r
LOVE.
criwt to prm
bota taMit by pain od low and ffln.
Through worth una wrong or itammo or km
Tb joyi and uwra of faith aad ftwrt
That make life fair Urn prwioui ttiart
That doth endure and wlU make iiirt
Of pnao and rutt-tha nous's lift quest.
AFAR IN THE DESERT.
la our times, France's groat African
colonies are subdued forever: but in
other days, during the attempts of a
laborious conquest, every moment ' held
danger. Skirmishes were incessant,
real combats were frequent, and each
post of the extreme vanguard had its
romantic episodes, to be related later.
Here is ono of them.
Soft and wavering the wind blew up
off the scorched desert, the air freshened
suddenly, and suddenly the night felL
like a barrier upon the .horizon the as-1
oendlng hills gradually took on tints of
gray or lilac: to the right and to the
left stretched the plain of reddish sand,
traversed irregularly by ravines of less
or greater darkness, according to their
depth, and by strange palm groves,
dusty, yellow, sunburned. Twilight is
Unknown in Africa: darkness falls there
with a push, like a curtain, and this
swiftness of change of setting is accent
uated corresponilingty as the dry country
is reached, in the heart of the desert, in
the unexplored lands. Here, past the :
High Plains, beyond 8aida, Ain-Seffra, break the monotony of long days of idle
almost Into Moroooo, on the1 borders of I ness. Then forward! Upross and fled
the mysterious Fighig, at the farthest from the road the marauding jackals,
point whither the exploring columns j whose shrill squeals Insult from afar their
have penetrated, this natural phenom- natural enemy, man, onoe he is safely j
enon Is profoundly noticeable: the shades past them. Now and then a saber'
invade the earth in the briefest moment, sounded against a stirrup, or a horse
and change and darken it with their
clouds as ink darkens water.
A bugle sounded within the circle of
touts: the horses of the picket lifted their pect, forming an ever retreating picture,
heads, and the chasseurs, in their wide The soldiers were oontent with the ex
blouses and trousers or linen, went to! pedition, perceiving that the death of
form in line slowly for the evening roll j one mong tlem waB not w be passed
cuu. me uugie can, iuuu uuu siu m, was
prolonged inlinitely, carried by the sono
rous swells to the foot of the tranquil
mountains, where the sound died out.
The squadron was formed on the right.
Cabarousse, captain cwnmanding, and
his two lieutenants. Peyralte and Vau
dras, all drowsy, regarded the maneuver
carelessly, without uttering a word, with
their arms drooping, and ull about, fur,
near, above, everywhere, there reigned a
silence so great that it seemed religious,
sacred, full of uugust mysteries.
The roll call was begun. After each
name followod the same brief, monoto
nous answers, as each day at that hour,
with the apathetic indifference of me
chanical exertion. The adjutant did not
even pause before passing from one name
to auother.
. "Present! esent! esent!" .
"Hanrion?"
No one answered. The adjutant, sur
prised, lifted his gaze from bis roll book
and repeated:
"Hunriou'r"
Nothing.
"Well! are you deaf, you Hanrion?"
No answer.
A soldier was missing. Bis oompan-
iuiis ui tue rauss siireuu unur nanus uuu :
gesticulated in token that they kww
nothing, comprehended nothing. Caba-1
rouses came forward.
"Let us see! Who was the last man j
to see Haurion? Where was it? When
was it? Speak up now!"
In the morning, at roll call; none had
aeen him since. . i
"Finish the roll call! Break ranks!" i
. So there was a soldier missing. In ths j
neighborhood of a city, Cabarousse would
have shrugged Ids shoulders, saying sim-1
ply: "A hair thrown to the winds!" but
here in this complete solitude, twenty
leagues from the last advanced post, an '
absent man might as well be counted
dead at once. Aud In a squadron alone 1
there, isolated, lost, and entirely depen-)
dent upon itself, a call without response
was enough to chill the boldest. In the
desert, ranks are inevitably narrowed, !
and individualities are allied; no one is'
unknown, all are comrades, and one of '
these comrades had disappeared. In .
very group, whether the sleeves were
blank or braided, that disappearance was
discussed passionately, with the instino-1
normr 01 ui umugiu u u were
1!" For hutuau seltishness is never lost
completely: all solidarity rests on per
sonal considerations.
