And Morhange threw himself on a couch and began to roar with laughter again.
I had picked up several scattered papers from the work-table in the middle of the room. Morhange took them from my hands and devoured them greedily. His face expressed unbounded stupefaction.
"Stranger and stranger, my boy. Someone here is composing, with much citation of texts, a dissertation on the Gorgon Islands: _de Gorgonum insulis_. Medusa, according to him, was a Libyan savage who lived near Lake Triton, our present Chott Melhrir, and it is there that Perseus ... Ah!"
Morhange's words choked in his throat. A sharp, shrill voice pierced the immense room.
"Gentlemen, I beg you, let my papers alone."
One of the Caramani curtains was drawn aside, and the most unexpected of persons came in. Resigned as we were to unexpected events, the improbability of this sight exceeded anything our imaginations could have devised.
On the threshold stood a little bald-headed man with a pointed sallow face half hidden by an enormous pair of green spectacles and a pepper and salt beard. No shirt was visible, but an impressive broad red cravat. He wore white trousers. Red leather slippers furnished the only Oriental suggestion of his costume.
He wore, not without pride, the rosette of an officer of the Department of Education.
He collected the papers which Morhange had dropped in his amazement, counted them, arranged them; then, casting a peevish glance at us, he struck a copper gong.
The portiére was raised again. A huge white Targa entered. I seemed to recognize him as one of the genii of the cave.[8]
[Footnote 8: The Negro serfs among the Tuareg are generally called "white Tuareg." While the nobles are clad in blue cotton robes, the serfs wear white robes, hence their name of "white Tuareg." See, in this connection, Duveyrier: _les Tuareg du Nord_, page 292. (Note by M. Leroux.)]
"Ferradji," angrily demanded the little officer of the Department of Education, "why were these gentlemen brought into the library?"
"Ceghéir-ben-Cheikh came back sooner than we expected," he replied, "and last night the embalmers had not yet finished. They brought them here in the meantime," and he pointed to us.
"Very well, you may go," snapped the little man.
