"I will." "Then I propose to burn this document." "I agree, and thank you for your proposal." In an instant the flames of the taper, brought for the purpose of lighting their cigars, had reduced the contract to ashes. CHAPTER XI. The same evening the new doctor of the expedition was presented to Madame de Guéran. M. Delange, as long as his passion for play left him at rest, was an exceedingly nice fellow, a pleasant companion, with a fund of agreeable conversation, and very well informed. He impressed the Baroness very favourably, and she at once endorsed the choice made by M. de Morin. The chief parts in the expedition were thus filled up, and there was nothing now to do but to select the subordinates. The application of the trusty Joseph-Mohammed was then taken into consideration, and, after a short discussion, accepted. It was determined, at the same time, to add to him some other European servant. In Egypt, according to custom, a few Arabian attendants were to be engaged, who might not, in every way, be all that could be wished, but whose familiarity with the usages of the country would be of great use in many contingencies. An exception was, however, made to this limit in favour of a female companion whom the Baroness desired to have with her. As soon as the expedition had been decided on, Madame de Guéran had written to her friends in London to find out for her a lady of irreproachable respectability, who had already travelled and was willing to travel again, and the result was the immediate offer of a Miss Beatrice Poles. She had, it was said, accompanied the celebrated Dutch traveller, Mdlle. Alexina Tinne, throughout the greater part of her explorations in Africa, and with the courage and determination so remarkable in the case of many female travellers, she only asked to be allowed to expose herself to fresh fatigue, and to encounter new dangers. The Baroness at first hesitated to engage this applicant. Miss Poles, she thought, might, whilst in the service of Mdlle. Tinne, have become accustomed to an amount of ease and luxury which she certainly would not find in the society of her new companions. In fact, Madame de Guéran, without having any idea of travelling in as primitive a fashion as did the pretended dervish, Vambéry, or Dr. Barth, or many others, had fully made up her mind not to dazzle the Arabs and negroes by any display of magnificence. In barbarous countries cupidity and envy can never be roused with impunity, and the Thouaregs proved that by the massacre of Mdlle. Tinne under the very eyes of Miss Poles.