The country here was not, however,
openly dangerous, not avowedly hostile;
the bands of nomad Arabs had been re
' pulsed, driven back to the mountains,
and only a Kabyle village bad its huts a
abort distance away. But the Kubyles
are sedentary, of lazy habits, and they
regard with indifference the foreign
troops defiling past them in clouds of
golden dust, and strike not, unless they
are attacked in their own dwellings, un
der their roofs of mud and stone.
And yet, nevertheless, Cabarousse, sus
picious, twisting his mustaches, looked
obstinately to that side where lay the
Kabyle village. There, he was con
vinced, lay the solution of the mystery.
Suddenly he strode toward the groups
of soldiers. ,
"Here! let us see about this! no more
trifling! Does any one know anything?
there must be a woman in this business
a Kabyle woman, eh? Answer one
or another, or all at onoel But answer!
or else"
"A woman or mora than one! it is
the same thing," let alio a soldier, ahalr.
mg his ncad knowingly. i
"Here, youl come forward, and tell
what you know!1' . '
The soldier advanoed and spoke out,
finally. Us was a barracks gossip, a
swaggerer, and he spoke after his kind.
"Well, this is about it, my captain; one
is not made of wood, you see, and ths
desert is wide, and six months is a long
time It is very hard not to see a
woman for that long." Then he went
un to say that the Kabyle girls wer
wont to go to wash their bright colored
rags at a rill at no great distance from
the camp, and "The devil! one gets a
(wist in both eyes when one sees their
brown, round ankles, as they go down
to the gully. But that is all! as to their
heads, they ate so togged out that one
sees only their eyes.
But such eyes!
That scamp Hanrlon lilted to go to watch
them waali a fancy like any other. He
declared that the tallest and the shortest
of them wiuked at him sidewise as they
passed by him; and that always pleases
a man, wherever he may be, my cap-
tain"
"That Is enough!" said Cabarousse,
and he gave the order to saddle t!.
horses.
Thirty men were left In charge of the j
tents. The others were galloping in the i
bright moonlight, and by the clear rays :
horses and riders projected gigantic!
shadows, scattered by the haste of
march, out equal in their dimensions, j
the lines being maintained strictly. The i
thirst for battle and the joy of vengeance
impelled the squadron; besides, any ex-
citement is weloome which comes to
which left his place was by force of hand
returned thither; but always the troop
m,.in,id .dvi.ne.lnf.with .nectral
over indifferently, and that all bloody
memories would "id prompt vengeance.
Little by Utile, a sparse vegetation spread
beneath the feet of the horses: then the
way was streaked by the silhouettes of
palm trees: farther yet, and the Kabyle
village stood confusedly out from the
earth, with its mud hovels, low, narrow
windowed, whose doors were too small
for human stature: and round about the
inclosures for cattle, now vacant.
At a brief word of command, the
squadron halted. No light shone, all
was dark; no one moved, nor anything
whatever. Only a few vagabond dogs,
scenting the strangers, barked upon the
dung heaps. The troop surrounded, at
a walk, the village, still silent, still
dark. Dismount! They entered the first
hut, and it was vacant; vacant, too, the
second; the third vacant; all were va
cantthe inhabitants had fled, taking
their effects and weapons. This was
their guilty confession. More than that
all farther search was now useless and
without purpose.
But what was that? Lying across a
doorway, with its face in a heap of filth,
was the body of a man, with its- throat
cut, its face bathed in blood. It was
Hanrion. Then, on the vimt nio-ht. ai-rno
a clamor of rage, which presently sinks
into grief a tone of unspeakable sad
ness, of supreme pity. Afar stretch the
undulating plains: and the imperturba
ble chain of hills, black now. seemed in
solently to liar the way to reprisals.
Stiff upon his horse, gloomy and for
bidding in the clear night, Cabarousse
shook his clenched hand at the invisible
as one who dreams of vengeance.
