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.