"Our journey is not as fatiguing as yours, I admit. Instead of pitching our tents in the desert or on the mountains we content ourselves with sticking large-headed, many-coloured pins to mark your different halting-places. Of late we have been ashamed of this passive travelling, and, after a good dinner, excited by your letters, and enamoured of your descriptions, we suddenly conceived the idea of joining you. Yes, my dear friends, joining you in Africa, at Khartoum!' They were screwed,' you will exclaim. I was, perhaps, a little gone, but I assure you that Desrioux was as sober as a judge. He spoke quite seriously, adding that his usual patients, the poor, were, for the time being, in the enjoyment of perfect health, that his mother had never been better in her life, and that he could, without fear or imprudence, leave her for a few months. "'How long would it take us to reach Khartoum?' he continued. 'Five or six weeks at the most, if we do not stop anywhere, but hurry through the country and scatter our money by the handfull. We could spend a fortnight with our friends and be back in Paris within three months.' "He grew quite hot and excited over the idea, and so did I, so much so that when we separated, at about 3 a.m., our prompt departure was all arranged. "On the following morning, when I was still in bed, and cogitating over our plans, not quite so enthusiastic, perhaps, as I had been the night before, but still firm in my purpose, the Doctor was announced. He came to tell me that since the previous evening several cases of small-pox had been brought into hospital, that there were fears of an epidemic, and that he did not think himself justified in leaving Paris before these fears had subsided. I can assure you that this was no protest for getting out of the affair, for he appeared very doleful, and repeated over and over again. "'This idea had made me so happy, and here I am dying of despondency and grief!' "The fact is that Desrioux is a right-down good fellow, but cheeriness is not one of his strong points. I believe that his wandering instincts are as strong as my sedentary ones, that he is weary of being tied down to the same spot, and that his burning desire is to see those countries about which you discourse so charmingly. "The small-pox epidemic was only too serious, and, out of regard for you, it had evidently awaited your departure to declare itself. It is committing fearful havoc, and is, this year, more than usually malignant and contagious. Consequently the poor Doctor no longer thinks about leaving; he is too busy for that. He visits every hospital, garret, and den; and, thanks to his entire forgetfulness of self, his science, and the calm courage with which he confronts and braves every danger, he has succeeded in saving a number of poor sufferers who had been given over by their regular attendants.