Rànavàlona III was committed to the care of another officer and carried away into exile. Thus the queen was hurried out of her capital during the darkness of midnight to a life of exile. And why? What had she done to deserve such treatment? Nothing whatever; absolutely nothing, except that she was the lawful sovereign of an island, which the French coveted and determined to appropriate. For notwithstanding that it was in a great measure through her own folly that her kingdom was lost (in following traitorous advice, and refusing to follow the counsel of her husband, the prime minister, or to give him a free hand); yet she had a passionate love for her fatherland, as most Malagasy have, and would rather have lived in poverty and obscurity there, than anywhere else in the world. Poor queen! hers has been a hard fate. Like Pomare, the late Queen of Tahiti, she was robbed of her lovely island home, treated as a captive, and will in all likelihood die an exile. The murder of Pasteurs Escande and Minault was a great shock both to the European and the native communities. Pasteur Escande had been nine months in the capital with us, and had greatly endeared himself to all. Pasteur Minault had not been six weeks in the island. He had been appointed local president of the Paris Mission in Fianàrantsòa in the Bètsilèo country, and Pasteur Escande was accompanying him south to see the mission there, and get him properly settled. After this M. Escande was to return to France, and to his own work in Senegal; for he had only come out to Madagascar as a temporary substitute. He had seen and known more than any other European of the persecution of the Protestants at the hands of the Jesuits, knew more about the wholesale shooting of Protestant pastors than any one else, and had saved more from being shot than all the rest of the community. He was about to return to France, and intended to make known there what had been going on. It looks as though some were determined to prevent this at any cost. [Illustration: THE LAST QUEEN OF MADAGASCAR.]