CHAPTER L.

The answer of Dr. Delange was not long delayed, and the following morning he announced his intention of joining the expedition. This result might have been foreseen, for, when a journey is in question, hesitation exists at the moment of departure alone. When fairly on the road, vacillating characters lose their indecision, and bear testimony to the truth of the proverb, "_Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte_." Ties hard to break are formed amongst the travellers; services rendered by one to another create new duties for each, _amour-propre_ enters into the calculation, no one member of the community wants to be under an obligation to another, nobody will give way whilst his neighbour holds out, and each one would blush for a desertion which would be condemned by all.

Again, in dangerous undertakings such as that we are discussing, gratitude as well as _amour-propre_ has somewhat to say. A very serious kind of treaty, a treaty of life and death, is entered upon by the various components of the caravans—"I was almost lost to-day when you saved me; to-morrow it will be my turn to save you." In this way Dr. Delange, having rescued M. de Morin from the Bedouins of El-Bejaz, scored the first game. M. de Morin had just won the second; the conqueror had to be played, and the Doctor, like the thorough gambler that he was, did not care about leaving the _partie_ undecided.

And now that we are speaking of gambling, we ought to mention that M. Delange had by no means given up the parties prescribed by his contract. Only, because M. de Morin had of late shown himself disinclined both for baccarat and écarté, the Doctor, not to drive him to desperation, had offered him credit for a few weeks, on condition that he would wipe off the score later on. They were already twenty _parties_, of a thousand francs each, behindhand, and that alone held out to M. Delange an agreeable prospect for the future; for, adding these twenty to the one per diem agreed upon, he saw before him a gambling horizon of stupendous proportions. Africa and its dreaded tribes disappeared, and he only saw cards, nothing but cards, strewing his onward path. They smoothed away all the rough places, and levelled all the precipices on the road. And we may as well add that the exploration fever, confessed to by so many others, had seized upon him, and had awakened in him the hitherto lalent instincts of a traveller.

MM. de Morin and Périères were consequently accompanied by Dr. Delange, when, on the following day, they betook themselves to Madame de Guéran. She had herself summoned to the conference Miss Beatrice Poles, and the Dinka Nassar, who had brought her the letter from her husband, as well as the two Arab interpreters, whose devotion had been so conspicuous during the first portion of the expedition. The trusty Joseph, also summoned, responded to the call. It had been vainly expected that he would have resolved upon returning to France, but he persisted in being one of the party with an obstinacy, of which Miss Poles, who could not bear the sight of him, had divined the real motive.

Joseph hoped to make a rapid fortune in Africa, and to find an opening for two branches of industry—ivory and slaves. In his idea, these two businesses were inseparable; ivory and slaves were one and the same thing. He had read that a few pieces of copper, or a yard or two of calico, or a packet of needles, would, in certain regions, buy a young girl, about fifteen, who would be easily exchanged in another tribe for an elephant's tusk. The copper, calico, or needles represented a value of four or five francs, whereas tusks would be sold in Europe at a rate of from five hundred to seven hundred and fifty francs. The business, conducted on a large scale, was therefore magnificent, and Joseph did not feel inclined to forego it. In addition to this, he was rather pleased with the idea of becoming for some time the proprietor of a certain number of slaves, and he proposed, by means of them, to relieve himself of a portion of his work, and to enjoy all the advantages of a servant free from all expense, and a master who had nothing to do.

Our European colony thus retained its original dimensions, and required merely an escort and the proper complement of bearers. A consultation was held on this point, the inconvenience of a large following having been confessed by every traveller. Large caravans have the credit, at all events, of spreading terror along their route, and of assuming an attitude of open hostility against the native population, still in a state of barbarism, it is true, but free, nevertheless, to put their veto on the inroad of armed people into their territories. Why should we do in Africa what we should not allow anybody to do in Europe? Should we allow armed negroes to march from one end to the other of France or England? Livingstone, Mungo Park, Major Laing, René Caillié, Grant, Speke, Cameron, Barth, Vögel, and plenty of other travellers never dreamt of pursuing their explorations with a countless escort.

Nevertheless, these reflections are not quite as just as they seem to be, for the travellers, whose names we have mentioned, were content to travel slowly, ever temporizing and substituting tact and patience for force. They often remained entire years at the mercy of the chief of some petty tribe? What did it matter to them? It only gave them greater opportunities for studying the country under every aspect and condition, to the manifest advantage of all branches of science. And, at the same time, the tribes amongst whom they lived became familiar with their manners and customs, and were improved in consequence, the explorers in this way becoming apostles and missionaries. But our caravan had another end in view; their object was to recover an explorer, a bold pioneer, lost, or strayed, or, perhaps, in imminent danger of his life. They had no time to lose, and could not brook the delays incidental to a scientific expedition or an apostolic mission. Moreover, if we do not allow armed strangers to wander through France, we, at least, offer them certain guarantees against danger which we can scarcely find in Africa. When that country shall have provided itself with railways, gendarmes, sergents-de-ville, or policemen, we shall no longer require armed and costly escorts.

