CHAPTER XXXIX.

The burning of an entire village, the dispersion of three hundred mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, and the beheading of eighty wives, are in Munza's eyes insufficient to prove his love. He shows a disposition towards delicate attentions also, and, under the impression that Madame de Guéran might be at a loss how to house her stock of slaves, he has sent to our encampment a host of servants with orders to erect a huge shed.

The idea is a charming one, and bespeaks an excellent heart. Indeed, these poor wretches, robbed since morning of their royal spouse, hurled down suddenly from a lofty position, and threatened with the loss of their heads, could scarcely be left at night without some sheltering roof.

From motives of delicacy, we were not present at their arrival, but we are told that they exhibit neither anger nor humiliation. Fear alone possesses them—fear as to the punishment or torture in reserve for them at the hands of the white woman, to whom they have been presented. Perhaps they dread being eaten, one after another, by their new mistress, but on this score they may make their minds easy. Madame de Guéran will not push her jealousy to such an extreme as that.

In spite, however, of the downcast air of Muriza's wives, we dare not rely too much on their spirit of resignation. It is at all times somewhat dangerous to have as near neighbours a hundred humiliated women, looking upon themselves as victims and eager for revenge. In the east, and especially in Africa, it is prudent to guard against poison, which evicted sultanas would have no hesitation in mixing with the food of their enemies. Consequently, we have resolved to keep the ex-royal wives at a respectful distance, and to establish a certain amount of discipline amongst them. Delange, to whom we have for a long time entrusted the superintendence of our servants of every description, sets about his task in connection with the new arrivals, with all his accustomed zeal.

But Delange, however busy he may be, would still find time hanging heavily on his hands, if he could not, now and then, have a game at piquet, écarté, or baccarat. And so it happened that, no sooner had he made the necessary arrangements for the comfort of our eighty slaves, than a brilliant idea struck him. He had not played cards once during the day, and, as he was the loser on the previous evening, he had, by virtue of the contract, a right to dispose of his adversary as he pleased.

De Morin, meanwhile, was reclining in front of my hut and chatting with me, casting every now and then an occasional glance at the last dying embers of the conflagration.

"Sorry to disturb you, my dear fellow," said Delange, coming up to us, "but you owe me my revenge for last night."

"My dear doctor," replied de Morin, who had seen the approach of his adversary and expected some such proposal, "I hope I may be allowed to say that you are always taking your revenge, and have been doing so for a long time. You have won back from me more than sixty thousand francs at every game known in Europe and Africa. I do not know whether medicine, botany, geography, and science generally will derive much benefit from our expedition, but I can safely assert that on your return to Paris you will be able to write a very instructive work on the various games of chance in vogue amongst the Africans. You have a wonderful nose for scenting them out, and an equally surprising facility in learning them. The negroes themselves are afraid of you, and decline to play with you any more. 'The white man,' they say, 'is too clever by half, and would win the very shirts from off our backs.' Excuse the word, as unknown in these parts as the garment it designates, but it accurately expresses the idea of your adversaries. In short, if there were a Jockey Club amongst these African tribes, and you were put up for election, you would be blackballed to a dead certainty."

"Have you quite finished your little speech, my dear de Morin?" asked Delange.

"Quite, thank you. Have you one to let off, by way of a change? I shall be delighted to hear it, and, under the supposition that it is the case, pray sit down on this empty box here, the whilom receptacle of our deeply regretted claret. I must apologise for not offering you a cigar; the last of them, like our other luxuries, has vanished. But if this beastly negro tobacco appeals to your taste, do not hesitate to help yourself. It is a delicate piece of attention from the hands of the King of the Monbuttoos."

"My dear fellow," replied Delange, as soon as he could get a word in edgeways, "I will not sit down on this box; it has nails in it, and they have already abstracted a portion of my nether garments. Tailors are scarce in this country, so you must forgive me for being careful of my remaining rags. They are deserting me bit by bit in the most cowardly manner, notwithstanding my affection for them, and I already seem to foresee the hour when I shall have to betake myself to the forest for a covering. As for smoking, I have no time to indulge in any such luxury; it is eleven o'clock, and we have only sixty minutes in which to play our daily and compulsory game."

