"Ask Doctor Caspar Arnery," Tibul had said when the people wanted to know why he had become a Negro.
But we can guess the reason without asking the good doctor.
Remember, Tibul managed to escape from the battlefield.
Remember, the Guards were tracking him down, they set fire to the workers' quarters, they opened fire in Star Square.
Tibul was able to hide in Doctor Caspar's house.
But he might have been discovered at any moment.
The danger was too great, for too many people could recognise him.
Every shopowner was on the side of the Three Fat Men, because he himself was fat and rich.
Any rich man who lived on the same street as Doctor Caspar could call the Guards and tell them the doctor was hiding Tibul in his house.
"You'll have to change your appearance," Doctor Caspar had said to Tibul the night he had come down the chimney.
And the doctor helped Tibul to change.
He said:
"You're very tall.
You have a broad chest, broad shoulders, strong white teeth, curly black hair.
If not for your white skin, you'd make a good North American Negro.
Why, that's an excellent idea!
I'll help you become one."
Doctor Caspar Arnery had studied a hundred sciences.
He was a very serious and good-natured man.
But all work and no play is a very dull way to live.
And so at times Doctor Caspar used to amuse himself.
Since he was a scientist, he relaxed by inventing things.
He would make books of transfers for poor orphans, wonderful fireworks, toys and musical instruments with lovely, unusual sounds. He would invent new paints, colours no one had ever seen before.
"Here, have a look/' he said to Tibul.
"This colourless liquid will make anything it touches dark brown. And this bottle will make everything the colour it was to begin with."
Tibul undressed. He rubbed the stinging liquid that smelt of burnt cork all over his body.
An hour later he turned dark brown.
That was when Auntie Ganimed came in with her mousetrap.
We know what happened after that.
Now let us return to Doctor Caspar.
We left him when Captain Bonaventura took him away in a black Palace carriage.
The horses were galloping down the road.
And we know that Lapitup the Strong Man could not catch up with them.
It was dark inside the carriage.
The doctor thought the man sitting next to him was holding a tousled girl on his lap.
The man was silent.
So was the child.
"I hope I'm not crowding you?" the doctor said politely, tipping his hat.
"Don't worry,'' the Palace official replied brusquely.
Flashes of light came in through the narrow windows.
Soon the doctor's eyes became used to the dark.
He made out the official's long nose and half-closed eyes, the lovely little girl and her beautiful dress.
The child seemed very sad.
She was probably very pale, but he could not be sure in the dim light.
"Poor child," Doctor Caspar thought. "She's probably ill."
"Have you called on me because the little girl is sick?
Do you need my advice?"
"Yes, we do," the man with the long nose said.
"I'm sure she's one of the Three Fat Men's nieces, or a guest of Tutti the Heir," the doctor thought. "She's dressed in fine clothes, she's come straight from the Palace, and a Captain of the Guards is escorting her. Yes, she's a very important person.
Oh! I've completely forgotten that live children are never allowed near Tutti the Heir.