Year: 1873

In 1881 MacMahon, then young
lieutenant serving with the French army
in Algeria, under the command of
Marshal Bugeaud, was stationed with a
small company of men at an outlying
settlement, forty miles from headquart-
ers. The Arabs, then bitterly opposed
to the new colonists, besieged the small
fort, slaughtered all the settlers they
could catch, intercepted all supplies,
and brought the little garrison to the
verge of starvation. Capitulation was
not to be thought of, for that meant i'm
mediate slaughter. Help from the
Marshal was not to be expected. for he
was quite unaware of their danger; in
fact all hope seemed lost when MacMa


hon volunteered to be the bearer of dis
patches announcing their predicament.
The commandant thought the venture
perfectly useless, as the intervening
country was absolutely alive with infur-
lated Arabs, but being aware that help
must come in that manner if it came at
all, he reluctantly consented to what he
considered at the time was the desperate
sacrifice of valuable life


MacMahon, perfectly overjoyed at
gaining consent to his enterprise, spent
the short time intervening before his
start in looking carefully to the equip
ment of his horse and to his own accou-
trements, and in the first hour of dark
ness he set out brisk, blithe and debOn-
maire, as ever gay young soldier on pa
rade with bright eyes gazing on his
splendor. The willy Arabs seldom
caught unaware, soon noted his depart
ure, and followed hard and fast in his
rear; but seeing that his course lay to-
ward broad and deep ravine, some five
miles from the post, they spread out
widely, hoping to outfank him when he
should be compelled to turn at the
brink, and 50, securing him alive, learn
from him under torture all those partic


ulars concerning the French forces
which they wanted to obtain. MacMa-
hon, who had in the first mile or two
easily distanced them, understood their
plan thoroughly and was well prepared
to meet it. He looked back and saw in
the moonlight the constantly increasing
crowd of white clad warriors, spreading
out in a wide semi-circle behind him.
He knew well how they exulted in the
thought that they would wiring from his
tortured frame all the secrets they want
ed to know, and he quickly slackened
little the headlong speed of his horse,
in order to reserve its strength for the
effort he had determined upon, that
should've hoped-save life and liberty.
The Arabs, thinking that his horse was
already failing, renewed their efforts to
overtake and surround him, and by the
time he had reached within few hun
dred yards of the brink, their shouts of
triumph were distinctly audible. But
Arabs, as well as other men, sometimes
count their chickens before they are
Matched, and so it proved they had done
in this case. They had headed him al
most to the brink of the dreadful chasm,
and followed hard behind, certain of an
easy capture, when, all of a sudden,
obedient to the masters resOlute hand
upon the rein, the horse broke into a
swift gallop, and with touch from the
spur, a flick from the glove and an en-
couraging word from the well known
voice, the gallant steed and gallant rider
cleared the yawning gulf, and landing
safely on the opposite side, were out of
sight of the enraged Arabs before they
could get the slightest chance of taking
even a deliberate aim. In two more
hours MacMahon stood before his as
founded chief, and two hours after that,
refusing rest and relief. he accompanied
the aid he had risked his life to procure
on its way to his beleagured comrades.