Adolphe Belot

“ But if the gambler in him was still unsubdued and burning with an unabated fever for play, the savant and the doctor combined were equally wide awake. Committed, in an unforeseen and eccentric fashion, to an expedition of which, only a fortnight before, he never dreamt, M. Delange, gambling being out of the question, did not in the least regret the engagement into which he had entered. The study of medicine, to a man gifted with intelligence, anxious to learn, and despising the beaten tracks to knowledge, is a perpetual excursion into unknown lands—a veritable voyage of discovery. ”

“ But, no; like Madame de Guéran, M. Périères preferred to keep by his side his companion, the friend ready to do any deed of devotion. It was shameful to act thus in the exceptional circumstances in which they were placed! If such want of confidence, such caution, such hypocrisy, and such cowardice pass muster in the world, in the drawing-rooms and boudoirs of Parisian society, they ought not to exist between friends who have together braved death and are ready to brave it again, between wanderers on a savage Continent, in a deadly climate! ”

“ Our journey is not as fatiguing as yours, I admit. Instead of pitching our tents in the desert or on the mountains we content ourselves with sticking large-headed, many-coloured pins to mark your different halting-places. Of late we have been ashamed of this passive travelling, and, after a good dinner, excited by your letters, and enamoured of your descriptions, we suddenly conceived the idea of joining you. Yes, my dear friends, joining you in Africa, at Khartoum!' They were screwed,' you will exclaim. I was, perhaps, a little gone, but I assure you that Desrioux was as sober as a judge. ”

“ We must trust in God!" said M. Delange.
"Allah defend us!" exclaimed the interpreter.
The small band of horsemen was now only separated from the Bedouins by a very small extent of ground, and they marched on in silence, at a walk, as if they were at a review, each man having his revolver in his hand but concealing it behind the pommel of his saddle. The Nomads, on the contrary, were gesticulating, brandishing their arms, exciting their camels with their voices, and spurring their horses, but without moving from the position they had taken up. ”

“ The wretched creatures condemned, under a scorching sun, to play the part of living scare-crows, are as a rule the aged of both sexes, who, incapable from infirmity of gaining a livelihood in any other way, thus terribly earn the morsel of bread which their master condescends to throw to them. Most assuredly, my dear Pommerelle, the more I reflect, the less I regret, if indeed I ever regretted it, my yesterday's expedition against the slave-traders. Don't let anybody talk to me again of the ease and comfort enjoyed by the Eastern slave. ”

“ Without wishing in the least to depreciate the good qualities of MM. de Morin and Périères, without casting the slightest doubt upon their chivalrous self denial, we must, all the same, confess that they were not quite so disinterested as might be supposed. They had not, without any reservation, abandoned all hope. The woman they loved had not become, in a single moment, a simple travelling companion to whom they were going to devote themselves till death. Their passionate love could not so easily give place to an equally sincere friendship. ”

“ To you alone I will confess that, before I can think of putting off these widow's weeds, before I can dream of beginning a new life, I must see with my own eyes the spot which witnessed the dying agony of M. de Guéran. I want to learn the details of his last moments, to recover his papers, to publish his studies, his works, and before surrendering his name, if, indeed, I do surrender it, to make it famous. You see, my friend," she continued, softly, "that if you have a duty to perform here, I have one equally binding there beyond. Every one has his work in this world. ”

“ You are a model of proportion—and I am only too happy to do you justice in that respect—but, at the same time, on the score of embonpoint, there is, possibly, something to be desired."
"And that," replied Miss Poles, "is entirely due to the life of inaction I have led in England for the last two years. Luxury does not suit my temperament at all. In peace and quietness I lose flesh, to regain it as soon as ever I resume an active existence. At the end of a month of Africa you will not recognize me, and, even now, by reason of the life I am leading in Paris, I have gained a pound." ”

“ Ever since I lived in Algeria I have dreamt of calling myself Mohammed."
M. de Morin had all his work cut out to keep his countenance over this fresh request. However, he replied, with the utmost gravity—
"If I take you with me to Africa you shall wear a bûrnus and a turban to boot. If you like, you shall call yourself Mohammed; and, in order that you may be at hand, I will find you a horse, an ass, or a camel, according to circumstances."
"You overwhelm me, sir," said Joseph. "Oh, I never dared dream of a camel!"
"You deserve one, Joseph; you deserve one, and you shall have one. ”

“ If their masters had passed us in a careless fashion, the slaves, on the contrary, cast on us timid and despairing glances. It was a heart-rending sight, I can tell you, and despite all our efforts to be calm, we could with difficulty restrain our emotion. Périères tugged at his long moustache, Delange stroked his beard. Miss Poles wiped her spectacles, and tears coursed down the cheeks of Madame de Guéran. ”

“ We have talked of our devotion, our respect, our affection for you, and the day when you put these sentiments to real proof, you find nothing; all have vanished into thin air, respect, affection, devotion, all taken to flight! You cease to be a widow, and in twenty-four hours we cease to love you; the one woman in the world having disappeared for us, the friend disappears with her, and we have not an idea even of devoting ourselves to the friend. She held out to us the hope of a reward, the hope is taken away, everything is at an end, adieu! ”

