CHAPTER XII.

As soon as the establishment of masters and servants was complete, a meeting took place at Madame de Guéran's apartments to distribute the duties which remained to be carried out. Each one, according to his or her position and means, had a proportionate share of purchases to make, letters to write, information to obtain, packages to see to, and excursions to undertake.

The experience of Miss Beatrice Poles was of the utmost value. She ransacked the shops from morning to night, and bought or ordered a thousand things of which nobody else would have dreamt. So untiring and energetic was she, that one evening, when she was recounting her perigrinations throughout Paris, M, de Morin said to her—

"Of course, to accomplish all this, you took a cab?"

"A cab!" she exclaimed indignantly. "I never set foot in one except I am absolutely compelled. Any kind of locomotion you like, except that. I never can bring myself to be shut up in those pill-boxes on wheels. The inaction you are condemned to in them worries and frets me to a degree, and would soon wear me out."

"Miss Poles," replied the painter, with a countenance irresistibly comic in its immobility, "I should like to point out to you that your pedestrian feats, and your activity generally are also wearing you out. You are a model of proportion—and I am only too happy to do you justice in that respect—but, at the same time, on the score of _embonpoint_, there is, possibly, something to be desired."

"And that," replied Miss Poles, "is entirely due to the life of inaction I have led in England for the last two years. Luxury does not suit my temperament at all. In peace and quietness I lose flesh, to regain it as soon as ever I resume an active existence. At the end of a month of Africa you will not recognize me, and, even now, by reason of the life I am leading in Paris, I have gained a pound."

"Whereabouts?" asked M. de Morin, absorbed in contemplation, and in the futile attempt to discover the exact locality of the vaunted addition.

Dr. Delange was equally zealous in fulfilling the duties which devolved upon him. Having given his word of honour to M. de Morin not to touch a card as long as he remained in Paris, he was anxious to get out of it as quickly as possible, in order that the series of _parties_, promised under the contract, might commence. But if the gambler in him was still unsubdued and burning with an unabated fever for play, the _savant_ and the doctor combined were equally wide awake. Committed, in an unforeseen and eccentric fashion, to an expedition of which, only a fortnight before, he never dreamt, M. Delange, gambling being out of the question, did not in the least regret the engagement into which he had entered. The study of medicine, to a man gifted with intelligence, anxious to learn, and despising the beaten tracks to knowledge, is a perpetual excursion into unknown lands—a veritable voyage of discovery. Thus, the young doctor, who had hitherto made his voyages and carried out his discoveries in his own study, rejoiced at the idea of exploring on a large scale, and in a more active fashion.

Thanks to the well-known courtesy of M. Malte-Brun, then the editor of the "_Annales des Voyages_," and a corresponding member of all the Geographical Societies of Europe, as well as a friend of all the great explorers in the world, M. Delange obtained some very valuable information as to the diseases against which he would have to use his skill in Africa, the precautions to be taken to steer clear of them, and the various remedies best suited to the different districts and climates. He also devoted himself, more seriously than he had hitherto done, to the study of Natural History, hoping soon to be able to do good service to that branch of science.

Dr. Desrioux, by way of pleasing Madame de Guéran, placed his services at the disposal of his _confrère_. He thought of everything, was ever on the watch, and made many suggestions, the value of which, later on and in time of peril, was amply proved. Although he could not leave Paris, he was as deeply interested in everything connected with the projected expedition, as if he were going to form part of it—he was, in fact, its soul.

As for Joseph, he had been beside himself with joy ever since the memorable day when he was informed that he was to take part in the expedition. At last his dreams were about to be realized—an Arab name, a bûrnus, a camel! As for the name, he assumed it at once, without any tender regret for the one he had hitherto borne. At all the shops where he made his purely personal purchases, he gave as his address—Mohammed-Abd-el-Gazal. It appeared to him decidedly more _distingué_ than Joseph, and imbued him with an Eastern tinge.

The camel—well, unfortunately, he would have to wait for that. But when M. de Morin gave him a holiday to say good-bye to his family, Joseph allowed his relatives to slide, as the Americans say, and betook himself to the _Jardin des Plantes_ to gaze on the camels, and study their habits. He even succeeded in inducing one of the keepers to let him lay a tenderly caressing hand on one of those noble coursers of the desert, or as Joseph, ever high-sounding and figurative, would call them, those placid beasts.

Neither did he lose any time in becoming the proud possessor of the most correct and ample of bûrnus, this national garment having been willingly surrendered to him by an Arab servant, whose master was then staying at the Grand-Hôtel. Joseph was perpetually, night and day, trying on this bûrnus, and when he had draped it round him he would solemnly walk up and down his room in the Rue Taitbout. M. de Morin, who had not been apprized of this new caprice of his servant, and was, consequently, not prepared for the metamorphosis, thought, when he returned home one evening, that his rooms were frequented by ghosts.

The Arab servant, moreover, for a consideration, taught Joseph his maternal tongue, and the new pupil, studious to excess, practised the language unremittingly, and was all day long, even whilst in attendance on his master, giving utterance to the most extraordinary sounds. When spoken to on the subject by M. de Morin, he replied emphatically—

"You should not object, sir, seeing that I am preparing to open the gates of the desert for you."

These philological studies, these struttings in the bûrnus, and the lengthened investigation into the manners and customs of camels, rather disturbed the brain of Mohammed-Abd-el-Gazal, and made him at times somewhat absent. If M. de Morin asked for a glass of water, Joseph, his mind ever occupied with the expedition, would bring him a compass or a patent pedometer. One day, at breakfast time, instead of laying on the table the time-honoured white cloth, he spread out a huge map of Africa, and on it placed the plates and dishes, and other paraphernalia. When his mistake was pointed out to him, he said very plainly that he did not regret it, because, as he told his master, it was an advantage, instead of having before him a simple piece of linen, which expressed nothing, to feast his eyes on a splendid bird's-eye view of mountains, lakes, seas, rivers, and so to exercise, at one and the same time, his gastronomic and intellectual abilities.

"_Utile dulci_," added Joseph, who was a classic on occasion.

Sometimes, too, Mohammed would leave the windows open, and light all the candles, so that, as he said, the insects in the neighbourhood might be attracted, and that thus he might accustom himself to the bites of the mosquitoes so prevalent in Africa. In short, he neglected nothing, and, ever on the look-out for something oriental, he struck up, during his last days in Paris, a friendship with a negress of the purest ebony. Hoping to enlist her sympathies, and recall to her some recollections of her childhood, he expatiated, without cessation, on the horrors of slavery. Unfortunately for him, the negress, born at Martinique years after the emancipation of the slaves, did not understand one word of his conversation.

M. de Morin was at length obliged to beg Joseph to attend a little more to his legitimate duties, and a little less to Arabs and negresses, but Mohammed shut him up at once by saying—

"Reassure yourself, sir; I shall be strictly correct in the desert."