THE LOST SQUADRON.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 284, 4 June 1909, Page 7

THE LOST SQUADRON.

I. Overhead, t!i«* sun blazed high ill the heavens like a blood-rod ;i:eteor. Jielow, illimitable as the. sea, stivtehed the arid sand. Not a sound broke the silence; not a breeze stirred in the blinding and blasting heat. Nor was tin's the worst. b-or the plague had ravaged Alexandria, and spread from town to town; and it raged even here. The Angel of Death was abroad and one heard the beatings of liis- wings. The scattered regiments of the French army, encamped wherever there Mas a well, or a clump of trees for shelter, had lived for the lastmonth in an atmosphere of fever and terror. Men spoke to one another with a sort m of smothered defiance. When the assembly sounded they took their places in sullen silence; when off duty every soldier fled to the tents, and kept stolidly apart from his comrades. Billets, orders,letters, wore steeped in vinegar before anyone would handle them. The orderlies carried the despatches on the point of the bayonet. To neglect these precautions were to die. Two regiments, quartered near Suez, were even more restless than the others. A letter from Cairo had announced that they would soon be joined by a squadron 'of dragoons, which had started from that town a fortnight since. Now, the journey would take no longer, than three days. This was the fifth day, and the dragoons had not arrived, nor Mas there' any news of them. The two hundred men composing the squadron were 'already, more than two days behind their time. Where were they ? Shade of Allah! What had become of the lost squadron? . The uncertainty began to weigh upon them. They -growled and whispered, and stared questioning in each other's faces, and- still no tidings were forthcoming. Scan the horizon as they would, not a glimpse, not a sound of the approach of armed men. And even the bravest quailed. Then the general ordered a second squadron to scour the country round the desert, till such time as he coukl communicate with Napoleon himself. Eagerly the men designated sprang to saddle. Anything Mas preferable, to' the life which had long been theirs, and an intolerable desire for action of any sort possessed itself <f their spirits. The trumpets blared; the command rang out : "Fours about there! Trot!" This Mas a famous squadron which had shown conspicnons valor in the great battle of the Pyramids. Seasoned soldiers,' every one — hard of head, fearless of heart, prompt, ready, and bold. The first day passed, and nothing happened. Two caravans .'appeared and disappeared in the distance. When night fell they encamped. "Our water is running llor,"M r ," observed Captain Laforce to his lieutenant the next morning. "We must turn towards the wells." The second day found them in a* lonely valley near the ruin of an ancient canal. . They followed its crumbling walls for a mile or more. "There is an old tower somewhere near, if I am not mistaken," the captain said. "Suppose- Aye try there, cli, 'lieutenant?" • -■ So said, so done; but still came of it. It Mas the evening of the third day, and the advance guard were walking, their horses slowly, when they suddenly stopped. The rest of .the squadron stopped also; horses pranced, and one of them broke into a shrill neigh, which rang -discordantly on thp Mindless' air. "What the blazes "cried Captain Laforce, aaid then he checked himself. "No nse getting- in a temper over a job like this," he muttered. "If- we lose our heads ! What's the matter, Sergeant Paillot ? Why did you halt without orders?" The sergeant's face was livid. He saluted, but was silent. "Go to your place," continued the 'captain, after a pause. "Perhaps you will 'fmd your tongue presently. Forward!" . , The sergeant stood, barring the way. Ho saluted again. "No captain — for pity's sake, no further!" "Are you dreaming, sergeant? Why not?" "Go no further — no further! There are. other roads than this." Captain Laforce hesitated, mused a. moment, and hesitated no more. " • "We cannot go back," ho said, curtly. Grimly submissive, the. sergeant rejoined the. ranks. Hut now the. heat seemed closer and more oppressive. A faint, i*e.r . pugnant smell, offensive to the nostrils, affected every man present. Before they could quito realise this, the head of the column was seen to waver and turn. The. ivst of the column halted mechanically ; the soldiers swayed in their saddles. Then there Mas silence. 11. They had found the lost squadron ! There, strewn along the plain, lay things that had once been human.

■ The faces wore gone «ucl imrecognisable; mere skulls, huddled with bones, and skeleton horses, and rags and tatters of gaudy uniforms. They seemed to have fallen at the same time. All the horror and terror of plague and war was crowded in that lonely place. "In what a. frightful charnel-house have wo stumbled!" gasped the lieutenant. . ; The captain shuddered. He was a man of energy and nerve, but both failed him at this crisis. He turned aside, drew, a cigar from his pocket, and lit it with a trembling hand. Meanwhile the men had dismounted. A great and all-absorbing pity filled every breast. One tall corporal, stepping gently among the dead, cried aloud with a fierce barrack oath, which, amid such . surroundings, sounded almost like a prayer : "Do you mean to leave -them to the hyenas, comrades, tliese poor braves of our own brigade? "Was not to help us that they made the jouriley f-r&n Cairo?" With that, he . lifted ■ one of the bodies froiji the ground and hoisted .it on his shoulder. "He comes from my village — 4ie. "Well, lie shall ride on my saddle, aoid I will give him his wooden box when we reach Cairo again." , The soldiers gathered round him, wide-eyed, .murmuring they knew not what, "And this other — is there no one to claim him?" the corporal went on, "Only think! he belonged to our' regiment ! Why stand gaping at m© like that? Are you afraid? ■What are you afraid of.?" At this stage, Captain Laforce strode- into 'the midst of the group throwing 1 away his half -smoked cigar with a tragic gesture. ■ "They are afraid of what Aye all fear — the plague," he said. "These poor fellows have died of it. Corporal, leave the dead man there." "Never!" ' '"What! -dp you defy me?" . "No, captain," answered the corporal. And his voice softened. "Not for life's sake would I disobey you if I had the choice. See you, now, it is beyond me.- I must bury my comrade as a soldier should, as I would bury him in, our native village. There ! I have spoken. Now shoot me if you -will." They both looked at each other. Captain Laforce slowly drew a pistol from his belt, slowly i*aised it, paused for a little while, and then spoke. (To be concluded in to-morrow's issue).