The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul

by Albert Robida

A hand emerged from the water, then a head, and Farandoul appeared, supporting Mysora’s inanimate body. Twenty arms were extended towards him to help him scale the slope with his precious burden.

  Farandoul laid Mysora on the ground and anxiously unfastened the young woman’s helmet.

  This is what had happened:

  Profiting from the interval when Croknuff was grappling with his octopus, Farandoul and Mandibul had got through the door with Mysora. The explosion had caught them on the rampart and had precipitated them into the moat while all those who were still inside the building had been blown up with Croknuff. No sooner had they concluded that they were saved, when the sharks and the whale, terrified by the explosion, had passed over them like a cavalry charge, knocking them down. In the confusion, Mysora’s air-tube had been severed, and the poor girl had collapsed in Farandoul’s arms.

  While the survivors collect themselves and take stock of the situation in the disaster area, a silent group now surrounds Farandoul and his fiancée.

  Mandibul is standing up, his arms crossed, in the grip of bitter grief. A few monkeys, scorched and blackened, burned in places, exchange sad glances. Farandoul’s brothers wring their hands and a few large but furtive tears roll down the tanned cheeks of the former mariners of La Belle Léocadie.

  Mysora is laid out on the grass, her unbound hair hanging loose about her shoulders, still clad in her diving-suit, her eyes seemingly closed forever! Farandoul has flung his diving helmet away. Kneeling beside the young woman, he searches for the slightest sign of life—one last hope!

  Every assistance has been rendered in vain. Alas, Mysora is no more. The horrid Croknuff has not released his prey; his laughing shade may savor at leisure the grief of the unfortunate Farandoul.

  O Mysora! Pure soul, enraptured at such a tender age by the enchantments of life, the love of your fiancé, the glorious Saturnin Farandoul, conqueror of Australia, the Alexander of the fifth continent... Your memory, O Mysora, will hover eternally above that distant land, which your chaste face has poeticized. Many tears will be shed in future ages over the tale of your misfortunes; many hearts will beat faster for the sad Mysora. In the same way that strangers with sensitive souls search the undergrowth of the Ile de France for the resting-place of Virginie,25 so will travelers whose business brings them to Australia turn aside from their routes to make pious pilgrimages to the tomb of Mysora!

  But let us pass swiftly over these dolorous facts, lest our souls grow sad and our minds become afflicted by cruel memories.

  Let us merely say that, as soon as he was certain of his ill-fortune, Farandoul recovered his strength and courage. His robust spirit resurfaced. He felt that, above all else, he had a duty to his troops and to the security of the conquest for which he had paid so dearly. After giving orders for Mysora’s corpse to be carried with great ceremony to the gubernatorial mansion, Farandoul and Mandibul mounted their horses—without bothering to take off their diving-suits—in order to make a rapid review of the encampments of the Farandoulian army.

  As trumpets and drums rallied the troops, the monkeys formed ranks and the column set out to march to the Parliament building, where it was based. Soon, no one remained in the smoking ruins of the Aquarium but a sentry charged with preventing bimanes from coming too close.

  That day, every Farandoulian position saw the staff of its bimane leaders arrive like a whirlwind. The troops greeted their beloved General with cries and dances of enthusiasm, still unaware of the poignant grief that made Farandoul weep within the helmet of his diving-suit. Overcoming his emotion, Farandoul took every necessary precaution to ensure the well-being and security of his devoted quadrumanes.

  Melbourne’s barracks being inadequate, Mandibul had thought of billeting the monkeys with the local population, and several regiments were already established in the homes of private individuals—but it was necessary to drop the idea, difficulties having cropped up with cantankerous folk who whined about tyranny and fainted away at the sight of the arrival in their homes of a dozen brave monkeys and a couple of quadrumane officers carrying billets for three days lodgings! In order not to offend the feminine part of the population, they contented themselves with occupying public buildings, and Farandoul gave orders for the establishment of a temporary camp in the Melbourne suburbs.

  VIII.

  No resistance had any longer to be feared within the Victoria colony. Before throwing himself into the conquest of the other Australian states, Farandoul judged that it would be sensible to complete the re-organization of the conquered province. He had cleared away its old institutions and was enthusiastic to establish new ones, in keeping with its new situation. A great conference was held in the gubernatorial mansion on the evening after Mysora’s funeral.