"Lieutenant!" he cried, at last, "take
fifty men and crush that brood of mag
gots until not two are left living! Oh,
that 1 must stay at my post! that I
might go with you!
When the ranks were formed, the sub
lieutenant, Phillippe Vaudras, saluted
and started with his fifty men toward
the Unknown before them, while Caba
rousse and his squad returned at a foot
pace, in their own despite, to the camp,
with heads bent, with hearts saddened,
bearing, laid aoroBs two horBes, the
bloody body of the murdered Haurion,
Toll .U lamima hl.,.,,1.,
' -i blue eves, when he left the mill.
tary school. Phillippe Vaudras had chos-
, M Africa as a held for adventure, and,
in a year or camp me, ue nau made nun
self noted for his bravery, and tliijin a
wild squadron where every man was
valiant. Because of his white hands,
his sweet voice, and his youth, the sol
diers called him "The Little - One,"
"Mile. Vaudras." or else "My Lady Sub
Lieutenant;" but, when he charged
across the plain, that "little one" glad
dened the heart; his horse had splendid
legs and was always first in the combat;
and what a powerful tlst had "my lady
sub-lieutenant!" His soldiers were fain
to follow Vaudras, since they could nev
er get before him; and they followed
him with enthusiasm, drunken with his
wildness, and, above all, so that nothing
of ill should befall him. He seemed pre
cisely the chief necessary for that ro
mantic expedition, for that tragic night,
for that setting extraordinarily tragio;
after him his troops would follow blindly.
At the head of the vanguard and on
the flanks of the squads, the guides, the
explorers, the pathfinders bent over their
pommels, with their gaze fixed on the
ground, directing their course by tracks
almost invisible by the pale light. Across
a width of forty yards there appeared in
the sand deep marks, footprints of men
and beasts, whose wins
the tumultuous fight, the disorder of de
feat, beneath the furious lashes of the
Kabyle drivers, terrified by that corpse
they left behind them,
The horses of the pursuers were pant
ing. "Haiti" commanded Vaudras. The
chasseurs camped as well as they could;
they lay down to sleep with an arm
through the bridle, and in spite of the
jerks and pulls of the animals (heir sleep
was deep and dreamless. At last a faint
white streak appeared on th.e horizon;
dawn was breaking; and suddenly a
growing light dispelled the shadows and
discovered distant objects. Then on the
flank of the hills appeared the tribe they
were pursuing, a long, gray line of men.
women and children, of sheep and oxen,
climbing the heights in haste, and the
air conveyed to them like a call the low
ing of the oxen and the bleating of the
sheep.
With one simultaneous shout the rid
ers spurred to a gallop, but if they saw
they were seen also, and the Kabyles,
abandoning already the heaviest of their
luggage, ran up the steeps in a revolt of
confusion. They were lost to sight In
the chaos of gigantic bowlders; one by
one, as ants bury themselves in the
earth, they were hidden to the last one
in the hollows of the mountain. All that
remained in sight were a few oxen, un
easy, turning toward the plain, lowing
sadly, witji necks stretched, muzzle
thrust out and nostrils flaring.
An hour later Vaudras and his troopers
found themselves all at once within a
hundred yards of the enemy, having ar
rived thither by means of literal goat
paths. The Kabyles had made front and
were awaiting them. The situation ex
plained their audacity. Between the fu
gitive tribe and the blue and red chas
seurs, the only path open was an ex
tremely narrow pass which joined two
level spaces. This paBs ran along the
side of the mountain like a forbidding
balcony hung over a gorge of immense
depth. It was not wide enough for two
horseman abreast, and that beneath the
unerring fire of the Kabyles on the
heights. The least slip, the first false
step, would send one rolling into infinite
space. Vaudras saw this conformation,
and, understanding its horror, his face
blanched and he shut his eyes. The
troopers paused in astonishment and the
smoking horses panted heavily and re
ceded, necks thrust over cruppers. Evi
dently the Kubyles had known of that
natural redoubt; the women and children
were hidden behind the rocks in the rear,
and the men were un their knees or on
their breasts, Sheltered from balls by
great blocks of granite. They held the
mountain and could fire at their pleasure
upon the soldiers in the open. Moreover,
there was the ravine, the threatening fall.
