Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1909-07-09


the challenge and send an officer to
meet the prophet, and that we would
show his followers how little they
could rely upon their leaders prom
ises.
After the messenger had gone, the
colonel called the officers together to
select a champion for our cause. All
of us were anxious to volunteer, but
as our chief pointed out, it was abso-
lutely necessary for us to send our
best man, for defeat at the hands of
the fanatical prophet would immense
ly lower the prestige of our arms,
while victory might break the back
bone of the rebellion at once. AS
was even then universally acknowl-
edged to be the best swordsman in
the regiment, the selection naturally
fell upon me, and l was formally as
signed to uphold the honor of the
French arms-a decision, my dear
Roget, which you may well believe af-
forded me the greatest pleasure.
/ at was just before shutdown when
I stepped out from behind the shelter
of our guns and advanced towards the
enemy's lines to meet their redoubt-
able champion. 1 was clad in the uni
form of my rank and carried my
drawn sword in my hand, having dis
carded my scabbard so as to avoid the
risk of accidentally tripping over it
in the coming encounter. My weapon,
the regulation cavalry sabre, was a
good one and knew that it would not
play me false.
Midway between the two forces my
savage adversary awaited me, and as
I advanced towards him his tall spare
| figure standing outlined against the
red disk of the setting sun was truly
an awe-inspiring spectacle. He was
robed entirely in white, and held in
his right hand his famous scimeter,
while his left gripped a small circular
buckler of hippopotamus hide. A great
silence had fallen over both forces,
and, as I walked briskly over the heat
ed sands of the desert, it seemed to
me that 1 had never known the air to
be so still.
within a dozen PAGES of my adver-
sary l halted. Then for a few mo-
ments neither of US moved, but each
subjected the other to the keenest
scrutiny, seeking to discover some
weak point of which he might take
advantage.
81 saw at once that the possession
of the buckler gave the Algerian an
enormous advantage over me, since it
enabled him to both cut and parry at
the same time, while 1 had to rely
upon the sword itself for both attack
and defense.
For what seemed minutes we stood
gazing intently at each other; and
then with wild cry of 'A1lah!' the
Algerian raised his glittering blade
aloft and rushed upon me.
with my sword in fierce stood
my ground and let him come.
Down came his blade with a
vicious cut for my right shoulder, up
sprang my sword and met the blow,
back went my point for his breast,
only to be put aside by his buckler
while he cut again, this time for my
head. successfully parted his head
cut, and, seeing that it had failed, he
sprang quickly back in time to avoid
my riposte For few seconds neither
of us moved, except that shifted my
ground a bit so as to get the sun on
my left, instead of In front of me as
it had been at first Then with an
other shout he charged me again.
"And so the fight went on, until our
breath came in hoarse quick gasps
and the perspiration streamed down
our faces, well-nigh binding us. My
savage opponent was not governed by
any conventionalities in his style of
fighting, but rushed at me now from
one side and now from the other, ut
tering all the while fierce cries and
delivering cuts wherever he saw an
opening without regard to whether
they would be considered fair or foul
in civilized sale d'armes.
"And yet, with all his apparent
recklessness, he guarded well, and
try as l would was unable to get in
a fatal stroke. Time and again sent
the point back to him after parry,
only to have it dashed aside by his
buckler or tried to use the edge, only
to have it met with his sword.
1.-THE red sun had by this time sunk
below the horizon, but still we con-
tinued to struggle, sometimes out Of
distance and sometimes locked so
close together in corps-a-corps that
each could feel the others hot breath
on his cheek.
However it is evident that such
combat could not go on forever, and
at last 1 determined to risk ruse-
trick which was sometimes en-
ployed successfully by the rapier-
men of the sixteenth century.
Being at the time somewhat out of
distance, with Mohammed watching
me as a cat does mouse, advanced
my right leg more than had previous
ly done, pretending at the same time
to overbalance myself. The prophet
was quick to see the opening and to
take advantage of it. With a tri-
umphant cry he sprang forward and
delivered terrific cut against the in
side of my exposed leg.
at was fatal error. AS he cut, 1