CHAPTER XXXVI.

"This morning, at daybreak, we commenced our preparations for departure, for, come what may, we must make up the time we have lost.

"Miss Poles is better already, but, nevertheless, we begged her to make use of a camel. As she has but one idea, that of recommencing as soon as possible her gymnastic exercises, she yielded to our entreaties.

"Her long, thin figure, perched perpendicularly on the camel's back, lofty enough by nature, produces the drollest possible effect. But we seize upon the particular weakness of Miss Beatrice, her _amour-propre_, and assure her that her appearance on the gigantic steed is at once full of majesty and grace, and that the camel becomes her admirably.

"The sick horse is also improving, and, as for Joseph's donkey, he spent such a day of luxurious idleness yesterday that his hard-working propensities are again in full swing. Out of pity for the poor beast, weighed down by that lump of vanity, his rider, I have decided that he shall be ridden only a part of the way.

"In case you should be tempted to ask why I do not send this idle servant of mine, so cumbrous a travelling companion, to the right-about, back again to France, I must recal to your recollection a charming comedy, once performed at the Gymnase, called '_La Voyage de M. Perrichon_,' which is based entirely on the eminently true idea that our attachment for others depends more upon what we do for them than on what they do for us. You will, therefore, readily understand that, having, at the risk of my life, saved Joseph from death or slavery, he has become proportionately dear to me.

"He amuses me, too, I confess, by his mixture of stupidity and self-sufficiency, and I must admit that when, perchance, he does condescend to wait on me, he does it, to use his own expression, in a most correct fashion. It is quite a treat, I assure you, in this country, almost a desert, in the midst of this semi-barbarian existence, and under the tent where I have just passed the night, to set eyes on a clean-shaven, neat-looking valet, with my clothes over his arm, my boots blacked and in his hand, and himself in readiness to give me my slippers. I forget Africa, Bedouins, mountains, camels, my tent, the board which serves me for a bed, and I imagine that I am in the heart of Paris, in the Rue Taitbout, in my own snug little bedroom.

"To-day we have turned our backs upon the verdant plains, the splendid clumps of trees, and all the superb vegetation which has charmed us up to the present time. In the neighbourhood of the well of O-Back (the great well, I mean) the country is one mass of sand, the precursor of that twenty league desert which we have to traverse before we reach the valley of the Nile. Yes, my dear fellow, twenty leagues of sand, a fine and shifting sand, which the wind, according to its fancy, either leaves as level as a billiard-table, or heaps up in huge hillocks, and which the burning rays of the sun cause to sparkle like mingled particles of gold and silver.

"For three days we passed through these gloomy solitudes, compelled half our time to travel on foot, for our horses sank into the sand up to their knees. Even the camels began to show signs of fatigue; they staggered under their loads, and their drivers, dragging themselves wearily along after them, in vain repeated their customary cry of 'hot, hot, hot,' meant to rouse and stimulate them to fresh exertions.

"In spite of all these delays we reached the well of Abou-Tagger, and, after having come upon an alluvial plain, our eyes rest at last upon the Nile, to which, nearly a month ago, we said au revoir at Cairo, about three hundred miles north of our present position. We hasten to the stream with almost childish glee, and we seem as if we have once more met an old friend with whom we are destined to spend many a long day.

"The Nile, out of gratitude, no doubt, for our hearty greeting and effusive welcome, regales us with a curious spectacle. Picture to yourself an _al fresco_ washing establishment, a congregation of copper-coloured washerwomen, young and pretty, and boasting no other garment than a short, petticoat reaching from the waist to the knees.

"These pretty girls were doing their washing to an accompaniment of song and dance, using their feet, instead of their hands, as 'dollies' to press out the clothes after they have rinsed them in the river and spread them along the bank. They stand first on one foot and then on the other, never on both at the same time, and stamp in unison in slow and measured time.

"Our arrival did not discompose them in the least; they continued to perform their little operation, laughing the while and showing us their white teeth. This unexpected tableau was all the more pleasing to us, as, since we left Souakim, with the exception of our Abyssinian travellers, we had not met amongst the Bischaris tribes any but very unprepossessing specimens of the female race.

"And so at last we rest at Berber, or El-Mecherif, on the right bank of the Nile, in a real house, a perfect palace to us, in real beds, with real mattresses, an accumulation of comforts which, I assure you, plunges us into a sort of ecstacy.

"And now we see what an able leader we have in Madame de Guéran. With what skill she has traced out our route for us! How well she has prepared us for long journeys and severe exertion! How excellently she has arranged our various transitions! If, at one fell swoop, she had compelled us to traverse some far-stretching desert, if she had led us far away from all civilization, straight into the centre of barbarism, without any chance of resuming our wonted habits, she would have run the risk of disgusting some of us. Périères and I, it is true, would have certainly followed her, but with a certain amount of uneasiness, and, possibly, discouragement. But Delange would have been quite capable of cancelling our contract and hurrying back to Paris to start a baccarat bank. The Baroness, however, had let us see just so much of Africa as was calculated to arouse our curiosity without satisfying it, to tire us without affecting our health, to inure us to fatigue without wearing us out. She introduced us to a little bit of a desert, which, so far from frightening us, whetted our appetites and gave us visions of horizons more vast, of plains more extended, of dangers more serious. As yet we only know a kind of toy Africa, harmless and without churlishness, spring-like and temperate, with its oases, its wells, its mountains, its miniature storms, all that makes life agreeable, variety, accident, everything to inspire a love of travel and incite to great discoveries.

"It is in this spirit that Périères, Delange, and I, full of confidence and utterly devoid of fear, more daring and audacious day by day, are undertaking the conquest of Africa. It may rebuff us, may weary us, may terrify us with hardships, but we shall merely halt, rest a while, to-day at Berber, to-morrow at Khartoum, troubled only by the eager longing to go onward, to surmount fresh obstacles, to brave new dangers, and attain our settled goal.

"Do not think from all this, my dear fellow, that the town where we are is an Eden. This halt is pleasurable solely by comparison with the recent ones we have made in the desert. Berber consists simply of a long string of rather low-pitched houses, situate on the right bank of the Nile—a collection of shops and stalls, where European merchandize is exposed for sale at ruinous prices. The market, or bazaar, is very badly supplied, and it is with considerable difficulty that we succeeded in laying in the stock of provisions necessary for us during our journey as far as Khartoum. Fortunately for us, a French merchant, standing very high in these parts, and courteous to a degree, placed himself completely at our disposal, and smoothed away all our difficulties. Thanks to his kind offices, we have chartered a large vessel in which to ascend the Nile, and, acting on his good advice, after getting rid of our camels and their drivers, instead of parting also with our horses we have added some more to our stable. We shall in this way perform our journey, half by land, and half by water—on the Nile so long as it has any features of interest—on horseback, whenever our maps tell us that there is anything worth seeing in the neighbourhood.