It was decided, therefore, that attention should only be paid, within certain limits, of course, to the advice of single travellers, and that the number of soldiers and bearers should be reduced, as far as possible, consistently with the expedition being strong enough to force its way in case of necessity, to inspire respect, and repulse any attack. Nassar and the two interpreters received orders to engage fifty experienced soldiers who had already accompanied expeditions to the south, and from this escort Arabs were to be excluded on account of their always being prone to look upon the districts to be explored as conquered countries, continually maltreating the inhabitants, and exciting quarrels. In default of Dinkas, Nubians were to be chosen, not for any courage or habits of discipline that they possess, but because they are good shots, inured to the climate, and expert pioneers. Neither were they likely to desert, because they would leave their country with the caravan, and would naturally be interested in returning with it. The leaders of the expedition, indeed, could not, without grave imprudence, engage any people belonging to the tribes they were about to visit, lest, when they arrived at their own homes, they should be tempted to remain there.

Thanks to all these precautions, the small force of soldiers was rapidly recruited, made up of good material, and armed with excellent carbines purchased in France and brought to Khartoum by the Nile from Cairo, whence they had been forwarded with all the other heavy baggage three months previously. As soon as the ranks of the escort were filled up, it was placed under the command of Nassar, who was, however, not to adopt any measure of importance without previous consultation with MM. Périères and Delange, his immediate chiefs. All these men were duly enlisted at the Divan, and signed an agreement to pay implicit obedience to the Europeans, who were at the same time invested with the power of punishment or reward, according to circumstances. According to the custom in vogue in the districts of the White River, five months' pay was handed over in advance, the remainder to be paid on the return of the expedition.

The question of bearers was quite as serious, but, thanks to the assistance of the Egyptian authorities, contracts were entered into with ivory merchants, holders of stations (seribas) in the southern districts. These traders undertook, as soon as the expedition, leaving the river, advanced by land, to furnish from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men as porters, to carry the baggage, presents of all kinds, such as glass beads, copper, and cotton goods, and, more important than all, the provisions necessary for so numerous a body.

The escort settled, the three Parisians, assisted now by Madame de Guéran and Miss Poles, turned their attention to laying in a stock of brandy, tea, coffee, compressed vegetables, and spices. To the various articles brought from France to serve as presents or exchanges, they added a large quantity of English calico and coarse check, called _troumba_. Finally, an ample stock of ammunition— powder, bullets, lead, and cartridges was laid in, and packed in iron cases, with locks and keys, for it must be remembered that the negroes are very much given to waste on a large scale, and it is prudent to take precautions to prevent their habit of firing in the air now and again for amusement. All this immense paraphernalia was by degrees put on board the four vessels purchased by the Europeans, the neggher or noggor which had brought them from Berber to Khartoum, and three decked boats known on the Nile under the name of dahabiéh. One of the latter was fitted up for the conveyance of a few donkeys and ten horses, destined for the use of the Europeans, their interpreters, and their executive officer, Nassar.

The whole flotilla was to be towed for a portion of the way, as far as the Gazelle River, by a steamer, belonging to the Government and ordered to proceed to Gondokoro, in search of Baker, whose military mission would expire on the 1st April, 1873.

The preparations were all completed by the end of January. There was nothing then to detain our European colony at Khartoum, and it was at liberty to commence that terrible journey which for so long a time took such hold of both Europe and America.

* * * * * *

"My dear Pommerelle and Desrioux, for, as you say you always meet to read our letters, this one is addressed to you both. I write to you in my own name, and those of de Morin and Delange, who are too much occupied with our final preparations for departure to say good-bye to you as they could have wished.

"We hope to embark in an hour's time, if we can manage to collect our sailors, escort, and servants, the whole lot having been undiscoverable and unmanageable ever since they handled their five months' pay, and are evidently bent on leaving their last piastre in the purlieus of Khartoum.

"I have, in my former letters, posted you both up fully as regards our projected plans, which have not been altered in the least. We are going to bear in a straight line southward as far as the seriba, where Nassar states he entertained M. de Guéran. There we shall endeavour to hit upon and follow up the track of our fellow-countryman; but it is evident, as far as de Morin and I are concerned, that if we had known in France as much about the Baron as we have learnt in Khartoum, we should have mapped out a very different plan of operations.

"In reality, if M. de Guéran has succeeded, as he seems in his letter to expect, in crossing the frontier of the Monbuttoos and making either Lake Albert Nyanza or Lake Tanganyika, we are simply going to follow in his footsteps, without any chance of overtaking him. If, on the contrary, we had started from Zanzibar, by way of Kazé, in a north-westerly direction, we might have met him actually coming towards us, and, in any case, we could have reached, from that side, the unknown countries he proposed to visit just as easily as by the Monbuttoo territory. If we could begin de novo, we should therefore start from Zanzibar. But these reflections are futile and all regrets superfluous.

"Good-bye, then, my dear friends, from all of us. Do not quite forget us, take our part against those who call us fools, and if you never hear from us more, say to yourselves that we died thinking of you and our beloved France."

END OF VOL. I.

End of Project Gutenberg's A Parisian Sultana, Vol. I (of 3), by Adolphe Belot