The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1901-06-20


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 a snowstorm, the
slaughter had gone on hour through
hour under shadowless sky, blue as
steel, hard as 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 a cloud of hawks on
the entrance of the Sahara, massed to-
gether for one mighty if futile effort,
with all their ancient war lust ana
with a new despair, the tribes who re-
fused the yoke of the alien empire were
once again in arms, were 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 Africa
and of Africa alone, the tribes had
rushed down in the darkness of night,
lightly as a kite rushes through the
gloom of the dawn. For once the vigi-
lance of the invader served him naught;
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 senti-
nels and vedettes paced slowly to and
fro and circled round, hearing nothing
worse than the stealthy tread of the
jackal or the muf1ed fight 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 a 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 men and horses fitting noise
essly like spirits and as though guided
No by one rein and moved alone; by
one breath and one will; not a bit
champed, not linen fold loosened, not
SILVER Of steel was heard. AS silent
ly 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
through the night every wavering
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 thing
that had many time haunted him, but
never as it did noW-the remembrance
Of a 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-Flack, 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 vigilant sentry in
the service had not the instinct for a
foe afar 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 shifting mist, a shadow
play between the night and dawn?
For moment longer he watched it;
then what it was he knew or felt by
such strong instinct as makes knowl-
edge, and, like the blast Of a 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
lous, with matchless, swiftness and
precision they harnessed and got under
arms. They were but 1900 or SO in all
"a single squadron Of chasseurs, two
battalions of zouaves, half corps Of
tirailleurs and some Turcos, only a
branch Of the main body and without
artillery. But they were some of the
flower Of the army of, Algiers, and i