"How are we to manage a furious, blood-thirsty woman with the reins
loose on her neck and the bit fast in her teeth?"
"I know not," said Mark at last, "but I will think the matter over and
talk with you again."
"If I may be allowed to speak," said the Secretary.
"You are allowed," returned the Premier.
"Then I would advise that the Queen should arrange a grand journey--a
procession--all over the country, with thousands of her soldiers. This
will let her have plenty of fresh air and exercise, change of scene, and
excitement, and will give her something to do till her blood cools. At
the same time it will show the people her great power and perhaps induce
them to be cautious how they resist her will."
"The idea is good," said Mark, with animation, "so good that I would
advise its being carried out immediately--even before another week
passes."
Rainiharo shook his head. "Impossible. There is to be a great
bull-fight this week, and you know Ranavalona will allow nothing to
interfere with that. Besides, it takes time to get up such an
expedition as you suggest. However, I like the notion well. Go. I
will think over it and see you again."
The bull-fighting to which the Premier referred was a favourite
amusement with this blood-thirsty woman, and the spectacle usually took
place in the royal court-yard. Rainiharo was right when he said the
Queen would not forego it, but she was so pleased with the plan of a
royal progress through the country that she gave orders to make ready
for it at once in an extensive scale.
"You will of course accompany me," she said to Mark, when he was
summoned to a subsequent audience, "I may be ill, or my bearers may fall
and I may be injured."
"Certainly," he replied, "nothing would afford the Court Physician
greater pleasure than to attend upon her Majesty on such an expedition.
But I would ask a favour," continued Mark. "May my black servant
accompany me? He is very useful in assisting me with my medicines,
and--"
"Yes, yes," interrupted the Queen, "let him go with you by all means.
He shall have bearers if you choose. And take yon other man also--with
his music. I love his little pipe!"
In some excitement Mark went off to tell his comrades the news--which
Hockins received with a grunt of satisfaction, and the negro with a
burst of joy. Indeed the anxieties and worries they had recently
experienced in the city, coupled with the tyranny and bloodshed which
they witnessed, had so depressed the three friends that the mere idea of
getting once again into the fresh free open plains and forests afforded
them pleasure somewhat akin to that of the school-boy when he obtains an
unexpected holiday.
Great was the excitement all over the country when the Queen's intention
was made known. The idea was not indeed a novelty. Malagasy sovereigns
had been in the habit of making such progresses from time to time in
former years. The wise King Radama the First frequently went on hunting
expeditions with more or less of display. But knowing as they did, only
too well, the cruel character of Ranavalona the First, the people feared
that the desire to terrify and suppress had more to do with the event
than pleasure or health.
At last, everything being complete, the Queen left the capital, and
directed her course to the south-westward. Her enormous retinue
consisted of the members of the Government, the principal military and
civil officers and their wives, six thousand soldiers, and a host of
slaves, bearers, and other attendants; the whole numbering about 40,000
souls.
Great preparations had been made for the journey in the way of providing
large stores of rice, herds of cattle, and other provisions, but those
who knew the difficulties of the proposed route, and the thinly
populated character of the country, looked with considerable
apprehension on the prospects of the journey. Some there were, no
doubt, who regarded these prospects with a lively hope that the Queen
might never more return to her capital!
Of course such a multitude travelled very slowly, as may well be
believed when it is said that they had about 1500 palanquins in the
host, for there was not a wheeled vehicle in Madagascar at that time.
The soldiers were formed in five divisions; one carrying the tents, one
the cooking apparatus and spears, and one the guns and sleeping-mats.
The other two had always to be in readiness for any service required
about the Queen. The camp was divided into four parts; the Queen being
in the middle, in a blue tent, surrounded, wherever she halted for the
night, by high palisades, and near to this was pitched a tent containing
the idols of the royal family. The tent of the Prime Minister, with the
Malagasy flag, was pitched to the north of that of the Queen. East,
west, and south, were occupied by other high officers of State, and
among the latter was the tent of our friends, Mark, Hockins, and Ebony.
"Now," said the first of these, as he sat in the door of the tent one
evening after supper, watching the rich glow of sunshine that flooded a
wide stretch of beautiful country in front of him, "this would be
perfect felicity if only we had freedom to move about at our own
pleasure and hunt up the treasures in botany, entomology, etcetera, that
are scattered around us."
"True, Massa," returned Ebony, "it would be perfik f'licity if we could
forgit de poor Christ'ns in chains an' pris'ns."
"Right, Ebony, right. I am selfishly thinking only of myself at the
present moment. But let us hope we may manage to do these poor
Christians good before we leave the land."
"I don't think, myself, that we'll get much fun out o' this trip,"
remarked Hockins. "You see the Queen's too fond o' your physickin' and
of my tootootlin' to part with us even for a day at a time. If we was
like Ebony, now, we might go where we liked an' no one ud care."
"Ob course not," replied the negro, promptly, "peepil's nebber anxious
about whar wise men goes to; it's on'y child'in an' stoopid folk dey's
got to tink about. But why not ax de Queen, massa, for leabe ob absence
to go a-huntin'?"
"Because she'd be sure to refuse," said Mark. "No, I see no way out of
this difficulty. We are too useful to be spared!"
But Mark was wrong. That very night he was sent for by the Prime
Minister, and as he passed the Secretary's tent he called him out to act
as interpreter. On reaching the tent on the north side they found
Rainiharo doubled up on his mat and groaning in agony.
"What's wrong?" demanded the doctor.
"Everything!" replied the patient.
"Describe your feelings," said the doctor.
"I've--I've got a red-hot stone," groaned Rainiharo, "somewhere in my
inwards! Thorny shrubs are revolving in my stomach! Young crocodiles
are masticating my--oh!"
At this point his power of description failed; but that matters little,
for, never having met with the disease before, we can neither describe
it nor give it a name. The young doctor did not know it, but he knew
exactly what to do, and did it. We cannot report what he did, but we
can state the result, which was great relief in a few minutes and a
perfect cure before morning! Most men are grateful under such
circumstances--even the cruel Rainiharo was so.
"What can I do for you?" he asked, affectionately, next day.
A sudden inspiration seized the doctor, "Beg the Queen," he said, "to
let me and my two friends wander round the host all day, and every day,
for a short time, and I will return to report myself each night."
"For what purpose?" asked the Premier, in some surprise.
"To pluck plants and catch butterflies."
"Is the young doctor anxious to renew his childhood?"
"Something of the sort, no doubt. But there is medicine in the plants,
and--and--interest, if nothing else, in the butterflies."
"Medicine in the plants" was a sufficient explanation to the Premier.
What he said to the Queen we know not, but he quickly returned with the
required permission, and Mark went to his couch that night in a state of
what Ebony styled "perfik f'licity."
Behold our trio, then, once more alone in the great forests of
Madagascar--at least almost alone, for the Secretary was with them, for
the double purpose of gaining instruction and seeing that the strangers
did not lose themselves. As they were able to move about twice as fast
as the host, they could wander around, here, there, and everywhere, or
rest at pleasure without fear of being left behind.