"'Still harping on my daughter!' My arguments do not appear to have any effect."

"On the contrary; they have convinced me that we must play on without intermission, seeing that, as you yourself confess, I am in the vein."

"Take care! You lost yesterday."

"Which is precisely the reason why, according to our contract, I now bid you rise and follow me at once."

"Follow you? Where to, in the name of fortune?"

"To the residence of the royal dames."

"Their houses are burning, it is a pretty sight still."

"I am not speaking of that defunct village, now turned into one vast furnace. We are hot enough already without going near the fire. I was alluding to this new shed, beneath which all these ladies await our coming."

"Are they not asleep by this time?"

"They dare not sleep," replied Delange, gravely. "I led them to expect a visit from us."

De Morin had finished his pipe by this time, and, always resigned and true to his word, he followed Delange. I followed suit, for I foresaw some amusement in assisting at a game of cards, which, considering where it was to take place, promised to be peculiar.

The Monbuttoo ladies, as the doctor had told us, were not asleep, and, as we drew near the shed, we heard a confused, continuous hum of many voices, as if they were complaining of the conduct of their royal spouse, whom they reproached with having treated them without due consideration.

"And we are actually slave-owners!" exclaimed de Morin, as we drew near.

"Delange is, my dear fellow," I replied. "The doctor has become a most inveterate trader, a regular nigger-driver. We shall have to give him up to the Egyptian authorities when we get back."

"You do not mean to drag all these women southwards with us?" asked de Morin.

"I really do not know," replied the doctor, "and you had better give me the benefit of your advice on that point. It would be rather a bore to be followed by such a flock of women, but, at the same time Munza might accuse us of despising his gift."

"The King," I observed, "is persuaded that after a short trip towards the south, he will bring us back to his own territory. He will therefore deem it very natural that we should leave these ladies here in our encampment. They will be supposed to be managing our household affairs during our absence."We had by this time reached the shed, whence puffs of hot air, and lightning glances from innumerable eyes greeted us. Nevertheless, in spite of their number, these small beacons were powerless to illumine a moonless night.

"How are we going to get inside this human ant-hill?" asked de Morin. "We shall run the risk of being engulfed in it, and, as for playing, that is out of the question. We shall never be able to see our cards."

"Make your mind easy on that score," replied the doctor. "I never forget anything. You shall have plenty of light."

And as he said this he appeared to be feeling for something in his coat pocket.

"Do you mean to say that you have any matches left?" I exclaimed, "I thought we gave our last box to Madame de Guéran yesterday?"

"I have something better than matches," said Delange.

He found what he was looking for, left us for a moment, and, stooping down at a little distance from us, he set light to some small fireworks, which we had packed up amongst our cartridges, in accordance with the suggestions of our predecessors in travel, and as an additional means of amusing the negroes. The fireworks chosen by the doctor were Bengal lights, which, instead of blinding us at first and then going out themselves, were manufactured to burn for some time and spread around them a many-coloured radiance.

Notwithstanding the softness of this illumination, the women, with a vivid recollection of the conflagration of which they had been the victims, imagined that their new residence was about to be burnt, and they began to tremble in every limb. To fear, however, wonder soon succeeded; the blue and green flames, which, placed in front of them, lit them up in so novel and picturesque a fashion, made them wild with delight. Instead of shrinking away, as they had done at first, they came nearer and nearer, and were soon deeply interested in watching the effect of the various colours on their dark skins.

The organizer of this _fête_ placed three stools in the middle of the shed; the first for de Morin, the second for himself, and the third to serve as a card-table. These preparations completed, he motioned his adversary to a seat, and throwing three packs of cards down on the table, he intimated that, exercising his right of choice, he intended to play ordinary bezique, fifteen hundred up.