A day or two afterwards, His Highness had a return of pain, and when I went to see him he said that he felt weaker, and admitted that the Hakims had overdone the form of treatment I spoke of. The next day he was worse: the pains were more severe; he had not slept, and he told me he had had shivering and fever in the night. The day after, the albumenuria returned, to the extent, roughly, of a twelfth in the morning, and later in the day a fifth (sp. gr. 1016). The left ankle commenced swelling at five p.m., the pulse was 100 and weak; Tr. 97·2. Out of doors it was very cold. The snow had commenced, and it was freezing hard. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXIV. ROYAL PATIENTS. Cogitations concerning the Hindustani Interpreter: colloid and crystalloid: the Armenian’s comments. Cogitations concerning the position: the engineers’ comments. The Amîr as a host: the Sultana as hostess. The Amîr’s photograph. The Sultana’s name. Sirdar, the girl-boy. The sleeping draught. The tea cup and the thermometer. The release from a dangerous position. The Christmas dinner: the guests: the festive board: the menu: the wine: music. The Amîr’s fainting attack: the remedy: effect on the physician: the substituted remedy: further effect on the physician; the Amîr’s prescription. The Amîr’s alarming nervous symptoms. Hospital cases. Duties of the Princes Habibullah and Nasrullah. [Sidenote: Concerning the Hindustani.] I thought of the Hindustani, and gnashed upon him: for the Hakims had done much evil already, and I thought they would surely complete their work. “He has allowed his petty spite to place the life of the Amîr in danger,” thought I; “to say nothing of my life and that of the two Europeans here.” Mr. Pyne had fortunately been able at this time to obtain leave, and had departed for India with an order for more machinery. The idea occurred to me in a colloidal form that perhaps I ought to destroy this Hindustani gnat. I say “colloidal,” for I doubt if the idea would ever have crystallized into action. When one has been long trained in the art of saving life, killing does not come readily. I fancy, however, I must have expressed the idea aloud, for the Armenian said:-- “Sir, you not kill it. You big man, he very small man. Your wish, you can shoot Commander-in-Chief or Dabier-ul-Mulk; you not kill two pice Hindustani--dog’s son. Other small man catch it and kill it for you.” The employment of assassins, however, did not appeal to my imagination as a suitable line of action, and I determined to await the course of events. For some little time afterwards, if I heard much commotion or bustle outside, I said to myself, “The hour has come. The Amîr has joined his fathers; now for the last fight.”