A DIGRESSION, FOR VARIETY'S SAKE. 339 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



A DIGRESSION FOR VARIETY'S SAKE. 



The 1st of June, 1846, our squadrons were encamped under 

 the walls of Tabessa. 



The 2d, a convoy of sick from Guelma, together with their 

 escort, was attacked and' killed to a man by the Arabs. 



The 3d, our troops under General Randon, with the cavalry, 

 attacked the enemy, and took exemplary vengeance. 



The 19th, at noon, while we were in bivouac in the Han- 

 encha country, a soothsayer with a multitude of fanatics 

 under his command, marched against our camp, thinking to 

 surprise us like sheep that slumber in the noonday shade. 



Before the Arabs were within gunshot of our outposts 

 the alarm was given. Full of confidence in their soothsayer, 

 who had promised them that our powder should be turned 

 into water, they waited for us to come within pistol-shot with- 

 out firing a gun. We made a charge, and drove through 

 them like wild boars through the reeds in the marshes, cutting 

 them down on every side, and making them pay dearly for 

 their misplaced confidence. 



At the moment the general gave the signal for the charge, 

 a number of the fanatics showed themselves at the foot of a 

 wooded hill, a hundred paces on our right. Our company 

 charged the rascals, who after having fired into us as we rode 

 up, dodged like foxes, as they were, into the woods. The 

 horsemon threw themselves from their saddles, and pursued 



