Great flocks of pelicans, their white feathers tinged with pink, were stalking about the beaches. Seen in the distance through the evening mirage, their forms assumed weird and unnatural proportions....
Evening had come. The sun had sunk down into the ocean, and a cooler breeze had set in from the sea.
Jean took out his mother’s letter and began to read it again....
“Now, my son, a thought struck Peyral yesterday which has alarmed us. It is that you may not wish to come back again now, but to remain in Africa.
“We are both very old. My good Jean, my dear son, your poor mother begs you on her knees not to let this prevent you from being sensible and from coming back to us soon, as we had expected. Otherwise I would rather die at once, and Peyral too.”
Then poor Jean felt his heart break—sobs rent his bosom, and his spirit of revolt dissolved in tears.
IX
Two days later all the warships required for the expedition were assembled to the north of St Louis, in the bend of the river near Pop-n’kior.
The embarkation was carried out in the midst of a great throng of people and a tremendous hubbub. All the women and children of the black riflemen were massed on the banks, screaming to heaven, as if bereft of reason.