Mexico Missouri message., 1915-05-06
CHAPTER XII.
A Sacred Trust.

90, A Sacred Trust.
His eyes had grown accustomed to
the glare of the beautiful sands, but
his sense of beauty was never satisfied
with looking at the desert picture and
drinking in the glory and the lowell
ness of the melancholy waste. Stand
ing in the door of his tent in fatigue
uniform, he said to Pitchoune:
Il could be perfectly happy here If
Z were not alone"
Pitohoune barked. He had not
grown accustomed to the desert. He
hated 1t. 1t slipped away froL under
his little feet; he could not run on it
with any comfort He spent his days
Idly in his masters tent or royalty
perched on a camel, crouching close
20 Sabron's man servant when they
went on caravan explorations.
YES" said Sabron, IF we're not
alone. / don't mean you, mon yieux.
You are a great deal, but you really
don't count, you know"
Before his eyes the sands were as
pink as countless rose leaves. To
Sabron they were as fragrant as flow
oers. The peculiar incenselike odor
that hovers above the desert when the
~ { declines was to him the most de-
liciOus thing he had ever inhaled All
the west was as red as fire. The day
had been hot and there came up the
cool breeze that would give them de-
1icious night. Overhead, one by one,
ne watched the blossoming out of the
great stars; each one hung above his
lonely tent like bridal flower in o
veil OF blue On all sides, like white
petals on the desert face, were the
tents of his men and his officers, and
from the encampment came the hum
of military life, yet the silence to him
was profound. He had only to order
his stallion saddled and to ride away
for a little distance in order to be
alone with the absolute stiffness.
This he often did and took his
thoughts with him and came back to
his tent more conscious of his solitude
every night of his life. ...-, .....
There had been much looting of car.
;avans in the region by brigands, and
his business was that of sentinel for
the commerce of the plains. Thieving
and rapacious tribes were under his
eye and his care. Tonight, as he stood
looking toward the west into the glow
shading his eyes with his hand, he saw
coming toward them what he knew to
he a caravan from Algiers. His ordon
nance was a native soldier, one of the
desert tribes, black as ink, and scarce
Iy more childlike than Brunei and pre-
sumably as devoted.
~Mustapha," Sabron ordered, fetch
me out lounge chair" He spoke In
French and pointed, for the man un
derstood imperfectly and Sabron die
not yet speak Arabic
He threw himself down, lighted {
fresh cigarette, dragged Pitehoune by
the nape of his neck up to his lap, ant
the two sat watching the caravan
slowly grow into individuals of camelI
and riders and finally mass itself il
shadow within some four or five hun
dred yards of the encampment
The sentinels and the soldiers begal
60 gather and Sabron saw a singl,
2ootman making his way toward tn
camp.
GO" he said to Mustapha, land SCI
what message the fellow brings to tn
regiment"
Mustapha went, and after little re
turned, followed by the man himself,
bIack-bearded. half-naked BedouiI
swathed in dust-colored burnoose an
carrying a bag.
He bowed to Captain de Sabron an
extended the leather bag. On the out
side of the leather there was a tickle
pasted. which read:
'"The Post for the - Squadron G
Cavalry-.
Sabron added mentally:
wherever it may happen to bel
He ordered bakshish given to tn
man and sent him of. Then he opene
the French mail He was not NOR
than three hundred miles from Algier
IL had taken him a long time to wOr
down to Dirbal. however, and they ha
had some hardships. He felt millio
miles away. The look OF the primitiv
mail bag and the knowledge OF no
far It had travelled to find the peopl
20 whom these letters were addresse
made his hands reVerent as he Vi
fastened the sealed labels. He locke
che letters through, returned the ba
% Mustapha and sent him on to di
tribute the post.
Then. for the light was bad. bri
liant though the night might be,
vRent into his tent with his own mai
ON his dressing table was small
aumlnation consisting OF a fat candi
set d a glass case. The mosquitoes