“ He amuses me, too, I confess, by his mixture of stupidity and self-sufficiency, and I must admit that when, perchance, he does condescend to wait on me, he does it, to use his own expression, in a most correct fashion. It is quite a treat, I assure you, in this country, almost a desert, in the midst of this semi-barbarian existence, and under the tent where I have just passed the night, to set eyes on a clean-shaven, neat-looking valet, with my clothes over his arm, my boots blacked and in his hand, and himself in readiness to give me my slippers. ”

“ Delange is every moment bestowing on her the most amorous glances, and Périères sighs to such an extent that he might very well pass for a love-sick locomotive. The heart of Miss Beatrice Poles fluctuates between all three of us, and we shall let it do so—to fix it on one of us would be rather too dangerous.
"Apart from her delusion in believing herself young, lovely, and ardently beloved, she is an excellent woman, intelligent, even amusing where she herself is not concerned, an invaluable adviser, courageous, untiring, and exemplary in every way. ”

“ I forget Africa, Bedouins, mountains, camels, my tent, the board which serves me for a bed, and I imagine that I am in the heart of Paris, in the Rue Taitbout, in my own snug little bedroom.
"To-day we have turned our backs upon the verdant plains, the splendid clumps of trees, and all the superb vegetation which has charmed us up to the present time. In the neighbourhood of the well of O-Back (the great well, I mean) the country is one mass of sand, the precursor of that twenty league desert which we have to traverse before we reach the valley of the Nile. ”

“ Say to love—"Your beloved will not have anything to say to you because she loves another"—and off he will go in desperation, meditating revenge or suicide, according to his temperament. But say to him—"This woman keeps you at a distance simply because she neither can nor will belong to any one; she loves you, but she will never tell you so, nor will she allow you to tell her"—and away goes his anger; he loves still, perhaps may love always, but quietly and resignedly.
MM. Périères and de Morin had experienced the first of these feelings ”

“ But the Arab saddle is so high peaked, both before and behind, that the rider is almost, so to speak, partitioned in; his feet are placed in large stirrups, and a fall, if not impossible, is at all events difficult. Moreover, the paces of the Arab horses have nothing jerky about them, but are as smooth and regular as possible. Their gallop is more conducive to sleep than to excitement, and it is no uncommon sight to see an Arab tie his bridle to the pommel of his saddle, set his horse going, and, so long as he knows the road to be even, sleep as calmly as if he were under his tent. ”

“ Yoked like oxen, or fastened to a long cord which drags them along in huddled groups, male and female, old and young, they plod along under that burning sun, naked, worn out with fatigue, dying by inches of hunger and thirst. And then, to think that these poor creatures are only an infinitesimal fraction of the victims of the slave-trade! In the man-hunts organised in those accursed countries, thousands die of their wounds or find a last resting-place in the woods whither they have fled for concealment. ”

“ In spite of all these delays we reached the well of Abou-Tagger, and, after having come upon an alluvial plain, our eyes rest at last upon the Nile, to which, nearly a month ago, we said au revoir at Cairo, about three hundred miles north of our present position. We hasten to the stream with almost childish glee, and we seem as if we have once more met an old friend with whom we are destined to spend many a long day. ”

“ Ten years of discovery were not enough for him; he only dreamt of fresh explorations. Livingstone is not a traveller; he is a missionary, whom no amount of suffering can dishearten. This man, at times a miracle of boldness and energy, but always just and impartial, is adored by his small caravan of Arabs and blacks.
"Stanley, in consequence of Livingstone's energetic resistance, was obliged to depart alone, but all honour to him! He has nobly fulfilled his mission, he has taken his revenge on those who dared to doubt his veracity, and the Times thanks him in the name of England." ”

“ In a state of embarrassment, similar to that of the shepherd, Paris, of old, I know not on whom to bestow the apple. If one of you had only made himself famous by some conspicuous action, my mind would be more at ease, but, situated as you are in this civilized Paris of ours, and so long as the country is at peace, what test can I impose upon you, or what proof can you offer me? As matters stand, you are simply men of the world, whose first duty is to be as little conspicuous as possible. I, therefore, have nothing to expect, nothing which could put an end to my hesitation. ”

“ CHAPTER XXVI. The first rays of the sun, as Abou had said, unfolded to view, at a distance of about fifteen hundred yards, the Bedouin encampment. It consisted of some thirty tents, pitched in a semi-circle in front of the spur of the mountain range of El-Hejaz. A small clump of palms, whose tops were just gilded by the beams of the rising sun, could be discerned on the right in the midst of a tolerably fresh patch of verdure, where strayed at liberty a score of horses and camels. Complete quiet appeared to reign throughout the encampment, which had not yet awoke to life and movement. ”

“ Consequently, in spite of his shaking limbs and trembling body, he was seen to cross the open space which separated him from M. de Morin, hand him a cigar, take a match from the box supplied by M. Périères, light it, and present it with all respect to his master.
The Bedouins, like all semi-savage races, are regular children. The veriest trifle serves to amuse them, and they have a variableness of mood which is truly surprising. Enraged as they had been but a moment ago, they became quite good-tempered when they saw Joseph. To menace succeeded gaiety, and hearty laughter to dire threats. ”

“ In certain situations all feelings of rivalry, jealousy, or envy disappear. A European like ourselves, a Frenchman is, perhaps, suffering, dying in a country we have heard of, and can reach. The distance which separates him from us is diminished, we have achieved a third, possibly half the journey, and we must go on to the end. We agreed to accompany you on a pilgrimage to render homage to the dead; now we wish to, and we must, bring succour to the living. That is all I have to say to you in my own name and that of Périères. ”