Percival Christopher Wren

“ Carefully keeping the gate-tower between himself and the paraded troop, a man was doing precisely what I myself had done! I saw his cap as he crept crouching along below the parapet, I saw his arm and rifle come through an embrasure, I saw the rifle fall, and a minute or so later, as a column of smoke shot up, I saw him crawl through the embrasure and drop to the ground. By good luck or by skill, he had chosen a spot at which he was hidden from the vedette that had been a thousand yards to my right. ...
And who could he be, this legionary who had set fire to the fort of Zinderneuf? ”

“ On a distant sand-hill was a man on a camel, a man in uniform, waving his arm above his head and firing his revolver in the air.
It was a French officer.
The relief had arrived from Tokotu, and I must escape or be tried, and shot, for the murder of my superior officer in the very presence of the enemy. ...
Yes—but what about this same enemy? Where were they? Was that fine fellow riding to death and torture? Straight into an ambush, a trap of which the uncaptured fort with its flying flag was the bait? ”

“ A couple of minutes after our meeting, we were snugly ensconced behind the crest of a sand-hill, overlooking the parade of our comrades, the oasis, and the burning fort. A higher hillock behind us, and to our right, screened us from the nearest vedette.
"And," said Digby, in a voice that trembled slightly, "they're not going to spoil Michael's funeral. Nor are they going to secure any evidence of your neat job on the foul Lejaune. ... They're going to be attacked by Arabs ..." he raised his rifle.
"Don't shoot anybody, Dig," I said. ”

“ They might, with Arab cunning, have decided that it would be a much better plan to maintain the siege, unseen and unheard, and lure the relieving force, by an appearance of peace and safety, into marching gaily into an oasis covered by hundreds of rifles lining neighbouring sand-hills. They could massacre the relief-column and then turn to the fort again. If no relief-force came, they could still assault the fort whenever they thought fit. ”

“ It did occur to me that perhaps I could pretend that I was the hero of the whole defence, and had posed all these corpses myself, including that of the man who had murdered Lejaune, but, of course, I did not seriously consider the idea.
No. Unless I wanted to die, I must evade both the Arabs and the relieving force from Tokotu. If I could do that, I must, thereafter, evade the entire population of the desert between Zinderneuf and safety, as well as evading any avenging search-party that might be sent out after me. ”

“ If we followed them and got a chance to steal their camels while they were not too far from the oasis to return on foot, I had an idea that we might take that chance. The temptation would be very strong, as it was a matter of life and death to us, while to them it would be merely a matter of a long day's march and a fearful tale of terrific combat with the horde of Arabs who had shot their camels. ”

“ Even more disappointed at the attitude of my friends than at the loss of the camels.
"Well—all right then! We won't fight you for them," said Digby, "but I wish it had been someone else."
"I don't get your drift. Snow again, Bo," said Buddy, who seemed pained.
"Why someone else? Don't you admire our low and vulgar ways, pard?" asked Hank. "Don't you like us?"
"Yes, but to be honest, at the moment I like your camels better," replied Digby. ”

“ The Touaregs do not wish to destroy the village and slaughter the inhabitants, because they prefer to find a peaceful and prosperous community here, again, next year.
All they wish to do, is to clean them out absolutely and leave them alone to amass some more. But if the villagers choose to be uppish and truculent, giving their visitors trouble—they must take the consequences—which are fire and sword and torture. ”

“ Comrades of ours who had marched day and night to our relief. Of course, I could not let them walk into the trap, deceived by the very ruse that had deceived the Arabs. ...
This officer was no fool, doubtless, but how was he to know that the fort was a whited sepulchre, tenanted by the dead, unable to signal to him that he was walking into an ambush with his column? Naturally he would assume, that since the apparently crowded fort gave him no warning of danger, there was no danger, and he and his column could come gaily marching into the fort from which its foes had fled. ”

“ The earth grew greyer in colour, cactus and acacia began to appear, and there were numerous great rock kopjes. The change was from utterly lifeless sand-desert to rock-desert, having a sparse vegetation.
Suddenly we heard distant rifle-fire to our front—a few scattered shots. Simultaneously, Hank and Buddy brought the camels to their knees among the rocks, and we dismounted, unslinging our rifles as we did so.
"Mustn't get the shammos shot up," said Hank to me. "You hold 'em, Bo, while we rubber around some," and they skirmished forward. ”

