The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1912-02-16
CHAPTER VII.

South or B1Skra there Is always
trouble to be had for the seeking;
south of Briska there is never peace.
A guerilla warfare is waged peren-
nially between the lords of the desert,
the Touaregg or the one hand, and
the advance agents OF civilization, as
persorified by the reckless French
Condemned Corps and the Foreign Le-
gion on the other. Year after year
military expeditions set out from the
oasis of Biskra to penetrate the will
derness, either by caravan route to
Timbuctoo or along the proposed
route of the Trans-Saharan Railway
to Lake Tchad; and their lines Of
march are traced in red upon the
land
Toward this debatable land O'Rourke
set his face with will. gladly; for
he loved it. He had fought over 1t
of old; in his memory its sands were
sanctified with the blood of comrades,
men by whose side he had been proud
to fight, men of his own stamp whose
friendship he had been proud to own.
Mentally serene. if physically the re-
verse of comfortable, O'Rourke dozed
through the interminable twelve
hours of the journey to El-Guerrah;
arriving at which place after eight the
following morning, he transferred him
self and his handbags (for now he
was travelling light to the connecting
train on the Biskra branch. The lat
dvv1a IN he nj
fOur-thirty in the afternoon. loafed cas-
ually up the line. arriving at the term
linus after dark.
The Irishman, thoroughly tagged
but complaoent in the knowledge thai
he had left both vicomte and honor
able day behind him, kept himself
from bed by main will.power for half
the night. while he made the rounds
OF cafes and dance halls. In search of
a trustworthy and competent guide
no easy thing to find.
The French force by then was three
days out from the oasis, and no doubt
since 1t was technically a flying COL
umn," calculated to move briskly from
point to point in imitation of Touar-
egg tactics. hourly putting a greater
distance between itself and its start
ing point Moreover, the pursuit con-
templated by the adventurer was one
attended by no inconsiderable perils.
BY dint of indomitable persistence.
unflagging good-nature and such in
fiuence as he could bring personally
to bear upon the authorities, O'Rolxke
got what he desired-a competent
guide and two racing camels, or me-
hera, with a pack animal that would
serve their purpose.
By dawn they were ready to start;
and SO, In the level rays of a sun that
seemed a dazzling sphere of intoler-
able light, posing itself In the eastern
rim Of the world as II undecided
whether or no to take up its flight
across the armament, the little cara
van rocked out into the fastness of
the desert. the Irishman in the van
sitting blooded mehari as one to the
wilderness born.
On the seventh night they bivouack-
ed hard on the heels of the flying col !
umn, having for seven days pursued
II this way and that, zigzagging into /,
the heart of the parched land.
Now. when they were come within !,
six hours Of their goal. reluctantly. |
long after nightfall, O'Rourke gave
consent to halt, conceding the me-
cessity; for WEAKNESS weighed upon /,
their shoulders great burden. and /
the camels had become unusually sui |
aen and evil tempered; II rest were ,
denied them presently they would
become obstinate and refuse to follow
the road -.-.