Evening star., 1933-05-18
CHAPTER XII.
How Should I Fail?"

t1ttOA GILL; otAAA PC4AoPo q
little doubtfully, as he
stood before Maj. Riccoh, the same
day, in the hut used by the latter when
he visited the post.
I'VE shall. Are you afraid. Vittor-
eIli7 You-a Corsican?"
II am afraid of nothing, mon COM
Haandant," replied Vittorelli, with more
truth than modesty. But it would
break my heart If you failed"
Fall I? am man Of destiny, and
how shall I fail? Once inside the
citadel, everything will be easy. Get
ting inside has been the dificulty-for
made the place impregnable. and man
has improved on natures handiwork
-. And we are going to march in m-
opposed. Not merely unopposed either
but actually invited"
"A spiders web. mon commandant?"
well? Are we flies? Or are We
VaSps, hornets?"
And the men, mon commandant?"
ventured Vittorelli, who though ig-
norant, rash, egotistical and impetu-
ous, as well as being the fantastically
devoted and admiring disciple of
Eiccol. was sane and possessed of
. shrewd peasant mother and COM
mon sense: Can we be certain that
ieeionnaires viii be amenable. obed-
3ent?"
1T will be a bad day for any one
who Is not Vittorelli." smiled Riccoli.
1T would be a bad day for us. mon
eommandant-the day on which some
q them, even minority OF them. de-
eided to remain-er-true to their
Decided not to throw in their lot
With mine and seize their glorious
chance, the chance of rising from
slavery to power, position. wealth?
Only fools, clods, towards, weak
1T There are such people. mon COM
mandant."
"Yes-as Capt. Voulet discovered
when he tried to found his Empire of
the Sahara in 1897. But he was mad.
Of course. Hopelessly mad. A megalo-
maniac. And then he had partner,
TOO Capt Chanoine, who failed him.
That was where Voulet went wrong
one of his mistakes, anyhow.
And we can learn something from
the mistakes of Voulet. And then
again he was dealing with stupid, un-
ambitious officers. and was compelled
and bad management ruined his
scheme; and part Of his bad luck that
he had no inaccessible. impregnable
base from which to operate. He SIM
ply went out into the blue-out into
the desert-and you cannot found an
empire on sand and direct 1t from
under palm tree.
Here we shall have for our base
and the heart Of our empire-a cita-
del, q city, and a country that has
never been conquered.
"Yes, Capt. Voulet was both un-
lucky and fool. I am man of
destiny and not fool. Fate has led
me here to the very spot, and created
the very circumstances necessary for
the fulillment Of that destiny"
without doubt. mon commandant.
But the men? It reems to me that
success will depend upon one of two
things; ON the one hand whether the
legionnaires are kept In ignorance long
enough; or, on the other hand, wheth-
Or they can be won over to-er-aban-
don their old allegiance and follow
you"
"Of course, mon enfant, I know
oil about that: I intend, first of all,
70 get them inside the citadel. They'll
simply obey orders and carry on, in
the ordinary course Of duty, till the
moment he comes for seizing the place.
The garrison Of this post will march as
escort with me across the Mekazzen
country to MekaZzen, and into the
citadel All they will know or care
e they know or care anything at all
= that their commandant Is on
diplomatic mission to parley with the
Kaid
"When the time, and my plans, are
ripe for the seiZing of the citadel, they
Will simply obey orders.
When I am master of Mekazzen. and
have garrisoned it with the rest of
my command, will be the time to
ind out who Is for me. and to make
f clear that he who is not for me
= against me. Also the exact fate
And the other detachments, mon
oommandant? When will they arrive?"
When I send for them. When
have completely won the confidence
Of the Kaid, so that he believes that
they are marching to join his banner
under my command"
why not assemble the whole column
before marching from here, mon COM
mandant?" asked Vittorelli, eager.
hopeful. but not yet wholly convinced
"Ah, why not indeed, mon enfant?
Because the Kaid will not hear of it,
II cross the border with one man
more tllAu Cue garrison VI IHAS pOSI, ~
Is war We shall be surrounded, cut
Oh, ambushed and annihilated in one
of the defiles. My first proposal was
to march in, bag and baggage, horse,
foot, and guns-and that was the
Kaid's answer through the mouth of
his own son who visited me at Post
Three.
THAT young man, Prince Raisul "a
clever lad. by the way, who speaks
French and Spanish as well
t%===