The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-12-14

men, IL dllvt, nau gUue 10 CAMP thinking
me killed. The Kahyles, finding them
selves discovered, had certainly reiterated
into their mountain Businesses, where they
knew pursuit to be impossible, and there
was very little chance of an old African
warrior like our colonel sending troops
over ground just covered, for the Arab
never stands to show fight, but yanshcs
as if carried off by the wind of the simoom.
Hark What was that? A heavy sigh
| comes from behind me. / start and try
to rise, but my right leg, broken at the
ankle, pins me to the ground. / endeavor
| to turn on my hands, but my right arm,
also fractured at the wrist, hangs helpless
| by my side.
turn nevertheless, supported on my
left hand, and strain my eyes in the dark
toward the sound. Who is it? Is he friend
or foep There he is. / hear him. He
moves stealthily around. His tread is
nearly noiseless. He is barefooted. tits
Kabyle then. God protect me, for kabyle
never rclents, and, dying, will fight to the
last breath. The ''Frankish dogs Mo-
manned has commanded him never to
spare He moves around me. He wants to
attack me from behind. But l can still
shoot with my left hand. My revolver
it's gone! Then truly am at his mercy.
There he is again behind me. He shall
not strike me in the back. l will crawl
to the wall, and when he attacks me re-
ceive death in front, like soldier. Where
is he now? l do not hear him. There he
Is again. see him. His eyes gleam, and
he is crawling toward me. He stops. Docs
he think me armed? Yet he would not
let himself be heard if he thought so. Ho
has gone again into the darkness There
| no &c, on INV riuhf
There arc his eyes again. This time he is
coming. Perhaps he also is unarmed.
| Can grapplo with him? But with only
one arm! II can clutch his throat, it is
my only chance. He is gone again. There
he is ON my left. Now he moves more
swiftly Is ho going to rush at meS He
| Is still again. There are his eyes, Why
| does he not conner No, he knows my
agony and revels in his hideous vengeance.
He will not spare me moments tor
ture, but gloats over the sufferings of the
| Christian dog. Spare me? No. An Arab
fanatic will never do that. Have l not
seen them, dying, crawl like snakes In
their death struggles to fasten their teeth
in our disabled soldiers throatsP For has
not Mohammed said in the Koran, Each
Christian dog killed is stepping stone to
Allahs paradise, where the divine hours
will surround the brave with eternal bliss
and felicity"
Relentf No He will never do that
My death is a good work and my life q
crime to him. VIII he let mo die thus of
hunger and thirst and feast at the sight
of my death throes? No, for the Koran
says he must kill me. When will he
come? There he moves again swiftly. He
is nearer than before He is gone again.
1 TT
Gone again. When will he come and end
this suspenses Why does he not come
nowi Will he never come? He must
come. I cannot bear this awful torture. I
cannot go to him, or would. 1t would
be sooner over. o God, be merciful and
send death quickly to me. am becoming
mad My God, will death never come?
But God in his mercy had not dccreed
that should die then, and the terrible
night dragged on slowly as eternity. The
starry sky became palor with returning
dawn, and II space grew lighter in the
center of the silo chamber, leaving the
walls In as impenetrable gloom as be-
| fore. The physical suffering and prolonged
nervous strain may have unbalanced my
| mind then, for In moment OF crazy des-
peratfon hurled one of my large military
spurs In tho corner where could hear the
| Arab breathe. The spur hit the rocky
wall with n clear ring, and at the same
time with tound across the lighted space
In the center If the silo large mountain
hyena passed with snarl. have heard
heartrending screams, but the maniac's
laugh which the crisis of overtaxcd nerves
made me then utter uncontrollably before
I swooned again still haunts my ear.
The rest is soon told. The next day
half the squadron arrived at the wells.
Ali, my orderly, going over the ground we
had covered, found the carcass of my horse
half devoured at the foot of the tree where
| had tied him. He followed the lions
trail from there past the mouth Of the silo
My revolver was lying on the edge, where
1t had fallen as stumbled over the dry
branches covering the aperture. As he
stopped to pick 1t up he recognized my
voice coming from under ground, laugh
ing and talking like maniac.
Ali was quickly lowered with the long
sashes of his comrades and soon brought
me back raving and unconscious. 1t was
many days before the delirium caused by
the long sufferings of my imprisonment
left me and many months before l recov-
cred from the fractures and nervous pros
tration caused by my fall into the kabyle
| silo.-San Francisco Examiner.