The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 23, 1899, Page 22

.14l SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 1899. The mules trotted on across the plain, and the men kept well along- side. Duncan, the color sergeant, and the rest of the rear guard followed rather more slowly “Push on!" was the commander's order, and the stern necessity of obeying it was borne upon those who remained unhurt. Bullets pinged about the convoy and knocked down here and there a man or beast. If the soldfer lived he was put upon a mule; it dead, they left him where he fell, though Malcolm, knowlng what must follow from the hillmen's Ves, vearned as much to carry them with him as if they still had breath. 1f the mule carried stores, both were left, but ammunition was transferred, {n obedience to the captain's will. Come what may, Malcolm vowed that such a deadly afd should not fall into the power of the enemy. Every buliet might mean a countryman’s life later, for he knew. as well as people knew, that among the clans were those who had the guns for which these very cartridges were made. “Push on!” he cried once more, casting an anxious look to see how Duncan and the rear guard fared. So far as he could tell the subaltern, the color sergeant and the men were yet uninjured, or at any rate not so severely wounded that they could not fight and retire together. A bullet struck the captain in the ankle. “Push on, men!" he cried, con- quering bis pain and hobbling over the rough and rocky ground. Another shot lald a muleteer at his feet. ‘‘He's dead or I wouldn't leave him.” he shouted, for the encouragement of the rest. ‘Push on, and through the little pass thera before the hillmen cut us off. God helps those who help themselves, and we can get over the ground faster than they can.” who had halted for from a ledge a hu “He came He'll shoot slugs no more.’ e comes.” “but n instant to fire a shot. dred feet up. T It's a comrade. ves, by George, we'l He pointe men was ¢ which would oy bef Push on not In the drill book.” sald Gladwin to a the very mules seem to understand it. Push on— have to, If the niggers all get along like that. Look!" to a narrow, straight ledge of rock. along which a line of g The first was already preparing to descend at a point able him to reach the ground and get in front of the con- rrow gorge leading to the vale bevond, in which « ‘HBPE TS THE LAST "\ HERE are : tt °F A BAD LoT said the captain, “which a soldier may 1 i s the dischar reposed in him by a ore it entered the r iwrters camp was pitched. shouted the captain, “before he gets to the ground and the one of th which has been 3 good trick, sir, if you'll let me stop a bit an’ play it,” ed a fresh cigarette with his finge d st a0y said Lax \:L»“:’ 5 “?:,y’ AR A is it?” demanded Malcolm, hobbling on. ‘“Get ahead there! e 8 i Ry uted Gladwin. exultantly: “but T want another rifle st e player of th me has to be sort of fed.” r of it 50 k £ cd behind a little loose rock near him, and sheltering him- S s esented his rifle deliberately at the leading hillman and p TR P e e At orE The t toppled over and bounded down the hillside. It it ought the heart of the world Gladwin's rifle cked again, and the bullet claimed its man. A third S J i ght th hissed from the muzzle, and the unerring marksman brought his quarry 204 down e enutreteneh sort of r rd for you.” shouted Gladwin. “Can vou B = 2 equal to what shove on, an’ leave ‘em to me till Mr. Duncan = B ¢ times m e captain roared, “Push on, we're sure tn do it 3 T l tha You, Mark, and I will lie down with 3 ¢ v « T n. e A i ] 3 e I c and chon iwin. “This is w o 4 E e s Crumbs! They're firin’ like a pepper : o He pt bavonet point a . n my head t that 1 wore it when the ' E = arningly = wir s : ; another max : 2 11 Hooray! - 5 i s, “H hlazed the line, which w 18 back Lk : o - = 1 oinad he 1 ahandoning the attempt to a e head of z A ¥ = e to he camp. iggered on toward the th of the gorge 'k unto himself the 1t to be able to cut ft, - ; em we want a troop . » man it collect his i t 1 sent him reeling over P a ders!” hard o he eme x 0 was now = £ mfortable ] encouragement o : convoy, Maxwell's vigor hay- : ¢ ; turned back into the gorge St Ton TR0 the last of the string of hill- it e is feet s y aimed. “I hope it's the last of the line of dem 1 In a last d alized clans- rate ass, reported Maxwell have been ing part in ind mules there as fe side of the valley 1can, with a laugh, as Maxwel] e Il give you the finest bottle of he said, “that the cotch you ev 1en we get out of this.’ of e At Tha for!"” shouted Maxwell. “Here, laddie, no oW U Tr thesa it e b ft behind while Donald Maxwell stands on b Malcolm interrupted, graciously t who had been shet houlders a and had stumbled, n to walk off with him. nd beg: f we were put in the same boat?" said