| caption: |
Chapter three. Second Attack |
| caption: |
leaving Imphal for another trip; new and awkward compounder |
| text: |
(24) A week later, fortified by experience and stocked up with medicines, we left again. But, on this trip, anthropology took second place. I had covered all the items on my list, and I went now partly for sheer adventure and partly because I knew the need for medical help in the remoter hills. |
| text: |
Our start was unpropitious and proved prophetic. It had been raining, and it was doubtful at first if the lorry could reach the end of the road. When, after many skids and alarums, it did, Abung the cook slipped and hurt himself on the bungalow path and my new compounder had a violent row with the caretaker over the state of his quarters. They really were very foul, and I had to lodge him in half the tiny house, to the loss of all my comfort. I had been warned, too, to keep an eye on the man. He was a tall and sullen Kuki, and not, the Civil Surgeon said, to be trusted; I was to keep the medicines by me and issue them myself I did not know, though, that he had twice been transferred for dishonesty, and was going out with me as a last chance to reform. Far from reforming, he set out to give all the trouble he could, and succeeded admirably. |