The French soldiers thrust their heads
forward to gaze at the abyss, saying by
their grimaces: " If we were birds.now!"
Suddenly, the bugler, a littie scamp of
20 years old at the utmost, spurred his
horse forward in bravado and sounded
the charge. The signal was given, the
horses started of their own accord, and
along the whole extent of the menacing
paBS, heads flush with tails before them,
the first squad dashed splendidly, under
a furious fusillade. Only one man, re
straining his horse with both hands
only one man rigid as if petrified in his
saddle, remained behind it as rear guard.
It was Vaudras.
One, two, four, five, twenty; the
troopers thundered past him, shaking
their heads under that hurricane of
balls, but laughing and encouraging one
another with shouts. The sub-lieutenant
remained immovable, with bis eyes fixed
on the summit, a oold sweat running off
bis templeB.
Vaudras was smitten with vertigo.
To be attacked by vertigo is almost as
bad aato go mad outright. The horror
of it suffocates aud paralyzes; and the
man predisposed by temperament to
that mystenouB potency of empty space,
to that magnetic attraction from abysses,
loses all consciousness of himself and all
will power; he pales, be trembles, he re
cedes, and flies from the mute summons
of the invisible death awaiting him in
the air.
Vaudras was afraid.
Ah! the battle! there is the powder
wlucb laughs, the lead which whistles,
the steel which darts, the blood which
flows, the splendid shocks, the noisy
death at will! But that great mouth,
silent, terrific, waiting to suck one in
no! nol no! impossible! never!
Thirty men had passed, had taken the
lead of Vaudras. ; They fancied that
their officer, for the best of reasons,
doubtless, watched their tragio defile,
and would follow to place himself at
their head again. None noted his appear
ance, none suspected his anguish. The
''little one" afraid! Bah! "Mademoi
selle" Vaudras nervous! Indeed, that is
enough to terrify. What is the matter?
"My lady sub-lieutenant is cryingj"
Forty men had gone forward; the balls
whistled harshly, scratching the granite
walls with terrible rebounds. The Ka
byles were firing volleys, continual dis
charges, sure that they were lost If the
charging foe should reach them. Vau
dras was exposing himself as a target
All the fifty men had passed by him.
He remained alone. He dismounted,
meaning to try the pass on foot. His
horse broke from him and hurled itself
after the others. At a quarter the length
of the trail its shoes slipped on the rock,
it lost its footing and was whirled into
I the abyss, its four hoofs turned upward.
Vaudras screamed, his eyes starting
I from their sockets. He threw himself
i upon his knees, he dragged himself upon
I his stomach, but brute instinct drew bun
backward. He could not go on.
At that moment he saw his men sur
rounded on all sides Jby the Kabyles,
three times their number, rendered des
perate by their danger. The women find
children sullied from their rock crannies
and bung themselves from the bridles;
they plunged knives into the bellies of
the horses, they scratched, they bit, they
threw stones. In that swarming of the
horde, that entanglement, that furious
grasp of the raving multitude, the chas
seurs, suffocated, dragged down, felt
their limbs grow numb. Their bleeding
bodies were drenching the earth with
red, and their leader was not there to
inspire them, to ordain a victory.
It was faring ill with them. Their
long sabers, dulled and bent, were with
drawn with difficulty from their thrusts
into the masses. Their arms were weak
and broken. They were powder burned
at such close range were the Kabyles
firing. They were deafened by the yells
of the dogs, excited by that combat; they
were deafened by the shrieks of the chil
dren, by the howls of the women, by the
roars of the men; cut, bitten, bleeding
scorched on all sides, the little troop
melted slowly before the multitude which
assailed unceasingly. Sally, ambuscade,
lie the attack of what ilk it might, it
meant defeat and death to the French
cavalrymen.
