but I could bear that in exchange for the former 



197 



