About an hour after sunrise Doctor Delange commenced his round of
visits. The wounded had, indeed, every need of his skilful
ministrations. De Morin and I went with him, as medical students or
hospital orderlies. Less presumptuous than on the previous day, I had
resigned my position as assistant-surgeon.
"I do not intend," said Delange, as we walked along, "to depart from
my Parisian habits. When I was a surgeon at Lariboisière, I always
began my rounds with the hospital, leaving my rich patients to wait
until I had finished there. So I am going to begin with the
prisoners, and shall attend to those who were wounded yesterday
before I do anything to the royal thigh. Does that suit you?"
"Perfectly," I replied. "We shall, in all probability, have a long
conversation with Munza, and the other invalids might grow
impatient."
The prisoners had been turned into a large enclosure, surrounded by a
palisade; quite naked, and huddled together like a flock of sheep
brought to the shambles, they awaited, with resignation, the arrival
of the butchers. Thanks to the precautions we had taken, no harm had
come to any of them.
Delange dressed their wounds, set a few dislocated limbs, and very
skilfully extracted such arrow-heads as had been thoughtless enough
to remain embedded in the flesh. Did his patients appreciate these
attentions? Did they take him for a surgeon or a cook? To reply to
these questions, the doctor betook himself to the study of a few
heads. Alas! after examination made, he confessed that the gorilla
and the chimpanzee appeared to him superior to the Domondoos, from an
intellectual point of view. Nevertheless, as regards the structure of
the body, we have come to the conclusion that the nearer we approach
to the equator, the more perfect becomes the human form. The Niam-Niam
have the advantage of the Bongos, and are in turn surpassed by
the Monbuttoos, whilst the Domondoos are in advance of both.
"We are evidently drawing near," said Delange, "to that famous tribe
of which we have heard so much. At last we shall see the dusky Venus
of my dreams."
Munza appeared very grateful to the doctor for the visit. His
ordinary attendants would never have succeeded in extracting the
arrow-head which had wounded him, and, without Delange, he would have
suffered horribly, even if he had not died from the poison. He
submitted, therefore, with the best possible grace to a fresh
dressing, which made him lend a willing ear to what we had to say.
Nassar recounted to him the incident of the previous evening, and
gave him a resumé of M. de Guéran's letter. One point, which seemed
to us of but little importance, struck him at once.
"The Domondoos ill-treated your father," said he, "and you,
doubtless, are eager for revenge. Take two thousand of my prisoners
and kill them without mercy; I give them to you."
We replied that white men never thought of revenge, but did good,
even to their enemies. Munza was silent for a moment; in spite of all
his efforts, he could not understand us.
"Then," he said, at last, addressing Delange, "you did not come to my
assistance yesterday, and cure my wound, because I am your friend?"
"I came to you because you were in pain," replied the Doctor. "I try
to cure all those who suffer."
The King was silent once more for an instant, and then he murmured a
few words, which meant, "these white men are very strange!"
A species of slow, but progressive, revolution was taking place in
the mind of this barbarian. He was still far from understanding or
sharing in our ideas, but they attracted his attention, and he
endeavoured to make a note of them, ponder over them, and compare
them with his own. He was living with us in a new world, one which,
he instinctively admired.
"And so," he resumed presently, "you do not want me to give you my
prisoners?"
"On the contrary," said de Morin. "But if you do we shall set them at
liberty."
"That is impossible;" replied Munza, as soon as the words were
translated for him; "my soldiers would mutiny. Whatever we capture
from the enemy, belongs to them equally with myself."
"Give us, then, your share of the booty," said I, boldly.
"Yes, I will give that to your sister," replied the King.
"In her name we thank you, and we will release the women, the
children, and the wounded."
"Be it so! What is done," he asked, after another pause, "in your
country with the prisoners?"
"We keep them in custody for a certain time," replied de Morin, "to
prevent them fighting against us. As soon as the war is over, we send
them back to their own country."
"Where do you keep them?"
"In our towns. The officers can even walk about, as they are free on
parole."
Nassar could not translate this last expression, and we were
compelled to make use of a paraphrase to convey our meaning.
"And is that sufficient?" said Munza.
"The white man never lies," replied de Morin, imprudently.
"Ah!" exclaimed the King. "Then tell me if you think your sister will
return to my kingdom and marry me?"
De Morin had made the mistake, and on him fell the responsibility of
repairing it.
"She will certainly return," said he, "if we find our father, and he
allows her to marry you."
"Do you think he will?"
"I do not know, and I cannot say. To make a statement, without being
sure about its truths is to tell a lie, and I have already said that
we never lie."
A lengthy silence ensued.
"You wish, therefore," resumed Munza, "to visit the people you call
Maleggas, and we Maogoos? I can take you there without any fighting,
for the King, Kadjoro, is my ally. But suppose your father has left
his kingdom?"
"We must go on."
"I cannot go so far away from my country."
"Not even to win our sister?"
"If I were only sure of winning her I would give up my kingdom!"
Nassar was not under the necessity of interpreting this last
sentence, such expression was there in Munza's look, action and
voice.
It was agreed that the King of the Monbuttoos should give due notice
to his ally of his speedy arrival, and that the army should continue
its march towards the south. The prisoners were to be despatched to
Degberra, but the soldiers sent with them were forbidden, on pain of
death, to maltreat them.
"Munza is decidedly becoming more and more civilised," said Delange,
as we were going back to our camp. "Love works wonders. But is there
not something in the conduct of this savage quite contrary to reason?
Nobody will believe our account of this part of our expedition. I
think I hear the Club wits say—'Get along with you! You are making
fun of us! Instead of making love to Madame de Guéran in the orthodox
fashion, and setting about the discovery of her _soi-disant_ father,
an African monarch would have killed or poisoned you off-hand. And
when he had got rid of his trio of bores, he would have shut the
Baroness up in his palace, without giving her the option of saying
yes or no."
"The ignorant and fools would, doubtless, say so, my dear Delange,"
replied de Morin, "and their saying so would simply prove that they
knew nothing whatever of the credulous, unsophisticated character of
the negro, and that they utterly ignored the marvellous _prestige_
attaching to white men amongst the African tribes. Men of
intelligence would take the trouble of reflecting, and would say to
themselves that the stronger and more numerous have not always the
courage to attack their weaker brethren. Here the colour of the skin
goes for something; in Europe, rank and education fill the same
_rôle_. Take a regiment, for instance. Send it on a campaign by
itself, free from all control, and fearless of consequences. The rank
and file muster two thousand, and the officers, perhaps, twenty, but
those twenty men, even with sheathed swords, can do what they like
with that, comparatively speaking, vast army of rifles. Materially,
Munza cannot fear us; morally, without knowing it, he trembles before
us."
"In that case," said I to de Morin, "we shall never have to fight the
King and his army?"
"I never said so. The moment he sees that we do not intend to return
to his dominions, and to surrender Madame de Guéran to him, he may
become terrible. The influence we exercise over him at this present
time will vanish before his passions. The savage will once more
resume his rights, and in that case I would not give much for our
three lives. But, my dear fellow, we must be guided, as we have ever
been, by events. If we only take proper precautions before
undertaking anything, Paris may yet have the honour of claiming us
once more as her own."
In the afternoon, some of Munza's officers came to ask us to choose
our prisoners. Without standing on any ceremony, we released a goodly
number—that is to say, we allowed M. de Guéran's host to release
them. He selected his friends, and they were at once turned out of
the enclosure. He thus, very cheaply, acquired a great reputation in
his own country, and was speedily recognised as a sorcerer, which
elevated him to the ranks of the nobility. The Baron's debt was
discharged.