The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1901-08-07
Continued from last week.


hurled upon rock as the chasseurs,
ward to save the pickets, to encounter
] the first blind force of the attack and
to give the infantry, farther in. more
4 time for harness and defense. Out of
/ the caEerns of the night an armed null
! titude seemed to have suddenly poured.
a moment ago they had slept in secu-
/ rity; now thousands on thousands.
whom they could not number, whom
/ they could but dimly even perceive
] were thrown on them in immeasurable
/ hosts which the encircling cloud of
dust served but to render yaster. ghast-
/ lier and more majestic. The Arab line
4 stretched out with wings that seemed
4 to extend on and on without end. The
line of the chasseurs was not one-half
its length: they were but a single
squadron flung in their stirrups, scarce
4 " clothed, knowing only that the foe
was upon them, caring only that their
| sword hands were hard on their Weap-
4 ons. With all the elan of France they
launched themselves forward to break
| the rush of the desert horses. They
met with terrible sound, like falling
trees. like clashing metal.
The hoofs of the rearing chargers
4 struck each others breasts. and these
4 bit and tore at each others names
while their riders reeled down dead.
I Frank and Arab were blended in one
inextricable mass as the charging
j q "a
wings Of the tribes were spared the
shock and swept on to meet the bayo-
nets Of zouaves and Turcos. The cav
airy was enveloped in the overWhelm-
/ ing numbers Of the center, and the
tanks seemed to cover the zouaves and
tirailleurs as some great settling mist
may cover the cattle who move be-
4 meath it.
1t was not battle; it was fright
full tangHng of men and brutes; no
contest of modern warfare, such as
commences and conquers by duel of
artillery and sometimes gives the vic
tory to whatsoever has the superiority
Of ordnance. but a conflict, hand to
hand breast to breast. life for life. a
Homeric combat Of spear and of sword
even while the first volleys of the an
swering musketry pealed over the
plain.
For once the desert avenged in like
| that terrible misunderstanding of supply
| wherewith the empire so long had
crushed it beneath the Overwhelming
difference of numbers. It was the
day of Mazagran once more as the
1 light of the morning broke, gray, sill
vered. beautiful. in the far. dim dis
lance beyond the taWny seas of reeds.
Smoke and sand soon densely rose
above the struggle, white, hot. blind
ing, but out from it the lean. dark Bed
ouin faces the snowy hacks. the red
burnoose, the CLEAN Of the Tunisian
muskets, the fash of silver hilted yat-
aghaEs. were seen fused in mass
with the brawny naked necks of the
zouayes. with the shine Of the French
bayonets, with the tossing names and
horses. with the torn. stained silk of
the raised tricolor, through which the
storm Of balls flew thick and fast as
hail, yet whose folds were never suf-
fered to fall. though again and again
| the hand that held it's staff was cut
away or was unloosened in DEATH yet
ever found another to take its charge
| before the flag could once have trem-
bled in the enemy's sight.
! The chasseurs could not charge
They were hemmed in. packed between
bodies of horsemen that pressed them
| together as between iron plates. Now
| and then they could cut their way
through clear enough to reach their
comrades of the infantry, but as often
as they did so so often the overwhelr-
ing numbers of the Arabs surged in on
them afresh like q flood and closed
upon them and drove them back.
Every soldier in the squadron that
lived kept his life by sheer breathless,
ceaseless. hand to hand sword play.
hewing right and left. front and rear,
without pause, as in the great tangled
forests of the west men hew a side
branch and brushwood ere they can.
force one step forward. i.
Is5A5 = LIZ 3 lS-SltA VI E0dsWA SpIGttu Ill O10
golden glow Of morning, and the day
rose radiant over the world They staid
not for its beauty or its peace. The
carnage went on hour upon hour. Men.
began to grow drunk with slaughter as
with raki. ss
1T was bitter, sitting, cruel work.
with their mouths choked with sand,
with their Threats caked with thirst,
with their eyes blind with smoke,
cramped as in wise, scorched with
the blaze of powder, covered with blood.
and with dust, while the steel was
thrust through nerve and sinew or the
shot ploWed through bone and flesh.
The answering fire Of the zouaves and
tirailleurs kept the Arabs farther at
bay and moved them faster down, but
h the chasseurs' quarter Of the field,
parted from the rest Of their comrades
as they had been by the rush OF that
broken charge with which they had