CHAPTER XXXIII.

What could she have to say to us? What important communication was she thinking of making, at a time when prudence counselled the earliest possible departure, now that we had determined upon not giving way to the will of the King?

"We will hear you," said Delange to her, "but be quick, I beg; all these consultations are dangerous just now."

"Make your minds quite easy," replied Miss Beatrice. "I will be brief. Before letting you come to so important a resolution, one which may have a serious influence over our future, I merely wish to ask you one question."

"Ask it. Miss Poles, ask it."

"Are you sure," she commenced, pushing her glasses up from her eyes, "that the King meant Madame de Guéran, that it is with her that he desires an interview?"

Delange looked at de Morin, who looked at me, whilst I looked at Nassar, whose eyes were fixed on the Baroness. Nobody as yet perceived the drift of Miss Beatrice's remarks.

"I wish you to observe," she continued, "that the name of Madame de Guéran has never been mentioned, for the very simple reason that nobody knows it. The officer simply stated that the King would only receive the white woman. What white woman does he mean? The Baroness or me? I labour under the impression that I am as white as she is."

Our eyes were opened at last, and it was with great difficulty that we kept our countenances. Miss Poles resumed—

"There are occasions in one's life when ordinary considerations fail to have any effect. I have reason to believe that Munza meant me. Yesterday, during the audience, he never ceased to look at me; he smiled at me, and graciously offered me a banana and a cola nut. Lastly, you now know from our interpreter that instead of calling me an old woman, he said I was a pretty one. All these things put together, notwithstanding my entire freedom from conceit—I might almost say, my deep humility—impel me to ask you if you are not on a wrong scent, if I am not the one with whom the King desires a private interview."

I had turned away to hide my laughter, and de Morin had followed my example; Delange alone confronted Miss Poles.

"It is quite possible," said he to her, "that the King did mean you; I indeed am inclined to be of that opinion. But that does not alter the situation in any way whatever; in the first place, Munza insults us by not permitting us to accompany you; in the second, we cannot allow you to present yourself before him alone."

"But," she urged, "if this is a matter affecting our common interests, I am quite ready to run any risk. I am not afraid of anybody, and, besides, I have no reason to think that the King would behave otherwise than as a gentleman to any woman, to say nothing of my being an Englishwoman."

"We do not share your ideas on this subject," said Delange, firmly, "and, for my part, I absolutely refuse to let you enter that den alone. Have the kindness to come away with us, for we are off."

De Morin had by this time put himself at the head of the escort, and I, approaching the officer who had conveyed to us his master's orders, told him to inform the King that we were accustomed never to be separated from our sister, and that we were going away because he refused to receive us with her.

"What you have just done, gentlemen," said Miss Poles, as she followed us, "may turn out to be a serious business."

"It would have been far more serious," whispered de Morin, in my ear, "if we had sent her to the King, instead of Madame de Guéran. Munza would have scarcely thought the joke a good one, and he would have been right. But keep your eyes open all round, my dear fellow, whilst I look after the escort. At this very moment our reply is being communicated to the King, and he knows by this time that we are going away. He will be furious, and we have every reason to be afraid."

"That is so," said I. "A man accustomed to bend every will to his own, the demi-god of more than a million souls, will hardly believe that a handful of foreigners dare to refuse all obedience to him, and brave him even within the walls of his palace."

Happily, our fears were groundless, and we proceeded without the slightest _contretemps_ across the open space which separated us from the palisading. The building occupied by Munza, wherein we had declined to set foot, remained in perfect silence. Nobody came out of it, either to order us to return or to give any instructions to the soldiers whom we could see on every side of us. We soon reached the gate, and a very few moments more saw us within our own encampment.

De Morin prudently forbade all straggling on the part of the men of the escort; he inspected their guns and, without actually serving out the ammunition, he opened our boxes of cartridges and had them in readiness for any emergency. The rest of our people, who, as Joseph had stated, placed very little confidence in the Monbuttoos, approved of these precautions. At the same time we removed the injunction laid, as I have already recorded, upon Nassar with reference to any conversation on the subject of the Baron de Guéran, and we now instructed him to mix with the natives, large and small, who surrounded our encampment throughout the day, and to endeavour to obtain incidentally from them whatever information he could as to a white man having passed through, or stayed in their country.

These measures of precaution having been put in force, we set ourselves to wait. It was clear to us that Munza would communicate with us in some way or other during the evening; a black man cannot wait, and he never puts anything off until to-morrow, except, indeed, his work.

