"It would alarm me for you, if you are to be bound to lose your money to this gentleman." "I am quite easy on that score, because I always win from him. I have put him under a spell." "Well, then, in that case he will only be dangerous to the tribes of Africa. But how can you possibly hope to induce him to accompany us?" "That is my secret, and, with all due deference, I must decline to disclose it just yet. In the mean time, I can only say that everything leads me to believe that by to-morrow we shall have replaced M. Desrioux." "Wait one moment," M. Périères called out hurriedly. "It is, I presume, quite understood that M. Desrioux is to be replaced only in his capacity as our doctor, and not as an aspirant—a candidate—an intended—" "Make your minds quite easy, gentlemen," replied Madame de Guéran, "I will never marry a gambler. The new-comer is without the pale of our compact." "Under that gratifying understanding, Baroness, we will take our leave for the present, and will call to-morrow for fresh orders." CHAPTER VI. MM. Périères and de Morin lighted their cigars as they descended the stairs, and then walked arm in arm down the Boulevard Malesherbes, on their way to the Chaussée D'Antin. Destined, by virtue of their engagement with Madame de Guéran, to live together for a long time, they were doing their best to forget their rivalry, and to think only of the great adventure they were about to attempt. Though, in the presence of the Baroness, they had thought it right to assume utter indifference to the dangers which menaced them, and on which, lest they should ignore them, she laid such stress, yet, when they found themselves by themselves, they did not in the least under-rate the serious nature of the undertaking.