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

they lett behind them.
The horses OF the pursuers were pant.
ing. "Haltl" commanded vaudras. The
chasseurs camped as well as they could;
they lay down to sleep with an arm
through the bride, and in spite Of the
jerks and pulls Of the animals their sleep
was deep and dreamless. At last faint
white streak appeared on the horizon;
dawn was breaking; and suddenly
growing light dispelled the shadows and
discovered distant objects. Then on the
flank OF the hills appeared the tribe they
were pursuing, a long, gray line OF men
women and children, of sheep and oxen,
climbing the heights in haste, and the
cir conveyed to them like call the low,
ing Of the oxen and the bleating Of the
sheep
With one simultaneous shout the rid
ers spurred to gallop, but if they saw
they were seen also, and the Kabyes,
abandoning already the heaviest Of their
luggage, ran up the sleeps in 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 hollows Of the mountain. All that
remained in sight were few oxen, I'm.
easy, turning toward the plain, lowing
sadly, with necks stretched, muzzle
thrust out and nostrils flaring.
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 flu
gitive tribe and tine blue and red chas-
sears, the only path open was an 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
horseman 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 astonishment and the
smoking horses painted heavily and re-
ceded, necks thrust over cruppers. Evil
IDENTIFY the Kabyles had known Of that
natural redoubt the women and children
we're 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
mountain and could fire at their pleasure
upon the soldiersi in the open Moreover,
there was the ravine. the threatening fall
The French soldiers thrust their heads
forward to gaze at the abyss, saying by
their grimaces; III wewere birds, ,now!"-
Suddenly, the bugler, little 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 fusillade. Only one man, re.
straining his horse with both hands
only one man rigid as If petrified in his
saddle, remained behind it as rear guard.
1t was Vaudras.
One, two, four, FIVE, twenty; the
troopers thundered 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. cold sweat running of
his temples.
Vaudras was smitten with vertigo
To be attacked by vertigo is almost as
bad sto go mad outright. The horror
Of it suffocates and paralyzes; and the
man predisposed by temperament tc
that mysterious potency of empty space
to that magnetic attraction from abysses
loses all consciousness of himself and all
will power; he pales, he trembles, 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
no!--no!-nol impossiblel neyer
Thirty men had passed. had taken the
lead Of Vaudras They fancied that
their officer, for the best Of reasons
doubtless, watched their tragic deiile
and would follow to place himself al
their head again. Nonen his appear
ance, none suspected his anguish. The
''httle one" afraid Bah "Mademoi
selle" Vaudras nervous! Indeed, that il
enough to terrify. What is the matter
"My lady sub lieutenant is cryingi"