  Ambition was now the sole forceful sustenance of Farandoul’s heart. He was determined to establish solid foundations for the empire that his valor was to carve out of the Australian continent. The participants in the conference were General Mandibul, the crew of La Belle Léocadie, and—to preserve good diplomatic relations—the leaders of the various monkey army corps.

  “Bimanes and quadrumanes,” said Farandoul, opening the session, “my dear comrades, I ought to begin by giving you a brief account of the exact situation. Having landed with 40,000 monkeys, we have gained possession of Melbourne in three days. The militias have been disarmed and the inhabitants subjugated; the entire province is in our power.

  “Reinforcements will soon arrive; I estimate them at 10,000 monkeys, increasing our forces to 50,000 combatants. That should be sufficient for anything, even to repulse any counter-offensive by the British. But get this firmly into your heads, comrades: it is by discipline alone that we shall be able to found something durable. It is by valor regulated by discipline that we have triumphed; it is by conserving that discipline that we shall ensure the destiny of Farandoulia forever.

  “Today, the bimanes of Australia, crushed and terrified by the suddenness of our victory, still regard us as victorious invaders. These attitudes must be subtly changed, so that they will come to feel that their destiny is linked to ours by a common interest. Tomorrow, under our protection, commerce and industry must begin anew; we must encourage that renaissance with a friendly attitude.

  “Our leaders must be vigilant, to ensure that no bimane is molested, and that no disputes arise. Until public services can be organized, food and equipment requisitioned for the army will be paid for in bonds drawn on the future Ministry of Finance. Once again, bimanes and quadrumanes, I insist that the strictest equity be maintained in relations with the local people, and the most exact discipline in every detail of service.”

  The next day’s Melbourne Herald acquainted the population with the decisions taken at this conference. At the head of its political section it featured the following decree:

  The province of Farandoulia known by the name of the State of Victoria is partitioned into five military divisions.

  General Mandibul, governor of Melbourne, takes command of the first.26

  The bimanes Kirkson, Tournesol, Trabadec, Escoubico, colonels of the Farandoulian army, are named commandants of the second, third, fourth and fifth divisions, with the quadrumanes Lutungo of Java, Ungko of Sumatra, Nasico of Borneo and Wa-Wo-Wa of New Guinea as chiefs of staff.

  Saturnin I.

  The Melbourne Herald followed these decrees with a series of biographical notes on the bimanes and quadrumanes appointed to these high positions. It was, of course, the indefatigable Dick Broken who had obtained all this information, his acquaintance with General Mandibul—begun on the evening of the battle of Cheep Hill—having made him better-known than anyone else to the leaders of the Farandoulian troops.

  Here are the notices in question:

  Bimane General Mandibul

  General Mandibul is the former lieutenant of La Belle Léocadie. He is a man of 45 years, well-preserved but a little overweight. He has a slightly apoplectic temperament, but has a genuine martial bearing when i
n uniform. His well-known modesty having forbidden him to give us any biographical details, we shall restrict ourselves to recalling, without mention of anterior campaigns, that he covered himself in glory throughout the conquest, from the first landing of the Farandoulians to the terrible assault on the Great Aquarium, where the last champion of England, the unfortunate and heroic Croknuff, was blown up rather than lower the flag. The appeasement measures taken by the Governor of Melbourne are a certain guarantee of his pure intentions towards us and clear testimony as to his considerable wisdom.

  Quadrumane Colonel Makako

  Colonel Makako is a monkey from the southern part of Borneo. He is a tall fellow with a very intelligent and animated face. His father, an old patriarch, has led a number of bellicose tribes for many years in their continual wars against the Dayaks. It is rumored that Colonel Makako is very ambitious and some say that his father was not sorry to see him depart with 600 of his most turbulent monkeys. At any rate, he is an authentic feudal overlord, ruling his monkeys with the total authority of a despot.