hoisted I eplied the captain. » should stand by the stores ar }_ey had baldheaded for duty,” said Duncan, ad DE [20TING °F THE QWOY BY WAITER DOGCOOBE 00000000000 BON0000600000D HAn Orionial J/or:y of the L . Lesson Tt aauy/zf a Foolish Wew/mm’. “I double my offer. miration | took the weanon By this time they were at the rock behind which the captain, Gladwin and Mark had sheltered. The privates were standing, but Malcolm re- feg=g =] COVO0VOVVVVVABOY W/}aye and the Tt'll be two bottles!” sald Duncan, with a flerce ad- within him. *Here, give me your rifle.”” He ran up and nit COoOVoQ wrer to a fellow if you g nafl fn his @PVVVVOO0VOLA0VVOOTIVVOVVVVLODOO0D0OG =3 DLV LOVOOOVVOVOGOLEGOD A BY H. DE VERE STACPOOLE. shad was fond of coffee i 1 t call upon his wi to bring it to him, as 1 e o i rejoined the cap- 1 . S . he ac repressing suspicion told the Caliph t iment. . Don’t these hills remind you of th Sire, in a jourr ross the dese 1 1 > the caravan with which he traveled, and. caus- g 2 qu * sald the subalt ing his camel to kneel, he dismounted for the purpose of counting the And Red (b clansiern: 1 emeralds and rubies in t} ck which he wore at his belt s swarm with illicit In this sack there were halas rubies of the color of a white w s mouse’s eve, and emeralds colored like the grass after rain, and, also, 3 rere v gree nd sapphires of cornflower biue, and sapphire s he po the s on a wind day; and pearls, Sire, some black by ¢ and 1 shape the thumb of an Ethiopian woman, and some like 1 1 1 woman's little t 1 some that blushed rose red, as if at the thought tt rr Im's reproving look. of their own be etill would g ant a few of them would lik So lost was the merchant in contemplation of his treasures that he did work of that sort. bree. Why not? There are And think, as a good Scot, of the t notice D, W assirg by on his gray mule, cast a handful of poppy seeds on the head of Feyshad, and then rode on, laughing, with eyes half closed, in the track of the vanishing caravan. Feyshad had slept poke they got out of the foot of the pass and emerged, In a scarcely an hour, Sire, when, awaking, he glanced around and found him- n a small plain. alone. Hiz camel had forsaken him, and over all the vellow desert er of the rocky path, and every animal g beneath the noonday sun there was no trace of life, save the a shot was heard, and 1ooking at the side iching bones that here and there marked the road of the caravans. 5 PUIF ‘of BraGker The : He turned to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, a tiny tongue of fire nothing did he see but the sands running*to a rim against the sky. in the east, where nd devil danced upon the plain, making move- s it in derision of shad. : cried the unhappy merchant as he tore his beard. “Fool that I iat 1 might count my treasure in safety 1 withdrew me from the , where was my real safety. I thirst, but where shall T find water e : sun consumes me, but where shall 1 find shade?” Then he ceased for fear of his own volce, which sounded strange in that echoless ert, and sitting with his eye fixed upon the sand devil, which was now dancing into the west, he gave himself to despair, till suddenly, Sire, he Was startled by a voice from behind, crying: ““ Feyshad!”’ The merchant, Sire, turned, and to his astonishment he saw before him, at twenty paces distant, an Arab veiled in white and seated upon an ass. At this sight a great horror fell upon the soul of Feyshad, for, but a moment before, he had been alone seated amid the vastness of the 'desert. Nor did his hoTror grow less when he beheld the thing before him cease- lesslyschanging form as it spoke, vet speaking always in the same voice. Now, it was an Arab seated Upon an ass; now, a woman naked and be- striding & lion; it would shrink now to an ape seated upon a dog, and now it would swell to the form of a stout man upon a camel. And the form cried to him, sayving: “'r'eyshad, I am the Fata Morgana, the dreamer of the desert. I bring to the waste places the ghosts of the cities. with their mosques and towers, and the sapphire shadow of the Nilg bends at my Word through the heat-shaken air and past the feet of dying men. 1 give to man the one thing real—Illusion. I am thine.” Then Feyshad, consumed by thirst, cried out, heedless of the horror before him: ‘‘Water, I pray you, water!” And lo! Sire, Feyshad found himseif seated in the courtyard of his own house in Old_Cafro, and the fountain in its center gla‘;ed eneath the sun, casllnfi‘ils diamond-bright waters to the sky, and the great acacis lanted by his father cast upon Feyshad its pleasant shadow. His thirst ad vanished at the sight of the water, nor did he notice that the fountain was but the ghost or shade of a fountain without song or sound, and that the leaves of the acacla moved in mIeI breeze without a whisper. A