The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-08-29
MacMahon's Leap for Life.

In 1881 MacMahon, then a young lieu
tenant serving with the French army in
Algeria, under the command of Marshal
Bugeaud, was stationed with a small COM
pany of men at an outlying settlement
forty miles from headquarters. The Arabs,
then bitterly hostile to the cOlonistS be-
sieged the small fort, slaughtered ali the
settlers they could catch, Intercepted all
supplies, and brought the little garrison to
the very verge of starvation. Capitulation
was not to be thought of, for that meant
immediate slaughter. Help from the Mar
shall was not to be thought of, for he was
quite unaware of their danger in fact all
hope seemed lost, when MRcMaho volun-
teered to be the bearer of dispatches an
nouncing their predicament. The COM
mander thought the venture perfectly use
less, as the intervening country was alb
solutely alive with infuriated Arabs, but
being aware that help must come in that
manner, if it came at all, he reluctantly
consented to what he considered at the
time was the desperate sacrifice of a val
liable life,
MacMahon, perfectly overjoyed at gain
ing consent to his enterprise, spent the
ihort time intervening before his start in
looking carefully to the equipments of his
horse and to his own accoutrements, and
in the first hour of darkness he set out
brisk, blithe and de6onnaire, as ever CAV
gazing on his splendOr. The willy Arabs
seldom caught unaware, soon noted his
departure, and followed hard and fast in
his rear but seeing that his course lay
toward broad and deep ravine, some five
miles from the post, they spread out wide
ly, hoping to outtlank him when he should
be compelled ito turn at the brink, and SO,
securing him alive, learn from him under
torture all the particulars concerning the
French forces which they wanted to obtain.
MacMahon, who had in the first mile or
two easily distanced them, understood their
plan thoroughly, and was prepared to meet
it. He looked back and saw in the moon
light the constantly increasing crowd of
white-clad warriors spreading out in a wide
semicircle behind him. He knew we'll how
they would exult in the thought that tbev
would wiring from. his tor+,-sed frame all
the secrets they wanted to know, and he
quickly slackened a little the headlong
speed of his horse, in order to reserve his
strength for the effort he had determined
upon, that should-he hoped-save life
and liberty. The Arabs, thinking that his
horse was already failing, renewed their eff
forts to overtake and surround him, and
by the time he had reached within a few
hundred yards of the brink, their shout of
triumph was clearly audible. But Arabs,
as well as other men, sometimes count
their chickens before they are Matched,
and so 1t proved they had done In this case.
They had headed him to the brink of the
dreadful chasm, and followed hard behind,
certain of an easy capture, when all of a
sudden, Obedient to the masters resolute
hand upon the rein, the horse broke into
swift gallop, and with a touch from the
spur, flick from the glove and an encour-
aging word from the well-known voice,
the gallant steed and gallant rider cleared
the yawning gulf, and landed safe on the
other side, and were out of sight of the
enraged Arabs before they could get the
slightest chance of taking even deliberate
aim. In two hours more MacMahon stood
before his astounded chief, and two hours
after that, refusing rest and relief, he ac-
companied the aid he had risked his life
to procure on its way to his beleaguered
comrades.