  Quadrumane Colonel Tapa-Tapa

  A Sumatran monkey. An amiable and playful character, he has none of the stiffness of his colleague Makako. He has joined the Farandoulian army with a contingent of 800 monkeys, making up part of an entrepreneurial nation that lives on relatively good terms with the bimanes of Sumatra. Tapa-Tapa’s compatriots, quitting the interior forests, are gradually coming closer to the towns. Several districts of Siak and Achem 27 are entirely inhabited by them; at Palembang, they have acquired the same rights as the bourgeoisie of the city and live in the same houses as the bimanes, who occupy the ground floors while renting the upper floors to quadrumanes. In sum, Colonel Tapa-Tapa, a simple fellow and a good chap, is entirely in sympathy with us. His monkeys were the first to fraternize with bimanes.

  Bimane Colonel Kirkson

  Tall, strong, ruddy-faced, bearded, Anglo-Saxon in origin but absolutely devoted to Saturnin I. Distinguished himself in many battles, notably in the campaign mounted by the mariners of La Belle Léocadie against the pirates of the Isles of Sunda.

  Quadrumane Colonel Lutungo of Java

  A big monkey, five feet four inches in height, with greying fur. He is the chief or sultan of a tribe of large langurs 28 spread throughout the interior mountains of Java. He has a very grand air about him,29 his features are imprinted with a calm dignity in perfect accordance with his aristocratic manners; one immediately senses, on seeing him for the first time, that one is dealing with a monkey with breeding. His family have reigned in Java for many years over more than a dozen large villages whose inhabitants number 300 or 400. He has furnished the Farandoulian army with a contingent of 350 fighters.

  Bimane Colonel Tournesol

  Born June 26, 18**, in Marseilles, France; was granted entry into the merchant marine with the rank of cabin boy; has served with honor aboard La Belle Léocadie, notably against the pirates, at least 40 of whom he (to use his own picturesque expression) “de-carcassed.” Commanded the monkey advance-guard at Cheep Hill alongside one of His Majesty Saturnin I’s brothers; took the English ex-Governor, Sir John Collingham, prisoner during the capture of Melbourne. Short, thin, swarthy, black-bearded, plain-speaking, very pronounced Marseillaise accent.

  Colonel Ungko of Sumatra

  As calm as his leader is exuberant. Who could believe, on first seeing that tranquil and reflective face, that one is face to face with the leader of the most intrepid escaladers: those monkey acrobats used to living in the highest regions of the forest. His troops are the trapeze-artists of the Farandoulian army; it was they who, passing with the greatest rapidity from tree to tree, executed the outflanking and overhanging maneuvers which baffled the experienced bimane tacticians of England. Colonel Ungko, an innocent in polite society, is transformed in action, becoming the terrible warrior that we know.

  Colonel Bimane Trabadec

  Thirty-two years old, short and stocky, born in Saint-Malo, France; full of genuine veneration for His Majesty Saturnin I, swearing by none but he and Notre-Dame-d’Auray.30 As intrepid on the field of battle as he is gentle and simple in private life. Declares himself ready, since His Majesty has spoken of the fusion of races, to marry a she-monkey of good family. Says he will send to Saint-Malo for his documents.

  Quadrumane Colonel Nasico of Borneo

  An exceedingly intelligent quadrumane, remarkable for the amplitude of his forehead and the altogether human length of his nose. A tribal chief, a monkey of good family. According to the Indians, his nation is descended from a company of men driven out of the towns by war, who—turning their backs on the world—must have chosen their wives from a tribe of hospitable monkeys. Nasico is directly descended from the leader of these men; at any rate, power has been in the hands of his family for many years. What seems to confer a certain authenticity on this legend is that the 500 monkeys who have followed Nasico are just as remarkable as he is; their well-developed noses project nobly from faces fully-framed by fine red beards.

  Bimane Colonel Escoubico

  Spanish by birth, a remarkably ardent man, as indefatigable in war as in pleasure. Makes his troops march to the sound of music. As soon as he entered Melbourne, he requisitioned tambourines and guitars; together with a few monkeys endowed with a talent for harmony he quickly formed a corps of excellent musicians. Proposes to host balls in his residence.