sec “That's the meaning of it. And this, in ek ago two hillmen were hanged for at- tle they care for the moral of lessons, itish army. Now I've done chattering. st of honor,” sald the captaln, quickly, but If the men tq the reat and cover the convoy. of the plain. And whatever you do, seo that ng wounded. If auy of us are killed—then it can't rgeant Mill, and fialf the small force hurrieq nd the muleteers thrashed thefr hardy ljttle hile, shots rang from the hills on each sid= of the convoy. nd sca They . and came from unseen marksmen, but n the valley, and a ceaseless fusillade, d of the convoy, was shot by g nbled and rolled over, then struggleq ain. was a laden w colm, “and never mind the stores." r mule went down, shot through the head This obedience to Malcolm’s orders the burden wag another animal similarly laden. ad there!” shouted the captain, but the muleteers required ading. They knew what fate awalted them if they fell into the hangs enemy. inition, and rred to e a shot,” cried Malcolm, as his own men, following the rear guard, blazed at the spurts of fire among the rocks, near him gave a loud cry and fell upon his face. The captatn head and saw that a bullet had entered the brain. he shouted, letting the poor clay fall, and With a greas '8 up within him. “Remember that we are only three miles ofy Push on!” g His tortoise crawled upon the pavement of the courtyard. Through an open door he saw within the house the Egure of his wife like a brown shadow against the sunlight of a window that lay beyond, She was grind- ing coffes, but of the sound of grinding thera was none, An the camp. though Fey- wont. The thougl ht of the fou il N words of the uld vou see th reflection in a mirror And as he murmured the word wife: and when his child enter sient to satisfy his desire eve: as was sufficient to satisfy his thirst he sat. and as he sat thas he remem Should you meet there any one you . or though it be but their nish he smiled, for F he courtyard a 1 not love his an in pursuit of a butterfly with amber wings ain. for Feyshad did not love his child. ife sat contentedly iy of the and watched his wife find child and the crawling tortoise, and the dancing water, and the waving leaves, Forever ha m ght ha happy beyond 1t, even though “I will aris he dreams of man he live in Paradise: e and go into the ntly moment, Sire, van returning to seek for before them, gainst th with its palm trees, mosques knew it was the work of F: e been seen a great way and the people of the place where Feyshad w 1d minarets, and the Morgana 1T 1& robbed, placed his merchant, Sire, Tlusion; ‘and he pi might . off the cara- n_beheld the city of Cairo, laughed, for they Fi hole by had, Sire, fearful of h neath the fountain, for bers, even in the land of Ha aced them there, not knowing that he was bury them in. the sand, where they would never be found ag: id then he left what seemed to his eves the courtyard of his house egan to walk about upon the sands whereof Fata Mop gana had laid the streets and ba inars of Cairo, e paused at the shop of El Kobir, the goldsmith, and selzi vase of gold encrusted with turquoise. ‘cried out. “El Kobir, what phons put El Kobir nefther drew the amber mouthpiece of his 'pipe from pie Ups nor turned his head, so Feyshad put the vase beneath his robe and walked on ik Then, Sire, Feysh attar of roses, a a ck of jewels in a ys fearful of rob- 1 went to the shop of a Jew, and taok a litfla v gger with a ruby hilt. of P nd an elephant of gold with jeweled ey bag of sequins; and the Jew, who at that moment it in fact asleep in his shop in Cairo, dreamed that he was being rorp . Was A and Feyshad h";.’ he could not prevent Fevshad from takmg hi¢ thing, tened home rejoicing with the sack upon his shoulder Though it seemed to him that he had spent several hours in the zaars, it is impossible that he could have Deen there Tonges oy e ba- ment, for, to his astonishment, when he entered the courtyard. ag hos house his child was stil, In pursiit of the butterfly with amber wisge 1 the tortoise he had left crawling upon the pavement had not gained oy (o1 toward its znfn!. and his wife was <Hll}:rrlnding the coffee, S anen Feyshad felt a great thirst from his exertions, and t si; fountain did not allay it as before. he sight of the He emptied his sack of the stolen heap with leaves plucked from the acac am T that I have never loved. else the sight of my wife, or my S friend. would have baniched me forever from this land, whers § i °F & all day and be happy. Now will T auench my thirst at'the founine g o leaving my jewels here, return to the bazaars for more " S g, But, Sire, the hand of Allah reaches even to the land of Happy 111 sfon. As Feyshad went to drink he beheld a person w s as hom 4 in the clear waters of the fountain he heheld the refietion ot e Spec tor wels and covered the gl and then he cried: "Ilogv\,[}l]?xr;ly:s At that moment. Sire, the peaple of the approacking caray: 3 phantom clty, that jay hefors them tremhilng, from (he. sresn Saie™ {1 at its walls {o the domes that cut the sky, and then It vanisheq lirees dream, leaving naught but a black speck upon the sand, whER wae Ko™ shad. The jewels he had hidden for safety beneath the shadow fountain w, never found again, or the jewels he had covered with the leaves o ere acacia. And to-day, Sire, he sits at the gates of Cairo begging aims, or wanders through_the bazaars gazing vpon the jewels that once were his— land.of Happy Illusion. 