of her
gracious favour, I received a number of fowls and a large basketful of
eggs."

* * * * *

Unfortunately, during Madame Pfeiffer's sojourn at Antananarivo, a
conspiracy was formed for the purpose of dethroning the tyrant queen
Ranavala in favour of the next heir, Radama. It failed, however, and
those concerned in it were ruthlessly punished. The Christians, who were
supposed to have encouraged and abetted it, were now exposed to Queen
Ranavala's tempestuous wrath, and Madame Pfeiffer and her companions
found themselves in a position of exceeding peril. She was thrown into
prison, and it seemed impossible that she should escape with her life.
She writes:--"To-day was held in the Queen's palace a great kabar, which
lasted six hours and was very stormy. The kabar concerned us Europeans,
and met to decide our fate. According to the ordinary way of the world,
nearly all our friends, from the moment that they saw our cause lost,
abandoned us, and the majority, to avoid all suspicion of having had a
share in the conspiracy, insisted on our condemnation with even more
bitterness than our enemies themselves. That we deserved the penalty of
death was a point on which the agreement was soon very general; only the
mode in which we were to be dispatched furnished the matter for
prolonged discussion. Some voted for our public execution in the
market-place; others for an attack by night on our house; others, again,
that we should be invited to a banquet, at which we might either be
poisoned, or, on a given signal, massacred.

"The Queen hesitated between these different proposals; but she would
certainly have adopted and carried out one of them, if the Prince Rakoto
had not come forward as our tutelary genius. He protested strongly
against a sentence of death. He implored the Queen not to yield to her
impulse of anger, and laid special stress on the fact that the European
Powers would assuredly not allow the murder of persons so considerable
as we were to pass unpunished. Never, I am told, has the Prince
expressed his opinion before the Queen in so lively and firm a manner.
The news reached us through a few rare friends, who, contrary to our
expectation, had remained faithful to us.

"Our captivity had lasted nearly a fortnight: we had passed thirteen
long days in the most painful uncertainty as to our fate, expecting
every moment a fatal decision, and trembling day and night at the
slightest