At six in the morning we took horse, accompanied by some of the captain’s friends, and went down the mountain on which the town is built.
We were escorted by a dozen Arabs attached to the office, all clothed in red mantles, and armed with guns.
Orders had certainly been given beforehand, for, on reaching the plain, at the first goum we passed through, ten Arabs mounted their horses and formed our escort. A little further on another troop joined the first, and our band, acting like a rolling snow-ball, ended by attaining considerable proportions. It was composed of about two hundred Arabs.
After two hours’ march, we quitted the high road, and entered a plain that extended an immense distance in front of us.
Suddenly, the Arabs who accompanied us, probably in obedience to a signal from the chief, started off at a gallop, and proceeded five or six hundred yards ahead. There the troop divided, formed four deep, and the men of the first file rushed upon us, uttering frenzied cries as they held their guns to their shoulders and prepared to fire.
Our little band happened to be in front at this moment. The Arabs rushed upon us with the velocity of a steam-engine, and in a few seconds we should have suffered a collision that must have crushed us all.
A sound of firing was heard: all the horsemen had discharged their guns with admirable precision over our heads. Their horses plunged, turned on their hind legs, and started off at full speed to join the troop.
The Arab might have been taken for a perfect Centaur, when we saw him, while riding at this frantic speed, load his gun, and perform with it all the tricks peculiar to the drum-major.
The first file of horsemen had scarce retired when the second came forward, and went through a similar performance, which was repeated at least twenty times. Our captain had arranged for us the surprise of a fantasia.
At the noise of the firing some of our horses had started, but, the first moment of surprise passed, they remained perfectly quiet. My wife’s horse was an animal of approved docility, hence it was far less affected than its rider; still, every one did my wife the justice of stating that, after the first shock was over, she remained as calm as the boldest warrior among us.