, and decorated with the cross of
the Legion of Honor.

A fellow officer who knew him at this time says: "Captain Joffre was a
solidly-built Pyrenean, calm and clear-headed, with a firm walk and a
hard blue eye. He seldom smiled and he spoke still more rarely. He
never punished except in extreme cases, and then hard. Natives feared
him for his silence, but loved him for his justice."

This portrait of him about a quarter of a century before the Great War is
easily recognizable in the commander of the later day.

In 1891 he paralleled the career of General Foch somewhat by taking a
professor's chair. He was appointed instructor in fortifications at the
Military School at Fontainebleau, where he remained for two years. The
work did not appeal to him particularly and he is spoken of there as a
thorough teacher, but not popular. He had not mingled enough with others
to get their point of view.

A welcome change from this was a summons from headquarters to go to
Timbuctoo, and help suppress a native rebellion. It was all the more
welcome as here, for the first time, he was promised a chance to do some
real fighting.

Timbuctoo was then being overrun by the Tuaregs, a tribe of terrible
brigands called "the veiled men" of Western Soudan. They had massacred
the European settlers, and ended by killing two French officers, Colonel
Bonnier and Lieutenant Boiteux, who had recently headed expeditions
against them. It was a wild and treacherous land, and the relief
expedition would scarcely have child's play of it.

Joffre went at it without the slightest misgiving. Like many another
soldier he was a firm believer in "Luck," and here certainly the fates
were propitious. He set forth on his journey from Segou, on Christmas
Day, 1893, commanding a force of thirty French and three hundred natives.
They crossed deadly swamps and dry, trackless deserts. There were some
deaths by the wayside, but Joffre pushed on. His progress was slow, as
he stopped to make friends with native chiefs, and enlist their aid where
possible.

At last they reached Timbuctoo, only to find orders awaiting them to
"prepare for evacuation," in the face of a threatening Tuareg army.
Joffre for once disobeyed orders, and decided, instead, to attack. He
did so, and administered a crushing defeat to the brigands. He followed
this up so thoroughly, that the whole district was restored to peace.

Then the soldier gave place to the engineer. He c