Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-08-17
THE ZEPHYR.

gerla, In an Impatient manner, easily eX-
planned perhaps, but decidedly blamable,
slapped the face Of our charge d'affaires
with his fly flap, He was dethroned by
France, who took possession Of the prov
inces Of Algeria, Constantine and Oran.
Nothing could be moro natural or more
just! But % years later, in 1866, we had
not yet been able to make the Kabyles I'M
derstand it. They absurdly maintained
that they were not responsible for the acts
of the hey; that if he had been little
hasty it was not their fault, and they did
not see why their country should be in
vaded and tax levied on their cattle,
or that they should pay tribute, especially
the tribute of blood, to assist the Chris
tians against their own Mohammedan
brothers under the fallacious pretext that
Hussein-P asha, whom the greater part Of
them had never seen, had struck NJ. Arago
in the face with small bunch Of feathers
which really could not have hurt him
very much!
But France maintained that behind the
material fact were the consequences, be-
hind the gesture was the insult; that her
honor demanded her to kill 100000 men
were only to teach good manners to these
barbarians and compel them to pay tribute.
1t was precisely this which the Kabyles
would not understand, and this Is why we
set out for Constantine-10,0 900 infantry,
cavalry and artillery-with the intention,
as charitable as civilized, of enlightening
them as to the reality of our rights and
the superiority of our institutions. But II
the Kabyles are dull of understanding
they have q quick eye and are prompt to
act If they were not our enemies,
should say that, while leading the simple
life of pastoral people of olden times, they
have retained their virtues, preserved the
pride and courage Of free men and are
formidable in combat when one dares at
tack them In their own mountains. We
soon experienced this. Scarcely had we
passed the Oued- Rummel when the strug-
gle began. For month our march was
only succession Of skirmishes and night
attacks through the passes which furrowed
this mountainous country, encounters In
which we always lost more men than the
enemy.
In the plain we suffocated with the
heat and died of thirst On the mountain
we froze and often had to open up road
through the snow. AS soon as our col
umns separated, In order to pass deflle
or q ravine, discharge of musketry burst
above our heads. From every crevice in
the rock came q shot. The brushwood
cracked under our feet. Our sharpshoot-
ers, the zouaves, climbed the rocks to dis
lodge the Kabyles, but they bounded like
channels from crest to crest, returning the
fire of our soldiers, whose bodies rolled
from top to bottom Of the ravine, almost
under our horses feet. Sometimes it was
an Arab who fell in our midst and ex-
pired, crying There is one God" If he
could not speak, he fixed on us q look,
grave and meuacing, raised his finger to
make the supreme profession of faith, and
his brave soul took its flight toward the
one God whom he had just proclaimed.
We had been gone about a month from
Constantine, advancing slowly on account
of the enormous convoy which followed
us, the men almost exhausted by incessant
skirmishes, and the general, anxious per-
haps as to the result of the expedition, de-
cidedly in a bad humor. The principal
cause Of delay in a march, which ought to
have been as rapid as possible over the
mountains, was a flock of 5000 sheep.
Therefore the general resolved to abandon
them. In order that they might not say
that he lost them he decided to leave them
in charge Of one Of the zephyrs. He chose
a man from this corps because he was con-
WINGED, as we all WERE that the poor devil
would be killed and the sheep would be
carried off as soon as we were gone He
preferred to sacrifice q zephyr to a grena-
der or q zouave.
The battalion Of zephyrs, whose real
name Is the African battalion, Is formed
exclusively of scapegoats. 1t is not com
posed Of robbers or murderers, but all the
undisciplined or insubordinate of the army
are sent to the zephyrs or "joyfuls," as
they call themselves. They are usually
intelligent, and If 1t be true that zouave
is as brave as one lion 1t may be said that
q zephyr Is as brave as two. In a profess
sion where discipline and passive obedi-
ence are the first requirements of order
and the essential conditions of success
these independent natures, Indifferent to
punishment, for which they often avenge
themselves by a cutting witticism, are
considered dangerous, so they are sent to
the African battalion. On account of their
reputation for bravery they are always
placed in the front rank during any par
ticularly dangerous engagement. Thus the
1873 men who defended MaZagran for three
days against an army of 5000 Arabs, who
were unable to gain possession Of the viii
lage, were zephyrs, commanded by Cap
tain Lellvre.
We were about 60 resume our march
after passing the night in a valley covered
with the long furzelike grass peculiar to
this country when the general called the
commander Of the zephyrs and told him
to appoint a man from his battalion to
tend the sheep, which he had decided to
leave in this spot until our return-in
three months. "Give him." he added,
IAN ample supply of biscuit, rice and cof-
fee, and he can kill sheep when he needs
1t. We will call for him on our way back "
do not know whether there was irony in
his remark, but 1 am loath to believe 1t,
for 1t would have been cruel. The com
mandant could not repress a smile, but he
made no observation, saluted and rejoined
his battalion, which was awaiting the or
der to march.
He passed slowly in front Of his troop,
looking at each man as If asking on which
the choice should fall, for he believed he
was condemning to death the one he Sc
lected. At length he stopped and called,
"Fusillier Carette" A boy Of 22 or 29
years, tall, but solidly built. with short