Vaudras once more started to run for
ward, and with his mouth foaming he
fell back once more the last time. From
afar he gazed with an infinite tenderness
upon his men, dying there without him
but, ah! in dying they were lighting
bravely slaying gallantly. Hedrew his
pistol from his bell, he held it against his
temple, he pressed the trigger, and the
last convulsions of tlie deatli agony pre
cipitated his corpse into that bottomless
abyss which had brought upon him the
accursed vertigo. Translated for The
Argonaut from the French of Maurice
Montegut bv Y. H. Addis.
Hot Hard to Hit,
The following anecdote admits of wide and
varied application. Most of us can apply it
to ourselves if we will. It was a story of a
minister who. preaching in the pulpit of a
brother clergyman, said some strong things
about racing and fast horses.
He was told after the sermon that he bad
touched one of their best members at a ten
der point.
'Vi ell." said the preacher, "I cannot change
my sermon for him."
Iu the evening the man was introduced to
the minister, who said, "1 understand that
what 1 said touched one of your weaknesses.
I assure you that I was altogether uncon
scious of the. weakness when I Boid it."
"Oh, never mind," said the mail. "It is a
poor sermon that does not bit me some
where." Youth's Companion.
To Save Til-owning Men.
A United States navy officer bas invented
a life saving device for the dreaded emer
gency of "mau overboard" which promises
to be of value. A raft buoy of sufficient size
to support a man is attached to the vessel by
a long aud strong but light wire rope. The
buoy is stocked with a small supply of pro
visions, and is furnished with a potassium
compound which upon contact with the water
ignites and burns brilliantly for twenty min-
utes. If the drowning man, aided by the
flame, succeeds In reaching the raft be can be
drawn to the vessel without the necessity of
lowering boats. Should the rope break and
his own vessel lose track of Dim, ho has, with
the provisions, a chance of sustaining life
until picked up by others. Frank Leslie's.
An African "Wake.'
According to news from the west coast of
Africa there have been some human sacri
fices in consequence of the death of a soo of
the king of Grand Jack. Selected victims
were obliged to drink "sass water," a poison
ous liquor, and were then pitched into the
surf ou the seashore. When the rollers
dashed them ashore men, women aud chil
dren cut at them with knives until they were
dead. The chief of the tribe Dies the British
flag, and the captain of a trading vessel re
monstrated with him in vain, Loudon
Standard.
The Editor's Insomnia,
Patient I wish you would prescribe for
me, doctor. I am nervous and restless and
my sleep is disturbed by nightmares hideous
enough for delirium tremens.
Doctor Possibly your heart Is diseased,
Do you lie ou the right side
Patient Great Scott, doctor! I thought
you knew that i am running an independent
newspaper and have to Us on all sides. De
troit Free tress.
A Disconsolate Wife.
"I don't believe in these secret societies,1'
said one Austin lady to another.
"That's very singular," replied the other;
"jour husband is a Forester, a Knight of
Pythias, and a Knight of Honor, and you
will have at least eiu.uuu when be diet.
"But what good does all that do me?" was
the tearful response, "when he never dies"
and the poor creature burst into tears.
Texas Sittings.
Knew When to Stop.
A New England man has bestirs the green
goods sawdust men at their own game. He
got one of their circulars, and in reply asked
for a sample of their goods. Tbey sent him
a genuine $1 bill, and the gentleman Btopped
the correspondence then aud there. Hew
York Sun.
A Judge's Advice.
Judge Hare, of Philadelphia, recently gave
this advice to a wifs beater who was dis
charged upon the anneal of the abused wife;
"When you find yourself getting angry
agaia, fill your mouth with water and keep
It shut till you cool off." Chicago Herald.
"1 hear young Fastleigh has been painting
the town red since 1ub uncle left him
quarter of a million. " "Why. anybudy could
paint the town red with a quart of vermu-
ton." Ule.
There are in Rngland 84? female black
smiths who actually swing heuvy hammers.
and v,liio women employed iu uad making.
ALL KINDS OF SPOTTERS.
HE WAY IN WHICH WORKMEN ARB
WATCHED DAY AND NIQHT.
A ftusptcton of UUhoitetty Prompts On
Man So Watch Another Ths Bleb aad
Poor Alike Are Coaiitantly Under tar
vsillsacs Ths Police Mo Kioeptlon.