As we anticipated, about an hour after our return to our encampment, we saw, coming towards us as fast as his legs could carry him, one of the King's couriers or runners—the same, in fact, who, on the previous evening, as we were on our way to the public reception, had brought us Munza's greeting. To the functions of courier he evidently added those of ambassador or master of the ceremonies, and we received him with all the honours due to his exalted rank; that is to say, we permitted him to enter our enclosure and come to the hut where we were all assembled together, with our interpreter beside us.

Munza sent word to say that he could not understand why we had not allowed our sister to enter the palace unaccompanied. Had not he himself, that very morning, permitted his wives to visit us unattended?

We replied that every country had its own peculiar customs; we respected those of the Monbuttoos, but we could not depart from our own. In the mighty country where we were born, a woman never entered alone into the house of any man, unless he happened to be her father, her brother, or her husband.

This reply had no sooner been translated, than the courier departed as speedily as he had come.

Half an hour afterwards we saw him returning. Munza had decided upon his course of action, and sent it to us by word of mouth, just as we should convey our ideas by means of a letter or a despatch.

This time the ambassador was enjoined to tell us that his master wished to receive our sister in private, because the chief of the white men had, on the previous evening, stated that she did not wish to explain publicly the motive of her journey.

We replied in the following terms:—

"Our sister could not, indeed, speak before the whole court, but there is nothing to prevent her explaining herself in the presence of her brothers, who are aware of her secret, as the King cannot fail to suppose."

The end had not come yet. For the third time, the master of the ceremonies appeared, and informed us that the King consented to receive us all and that he was awaiting our visit.

We had foreseen some such message, feeling sure that Munza, whatever might be his motive, would not show his teeth, if such a vulgar expression may be used in connection with so powerful a monarch. But, in our own interest, and to retain our reputation as white men and important personages, we were determined to stand on our dignity.

The courier was therefore commissioned to convey to Munza, as literally as possible, the following message:—

"The King having refused the white people the _entrée_ into his palace, the latter cannot, after such an affront, present themselves immediately before him. But they are prepared to receive him as worthily as it is in their power to do, if he will condescend to pay them a visit."

The desultory conversation was at an end, and the evening and night passed off without any other incident. We thought it prudent, however, to place a strong guard round the camp, and, as we had been in the habit of doing for some time past, Delange, de Morin, and I divided the night between us, keeping watch and watch, as they do on board ship.

On the following day we were reassured on the score of the King's intentions towards us. Provisions, in large quantities, were sent to us, as on the previous evening. Munza either bore us no grudge, or, if he did, it was to his own interest to conceal it.

Towards eight o'clock there was a great stir around our camp, the palisading being thronged with a circle of natives, and we were apprised that the ruler of the Monbuttoos was preparing to pay us a visit.

Very soon the drums, trumpets, and horns began their customary din, shouts rent the air, and the King appeared in the midst of a numerous escort, who displayed great brutality in keeping at a distance such of his subjects as pressed upon him too closely.

De Morin, without delay, made our soldiers and the greater portion of the bearers fall in, and, after having issued his orders, rejoined us in our hut, the largest of all, where we firmly awaited the arrival of his Majesty of Monbuttoo.

We imagined that he intended entering our enclosure accompanied by his officers. Nothing of the sort—he ordered them to remain without, and alone, unarmed, calm, and with head erect, just as he had appeared to us at our first interview, he advanced up the centre of the path which we had made from the palisade to our hut. Our soldiers, who had been taught by de Morin a sort of drill in epitome, presented arms, whilst three Nubians, who acted as our drummers, beat the roll they had learnt under my instruction.

Above our hut floated the French Standard. We thought that, under the circumstances, we might fairly hoist it, and our beloved national ensign, which we had not seen for so long a time, made our hearts beat high. I am not quite sure that some of our eyes did not fill with tears at the sight of that bit of buntings waving in the air, and saluting us in the name of our country. Out of respect to the birth-place and earliest recollections of Madame de Guéran, as well as by way of consulting the prejudices of Miss Poles, the British flag was hoisted by the side of our own, but Delange, who was in charge of the decoration department, arranged matters so that our flag completely enveloped that of Great Britain. When so far away from home, and free from all danger of wounding any susceptibilities, one may be held excused for giving the highest place to the flag of one's own country.

The African monarch, on reaching the hut, was received by Delange, who held out his hand and begged him to enter our dwelling.