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."