The queen did not appear to disapprove of this proud manner of acting.  A sort of grimace, which ought to be a smile, was addressed to the wizard, who drew the queen on with rapid steps, while the crowd rushed after him.

This time it was toward Alvez’s establishment that the sorcerer directed his steps.  He soon reached the door, which was shut.  A simple blow from his shoulder threw it to the ground, and he led the conquered queen into the interior of the factory.

The trader, his soldiers and his slaves, ran to punish the daring being who took it upon himself to throw down doors without waiting for them to be opened to him.  Suddenly, seeing that their sovereign did not protest, they stood still, in a respectful attitude.

No doubt Alvez was about to ask the queen why he was honored by her visit, but the magician did not give him time.  Making the crowd recede so as to leave a large space free around him, he recommenced his pantomime with still greater animation.  He pointed to the clouds, he threatened them, he exorcised them; he made a sign as if he could first stop them, and then scatter them.  His enormous cheeks were puffed out, and he blew on this mass of heavy vapors as if he had the strength to disperse them.  Then, standing upright, he seemed to intend stopping them in their course, and one would have said that, owing to his gigantic height, he could have seized them.

The superstitious Moini, “overcome” by the acting of this tall comedian, could no longer control herself.  Cries escaped her.  She raved in her turn, and instinctively repeated the magician’s gestures.  The courtiers and the crowd followed her example, and the mute’s guttural sounds were lost amid those songs; cries, and yells which the native language furnishes with so much prodigality.

Did the clouds cease to rise on the eastern horizon and veil the tropical sun?  Did they vanish before the exorcisms of this new wizard?  No.  And just at this moment, when the queen and her people imagined that they had appeased the evil spirits that had watered them with so many showers, the sky, somewhat clear since daybreak, became darker than ever.  Large drops of rain fell pattering on the ground.

Then a sudden change took place in the crowd.  They then saw that this sorcerer was worth no more than the others.  The queen’s brows were frowning.  They understood that he at least was in danger of losing his ears.  The natives had contracted the circle around him; fists threatened him, and they were about to punish him, when an unforeseen incident changed the object of their evil intentions.

The magician, who overlooked the whole yelling crowd, stretched his arms toward one spot in the enclosure.  The gesture was so imperious that all turned to look at it.

Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, attracted by the noise and the clamor, had just left their hut.  The magician, with an angry gesture, had pointed to them with his left hand, while his right was raised toward the sky.