dark, for there were snakes
swimming in the pools or clustering
in knots around their brinks. Twice
puff-adders came twisting into the
alert ring of our debating coffee-
circle. Three of our men died of
bites; four recovered after great fear
and pain, and a swelling of the
poisoned limb. Howeitat treatment
was to bind up the part with snake-
skin plaster, and read chapters of the
Koran to the sufferer until he died.When they finally arrived at Aqaba,
Lawrence’s band of several hundred
warriors killed or captured twelve
hundred Turks and lost only two men.