The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-01-30
Colonel T. asked the senior Major, q
great fat fellow, as stupid as carp.
Nothing simpler, my dear fellow

"Nothing simpler, my dear fellow"
answered De Malet, laughing. THE
strips were exactly the same length and
the thief, fearing to get the longest
piece, betrayed himself by biting off the
end"
This, as you may think, added Il good
deal to the Colonel's reputation. and we
had that affair with the Bedouins at
Laghouat, we soon saw that he could
fight as well as vancouver In the thick
OF the skirmish, one Of the rogues, seeing
DE MaleJ left alone, few at him with
,ir..N1 yataghan, but the Colonel ust
,iroppel on his horses neck and let the
blow pass over him, and then gave point
and ran the fellow right through the
body as neatlyas any fencingmaster could
have done it. You may be sure we
thought none the less Of him after that,
but all this WAS nothing TO what was
coming.
Well, De Maiet had been with us
about year when the railway was be-
gun from Algiers to Bildsh, and the di
recting engineer happened to be one OF
my greatest friends, Eugene Latour, rs
good fellow as ever met 1t was
quite "a fete whenever he dined with us
at mess, for his Jokes and good stories
kept every one brisk; and then TO hear
him sing ma fol it WAS wonderful One
minute some rafting refrain that seemed
to set the very chairs dancing, and then
suddenly low, sad air that brought the
tears into your eyes. They were in
mine, know, every time heard him
sing those last verses of the ''Conssript's
Farewell >
Thought TO gain rich spolls-I've gained
OF bullets halt score
Thought to come back corporal
shall come back no more.
Feed my poor dog. I pray thee. Rose,
And with him gentle tie;
He'll miss his master for while
Adieu! remember me-
"Well, as was saying, Eugene had
been put over the work, and ! don't
know where they could have found a
better man for it. Whether it poured
with rain or came on hot enough to cook
a outlet without fire, it was all one to
him, there he was at his post, looking
after everything, with his eyes in ten
places at once. You may think that
, under such chief the laborers had no
chance of idling. and everything was
getting on splendidly when one morning
as he was standing upon the parapet of
bridge, his foot slipped, and down he
went, | don't know how far. The fall
would have killed him outright if by
good luck there had not been m Arab
underneath (the only time that an Arab
was of any use, should say,) and Eu-
gene alighting upon him, broke his own
fall and the Bedouin's neck to boot.
Now, il there had been nobody there
to tell tales this wouldn't have mattered
IL pin, for an Arab more or less is no
such great matter; but rs Ill luck would
have it, there were three or four more of
the rascals near enough 10 see what had
happened. and of course they raised a
hue and cry directly And when it was
noscd abroad that Christian dog las
they politely called us had killed a
Mussulman, you should have seen what
an uproar there was The people came
running together like vultures when a
camel drops down in the desert, and
there was yelling, and dancing and
shaking of fists that made ones head
turn around. Poor Eugene would have
been torn to pieces on the spot if the
guard hadn't formed around him and
defended him; and the only way he
could pacify the mob was to promise
them Justice from the district magistrate;
so away to the magistrate we all went
Now, / dare say Mr.. Magistrate was
very good fellow in his way, and |
don't want TO say a word against him,
but still, it must ne owned that he
wasn't exactly the kind Of man to
stand firm in the midst of a rabble of
wild Mohammcdans, all bowling and
ilourishing their knives ut once under
his very nose. To tell the plain truth.
he was frightened out Of his wits, and
the only thing he thought of was how
to shift the responsibility on TO some
body else's shoulders as fast as possible
SO he said (and it was very lucky no did,
as it turned QUIT that Latour. being in
Government employ, must be tried by
military law, and he packed them all off