Maubert, shaggy and dirty and drunk, reeling down the rue de la
Gaiete, very suddenly gave up all idea of finding his way to his
province in the interior.

Never mind about those three days in Paris. Maubert was quite sober
when he got on the train again at Montparnasse. He did not regret his
larger vacation. He had had a very good permission, take it all in
all.

III

At about the time that Maubert found himself mobilised and summoned
into the reserves, a further mobilisation of subjects of the French
Empire was taking place in certain little known, outlying dominions of
the "Empire." I should have said Republic or even Democracy. The
result, however, is all the same. In certain outlying portions of the
mighty Empire or Republic or Democracy, as you will, further
mobilisation of French subjects was taking place, although in these
outlying dominions the forces were not mobilised but volunteered.
That is to say, the headsman or chief of a certain village, lying
somewhere between the Equator and ten degrees North latitude, was
requested by those in authority to furnish so many volunteers. The
word being thus passed round, volunteers presented themselves,
voluntarily. Among them was Ouk. Ouk knew, having been so informed by
the headsman of his village, that failure to respond to this
opportunity meant a voluntary sojourn in the jungle. Ouk hated the
jungle. All his life he had lived in terror of it, of the evil forces
of the jungle, strangling and venomous, therefore he did not wish to
take refuge amongst them, for he knew them well. Of the two
alternatives, the risks of civilization seemed preferable.
Civilization was an unknown quantity, whereas the jungle was familiar
to himself and his ancestors, and the fear transmitted by his
ancestors was firmly emplanted in his mind. Therefore he had no
special desire to sojourn amongst the mighty forces of the forest,
which he knew to be overwhelming. At that time, he did not know that
the forces of civilization were equally sinister, equally
overwhelming. All his belated brain knew, was that if he failed to
answer the call of those in authority, he must take refuge in the
forests. Which was sure death. It was sure death to wander
defenceless, unarmed, in the twilight gloom of noon day, enveloped by
dense overgrowth, avoiding venomous serpents and vile stinging insects
by day, and crouching by night from man-eating tigers. It presented
therefore, no pleasant alternative--no