The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-11-26
CHAPTER XIV.
(COntinuedl


that he was, had rallied the rest OF
his men, had swung round in cover
and charged In most dashing style
through the sultan's rear-guard just
az the army had unsaddled for the
midday halt. II is estimated that he
hustled AZ true believers into Para
disc, left wounds on another score
that would annoy the houris hereaf
ter, and spread an unclean odor OF pig
among the faithful that It weHid take
at least pilgrimage TO the prophet S
tomb at Mecca TO cleanse away. Also
from an officer (deceased) he took
a gun. and, as an afterthought. charg.
ed back again through the scattered
soldiers, and obtained the ammunition
that served II.
This gun, which happened to be an
early pattern OF the winchester re-
peater, pleased his holiness much
Within Ave minutes he had grasped
Its mechanism. and proved It's value
on the target 80 satisfactorily, that
three more mothers In Islam were
left to mourn sons who had served
among the sultan's infantry. And
these hits we're made Ct under 200
yards rise; II never occurred to the
pious man that gun could carry
farther
But In the pursuit, which was hot,
he tested the weapon at longer and
longer ranges, till at length (having
mastered the mechanism OF the sight
ing) he sent his man TO Paradise &C.
curately enough at $50 yards. and felt
that a new element had entered into
the science OF warfare. The trifiing
detail that the long stock TO which he
was unaccustomed kicked violently on
his cheek and cut It to the bone did
not concern him In the least.
or the sultan OF Morocco, as 1t hap
pened, no more was seen that year.
II may be that business called him
elsewhere: II may be that the long
range fire OF that desperate rear-guard
action put the fear OF Allah into him;
but the saint retired to his castle In
peace, and, what Is far more to the
point his fertile valley land remain
ed unraided. and the decennial black
mail was not asked for.
For many weeks thereafter, Sid
Ibrahim drank his green tea and
smoked his pipe of keef with mind
that wrestled with big things. A new
factor had arisen In honest warfare.
The god OF battle, who was one OF the
old Berber mythology before the new
tangled Mohammedism had been
forced on the tribe, the god OF battle
had grown a longer arm.
Yesterday, II you shot at man at
a hundred PAGES rise with all the good
will In the world, the odds were that
three times out OF four you missed
him. Today. when the Yaiour gun
with the stripes inside the barrel had
been restocked and reheel-plated TO
suit true believers grip, you could
kill running pig with It at 600 yards
without a miss. And then, bism' illah,
there was its damnable faculty for
firing 10 shots In 10 heart-beats-and
being reloaded in 10 heart-beats more.
The less the holy man thought over
the poiI OF the gun the less he liked
them bL, he recognized facts when
they came against him; and when his
chief adviser In the elders council
suggested that the gun was produced
| by witchcraft, and might well be sent
10 Eblis whence IL came-well, his
language was merely irritable, and
not saintlike In the least.
Finally, after a years thought. he
came to decision. There were
things abroad that threatened the
existence Of the Berber nation In the
Atlas, and the origin of them must
be sought out. Only one way OF ef-
fecting this showed itself; he must
send a son to the land OF the Yaiours
to learn the Yaiours' ways With
moody eyes he inspected his infant
brood, and wondered which one OF
the six to send. But soon he decided
hat there could be no question about
the choice. II must be the apple OF
his eye, his eldest. the godng-to-be-
saint, who would follow him in the
saintship, who must depart to this
hccurst shore to learn how saints in
hese modern days kept up their state
hnd dignity.
And then, being a thoroughly cap
bible man In perfecting detail, he went
bn to insure that his venture should
hot miscarry. The despised Moor
who held the low country, was, he
S,I1 vroIl incomnafpnt for SIlCh