The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-04-22
VALIANT DUST
 by PerciraI Chrisfopher Wren BtAU cEsrt.

men may go but go on forever became a torrent in full spate. After uttering that name, Margaret had no need of further speech, nor any slight anxiety as to Major Riccoli's attitude and conduct.
 While that subject occupied his mind, no room was left for thoughts of love or making.
 "Ah, that was a man indeed he unused. But mad, you know, mad. A megalomaniac. Through his own ambitious schemes he fell like Vau- roi again-if he did fall-and is not at this very moment great ruler in his own right, a king, an emperor, in the great and unex- p,ored interior of this mighty and marvellous continent"
 And who was Monsieur Vauroi?" asked Margaret, anxious to keep the mind of this amorously enter prising officer to the one subject that she judged to be more power ! ful in interest than even love.
 "Vauroi? You know not of the brave Captain Vauroi, and his bid for power and wealth and fame? No, being English, suppose you would not have heard of him. The military authorities, who he de- fled, defeated and outwitted, did not exactly advertise his name to the world
 "Ah! That was man-Such an- other as Aureille de Tounens ot whom you have just spoken; such another as Voulet and Chanoine, Eut not so mad
 "sVauroil A simple captain of ar tillery, and now perhaps an em- perer. But as to the truth of that, no man knows. No European, that . is to say, although the military au- thorities and the Frech govern ment pretend to know No Euro lpean knows for certain, but 1t is |my opinion-and believe me, Made noiselle, my opinion is worth hay h1g-that millions upon millions of Africans know; Arabs, Negroes Touareg, and possibly races of whom we have heard nothing. Otherwise, tell me this. Why is there to this day throughout the Snl1tharo Ca1ooro O ,,orc;cta,+ ,,d widely prevalent rumor of White Sfeikh? Yes, Great White Sheikh whose orders all men obey, and whom they fear and reverence as the Senussi fear and reverence their great religious and political leader, the Sheikh el Senussi him. elf.
 s'What did vauroi do? I'll tell aoh, Mademoiselle
 Finding himself stuck in the iesert, buried alive, forgotten, neg lected, lost in a wretched hole 'alled Mescheria, he detremined to ,arye out career for himself. Why 1hould he, a man of courage. abil- .ty, brains and ambition, be doom- "a to rot in Mescheria, while ill Paris, guttersnipe politicians made themselves figures of international importance, masters of Europe rnd made generals of their worth ess military proteges, panders and 5oadies?
 Why should he? A man mental ly as great as they. and indeed far greater Why should he consent to grow grey in obscurity, poverty and misery while these dogs carved put careers for themselves?
 ''He would not consent to 1t.
 Since no brilliant career to fame and power lay open to him, he would carve out one for himself.
 "Skillfully and cunningly he op- sned negotiations with great Arab 5heikh, paramount ruler of the Beni-Amama and allied tribes and when his plans were made and
 
 the time was ripe, he departed from Mescheria with the whole of his battery complete and entire, guns, limbers, ammunition column, men, horses, mules and camels. He vas, of course, received with open arms by the Arabs who led him deep into the desert where per- haps no white man had ever been before.
 Deep and ever deeper into the desert, until they came to the capi- tai of Beni-Amama, native city which-as the French military au- thorities afterwards discovered to their cost-he turned into a great fortress, a real citadel.
 Copyright, 1882, F. A. Stokes Co)
 Another crown is offered to