In one of the police courts; the other
day a young man giving an assumed
name was arraigned on a charge of
loitering, and a suggestion of "suspicious
character" was also made to the judge.
who imposed a fine of (10 upon learning
that the young man was employed by
one of the big surface railway companies
as a "spotter," and he claimed that loit
ering on street corners was a part of his
unenviable calling.
The hatred displayed by the conductor
for these monitors in their affairs needs
little provocation, and is only equaled
by the anger of a bartender when the
proprietor of a saloon buys one of those
automatic check writers and registering
machines. As a rule the conductors get
to know the men who are watching
them, and they are mighty careful to
ring up every fare received when the
spy is around, and they generally keep
well posted regarding their movements.
one conductor telling another of the
proximity of the dreaded individual aa
he moves along the lines.
O!) THE STREET CABS. -The
spotter who appeared at court a
prisoner was searched, and in one of his
pockets was found a number of blanks
on which he keeps his memoranda The
spaces to be tilled in report the day of the
month, year and the exact time of the
day at which a car is boarded and in
which direction the car is going. Then
follow the number of fares recorded by
the dial in the car and the number of
fares received by the conductor in his
presence. The report goes on further to
state: Was the conductor polite? Was
he careless Was he watchful as to as
sisting ladies and children on and off of
his car? Was the driver careful with his
team?
The simple mention of the word spot
ter is enough to bring out a storm of in
dignation from the ordinary railway em
ploye. "Every time I hear of one of
these fellows." said a conductor of a
cross town car the other day, "it makes
me think that my employers think that
we aro all dishonest. The bell punch
is looked upon by the conductors as a
badge of dishonor, and. as far as beating
the punch, why it is just as easy to for
get to ring it as it is to fail to pull the
Btrap on the big dial indicator. 1
"11 a man wants to be dish onest no bell
punch or dial can prevent bim from do
ing so 1 could point out spotters, any
nuinlxT of them, who are laughed at by
the men on this road. Some of the dirty
work is done by women who pretend to
be reading a book, but who, in reality,
are 'keeping cases' ou the unsuspecting
conductor. If a man in our business is
disposed to be dishonest and is not a
tool, all the spotters in Christendom '
can't catch him. The crowded cars are
bis best field, for who can tell whether
he rings up for every passenger or slips
one here and there. At night he will
have, a few more nickels in his jeans
than he is obliged to turn in, but the
company is none the worse for it."
"I've run on this road now for two
years," said another conductor on the
same line, "and I think in that time I
have seen about fifty different spotters. ...
I know them the minute they get on the
car. The first thing they do is to size
you up; and every time you pull the
strap they look at the dial to see if il
registers correctly. They are unlike the
ordinary passenger, insomuch as they
wear an air of assumption that give
them 'dead away.' "
The "L" roads have "spotters" also.'
but not to watch the train hands. These
persons are called "inspectors," and they
prowl around from station to station at
the most unseemly hours, just to catch
the drowsy agent or ticket chopper
asleep on his post, or neglecting hi
business in any wdy.
EVERYBODY WiTCHIMO.
The policeman dreads bis roundsman,
for he knows that officer is appointed to
spy upon him and report any failure to
perform his duty. And yet what would
the police force amount to if there was
no sucli officer to watch the policeman?
The hallways would be the sleeping place
for some and the drinking saloons the
rendezvous for others.
" No man who is honest at heart," said
a well known police official the other
day, "needs any watching. A policeman
ouglit to be the last man to object to be
ing watched, for he is in turn only hav
ing done to him what he does to the
public looking for delinquents. In the
one cose he is looking for lawbreakers;
in the other he is being watched so that
he will not commit a breach of polio
rules. And so it is in all cases where on
man Is employed to watch another.
"It is notour desire to be good in many
cases that keeps us from doing wrong,
but our fear of punishment either by
fines, imprisonment or the dread of hell
fire. If w don't have some one over us
to remind us of this punishment occa
sionally we poor weak mortals are liable
to err."
The day laborer is hourly under th
eye of th "boss," the boss is watched
by the contractor, the contractor by th
architect and th whole crowd by th