Shelock

SHERLOCK HOMES

In the year 1878 I took my degree of
Doctor of Medicine of the University of
London, and proceeded to Netley to go
through the course prescribed for surgeons
in the army. Havingcompleted my studies
there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland
Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment
was stationed in India at the time, and before
I could join it, the secondAfghan war had broken
out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my
corps had advanced through the passes, and was
already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed,
however, with many otherofficers who were in the
same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching
Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment,
and at once entered upon my new duties.
The campaign brought honours andpromotion
to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune
and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and
attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at
the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I wasstruck
on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered
the bone and grazed the subclavian artery.
I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous
Ghazis had it not been for the devotion andcourage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw
me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing
me safely to the British lines.

Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged
hardships which Ihad undergone, I was removed,
with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base
hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already
improved so far as to be able to walk about
the wards, andeven to bask a little upon the verandah,
when I was struck down by enteric fever,
that curse of our Indian possessions. For months
my life was despaired of, and when at last I came
to myself andbecame convalescent, I was so weak
and emaciated that a medical board determined
that not a day should be lost in sending me back
to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in the
troopship...