  Quadrumane Colonel Wa-Wo-Wa of New Guinea

  The best of monkeys. Simple, rustic, honest. Straight by nature, ever amiable, occasionally jovial. Leader of one of the greatest simian nations of Oceania, closely related to the tribe with which H. M. Saturnin I spent his childhood. Wa-Wo-Wa’s contingent is also one of the most numerous. This brave leader’s monkeys form, so to speak, the line troops of the Farandoulian army. If they are less accomplished in advance-guard attacks and brilliant charges than those of Colonel Ungko, their finest quality is their resilience; at the end of the day, as old soldiers say, they stick to their guns!

  Some weeks later, three persons came together in conference with Saturnin I in His Majesty’s office in the former Governor’s mansion. These three individuals were General Mandibul, Farandoul’s foster-father and the journalist Dick Broken.

  “Yes, my friends,” Farandoul said, “I see our mission clearly—the mission of Farandoulia, the world’s fifth continent,31 so young and so healthy! To repair the injustices of other continents; to cause the past to be forgotten; to bring back justice and happiness and restore the globe’s Golden Age. Never have bimanes had in their hands the elements we have in ours: 50,000 monkeys, so strong and brave; those which arrive every day from all the isles in Oceania; our navy, composed of vessels seized in the ports of the state of Victoria—manned at present by mixed crews, although our monkeys will soon be able to operate them by themselves under the orders of sympathetic bimane officers, whom we shall recruit from every nation.

  “With all this, we shall complete the conquest of the Australian provinces that England still holds, and we shall drive the English out of every island in Oceania! The monkeys of Borneo, Sumatra and Java will rise up and join us; then, as a bold move, we shall land...”

  “Where’s that, Sire?” asked Dick Broken.

  “In Bombay!” cried Farandoul. “In India, where the Hindu bimanes and quadrumanes groan under the yoke of perfidious Albion! Remember, Broken, that you are not English; you are Australian—and, henceforth, Farandoulian! As soon as we have driven the English out of India, we shall establish a mixed government there...”

  “Bravo, Sire! That’s wonderful!” cried Mandibul.

  “Wait! Once India is organized, we shall loose several generals and quadrumanes upon Asia, with the mission of opening up Siam, Cochin-China and the Celestial Empire to new ideas; far from considering our task to be over, we shall march upon the isthmus of Suez and thus into...”

  “Europe!” said Broken.

  “Yes, Europe—old Europe, so proud of its past glories, but where so many so-call
ed civilized peoples maintain permanent armies beneath the scourge of modern times! Europe shall be ours! We shall begin by settling the eternal Eastern Question; Constantinople will be neither Turkish, nor Russian, nor English! At the other end of the Mediterranean, the English yoke will be lifted from Gibraltar... There are monkeys on Gibraltar, unhappy monkeys bent under the knee of the highlander—we shall free them!”

  “And France, Sire?” Mandibul said. “I wouldn’t be sorry to land one day at Bordeaux and...”

  “France! Haven’t you understood that I have destined France for a glorious role? We shall make haste to conquer her! I shall make Paris the capital of the world. France, which marches at the head of the flow of modernity, will understand the grandeur of our mission; she will throw herself into our movement with generous ardor! I ask for ten years to complete this great work; in ten years, within pacified Europe, there will be no more frontiers, no lines of demarcation, no permanent bimane armies! Commerce, industry and agriculture will no longer be in want of strong arms; its peoples, no longer having any monarchs or generals with vested interests in war and revolutions, will live in peace under the safeguard of a few regiments of monkeys!”

  “I give in, O genius,” murmured Dick Broken. “I’m a Farandoulian!”

  “You shall be Governor of London!” Farandoul exclaimed. “What do we need, to accomplish all this? Disciplined armies! My good, brave monkeys have only to remain united and disciplined, and the world is ours!”

  This single conversation suffices to indicate how the gifts comprising his genius had come together in Saturnin Farandoul. He had it all: grandeur of vision; power of reasoning; boldness of action.

  Farandoul set to work courageously, with the devoted Mandibul and Dick Broken—who was completely committed to his cause—as his principal collaborators. We shall not venture to enter into every detail of the marvelous and incomparable adventure which Farandoul set himself to organize; it is for Australian historians to tell the world what those three men did in a few months.