As a conclusion, the guests themselves danced, and between the dances Mr. Lambert gave us some very pretty songs.
About ten o’clock Mr. Laborde whispered to me that I should allege the weakness that still remained from my late indisposition as a pretext for breaking up the party. I replied that this was not my province, but that of Prince Rakoto; but he urged me to do it, adding that he had a particular reason for his request, which he would explain to me later; and, accordingly, I broke up the party.
Favored by the brightest of moonlight, we marched up the hill toward our dwellings to the sound of merry music.
Prince Rakoto and Mr. Lambert then called me into a side-chamber, and the prince declared to me once more that the private contract between himself and Mr. Lambert had been drawn up with his full concurrence, and that he, the prince, had been grossly calumniated when he was represented as intoxicated at the time of his signing it. He told me farther that Mr. Lambert had come to Madagascar by his wish, and with the intention, in conjunction with himself and a portion of the nobility and soldiers, to remove Queen Ranavola from the throne, but without depriving her of her freedom, her wealth, or the honors which were her due.
Mr. Lambert, on his part, informed me that we had dined in Mr. Laborde’s garden-house because every thing could be more quietly discussed there, and that I had been requested to break up the party that the little feast might seem to have been given in my honor; finally, that we had gone through the town with the noisy music as a sign that the object of our meeting had been social amusement.
He then showed me in the house a complete little arsenal of sabres, daggers, pistols, and guns, wherewith to arm the conspirators, and leather shirts of mail for resisting lance-thrusts; and told me, in conclusion, that all preparations had been made, and the time for action had almost come—in fact, I might expect it every hour.
I confess that a strange feeling came over me when I found myself thus suddenly involved in a political movement of grave importance, and at the first moment a crowd of conflicting thoughts rushed through my brain. I could not conceal from myself the fact that if the affair failed, my life would be in the same danger as Mr. Lambert’s; for, in a country like Madagascar, where every thing depends on the despotic will of the ruler, no trouble is taken to determine the question of guilty or not guilty. I had come to Tananariva in the company of one of the chief conspirators; I had also been present at several meetings; more was not required to make me an accomplice in the plot, and therefore just as worthy of punishment as the active members themselves.
My friends in the Mauritius had certainly warned me previously against undertaking the journey in Mr. Lambert’s company, and, from what had been reported there, and likewise from some scattered words which Mr. Lambert had let fall from time to time, I was able to form an idea of what was going on; but my wish to obtain a knowledge of Madagascar was so great that it stifled all fear. Now, indeed, there was no drawing back; and the best I could do was to put a good face upon a bad matter, and trust in that Providence which had already helped me in many and great dangers.
I gave Prince Rakoto and Mr. Lambert my most heartfelt wishes for the success of their undertaking, and then retired to my room. It was already past midnight. I went to bed, and, exhausted as I was, soon fell asleep; but all night long I had disturbed dreams, and, among others, the following very singular one: I dreamed that the plot had been discovered, and that the queen had summoned Mr. Lambert and myself to the palace. We were brought into a large room, and had to wait there a long, long time. At length the queen appeared with all her court; Prince Rakoto was there too, but he stood aside in a window, and dared not look at us.
One of the ministers—the same who had taken us to court on our first reception—made a long speech, the purport of which I understood, in spite of my ignorance of the Malagasey languages, and in which he reproached Mr. Lambert for his ingratitude and treachery. Another minister then took up the harangue, and announced that we were condemned to the tanguin.