The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1901-07-31

sSssssg5 the battle had ragged Now, at
it was at it's height. Far in
the interior. almost at the edge of the
great desert, in that terrible season
when the air that is fame by day is ice
by night and when the scorch of blaz-
ing sun may be followed in an hour by
the binding fury of snowstorm, the
slaughter had gone on hour through
hour under shadowless sky, blue as
steel, hard as a sheet of brass. The
Arabs had surprised the French en-
campment where it lay in the center
of an arid plain that was called Zarai
la. lowering like cloud of hawks on
the entrance of the Sahara, massed to-
gether for one mighty if futile effort,
with all their ancient war lust and
with new despair, the tribes who re-
fused the yoke of the alien empire were
once again in arms, We're once again
combined in defense of those limitless
Kingdoms of drifting sand, of that be-
loved belt of bare and desolate land SO
useless to the conqueror, so dear to the
nomad.
Circling, sweeping, silently, swiftly,
with that rapid spring, that marvellous
whirlwind of force, that is of 4frica
and Of Africa alone. the tribes had
rushed down in the darkness of night,
lightly as kite rushes througb the
gloom of the dawn. For once the vigi~
lance of the invader served him naughtS
for once the Frankish camp was sur
prised off it's guard. While the air was
still chilly with the breath of the night,
while the first CLEAN of morning had
barely broken through the mists Of the
east, while the picket fires burned
through the dusky gloom and the sentt-
nels and vedettes paced slowly to and
fro and circled round, hearing nothing
worse than the stealthy tread of the
jackal or the muffied flight Of a night
bird, afar in the south a great dark
cloud had risen, darker than the brood,
ing shadows of the earth and sky.
The cloud swept onward. like d mass
of cirri, in those shadows shrouded.
Fleet as though wind driven, dense as
though thunder charged, it moved over
the planes. AS it grew nearer and
nearer it grew grayer, changing mass
of white and black that fused, in the
obscurity, into shadow color, a dense
array of mer and horses fitting noise
lessly like spirits and as though guided
alone by one rein and moved alone by
one breath and one will; not biz
champed, not linen fold looSened, not
shiver of steel was heard. AS silent
~ as the winds Of the desert sweep up
northward over the plains. SO they rode
now, host upon host of the warriors of
the soil.
The outlying vedettes. the advanced
sentinels, had scrutinized SO long.
shade of cloud and moving form of.
buffalo in the dim distance that their
sleepless eyes, strained and aching,.
failed to distinguish this moving mass.
that was so like the brown plains and
starless sky that it could scarce be told
from them.
Awake while his comrades slept
around him, Cecil was stretched half
Embarrassed. Do what he would, force
himself into the fullness of this fierce
and hard existence as he might, he
could not burn out or Danish a thing
that had many a time haunted him, but
never as it did now-the remembrance
of woman. He almost laughed as he
lay there on pile Of rotting straw and
wrung the truth out of his own heart
that he, soldier of these exIled squad
rons was mad enough TO love that wo-
man whose deep, round eyes had dwelt
with such serene pity upon him. Well,
it was but one thing more that was
added to all that he had Of his own
will given up. He was dead. He must
be content, as the dead must be, to
leave the warmth of. kisses. the glow Of
delight. the possession Of a Woman's
loneliness, the homage of mems honor,
the gladness Of successful desires, to
those who still lived in the light he had
quilted.
Flick Flaek. coiled asleep in his bos-
ON. thrilled. stirred and growled He
rose and, with the little dog under his
arm, looked out from the canvas He
knew that the most yigilant sentry in
the service had not the instinct for q
foe altar off that Flick Flack possessed.
He gazed keenly southwark, the poodle
growing on. That cloud so dim, SO
distant, caught his sight. Was it a
moving herd a shifting mist, shadow
play between the night and dawn?
For a moment longer he watched it.
then what it was he knew or felt by
such strong instinct as makes knowl-
edge, and, Ike the blast of clarion,
his alarm rang over the unarmed and
slumbering camp.
An instant, and the hive of man, so
still, SO motionless, broke into violent
movement, and from the tents half
clothed sleepers poured. Weakened and
fresh in Weakening as hounds. Perfect
discipline did the rest. With marvel
Gus. with matchless, swiftness and