The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-17

N @ "
that matter is how / employed my
time, or, rather, how Arsene
Lnpin employed his time during
the last three years Of his service
with the Foreign Legion"
These inquiries were made by
my erders,' said valenglay.
land they led--f"
To nothing"
80 that you do not know
what / did during my captivity
"Just So"
IL will tell you, Monsieur lie
President. 1t will not take me
long"
Don Luis pointed with a pencil
Ito a spot in MOI Deco marked on
the map,
1T was here that / was taken
prisOner on the twenty fourth Of
3Jnly. My capture seemed queer
Ito Monsieur lie Project de Police
and to all who subsequently
heard the details of the incident.
They were astonished that /
should have been foolish enough
Ito get caught in ambush and to
allow myself to be trapped by a
troop of forty Berber horse. Their
surprise is justified. My capture
was a deliberate move on my part.
"You will perhaps remember
Monsieur lie President, that l en-
listed in the Foreign Legion after
making a fruitless attempt to kill
myself in consequence of some
really terrible private disasters.
wanted to die, and / thought
that a Moorish bullet would give
me the final rest for which I
longed.
Fortune did not permit it. NY
destiny, it seemed, was not yet
Untitled. Then what had to be
Twas. Little by little, unknown to
myself, the thought of death van
ished and l recovered my love of
life. A few rather striking feats
4 of arms had given me back all my
self confidence and all my desire
for action.
New dreams seized hold Of
me. 1 fell a victim to a new ideal.
From day to day / needed more
space, greater independence,
wider horizons, more unforeseen
land personal sensations. The Lee
gion, great as my affection was
for the plucky fellows who had
welcomed me so cordially, was no
longer enough to satisfy my crav-
ling for activity.
Zone day, without thinking
much about it, in a blind prompt
ing of my whole being toward a
great adventure which l did not
'clearly see, but which attracted
me III, a mysterious fashion, one
day, finding myself surrounded,
by "a band of the enemy, though
still IN a position to fight, | al
lowed myself to be captured.
THAT is the whole story, Mon
lsieur lie President. As a prisoner,
IL was free. A new life opened be-
fore me. However, the incident
nearly turned out badly. MY
three dozen Berbers, a troop de-
tached from an important nomad
tribe that used to pillage and put
to ransom the districts lying on
the middle chains of the Atlas
Range, first galloped back to the
little cluster of tents where the
! wives of their chiefs were Ell.
lcamped under the guard of some
ten men. They packed off at
i0nce and, after a weeks march
(which | found pretty arduous, for
was on foot, with my hands
tied behind my back, following a
mounted party, they stopped on
"a narrow upland commanded by
rocky slopes covered with skele-
Itens mounldering among the
F@toies aud with rnm"irs of
jF'neneh swords and other weap-
Ions.
''11ere they planted d stake in
lfhe ground and fastened me to it.
u gathered from the behavior. of
my captors and fromLa few words
(which / overheard that my death
was decided on. They meant to
tcr,t ,Off my ears, nose, and tongue,
and then my head.
However, they began by pre-
raring their repast. They went
ito a well close by, ate and drank
and took no further notice of me
except to laugh at me and des-
icribe the various treats they held
In store for me. An
Iother night passed. The torture
was postponed until the morning,