“Wait and see. Curb your impatience a little bit, there’s a good chap. Do just as I tell you, and all will be well.”
Ibrahim approached M’Kamba and told him that Max was ready to open the araki bottles, and all should drink.
“The great chief did send the araki for the wives,” answered M’Kamba, proving clearly that all had been arranged beforehand.
The bottles—made of the bladders of cows, dried—were produced, and Max very quietly, in the presence of all, poured some white liquid in each of the bottles.
Ibrahim looked on in astonishment.
“Give a good drink to each of your wives, Ibrahim, but don’t touch a drop yourself.”
“Is it poison, Max?”
“On my honor, no.”
The girls drank heartily. It was the gala day of their lives.
They were about to become brides, and they felt their importance.