Evening star., 1921-03-27
Translated From the French By
WILLIAM l.. MCPHERSON.

TT was a mere chance which in
troduced me as guest into a
venerable chateau dating back to
the time of the league. My visit
there was due to an automobile break
down.
The owner of the chateau and his
chauffeur were in trouble in a clear
ing of Vangres forest. in Sologne
They were vainly trying to get their
machine to go. But it had no idea OF
going. l was passing by in my mod
est sixteen horsepower and offered
my services. They consisted in bring
ing M. Sauveterre home. and he in
vited me to stay for luncheon.
The place was charming. From the
terrace, laid out on the plateau of a
hill, you could look in all directions
over an ocean Of trees. lnterspersed
with open stretches of swamp land
The hostess evoked memories of the
sultanas of THE Thousand and One
Nights" with her raven black hair
starred with topaZes; her wide
dreamy eyes and her languorous sup
pleness. She was surely as fasclnat-
ing as the most beautiful of the wives
of Haroun- al-RaSchid. l made some
commitments of this sort to MT
Sauveterre when We were left alone
with the coffee and cigarettes.
* X X
ssx1OU mentioned The Thousand and
One Nights" he said. contem-
n,atively. MY story might well have
been told to the savage chopper-on
of heads from whom Scheherazade
tried to win clemency.
.It was ten years ago. l was just
finishing my military service when
Capt. Maringues, knowing my taste
for adventure, offered to take ME to
Africa.
"Our expedition was failure After
many tribulations we were attackeo
at night by large force OF Iouaregs'
who killed the captain and all ms
European companions but me.
tainted from a wound. and so escaped
the massacre.
"When I came to my senses l was
q captive. They carried me across
country, following the course or
gigantic river. My wound was deep
but not very dangerous. 1t healed
as best it could. The Touaregs had
blacks. also wounded, but who. when
they recovered their strength. would
make excellent slaves.
..The other blacks who had escaped
the slaughter followed on foot. with
little to eat or drink. The wounded
weren't any better off in that respect.
but they were spared from the hor-
rible fatigue of marching in the sun.
with the exception of two. who
succumbed and were thrown to the
crocodiles. we arrived in Moroccan
town. where they put US on sale. 1
was bought by an old eunuch, re-
tired from his profession. who culti-
waited some millet fields. worked an
ancient copper mine. now nearly ex-
hausted, in which he had found a
small vein, and, besides. grew some
date trees. He also raised camels.
cattle and horses. He was enor-
mously rich.
The eunuch put me to handling the
live stock. I myself preferred that.
My master was hard but shrewd.
When he saw that 1 learned the busi-
ness rapidly and got along well with
the animals (few of them under my
charge ever died), he treated me with
a little more consideration. At last
he saw to it that j got enough to eat
A good slave and good camel he
used to say, ought never to work on
an empty stomach
x X X
NNTATURALLY, 1 watched for an
opportunity to escape. 1t came
most Unexpectedly. Among the ami
mails on the place there was a tame
which served to scare off
the smaller beasts of prey and to
discourage providers. She kept at a
distance the leopards, the jackals and |
the hyenas. imagine she would-|
have been more lenient with other
l., l.