Page 253 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

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Their prediction was justified. All day Saturday they came drilling
in—mhiic walking—some on camels—and some carried on biers. The
earlier arrivals were all sword wounds hut even so they were scrum**
enough. Skulls cleft wide open. Fingers hanging by shreds of >kin.
blood! Dirt! Maggots! It was appalling. There were three men <m
each of whom we worked nearly two hours. These three have all dime
well, l am glad to say. On Sunday still more came in. These latter
were all gunshot cases and as their wounds had been untreated for
nearly three days, their condition was correspondingly bad. One man
had been shot in the arm at such close range that about twenty-four
square inches of skin had been literally burned off. He also hud a
bullet in the muscles of his back. We removed the bullet without much
difficulty. The last case reached us after dark on Sunday night a
compound fracture of the thigh—gunshot of course. This wound was
particularly foul and simply wriggling with maggots.
Well! We thought the storm was over but on Monday night the
weather changed and the wind blew' from an entirely different direction
but with similar results—in dead and wounded. On the Tuesday
morning the first thing our servant said to us was, “Did you hear the
firing last night?” We had to admit that we had not. “Oh!” he said,
"There has been a big show.” The arrival of more wounded soon bore
uut the truth of his statement. It appeared that the Ikhwan had nothing
whatever to do with this second affair which had been more or less of
a domestic nature. There had been a quarrel among some Bedouin
camped outside the main gate. It was said to have started through a
woman tampering with some baggage which was not hers. The row
iprcud from the women to the men and in no time the light was on.
Of the people who were wounded in this second show and who
reported to us for treatment, all were terribly injured. One man had a
large part of the front of his chest blown off. There was little we
cuuld do for him, but he will live in my memory as one of- the bravest
men I have ever seen. At his first dressing, he insisted on standing and
there was always a smile on his face up to the very end. Marvellous
to relate, he lived nearly forty-eight hours! Two other men had an
arm almost blown off. One of these only stayed with us two days. He
prefers home and local talent, but I am sure that, if he recovers, he
owes his life to us. The other one has suffered terribly but is making
j,ood progress and we hope to save his precious right arm.
Compared with the fighting of October, 1920, the recent doings have
been a small affair, the total number of wounded treated in our hos­
pital being only twenty-two. On the other hand the fact that the
Ikhwan are again on the war path causes a certain amount of anxiety
*nd the doctor dreads the coming of another storm. Surely! Surely!
War is Hell! Fighting may seem all glorious to the student of history
and the reader of military stories but to the doctor who sees the
dialtered bodies, the twisted faces, and all the awful ruin that the
modern rifle can bring about, War is Hell!
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When comes the promised sign that war shall be no'more,
And lust, oppression, crime, shall flee Thy face before?