The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1901-08-07
I I UNDER WO'
! FIAGS . oglg4
BY !. OUIDA =

/ GERS na01 been cut down. singled out Dy.
/ the keen eyes of their enemies and
throwing themselves into the deadliest
] of the carnage with the impetuous self
/ devotion Characteristic of their service.
/ At the last there remained but mere
handful out Of all the brilliant squad
ron that had galloped down in the gray
of the dawn to meet the whirlWind Of
Arab fury. Al their head was Cecil.
/ Two horses had been killed under
1 him, and he had thrown himself afresh
across unwounded charges whose rid
Iers had fallen in the melee and at
whose brides he had caught as he
! shook himself free of the dead ami
. mails stirrups. His head was uncov-
cred: his uniform, hurriedly thrown on,
4 had been torn aside. and his chest was
bare to the red folds Of his sash He
was drenched with blood. not his own.
that had rained on him as he fought,
and his face and his hands were black
with smoke and with powder. He
/ could not see a yard in front of him.
4 He could not tell how the day went
] anywhere save in that corner where
/ his own troop was hemmed in. AS fast
as they beat the Arabs back and fore
ed themselves some clearer space, so
/ fast the tribes closed in afresh. No or
| ders reached him from the general Of
/ brigade in command; except for the
well KNOWN war shouts of the zouayes
4 that ever and again rang above the
din he could not tell whether the
French battalions were not cut utterly
to pieces under the immense numerical
| superiority of their foes. All he could
see was that every officer of chasseurs
! was down and that unless he took the
vacant place and rallied them together
the few score troopers that were still
| left would scatter. confused and de-
moralized. as the best soldiers will at
/ times when they can see no chief to
| follow.
He spurred the horse lie had just
mounted against the dense crowd OPP
posing. him. against the hard. black
| wall Of dust and smoke and steel and
/ savage faces and lean. sWarthy arms.
! which were all thai his eyes could see
and that seemed impenetrable as gran
lite, moving and changing though it
| was. He, thrust the gray against it,
| while he waved his sword above his
head. assssssssassss<jr'---
1 Charge, my brother! France!
| France! France!''
! His voice. well known, we'll loved.
i thrilled the hearts Of his comrades,
i and brought them together like a ,trum-
pet call. They had gone with him
many time into the hell of battle,
| into the jaws of death. They surged
about him now, striking, thrusting.
forcing with blows of their sabers or
I their lances, and blows of their beasts
ore feet, a passage one to another, until
! they were reunited once more as one
troop. They loved him: he had called
4 them his brethren They were like
| lambs for him to lead, like tigers for
him to incite They could see. him lift
aloft the eagle he had caught from the
last hand that had borne it, the golden
CLEAN Of the young morning flashing
like flame upon the brazen wings and
/. they shouted. as with one throat:
! 'MaZagran! Mazagranu' AS the battal-
| ion Of Mazagran had died keeping the
| ground through the whole Of the
scorching day, while the fresh hordes
poured down on them like ceaseless
torrents. snow fed and exhaustless, so
| they were ready to hold the ground
| here until of all their number there
should be left not one living man.
He glanced back on them, guarding
lis head the while from the lances that
were rained on him, and he lifted the
guidon higher and higher. till out of
the ruck and the throng the brazen
bird caught afresh the rays Of the
rising sun
Follow meW be shouted
Then, like arrows launched at once
from a hundred bows. they charged.
he still slightly in advance Of them,
the bride flung upon his horses neck,
his head and breast bare: one hand
striking aside with his blade the steel
shafts as they poured on him. the
other holding high above the press the
eagle of the Bonapartes.
The effort was superb. For the mo-
ment the Bedouins gave way. shaken
and confused, as at the head of the
French they saw this man, with his
hair blowing in the wind and the sun
on the fairness Of his face. ride down
on them thus unframed. though q
dozen spears were aimed at his naked
breast. dealing strokes sure as death
right and left as he went, with the
light from the hot blue skies on the
ensign of France that he bore.
They knew him, they had met him in
many conflicts, and wherever the s'fair
Frank" as they called him, came there
they knew of old the battle was hard
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