Part 33 (1/2)
”For is it not true,” he said, ”that `with G.o.d all things are possible?'”
”My friend,” said Mark in reply, and with a burst of enthusiasm, ”I will save you _somehow_! Keep a good heart.”
Mamba smiled faintly, yet gratefully, as he shook his head, gathered up the superfluous links of his chain, and resumed his toil.
”How will you save him?” asked the Secretary, with a peculiar half-amused look, as they walked away.
”I know not,” answered Mark. ”But we have a proverb, `Where there's a will there's a way,' and I have a determined will to save my poor friend from this slavery. I will not cease to try--as we say in England, `I will leave no stone unturned,'--till I have accomplished this thing.
Moreover I will not cease to pray for this end. Mamba's trust in G.o.d puts me to shame. Up to this time I have only recognised by name that Saviour whom this man wors.h.i.+ps. G.o.d helping me, I will henceforth follow the Lord!”
To the surprise of the young man the Secretary turned suddenly on him and grasped his hand, and said in a low voice, as he looked cautiously round--”It gives me joy to hear you speak so. I too am a follower of Jesus. I tell you this because I know, now, that you will not betray me. There are many of us in the palace besides Prince Rakota, but we dare not speak out, for the Queen is very angry, as you know. Hus.h.!.+
Tell it not even to our companions. Little birds have ears. If the Queen suspects any of us, in her present state of mind, she will either ruin or kill us.”
”I have heard something of this,” said Mark, ”from the friend who guided us to the capital--”
”I know,” interrupted the Secretary, with an intelligent nod. ”It was Ravoninohitriniony. He is well-known to us. He loves Rafaravavy, and is now in the neighbourhood of the capital, hoping to induce her to fly with him to the forests. You are surprised, but you would not be so if you knew the number of spies that Ranavalona has out everywhere.”
”Has my friend Ravonino,” (we call him so for brevity), ”been seen in-- in--I mean _near_ the city lately?” asked Mark, anxiously.
”Not _in_ the city, certainly,” returned the Secretary. ”Bold and daring though he is, he would scarcely venture that; but he has been seen and heard of more than once lately.”
Mark felt relieved. It was evident the Secretary neither knew of nor suspected the fact that Ravonino had actually attended the garden party and met Rafaravavy almost under the Queen's eyes! Remembering, however, that the Prime Minister had sent Soa to pretend to be a Christian, in order that he might discover the secrets of the Christians, and not having yet had much experience of the Secretary's character, he resolved to be very cautious in his reference to Ravonino,--indeed to any one with whom he had to do. Acting on this resolve he changed the subject by asking questions about the extensive rice-grounds around the capital.
The Secretary was of a communicative disposition, and evidently fond of airing his English. He willingly followed in conversation wherever the young doctor chose to lead, and gave him and his friends a great deal of interesting information as to the manners and customs of the Malagasy people--their habits, beliefs, and laws.
Among the latter he spoke of a curious fact in regard to criminals which gave Mark a sudden inspiration! Hockins afterwards styled it a ”wrinkle.” Ebony called it a ”dodge.” But, whatever might be said on that head, it had the effect of very materially altering the conditions of some of the personages of this tale, as the following chapters will show.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
THE COURT PHYSICIAN PRESCRIBES FOR THE QUEEN--A BLOW-UP, AND MYSTERIOUS PREPARATIONS FOR TREMENDOUS SURPRISES.
About this time the anger of Queen Ranavalona against the Christians was so great that she made herself quite ill, and more than once had to send for her Court Physician, Mark Breezy, to prescribe for her.
Our youthful medico understood her complaint, which was a simple one.
He prescribed much exercise, change of air, and amus.e.m.e.nt, so as to distract her mind from the cares of State, and the evil pa.s.sions to which she was giving way. He hoped thus to serve the Christians indirectly, for he saw clearly that the mere mention of their existence made her ill. Some slight administrations of physic, also, coupled with judicious alterations of diet, put her Majesty in a state of such excellent health and spirits that she began to entertain quite a warm regard for her Court Physician, and congratulated herself not a little on the good fortune which had sent him to the capital.
Thus Mark was enabled to disperse, for a time, the dark cloud which had been lowering over the land--not, however, in time to prevent many Christians from being slain, and some even of the officers and ladies of the palace from being degraded, their honours taken from them, and themselves and children sold as slaves.
Among the ladies, Rafaravavy had a narrow escape. For a time her life seemed to hang by a hair, for she was rebellious as well as fearless, and _would_ sing her favourite hymns in spite of orders to the contrary!
Love prevailed, however, as in the case of Prince Rakota, and she was tolerated as a sort of spoilt child.
Being a favourite, Mark of course became a man of power in the capital.
This fact would have raised him a host of enemies had it not been for the kindness of his disposition and the urbanity of his manners. When a strapping powerful young fellow treats every one with respectful deference, keeps in the background, and neither by word nor look a.s.serts himself, but, on the contrary, seems to entertain kindly thoughts about every one, it argues such an absence of selfishness that most people are irresistibly attracted to him. Thus, unwittingly, he escaped jealousy and enmity in a palace where both were rife, and, holding in his hands as he did, the power to alleviate many of the ”ills that flesh is heir to,” he secured a good deal of warm friends.h.i.+p.
Being also an ingenious youth, he devised many little plans for amusing Ranavalona and preventing her mind from dwelling on dangerous memories.
Among other things, he induced her to go in for a series of garden parties, and encouraged the people to practise their national games at these gatherings in a systematic way.
What all this was ultimately to lead to he did not know--indeed at first he had no particular end in view save the great one of preventing the Queen from ordering any more of the horrible scenes of bloodshed which he and his friends had so recently witnessed. But as time ran on his ideas became more definite and concentrated. It occurred to him that Ravonino would inevitably venture to attend the garden parties in the hope of again meeting Rafaravavy, and now that the Secretary had avowed himself on the side of the Christians, he felt that through him he might influence her to agree to her lover's proposal.