The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1891-07-10
AFFAIR IN THE DESERT.

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laborious conquest, every moment held
q danger Skirmishes were incessant,
real combats were frequent. and each
post Of the extreme vanguard had it's
romantic episodes, to be related later.
Here is one Of them
Soft and wavering the wind blew up
off the scorched desert. the air freshened
suddenly, and suddenly the night fell.
Like a barrier upon the horizon the as
cending hills gradually took on tints OF
gray or lilac; to the right and to the
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, Twilight is
unknown in Africa: darkness falls there
with a push, like a curtain, and this
swiftness Of change Of setting is accent
uated 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-Sefrra,
almost into Morocco on the borders Of
the mysterious Fighig, at the farthest
point whittier the exploring columns
have penetrated, this natural phenom-
enon 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, in their wide
blouses and trousers Of linen, went to
form in line slowly for the evening roll
call. The bugle call, loud and shrill, was
prolonged infinitely, carried by the sono.
rous swells to the foot Of the tranquil
mountains, where the sound died out
The squadron was formed on the right.
Cabarousse, captain commanding, and
his two lieutenants, Peyralte and Vau-
dras, all drowsy, regarded the maneuver
carelessiy, without uttering a word, with
their arms dropping, and all about, far,
near. above, 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-
chanical exertion The ad djutant did not
even pause before passing from one name
70 another.
Present. --esentl --esentl"
"Hanrion?"
No one answered The adjutant, sur
prised. lifted his gaze from his roll book
and repeated;
"HanrionY
Nothing.
"Welll are you deaf, you Hanrion?"
No answer.
A soldier was missing. His oompan-
ions Of the ranks spread their hands and
gesticulated in token that they knfw
nothing, eomprehended nothing, Caba-
rousse came forward,
LET us seel Who was the last man
to zee Hanrion? Where was itS When
was III Speak up nowl"
In the morning, at roll call; none had
seen him since.
Finish the roll calll Break-ranks!"
So there was soldier missing In the
neighborhood OF city, Cabarousse would
have shrugged his shoulders, saying sim
ply: "A hair thrown to the windsl" but
here in this complete solitude, twenty
leagues from the last advanced post, an
absent man might as well be counted
dead at once, And in q squadron alone
there, isolated, lost, and entirely depen-
dent upon itself, call without response
was enough to chill the boldest. In the
desert, ranks are inevitably narrowed,
and individualities are allied; no one is
unknown, all are comrades, and one Of
these comrades had disappeared. In
every group, whether the sleeves were
blank or braided, that disappearance was
discussed passionately, with the instinc-
tive horror Of the thought-'If it were
IT. For human selfshness is never lost
completely; all solidarity rests on per.
sonal considerations
The country here was not, however,
openly dangerous, not avowedly hostile;
the bands Of nomad Arabs had been re-
pulsed, driven back to the mountains,
and only a Kabyle village had its huts a
short distance away But the Kabyles
are sedentary, Of lazy habits, and they
regard with indifference the foreign
troops defiling past them in clouds Of
golden dust, and strike not, unless they
are attacked in their own dwellings, un-
der their roofs Of mud and stone,
And yet, nevertheless, Cabarousse, sus-
picious, twisting his mustaches, looked
obstinately to that side where lay the
Kabyle village. There, he was con-
vinced, lay the solution of the mystery.
Suddenly he strobe toward the groups
Of soldiers.
"Herel let us see about thisi no more
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