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

Scls anu tuc AdDAc village stOOu COLI
fusedly out from the earth, with its
mud novels, low, narrow windowed,
whose doors were too small for human
stature; and round about the Enclosures
for cattle, now vacant.
At a brief word of command, the
squadron halted, No light shone, all
was dark; no one moved, nor anything
whatever. Only few vagabond dogs,
scenting the strangers, barked upon the
dung heaps. The troops surrounded, at
walk, the village, still silent, still
dark. Dismount! They entered the
| first hut, and il was vacant; vacant.
too, the second; the third vacant; all
were vacant-the inhabitants had fed,
taking their effects and weapons. This
was their guilty confession. More than
| that all farther search was now useless
and without purpose.
But what was that? Lying across a
doorway, with its face in a heap OF
filth, was the body of a man, with its
| throat cut, its face bathed in blood. 1t
was Hanrion. Then, on the vast night,
arose clamor of rage, which presently
sinks into grlef-a tone of unspeakable
sadness, of supreme pity. Afar stretch
the undulating plains; and the imper-
turbable chain of hills, black now,
/
| prisals.
Stiff upon his horse, gloomy and for
bidding in the clear night, CaharousSe
| shook his clenched hand at the invisible
| as one who dreams of vengeance
''Lieutenant!'' he cried, at last,
take fifty men and crush that brood
OF maggots until not two are left livingl
On, tlat 1 must stay at my postl that
might go with youI''
When the ranks We're formed, the
sub-lieutenant, Philippe Vaudras,
Saluted and started with his fifty men
toward the Unknown before them,
while Cabarousse and his squad re-
turned at foot pace, in their OWE de-
spite, to the camp, with heads bent,
with hearts saddened, bearing, laid
across two horses, the bloody body of
the murdered Hanrlon.
Tall, slender, leonine blonde, wi h
clear blue eyes, when he left the mill
tary school, Philippe Vaudras had
chosen Africa as field for adventure,
and, i'll a year of camp life, he had
made himself noted TOR his bravery,
and this in wild squadron where
every man was valiant. because of
his white hands, his sweet voice, and
his youth, the ldiers called him The
Little One, Mile. Vaudras,' or else
My Lady Sub-Lieutenant, but,
when lie charged across the plain, that
little one'' gladdened the heart; his
horse had splendid legs and was always
first in the combat, and-what power
full fist had ''my lady sub-lieutenant!''
His soldiers were fain to follow Vau-
dras, since they could never get before
him; and they followed him with ell.
thusiasm, drunken with his wildness,
and, above all, SO that nothing of III
should befall him. He seemed precisely
the chief necessary for that romantic
expedition, for that tragic night, foI
that setting extraordinarily tragic; after
him his troops would follow blindly.
AT the head of the vanguard and on
the TANKS of the squads, the guides
the explorers, the IaIhfinders bent over
their pommels, with their gaze fixed Oh
the ground, directing their course by
tracks almost invisible by the pllt
light. Across a width of forty yards
there appeared in the sand deep marks
footprints of men and beasts, whose
wide spaces arrested the tumultuou
fight, the disorder of defeat, beneath
the furious laShes of the Kabyle drivers
terrified by that corpse they left behind
them.
The horses of the pursuers were pant
Ing. Halt" commanded Naudras
The chasseurs camped as well as the,
could; they lay down to sleep with al
arm through the birdie, and IN spite o
the jerks and pulls of the animals thei
sleep was deep and dreamless. At las
faint white streak appeared on tn,
horizon; dawn was breaking, and sud
denly a growing light dispelled tn,
shadows and diScoveTt d distant objects
Then ON the flank of the hills appeared
the tribe they were pursuing, long
gray line of men, women and children
of sheep and oxen, climbing the height
in haste, and the air conveyed to then
like call the lowing of the oxen anC
the bleating of the sheep.
With one simultaneous shout the
riders spurred to a gallOp. but if they
saw they were seen also, and th'
kabyles, abandoning already the heav
lie t of their luggage, ran up the steep:
in revolt of confusion. They wer'
lost to sight in the choas of glganti,
powders; one by one, as ants bur.
themselves in the earth, they were hid
den to the last one in the hollows of th'
mountain. All that remain d III sigh
were a few oxen, uneasy, turning
toward the plain, lowing sadly, witt
necks stretched, muZZle thrust out ant
nostrils fiaring.
: An hour later Vaudras and hi
: troopers found themselves all at ono,
within hundred yards of the enemy
7 having arrived thither by means of lit
l eral goat paths. The kabyles hat
made front and were awaiting them
The situation explained their audacIty
Between the fugitive tribe and the blu
and red chasSeurs, the only path opel
was an extremely narrow pass whicl
: joined two level spaces This pas
| ran along the side of the mountain lIk
a forbIdding balcony hung over a gorg
: of immense depth. 1t was not wild
I enough for two horsemen abreast, AM
/ that beneath the unerring fire of tn
l Kabyles on the heights. The least slip
the first false st p, would send on
rolling into Infinite space. Vaudra
, saw this confirmation, and understand
, ing IFS horror, his face blanched and h
g shut his eyes. The troopers paused il
s astonishment and the smoking horse
painted heavily and receded, neck
thrust over cruppers. Evidently III
kabyles had known of that natural re
: doubt; the women and children wer
2 hidden behind the rocks in the real
/ and the men were on their knees or o.
: IhelT breasts, shelIeieu ILohi JAMS
r great blocks of granite. They held tn
l mountain and could fire at their pleas
e ure upon the soldiers in the open
= Moreover, there was the ravine, tn
e threatening fall.
{ The French soldiers thrust thei
! heads forward to gaze at the abys:
g saying by their grimaces: 'If we wer
5 birds, nowV'
=, Suddenly, the bugler, little scam
v of 20 years old at the utmost, squire
a his horse forward in bravado an