The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1915-07-15
CHAPTER xI.
A Sacred Trust.

- SdCTCu
His eyes had grown accustomed to
the glare of the beautiful sands, but
his sense of beauty was never satlsned
with looking at the desert picture ana
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 II
we're not alone"
Pitchoune barked. He had not
grown accustomed to the desert he
hated It. 1t slipped away from under
his little feet; he could not run on 1t
with any comfort. He spent his days
Idly In his masters tent or royalty
perched on a camel, crouching close
to Sabron's man servant when they
went on caravan explorations.
Yes" said Sabron, IF / were not
alone, don't mean you, mon vieux.
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
ers The peculiar incenselike odor
| that hovers above the desert when the
sun declines was to him the most de-
| icious 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-
llcious night. Overhead, one by one,
he watched the poisoning out Of the
great stars; each one hung above his
lonely tent like bridal flower in a
veil of blue. On ali sides, like white
petals on the desert face, we're 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 little distance In order to be
alone with the absolute stiffness.
This he often did and took his
thoughts with him and came back tc
his tent more conscious of his solitude
every night OF his life
There had been much footing of car
avans in the region by brigands, ant
his business was that of sentinel fol
the commerce of the plains Thievinl
md rapacious tribes were under hi:
aye 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 t
De caravan from Algiers. His ordon
nance was a native soldier, one of thu
desert tribes. black as ink, and scarce
! ly more childlike than Brunei and pre-
sumably as devoted.
; "Mustapha," Sabron ordered, "fetcl
me out a lounge chair" He spoke il
J French and pointed. for the man ur
ierstood imperfectly and Sabron di
not yet speak Arabic.
He threw himself down, lighted
. fresh cigarette. dragged Pitchoune b
, the nape of his neck up to his lap, an
the two sat watching the carava
: slowly grow into individuals of camel
l and riders and finally mass itself |
} shadow within some four or FIVE hui
dred yards of the encampment.
4 The sentinels and the soldiers bega
: to gather and Sabron saw a sing
A tootman making his way toward Ii
camp
E go" he said to Mustapha, and Sc
!, what message the fellow brings to ii
regiment"
Mustapha went. and after a little r
turned. followed by the man himself,
= black.bearded, half-naked Bedoui
a swathed in dust-eolored burnoose at
/, carrying a bag.
a He bowed to Captain de Sahron ar
$ extended the leather bag. On the at
= side OF the leather there was a tick
b pasted, which read;
;. The Post for the - Squadron
q Cavalry"
o Sabron added mentally.
+ wherever II may happen to be
a He ordered bakshish given TO d
. man and sent him OF Then he open
a The French mail He was not mo
d than three hundred miles from Alrie,
y II had taken him long time to wo
IL down to nirbRl, however. and they n
Il had some hardships. He felt n milf
10 miles away The look OF the primiti
A mall bag and the knowledge Of n,
II tar u had travelled to find the PEG,
=. to whom these letters were address
n made his hands reverent as he ,
"a fastened the sealed labels. He look
Al the letters through. returned the b
10 Mustspha and sent him of IN 4
Ttoutsthe post
Then. for the light was bad. b
a. iant though the night might be.
vent into his tent with his own M
i. IN has dressing table was a small
le Elimination consisting OF fat can
~ In 9 glass case. The mosopi,,