runs--this dethroned king without country or people;" and Moronval
dashed away a tear.

"We will find him, my good sir," said the official; "have no anxiety."

But Moronval was anxious, nevertheless, and so agitated, that, instead
of awaiting quietly at home the result of the investigations, as he had
been advised to do, he started out himself, with all the children to
join in the search.

They went to each one of the gates, interrogated the custom-house
officers, and gave them a description of Madou. Then the party repaired
to the police court, for Moronval had the singular idea that in this
way his pupils might learn something of Parisian life. The children,
fortunately, were too young to understand all they saw, but they carried
away with them a most sinister impression. Jack especially, who was
the most intelligent of the boys, returned to the academy with a heavy
heart, shocked at the glimpse he had caught of this under-current of
life. Over and over again he said to himself, "Where can Madou be?"

Then the child consoled himself with the thought that the negro was far
on the road to Marseilles; which road little Jack pictured to himself as
running straight as an arrow, with the sea at its termination, and the
vessel lying ready to sail. Only one thing disturbed him in regard
to Madou's journey: the weather, that had been so fine the day of
his departure, had suddenly changed; and now the rain fell in
torrents,--hail too, and even snow; and the wind blew around their frail
dwelling, causing the poor little children of the sun to shiver in their
sleep, and dream of a rocking ship and a heavy sea. Curled up under his
blankets one night, listening to the howling of the fierce wind, Jack
thought of his friend, imagined him half frozen lying under a tree, his
thin clothing thoroughly wet. But the reality was worse than this.

"He is found!" cried Moronval, rushing into the dining-room, one
morning. "He is found; I have just been notified by the police. Give me
my hat and my cane!"

He was in a state of great excitement. As much from the desire to
flatter the master, as from the love of noise that characterizes boys,
the children hailed this news with a wild hurrah. Jack did not speak,
but sighed as he said to himself, "Poor Madou!"

Madou had been, in fact, at the station-house since the evening before.
It was there, amid criminals of all grades, that the presumptive heir of
the kingdom of Dahomey was found by hi