Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-01
III LOVE WITH A PANTHER.

In LIVE With Il FANIH6R,
From the French OF Balzae, by Mary BaEtolI
At the time OF the expedition under
taken b. General Desaix in Upper Egypt,
Provencii soldier, having fallen into the
hands OF the Maugrabins, was taken by
these Arabs into the deserts situated be.
yond the ca.arActs Of the Nile. Ia order
TO put between themselves and the French
army sufficient space for their tranquility,
the Msugrsbins made forced march and
took no rest till night. They encamped
around wells hidden by palm trees, near
which they had previously buried their
provisions. Never thinking that the idea
OF escape would enter their prisoners
mind, they oontented themselves with
tying his hands and lay down to sleep,
after having made meal OF dates and
giving some barley to their horses. When
the bold Provencal saw his enemies beyond
a state OF watchfulness he got hold Of q
scimiter by means OF his teeth, then
steadying the blade by his knees he
cut the cords which deprived him OF the
use of his hands and found himself at
liberty Immediately he seized a carbine
and poiuard, took the precaution OF pro-
yiding himself with some dry dates, small
bag OF barley, some powder and balls,
girded on a scimiter, mounted horse and
spurred quickly in the direction in which
he supposed the French army to be. I'm
patient to see bivOuac again he pressed
the already. tired courser, till the poor ami
NAL, with faded TANKS, expired, leaving
the Frenchman In the midst Of the desert.
After having marched some time in the
sand, with the desperation of a flying
criminal, he was forced to stop day was
at hand. Notwithstanding the beauty of
the heavens at night in the east, he had
not the strength TO continue his road.
Fortunately he had been able TO gain an
eminence, on the hight of which rose
several palm trees, whose foliage, for some
time visible, had raised the sweetest hope
in mis- heart. His WEAKNESS was so great
that he lay down on a block of granite,
capriciousiy hewn in the form of a camp
bed, and slept without taking any precau-
ton for MS defense during the night. He
had made the sacrifice of his life.
His last thought was one of regret. He
repented having quilted the Maugrabins,
whose wandering life looked pleasant to
him now that he was far from them and
without succor. He was awakened by the
sun, whose pitiless rays falling perpendic-
ularly on the granite left on it an intoler-
able heat. THIS Provencal had awkwardly
placed himself on the side opposite the
shadows thrown by the verdant and majes-
tic palm trees. He looked at these solitary
trees and shivered they recalled to him
the elegant shafts crowned with long
leaves which distinguish the Saracen coll
unlns of the Cathedral at Ares. But
when, after having coantel the palm trees,
he cast his eyes around him, the most
frightful despair overwhelmed his soul.
He saw q limitiess ocean. The blacksned
sands OF the desert were lost to view in all
directions and sparkled like blade OF
steel smitten with living light He knew
not whether this ocean was sea of ice or
whether it were formed OF lakes united
like o mirror. Borne in sheets, a fiery
vaper whiried above this moving ground,
The sky mad a depressing purity in
its oriental splendor, for 1t left
nothing for the Imagination to desire.
Heaven and earth were on fire. Silence
terrified by It's wild and fearful majesty.
Infinity, immensely, oppressed the soul on
all sides not cloud moved in the sky
not breath in the air /; not an incident IN
the bosom of the sand, agitated by small,
thin waves-as last the horizon ended, as
at sea in fair weather, with line of light,
fine as the end of saber. The Provencal
pressed the frank of one of the palm trees
IS if it had been the body of a friend ;
then, in the shelter of the straight, slender
shadow which the tree threw upon the
granite, he wept-then seated himself and
remained there contemplating with pro-
fo,,nI ,aInauu Aba ,f,la hla pvb inh
offered itself to his view. He called, as
if to tempt solitude His voice, lost In the
cavities of the eminence, carried afar an
empty sound which awakened no echo
the echo was in mis- heart He was p
years old. He armed himself with a car
bine. 1t will always be convenient to
have it, F" he said, laying his free arm on
the ground.
Regarding, by turns, the blackened
space and the blue space, the soldier
dreamed of France. He scented with de-
light the streets of Paris, he recalled the
cities through which he had passed, the
oountenances of his comrades and the
slightest circumstances of his life. A
length his Southern Imagination brought t.
view the fints of his dear Provence, in thu
flashes of heat, which undulated above thu
widespread surface OF the desert. rearing
all the dangers Of this cruel mirage, he de
scended the side of the hill opposite t.
that by which he had mounted the even
ing before. His Joy was great on discover
ing kind of grotto cut by nature in tn
immense fragmentsof granite which formed
the base of this little HILL The remains o
mat told that this asylum had beer
formerly inhabited. A few steps furthe
on he saw some palm trees, loaded will
dates. Then the instinct which attache
us to life, awoke in his heart. He felt
desire to meet some party of Maugrabins
or perhaps might he soon hear the thun
der of cannon for at this moment Bona
parte was ravaging Egypt
terminated by this thought, the French
man pulled down some boughs of ripe fruit
under whose weight the trees seemed t.
bend. He assured himself, in tasting thi
unexpected mama, that the inhabitant O
the grotto had cultivated date trees. Tn
ssvory and juicy pulp OF the fruit bore wit
ness to the care OF his predecessor. TIL
Provencal passed On ckly from dull des
pair to an almost frantic JOY. He reas
cended the hill and occupied himself tn
rest of the day in telling one of the un
fruitful palm trees, which had served biz
for roof the preceding night.