10 the » « JUST IN TIRE]" SAN OUT THE LEADER._ mained in his lving posture. ‘“Hurt?” asked Duncan, anxiously, for by this time the hillmen were working fierceiy up. ‘A bit,” responded Malcolm, bravely ground, groaning, in spite of himself. “It's no use,’ he said, “I can't walk. You'll have to leave me to take my chance. Thank God, the con- voy is all right now."” The subaltern opened wide his eves in anger. ‘‘Leave you!” he echoed. “Not if you deliberately ordered it, and the men heard you; and not if ten thousand of these blood-stained brutes came upon us. Not me! Here, we can’t afford to leave it—grip that!” he ordered, In tones that left no open- ing or question ¥fe thrust the rifie into the captain’s hand, and put a strong arm around his waist. “Now, just you hop as best you can on the one leg.” ain obeyed. It was almost absurd, but they were not able just then te appreciate the humor of h on, sir,” said Gladwin, “me an’ the others'll keep 'em sily do it. I never was in s fine form. This sort o after foragin’ an’ gu communication.” ome. we must,” said Dunc: eing that Malcolm hesitated, and so t the captain‘might have no c in the negative he ried him over the rough ground, regardless, for the moment, even of his wounded ankle. He tried to rise, but fell to the ., 'The stores will keep them back a bit,” said Duncan. “See how they're scrambling and worrying other to get them. They'll have a bit of loot, after all.” But precic little, sir,”” said Gladwin, reloading his magazine. “I valry. Just :isten to the poundin’ o’ the hoofs on the rocks. Tha 111 music. Thank God!" exclaimed the captain, fervently. ok out!” cried Gladwin. “Give 'em a fair fleld.” There was a roar and rush of horsemen through the gorge and across the plain, the glitter of sun on steel, and the shout of excited men as & troop of lancers swept past. “Just in time!” sang out the leader of the troop as he rushed or the head, waving his sword. “Thanks for giving us a chance like thi. “It’ll be like playin’ polo.” opined Gladwin. ‘“Lord, how they’ll scatt ‘em and pick 'em out of the holes with the lances! It's a time like this that makes & chap feel that the horseman is nearly as good as the kilted S fiad Ly or three parilng Shots) anin/{Hen ordered hts sina with the air of a man who had done his duty. “We can stay here safely now,” sald Malcolm. “Thanks, old fellow, I don’t know that we need be ashamed of the affair. I've acted up to my ethics.” at he affair will be hard to beat in this little war, anyhow,” answered Duncan. “But what would you have done, suppose things hadn’t turned out so well? How would you have prevented the ammunition from getting into their hands “1 had arranged alt that—I should have blown it up.” Duncan gazed admiringly. “And ourselves with it, I suppose?” “well, we should have taken the risk.” «Which is more than an Insurance office would have cared to do.” the subaltern. “Good old ethics. But what a plan—now, I should nev have thought of that, although, mind you, I should prefer to keep my skin as It is; and blowing up wovldn’t have allowed me “t's a good finish. They're coming back. Ah! I'm glad they're bring- in with them.” . ing our poor fellow! : “They didn't give us a chance,” growled the troop leader, as he rods up. “Scurried off like rabbits—wouldn't face the lances. But they go bR of loot. Never mind, the: paid for it. Take my saddle—TUll walk fle dismounted and helped the unwilling and protesting Maleolns to co his seat. ok e walked back, lancers and Highlanders together, and men cheered them enthusiastically ‘as they approached the camp. But when they saw what lay across some of the saddles the huzzas dled away, and some of those who cheered the loudest turned their heeqs aside. e . The "ancient Egyptian beat his breast and loudly lamented his poverty, for he had a call to write poetry. “A person ean’t be lite these day the unhappy man exclaimed, “unless he has the rocks.” While he had direct reference, doubtless, to the custom then prevall- ing of writing upon tablets of stone, we are, nevertheless, permitted to conjecture that here was the beginning of the metaphoric conception that rocks and money are one,