Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1915-09-17

breath he drew. He asked in Arabic:
Where am II"
I'm the hut Of victory" said Fatou
Ami
Pitchoune overheard the voice and
came to Sabron's side. His master
murmured:
Where are we, my friend?"
The dog leaped on his bed and licked
his face. Fatou Ami, with whisk of
straw, swept the flies from him. A
great weakness spread its wings above
him and he fell asleep.
Days are all alike to those who lie
in mortal sickness. The hours are in.
tensely colorless and they slip and slip
and slip into painful wakefulness, into
fever, into drowsiness finally, and then
into weakness.
The Capitaine de Sabron, although
he had no family to speak of, did pos
sess, unknown to the Marquise d'Es-
clignac, an old aunt In the provinces,
and handful of heartless cousins who
were indifferent to Linn. Nevertheless
he chung to life and In the hut of Fatou
Ami fought for existence. Every time
that he was conscious he struggled
anew to hold to the thread of life
Whenever he grasped the thread he
vanquished, and whenever he lost it,
he went down, down.
Fatou Ami cherished him. He was
soldier who had fallen in the battle
against her sons and grandsons. He
despised women. He was her prey
and he was her reward and she cared
for him; as she did SO, she became
maternal.
His eyes which, when he was con-
scious, thanked her; his thin hands
that moved on the rough blue robe
thrown over him, the devotion of the
dog-found responsive chord in the
great-grandmother's heart. Once he
smiled at one Of the naked, big-bellied
great-great-grandchi Benz Has
san, three years old, came up to Sab
ron with his fingers in his mouth
and chartered like bird. This proved
to Fatou Ami that Sabron had not
the Evil Eye. No one but the children
were admitted to the hut, but the sun
and the flies and the cries of the viii
lage came in without permission, and
now and then, when the winds arose
he could hear the stirring of the palm
trees.
Sabron was reduced to skin and
bone. His nourishment was INSULT
cient, and the absence of all decent
care was slowly taking him to death
1t will never be known why he did not
die.
Pitchoune took to making long ex
cursions- He would be absent for days
and in his clouded mind Sabror
thought the dog was accommodating fol
him over the vast pink sea without
there-which. If one could sail across
as in ship, one would sail to France
through the walls of mellow old Taras
con, to the chateau of good King Rene
one would sail as the moon sails, an
through an open window one nigh
hear the sound of a woman's voice
singing. The song, ever Elusive ant
irritating in it's persistency, tantalizet
his sick ears
Sabron did not know that he woult
have found the chateau shut had HI
sailed there in the moon. 1t was al
we'll that he did not know, for his wan
dering thought would not have know
where to follow, and there was repos'
in thinking of the Chateau d'Esclig
nae.
It grew terribly hot. Fatou Ami, b.
his side, famed him with fan sh
had woven. The great-great-grand
children on the floor in the mud Tough
together. They quarreled over bits o
colored glass. Sabron's breath cam
painting. Without, he heard the erie
of the warriors. the lance-bearers-h
heard the cries of Fatou Anni's son
who were going out to battle. TIL
French soldiers were In a distant par
of the Sahara and Fatou Anni's CRANE
children were going out to pillage an
destroy The old woman by his sid
cried out and beat her breast. No'
and then she looked at him curiousl,
as If she saw death on his pale face
Now that all her sons and grandson
had gone, he was the only man left |
the village, as even boys of sixtee
had joined the raid. She wiped hi
forehead and gave him potion tina
had been pierced with arrows. 1t wa
all she could do for a captive.
a,.rk
Sabron felt little better. and afte
twenty-four hours absence, Pitchoun
whined at the hut door, but would nc
come in. Fatou Ami called on Allal
left her patient and went out to sc
what was the matter with the dog.
the door, in the shac" of palm, stoo
two Bedouins.
/ro pr rSoNyryNyI,rp