Although the actual fighting incidental to this kind of expedition is devoid of animation and soon interrupted by nightfall, they who take part in it do not the less run considerable risk. A horseman may receive a wound sufficiently severe to disable him from continuing his march. In that case he is lost, unless he happen to be a personage of distinction, for then he is certain not to be deserted. Some strong, vigourous fellow takes charge of him, lifts him up, places him across his saddle, and carries him home dead or alive. As for slight wounds, with the Arab saddle they do not give much trouble, nor do they prevent the return to the goum. On rejoining the tribe, the spoils are divided among those who shared in the khrotefa.
THE TERBIGUE.
In a terbigue not more than fifteen to twenty horsemen make "a knot," and propose to drive off the flocks from the very middle of a douar. They send some of their party to reconnoitre the tribe, and arrive close to the tents on one of the darkest nights. An isolated douar is selected, to which they approach as near as two or three hundred paces. Three of them dismount and stop, while one goes round to the opposite side, and makes a noise to attract the attention of the dogs. The people of the tribe fancy it is a passing hyæna, or a jackal, and take no notice of it. In the meanwhile the two other robbers penetrate into the interior of the douar, loosen the fastenings of ten, fifteen, or twenty camels, according as fortune favours them, and knock their shoes together, to frighten the liberated animals and cause them to run away. They then make off as quickly as they can, rejoin their horses, and all assist in collecting the scattered camels. After that they separate into two bands, one of which conducts the captured animals, while the others, lagging a little behind, allow themselves to be pursued in a different direction. If by chance they have succeeded in letting loose the faâle, or stallion, their success is certain, for all the females strive to follow him.
Since, in these operations, the secret is generally well kept, they seldom fail, nor are accidents at all common. Should the douar be on its guard, the attacking party at once retires. They who venture upon such enterprises are usually well mounted, and speedily escape from a pursuit that is rendered almost impossible by the obscurity which effaces all traces and inspires dread of ambush. For a razzia of this sort, they do not hesitate to go thirty or forty leagues.
Sometimes incidents of a grotesque nature characterise the terbigue. When a party of horsemen does not care to leave a reserve to fight the enemy, they conceal themselves in an ambuscade seven or eight hundred steps from the douar; while the most experienced robber of the band strips himself naked, and, taking only his sword with him and tying his shoes to his head to look like enormous ears, penetrates into the douar. He carries in his hand an old saddle-bow, which he shakes in all directions, every now and striking the earth. To this dull sound he joins cries of alarm and terror: "The goum! the goum! up! up! We are betrayed!" The clamour, the jumping about, the strange aspect of the individual, and the noise of the saddle which he keeps on shaking, strike terror into the animals. Horses, sheep, and camels rush pell-mell out of the douar, and are caught by the concealed horsemen. The others rush out of their tents, snatch up their guns, and spring into the saddle; but flocks and plunderers are already far away, fleeing at full speed, and protected by the night.
THE KHRIANA, OR THEFT.
The terbigue is, in fact, a robbery, but it is at the same time almost a warlike operation—it is, at least, a razzia. The strength of the party that executes the enterprise, the importance of the wrong inflicted upon an entire division of a tribe, the high qualities of the perpetrators of the robbery, who, after all, are real warriors,—all these circumstances taken together, if they do not suffice as a justification in the eyes of scrupulous Europeans, are esteemed in the desert as extremely plausible motives. Since a few brave and reckless fellows have imperilled their lives to injure a hostile tribe, there cannot be otherwise than joy and triumph in that to which they belong.
In the khriana, however, we descend a step lower, and arrive at a mere marauding expedition, executed by professional thieves. It is no longer war, even in miniature—it is nothing more than theft. It is no longer a subject of rejoicing for a whole tribe, though still a matter for praise and congratulation among friends; always provided the robbery has not been committed on their own or on a friendly tribe—which would be a disgrace—but absolutely on an enemy. They say, "Such a one is a brave man—he robs the enemy." As may readily be imagined, all thefts are not managed in the same manner, but are adapted to the nature of the capture that is proposed to be made.
HORSE-STEALING.