“ At a cool order from the officer, they faced about, opened out, doubled to the oasis, and went to ground, turning to the enemy and taking cover so that, within a couple of minutes of our first shots, there was nothing to be seen but a dark and menacing oasis, to approach which was death. ...
"Good work!" said Digby. "And they can jolly well stop there until the fort is burnt out. ... We'll go in and get camels, as vedettes whose camels have been shot by these attacking Arabs, later on. ... If we swagger up to the sentry on the camels, and pitch a bold yarn, it ought to be all right. ”

“ The headman was in the mental condition of one who sees men as trees walking, when he found himself in the presence of four armed and uniformed Roumis, two of whom spoke Arabic to him, and all of whom wished him to put up a fight for Azzigig, Home, and Beauty.
His own idea was to thank Allah that things were no worse, and to lie low until the Touaregs chose to depart, praying meanwhile that they would do so in peace, without troubling to hunt out the villagers, burn the houses, slaughter the goats, and have a little torture-party before doing so. ”

“ I had difficulty in awaking poor Digby, but when he realised that Hank and Buddy were actually present in the flesh, he was soon very much awake and on the spot.
"Say, boys," he went on, after greeting them and hearing their tale of the Battle of the Vedettes, "it's a lot to ask, I know. But do you think you could be attacked, like Dupanloup, by about a hundred and fifty of us, and lose your camels? ... They'd be shot beneath you, or on top of you, if you like,—while you fought desperately—one to seventy-five, isn't it? ... ”

“ Besides, I had killed him in self-defence—self-defence from as cold-blooded, dastardly, and criminal a murder as a man could commit.
No. Let the righteously-used bayonet stay where it was—and incidentally I had quite enough to carry without the now useless thing. ...
"Good-bye, Beau," I said, crossing to where he lay—and, as I spoke, I almost jumped, for the brooding silence was broken by a shot, followed by several others. ...
The Arabs? ... No—these were neither rifle shots nor fired towards the fort. The sound of them made that quite evident. ”

“ If we won, we should ride off and they would tramp back to the oasis. If they won, they'd continue about their business and we should be where we were. ... A silly notion. ... About two seconds after revealing ourselves, we should be looking into the muzzles of their rifles, and have the option of death or ignominious capture. ... Why should they fight us? ... I must really pull myself together and remember who I was and where I was. ...
The camels drew nearer and I decided, from their direction, they were on the way to Tokotu. ”

“ Here they would appropriate its harvest of dates or grain, such camels as might be worthy, those of its sons and daughters who might be suitable for slaves, and any goats, clothing, money, and useful odds-and-ends that they might fancy.
These Touareg bands make an annual tour and visit the villages of an enormous area, in the spirit of somewhat arbitrary and undiscriminating tax-collectors. What they want, by way of tax, is everything the villagers possess that is portable, including their young men and maidens. ”

“ Or, if the band is off its regular beat and not likely to come that way again, it combines sport with business, and leaves no living thing behind it, nor any roofed dwelling in what was a village—scarcely one stone upon another of what was a little town. ”

“ Well, we figger that these nigs from Tokotu aren't on the chutes fer the bow-wows. Nope. They're marchin' on right now fer Zinderneuf—like John Brown's body—or was it his soul?—safe enough. ... We allow you ain't got no chance on a lone trail. Not a doggoned smell of one. You're two way-up gay cats an' bright boys, but you're no road-kids. You don't know chaparral from an arroyo nor alkali sage-brush from frijoles. You couldn't tell mesquite from a pinto-hoss. Therefore Hank says we gotta come along. ”

“ And I promised Mother I'd bring the Baby home," he added, indicating me.
"Fergit it, son," replied Hank to Digby, but he looked at Buddy.
"Couldn't you possibly let us have them?" I said. "If we went a mile or two further on, we could kick up a fearful row with our four rifles, and you could go back and collect a medal when old Dupanloup gets his. ... Stroll home doing a rear-guard stunt, and we'd pepper the scenery in your direction before we rode off. ... The Senegalese are safe enough. There are no Arabs and no ambush. ... And we simply shan't have a little dog's chance without camels." ”

