Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-10-02
AFFAIR IN THE DESERT.


In our times, Frances great African
colonies are subdued forever; but in
other days, during the attempts of
laborious conquest, every moment held
danger. Skirmishes were incessant,
real combats were frequent, and each
post of the extreme vanguard had its
romantic episodes, TO be related later.
Here is one of them.
Soft and wavering the wind blew up
off the scorched desert, the air fresh
ened suddenly, and suddenly the night
fell. Like a barrier upon the horizon
the ascending hills gradually took on
tints of gray or lilac; TO the right and
TO tie left stretched the plain of reddish
sand, traversed Irregularly by ravines
of less or greater darkness, according to
their depth, and by strange palm
groves; dusty. yellow, sunburned. Twi-
light is unknown in Africa; darkness
falls there with push, like curtain,
and this swlftness of change of setting
is accentuated correspondingly as the
dry country is reached, IN the heart of
the desert, in the unexplored lands.
Here, past the High Plains, beyond
SaIda, Ain-Seffra, almost into Morocco,
on the borders of the mysterious Fig
hig, at the farthest point whittier the
exploring columns have penetrated, this
natural phenomenon is profoundly
noticeable; the shades invade the earth
in the briefeSt moment, and change
and darken It with their clouds as ink
darkens water.
A bugle sounded within the circle of
tents; the horses Of the picket lifted
their heads, and the chasseurs, i'll their
wide blouses and trousers of linen,
went to form in line slowly for the
evening roll call. The bugle call, loud
and shriff, WAS prolonged indefinitely,
carried by the sonOrous swells to the
foot of the tranquil mountains. where
the sound died out. The squadron was
formed on the right. Cabarousse, cap
tain commanding, and his two lieuten-
ants, Peyralte and Vaudras, all drowsy,
regarded the maneuver carelesSly, with
out uttering word. with their arms
dropping, and all about, far, near,
everywhere, there reIgned silence so
great that it seemed religious, sacred,
full of august mysteries.
The roll call was begun. After each
name followed the same brief, monoto-
nous answers, as each day at that hour,
with the apathetic Indifference of me-
L
even pause before passing from one
name to another.
nt-esent-esentH'
"Hanrion?"
No one answered. The adjutant,
surprised, lifted his gaze from his roll
book and repeated:
'Hanrion?'
Nothing.
"Well, are you deaf, you Hanrion?"
No answer.
A soldier was missing. His compan-
, ions Of the ranks spread their hands
and gesticulated IL token that they
knew nothing, comprehended nothing.
, Cabarousse came forward.
LET us seel Who was the last man
to see Hanrion? Where was it? When
was it? Speak up nowl"
In the morning, at roll call; none had
seen him since.
"Finish the roll call Break-ranksI''
So there was a soldier missing. In
the neighborhood of city, Cabarousse
would have shrugged his shoulders.
saying simply: "A hair thrown to the
winds!'' but here in this complete, sOli-
tude, twenty leagues from the last ad-
vanced post, an absent man might as
well be counted dead at once. And in
a squadron alone there, Isolated, lost,
snd entirely dependent upon itself, d
call without response was en- ugh tC
chill the boldest. In the desert, ranks
are inevitably narrowed, and individu-
alities are allied; no one is unknown, al
are comrades, and one of these CON-
TadeS had disappeared. In every group,
whether the sleeves were blank ol
braided, that disappearance was dis.
cussed passlonately, with the instinct
i've horror of the thought-''1f it were
Il'' For human selfishness is never
lost completely; all solidarity rests OIL
personal considerations.
0 The country here was not, however
openly dangerous, not avowedly hos
tile; the bands of nomad Arabs had
been repulsed, driven back to the
mountains, and only Kabyle villag,
had its huts short distance away. But
the Kabyles are sedentary, of lazy
habits, and they regard with indiffer
ence the foreign troops defiling pas
them In clouds Of golden dust, anc
strike not, unless they are attacked II
their own dwellings, under their roof
of mud and stone.
And yet, nevertheless, Cabarousse
suspicious, twisting his mustaches
looked obstInately to that side wher'
lay the Kabyle village. There, he wa
convinced, lay the solution of the mys
tery.
Thirty men were left in charge o
the tents. The others were gallopint
in the bright moonlight, and by th'
clear rays horses and riders projected
gigantic shadows. scattered by th'
haste of march, but equal in theI
dimensions. the lines being maintained
strictly. The thirst for battle and tn
joy OF vengeance impelled the squad
ron; besides, any excitement is welcom'
which comes 10 break the monotony o
long days of idleness. Then forward
Uprose and fled from the road tn
marauding jackalS whose shrill squeal
insult from afar their natural enemy
man, once he is safely past them. Nov
and then a saber sounded against ;
stlrrup, or horse which left his plac
was by force of hand returned thither
but always the troop continued ad
vancing with spectral aspect, forming
an ever retreating picture.
The soldiers were content with tn
expedition, perceiving that the dealt
Of one among them was not to b
passed over indifferently, and that a
bloody memories would find promp
vengeance. Little by little, spars
vegetation spread beneath the feet @
the horses; then the way was streake
n