The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-08-19
He WON HIS BET.

desert.
''In wager so napoleons, said one of
them, ''that no European ever goes from
here to Fort St. Denis alone and reaches
there alive!''
'sDonel'' said quiet voice behind him.
The speakers looked around with start
and saw that new parsonage had sud
denly come upon the scene-a small, thin,
swarthy Frenchman in civilian dress.
''You must not think of it, my dear
sir, :" cried the young lieutenant, who had
offered the wager.
Perhaps it may not turn out to be such
terrible business, after all, - said the lit
tie man. f'I'm going straight to the colo
mel and ask his permission to make the at
tempt. and 1 have not the least doubt that
I shall get it.
And he did get it, sure enough, though
1t was not without a severe twinge of con-
science that Colonel Lagrange gave his
sanction.
Rash as he was, however, the bold adj
venturer had a method in his madness,
for the first thing he did was to assume an
Arab dress, knowing that however useless
such disguise might prove at close quar-
tiers against the keen eyes of his enemies,
yet if they saw from distance a solitary
man in native garb they might not think
it worth while to ride after him, as they
would certainly do after European.
When the hour for starting came, not
merely the OLD colonel, but every other
officer who was not actually on duty
crowded to the gate of the little fortress to
witness the departure of their adventurous
guest.
lean I carry any message for you to
Fort ST. Denis, coIonel?' asked the latter,
turning to Colonel Lagrange as coolly as
if he were only setting out for picnic in
stead OF running a risk in which the
chances were 80 to 1 of his being killed.
''Well, since you will go, rejoined the
veteran, laughing in spite of himself, "you
might give this paper to the commandment,
and I only hope you'll survive to deliver
it,
There is no more grim or dreary spectacle
upon the face of the earth, except perhaps
the kindred wastes of central Asia, than
the mighty desert that stretches almost
unbroken from the palm groves of Egypt
to the waves of the Atlantic.
All at once, in the very midst of the hot,
brassy glare which makes all earth and
sky seem on fire together, the palmy crests
of long line of graceful palms are seen
standing like sentinels along the edge of
clear still, shining lake. But it is only
that fatal mirage of the desert, which
mocks the weary eye of the lost wanderer,
only to add a keener agony to the bitter
ness of his despair.
To the brave Frenchman, however, this
visionary splendor and this weird, ever
lasting desolation We're alike hackneyed
speetacles and forward he went without
even troubling himself to look at them.
Ten miles of the 20 had already been &C
complished, then ~, IA, Is. He had now
achieved three fQurths of his perilous jour
ney, and at length, mounting the crest of
one of the long, wavelike sand ridges, he
deserted far in the distance the low white
|
color flag of France waving jauntily above
it.
But at the same moment he caught sight
of something else which was by no means
SO satisfactory-a distant group of white
mantles and glittering spear points and
Arab horses coming straight down upon
! him.
The fact was that the French had so Of
| ten employed native messengers that every
man, even if he looked like an Arab, was
now an object of suspicion to those desert
vultures.
But when they neared our hero and saw
that he quietly continued on his way with
! cut taking any notice of them whatever
they began 60 think that they must be
wrong in suspecting him, naturally sup
posing that his showing so little fear of
them was a proof that he could have no
reason to be afraid.
|
him, brandishing their guns and spears,
| but still in doubt whether to attack him
or not, the disguised Frenchman drew him
self up defiantly, INDUCED in a series of
| those excited gesticulations which are char
acteristic of Mohammedan pilgrims and
then called out to them fiercely in Arabic:
"Begone, transgressors of the law! A
true believer hath no fellowship with the
sinners who violate the sacred commands
of the prophet
tWhat mean you?" asked the nearest
horseman in a tone of amazement, which
was certainly not without reason.
"What call you this?'' retorted the &C
| cuser with stern emphasis. And quick as
| thought he drew forth from beneath the
Arabs white mantle an undeniable pork
sausage.
A yell of mingled horror and indigna-
ton burst from his comrades as the ''un-
clean fesh'' came to light, and their holy
anger broke fortH anew when the reprov-
| ing stranger produced a small flask of
wine from the pouch of another of the
band.
This was more than flesh and blood could
bear. One of the jealous Moslems dealt a
heavy blow to the wretch who thus defed
the precepts of the holy Koran, whereupon
the fierce Arab leveled bis gun and shot
him dead on the spot, being himself in
stantly shot dead in turn by the slain
mans brother.
Meanwhile the supposed sausage eater,
being coarsely reviIed by two of his com.
rades drew his sword and mortally wound
ed both. The next moment he went dowr
before the sixth mans stroke, but in fall
ing he avenged himself with pistol shot
and scouting party from st. Denis
drawn to the spot by the firing, found al
the six Arabs dead or dying and the mys
ferrous traveller looking on with the quie
satisfaction of one watching the success o
a great scientific experiment.
"And who are you?'' asked the officer il
command wonderingly when the strange
had told his story.
81 am a oonjurer by trade, and my nam
Is Robert Houdin." And that name ex
nlainet averxthing. -Eychanca.