“ Digby remonstrated, after following my example and trying to express thanks without words, "there's no need for that. Give us your camels and anything else you can safely spare, and go back in modest glory. There's nothing against you. If you're caught escaping with us and helping us, you'll be shot with us. It will be 'desertion in the face of the enemy when sent on reconnaissance' when it comes to the court martial."
"Go back nawthen," said Buddy. "Look at here. This is what Hank wants to say. ... Is there any Injuns around? Nope. Is those nigs from Tokotu in any danger? ”

“ As I led the way to where I had left Digby sleeping, I asked the Americans where they were going.
"Wal—we was sorta sent lookin' fer some nigs from Tokotu," replied Hank. "Ole Man Bojolly allows they'll run into an Injun ambush if they ain't put wise. We gotta warn them there's Injuns about, fer all the location's so quiet an' peaceful-lookin'. ..."
"I wonder they didn't git you two boys when they shot us up," he added.
"We were the Arabs," I confessed with modest pride.
"Gee!" admired Buddy. "Can you beat it! ... I shore thought there was thousands come gunnin' fer us. ... Oh, boy! ”

“ It was as though a tribe of gipsies, encamped permanently on an Ancient British hut-circle site on Dartmoor, had used the prehistoric stones in the construction of their rude dwellings.
Into this village, evidently very recently abandoned, we made our way with due precaution.
In one of the huts, on a rough angareb, lay a wounded man. As we entered, he drew a curved dagger from his belt and feebly struck at us.
"We are friends," said I in Arabic. "Tell us what has happened. We want to help. ..."
Digby also aired his Arabic, and the man was convinced. ”

“ Michael opened his eyes.
"Stout Fella," he whispered. "Got the letters?"
I told him that he would deliver them in person. That we were the sole survivors. That the relief would come soon and we should be promoted and decorated.
"For stabbing Lejaune?" he smiled. "Listen, Johnny. ... I'm for it, all right. Bled white. ... Listen. ... I never stole anything in my life. ... Tell Dig I said so, and do get the letter to Aunt Patricia. ... You mustn't wait for the relief. ... Lejaune's body. ... They'd shoot you. ... Get a camel and save yourself. ... In the dark to-night. ... ”

“ It was this very friend of boyhood's days whom I had been trying to warn against what I thought was an ambush! ... Time's whirligig! ...)
At Tokotu, news had been received that Zinderneuf was besieged by a huge force of Touaregs, and de Beaujolais had set off at once.
The rest I knew until the moment when I had seen Digby, who was de Beaujolais' trumpeter, climb into the fort. ...
"Well—you know what I saw as I got on to the roof," said Digby, "and you can imagine (can you, I wonder?) what I felt when I saw Beau lying there. ... ”

“ It would certainly be better to encounter a patrol in the rôle of Arabs than in that of runaway soldiers from the Foreign Legion.
Accordingly Hank decreed that we must push on, only enough time being spent here for the camels to eat and drink their fill. He was of opinion that the party we were following was an offshoot of the big band that had attacked Zinderneuf and was on its way to "gather in" some village which they visited periodically. ”

“ We explained the situation to Hank and Buddy.
"Sport without danger, and business with pleasure," was their view, but we must give the Touaregs the shock of their lives.
We held a council of war, and it was decided that the wounded man should get in touch with the villagers and tell them that we were friends of theirs. More, we were deadly enemies of the Touaregs, and (most) we'd get the camels back and give them those of the Touaregs too—if they'd play the man and do as we bade them. ”

“ Nigeria's south-east. ..."
"And where's water?" replied Digby. "I should say the nearest oasis would be a sound objective."
"If there's a pursuit, they'd take the line for Morocco for certain, I should say," I pointed out. "I vote for the opposite direction and a beady eye on our fellow-man, if we can see him. Where there are Arabs there'll be water somewhere about, I suppose."
"Shore," said Hank. "We'll pursoo the pore Injun. What's good enough fer him is bad enough for us. ”