Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-08-15
A HERO.

Orleansville. Not the shadow of village
or caravansary in sight. Nothing but
dwarf palms, thickets of mastic, and great
plowed fields stretching off to the horizon.
Moreover the Calf, swelled by the showers,
commenced to roar in most alarming
manner, and saw the risk of passing the
night in a marsh. Happily the civil inter.
prefer from the bureau of Milianah, who
accompanied me, remembered that there
was quite near us, hidden in a little valley,
a tribe whose chief he knew, and we de-
cided to go and request his hospitality for
the night.
The Arab villages of the plains are so
buried in cactus and the fig trees of Bar
barry, and their huts of dried earth are
built so close to the soil, that we were in
the midst of the settlement before we knew
it. Was it the hour the rain, that caused
this deep silence? The country seemed to
me very sad, as if under the burden Of
grief which had suspended all life. In the
fields all about us the harvest was going
to ruin. The wheat and the barley, every
where neglected, lay rotting upon the
ground. The harrows and the rusty plows
lay scattered about, forgotten in the rain.
All the tribe had this air of dilapidated
sadness and Indifference. The dogs scarce
ly barked at our approach. From time to
time, from the depths of hut, could be
heard the cries Of child, and we could see
in the thicket the shaved head Of an urchin
or the perforated haik of some old man.
Here and there the little donkeys shivered
under the bushes. But not a horse, not q
man, as though we were still in the times
of the great wars and all the cavaliers had
been gone for months.
The house of the chief, sort of long
farm house, with white, windowless walls,
seemed no more lively than the rest. We
found the stables open, and not groom to
take our horses. 'Let us look in the Moor
ish cafe" said my companion.
That which is called the Moorish cafe is
the reception room of the CASTELAR, Arabs,
house within house, reserved for tram
sient guests, where these good Mussulmans,
SO polite and so affable, find means to exer-
else their hospitality while preserving the
familiar intimacy commanded by the law.
The Moorish cafe of the chief Si-Slman
was open and silent as his stables.
The high walls, painted with lime, the
arms and trophies of war, the ostrich
plumes, and the broad low divan running
entirely around the room, all trickled with
the rain blown in by the gale. However,
there was some one there. First the old
coffee man, an old Kabyl in rags, covered
with his head between his knees, near an
overturned brazier. Then the son OF the
chief, beautiful child, feyerish and pale,
who rested on divan, rolled in black
burnouse, with two great greyhounds at
his feet. When we entered no one moved.
One Of the greyhounds slightly stirred his
head. and The child deigned to turn tow
ards us his beautiful dark eyes, feverlsh
and languishing.
"Where is Si-Sliman?" demanded the in
terpreter The coffee man moved his hands
above his head with vague gesture,
which seemed to indicate the horizon, far,
far away. We understood that Si-Sliman
hid gone on a long journey; but as the
rain prevented our continuing on our way,
tbe Interpreter, addressing the son OF the
chief. told him, in Arabic, that we were
friends of his fathers and we besought
him to Give us shelter until the next day.
Immediately the child rose, notwithstand-
ing the fever which parched him, gave or
ders to the coffee man, then, motlonlng to
the divans with courteous air, as II TO
sar: "You are my guests" he saluted US
in the Arab fashion, with head inclined
and a kiss from theends of his fingers, and,
wrapping himself proudly in his burnouse.
left the room with the dignity OF g. chle1
and master Of the house.
Behind him the coffee man relighted his
brazier, placed on it two microscopic ket-
ties and while he prepared our coffee we
succeeded in drawing from him some de-
tails of his masters journey and tha
strange ruin which had fallen upon the
tribe. The Kabyl spoke fast, with the
gestures of an old woman, in fine guttu-
raj language, now quickly and now inter
rupted with long silences, during which
could be heard the rain splashlng on the
tesselIated pavement of the interior court,
the singing kettles and the barking OF tho
iackals, spread by millions over the plain.
Here is what happened to the unhappy
Si-Sliman. Four months before, on the
18th of August, he had received that fa-
nous decoration of the Legion OF Honor
which be had been promised. He was the
only chief of the province who had not al
ready received it, All the Others were
knights and officers; two or three even car
ried round their haiks the grand ribbon OF
and innocently used it as q
handkerchief, as / have often seen the
Pasha Boualem doing. That which had
until then prevented Si-Sliman from re-
ceiving the decoration was quarrel which
he had had with the chief of the Arabian
bureau, and military comradeship is SO
powerful in Algeria that for ten years the
name of the chief had figured on the list
for promotion without succeeding in pass
ing.
So you may imagine the joy of brave ST.
Slinan when the morning of the 18th Of
August a Spahi from Orleansville brought
him the little gilded casket with the brevet
of the Legion, and when Baia, the best be-
loved of his four wives, fastened the cross
of France upon his camels hair burnouse.
It WIS the occasion OF much feasting and
rejoicing for the tribe. All night the tam
bouxines and the reed flutes resounded.
There were dances, bonfires, and know
not how many sheep were killed, and. that
nothing might be wanting to complete the
fes.,t, u famous eXtemporlzer OF DJendel
In honor of Si-Sliman magnif-
cent captata, commencing: "Oh! Wind,
harness thy steeds to carry the good news
abroad"
The next day. at Daylight. Si-Sliman
called his followers to arms and started for
AIgiers with his horsemen to tender his
thanks to the governor. At the gate OF the
city tho retinue halted, and, according to
custom, the chief went alone to the palace
of the government. saw the Due de Mala-
koff, and assured h;ia Of his devotion to
France in the pompous phrases of the ORR
entail style, which passes for picturesque
because for three Thousand years all the
young men have been likened to palm trees
and all the women to gazelles. Then, his
duty done, he went Oh to show himself In
the town, made his devotfons at the mosque
in passing, distributed silver to the poor,
visited the BARRIERS and the embroiderers,
purchased for his wives perfumes. lowered
silks, blue ,corselets all trimmed with gold
lace, red riding boots for his little CHER,
paying for all without haggling and spread
ing his JOY about in beautiful donros. He
was seen in the bazaars, seated on the
Smyrna carpets. drinking coffee at the door
with the Moorish merchants, who congratu-