Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-30

luggage, ran up the sleeps in a revolt of
confusion. They were lost to sight in
the chaos of gigantic powders; one by
one, as ants bury themselves in the
earth, they were hidden to the last one
In the hellows Of the mountain. All that
remained in sight We're few Oxen I'M
-: turning toward the plain, lowing
sadly, with necks stretched, muzzle
thrust ont and nostrils faring
An hour later Vaudras and his troopers
found themselves all at once within a
hundred yards of the enemy, having ar
rived thither by means Of literal goat
paths. The Kabyles had made front and
were awaiting them. The situation ex-
planned their audacity. Between the fu-
gitive tribe and the blue and red chas-
seurs, the only path open was en- ex-
tremely narrow pass which joined two
level spaces. This pass ran along the
side Of the mountain like forbidding
balcony hung over gorge of immense
depth. 1t was not wide enough for two
horsenan abreast, and that beneath the
unerring fire of the Kabyles on the
heights. The least slip, the first false
step, would send one rolling into infinite
space. Vaudras saw this conformation,
and, understanding its horror, his face
blanched and he shut his eyes. The
troopers paused in establishment and the
smoking horses painted heavily and re-
coded, necks thrust over Cruppers. Evil
| IDENTIFY the Kabyles had known of that
natural redoubt; the women and children
were hidden behind the rocks in the rear,
and the men were on their knees or on
! their breasts, sheltered from balls by
| great blocks Of granite. They held the
I mountain and could fire at their pleasure
upon the soadiersin the open. Moreover,
there was the ravine, the threatening fail.
The French soldiers thrust their heads
forward to gaze at the abyss, saying by
their grimaces: "If we were birds. now!-
Suddenly, the, bugler, a tile scamp of
20 years old at the utmost spurred his
horse forward in bravado and sounded
the charge. The signal was given, the
horses started of their own accord, and
along the whole extent of the menacing
pass, heads flush with tails before them,
the first squad dashed splendidly, under
a furious flsillade. Only one man, re-
{ strainihg his horse with both hands
only one man rigid as If petrifed in his
saddle, remained behind it as rear guard.
1t was Vaudras.
One, two, four, five, twenty; the
troopers Numbered past him, shaking
their heads under that hurricane Of
balls, but laughing and encouraging one
another with shouts. The sub-lieutenant
remained immovable, with his eyes fixed
on the summit, a cold sweat running off
his temples.
Naudras was snitten with vertigo
To be attacked by vertigo is almost as
bad as to go mad outright. The horror
of it suGocates and paralyzes; and the
man predisposed by temperament to
that mysterious potency Of empty space.
to that magnetic attraction from abysses,
loses all consciousness of himself and all
will power; he pales, he trem bies, he re-
cedes, and flies from the mute summons
of the invisible death awaiting him in
the air.
Vaudras was afraid.
All! the battlel there is the powder
which laughs, the lead which whistles,
the steel which darts, the blood which
flows, the splendid shocks, the noisy
death at will But that great mouth,
silent, terrific, waiting to suck one in
noi-no!-no. impossible! never!
Thirty men had passed, had taken the
lead Of Vaudras. They fancied that
their officer, for the best Of reasons,
doubtless. watched their tragic defile,
and would follow to place himself at
their head again. None noted his appear
ance, none suspected his anguish The
''httle one" afraid! Bah, "Mademoi-
selle" Vaudras nervous, Indeed, that is
enough to terrify. What is the matter?
MY lady sub-iieutenant is cryingI''
Forty men had gone forward; the balls
whistled harShly, scratching the granite
walls with terrible rebounds. The Ka-
byles were firing volleys. continual dis |
charges. sure that they were lost if the |
charging foe should reach them. Vau-
dras was exposing himself as target !
useiessiy.
All the fifty men had passed by him. |
He remained alone. He dismounted, |
meaning to try the pass on foot. His |
horse broke from him and hurled itself |
after the others. At quarter the length /
OF the trail Its shoes slipped on the rock,
it lost its footing and was whirled into
the abyss, its four hoofs turned upward. |
Vaudras screamed, his eyes starting
from their sockets He threw himself |
upon his knees, he dragged himself upon
his stomach, but brate instinct drew him
backward He could not go on.
AT that moment be saw his men sur
rounded on all sides by the Kabyaes,
three times their number, rendered des-
perate by THEN danger. The women and
children sailed from their rock crannies
and hung themselves from the brides;
they plunged knives into the bellies of
the horses, they scratched. they bit, they
threw stones. In that swarming Of the
horde, that entangtement, that furious
grasp OF the ravfns multitude, the chas-
seurs. suffocaeed, dragged down, felt
their limbs grow numb. Their bleeding
bodies were drenoh;ng the earth with
red, and their leader was not there TO
inspire them. to ordain victory.
1t was faJi1g Ill with them Their
long ssbeTs, dnlled and bent, were with
drawn with difficulty from their thrusts
into the masses Their arms we're weak
and broken. They were powder burned
st such close range were the KabyIes
firing. They were ieafened by the yells