es again into another beaker of still. Talking
was thirsty work; the story was well known in all the African army, but
the piou-piou, having served in China, was new to the soil.

"The General was ill-pleased when he heard it, and half for arresting
Rire-pour-tout; but--sacre!--the thing was done; our honor was involved;
he had engaged to fight these men, and engaged for us to let them go in
peace afterward; there was no more to be said, unless we had looked like
cowards, or traitors, or both. There was a wide, level plateau in front
of our camp, and the hills were at our backs--a fine field for the
duello; and, true to time, the Arabs filed on to the plain, and fronted
us in a long line, with their standards, and their crescents, and their
cymbals and reed-pipes, and kettle-drums, all glittering and sounding.
Sac a papier! There was a show, and we could not fight one of them! We
were drawn up in line--Horse, Foot, and Artillery--Rire-pour-tout all
alone, some way in advance; mounted, of course. The General and the
Sheik had a conference; then the play began. There were six Arabs
picked out--the flower of the army--all white and scarlet, and in
their handsomest bravery, as if they came to an aouda. They were fine
men--diable!--they were fine men. Now the duel was to be with
swords; these had been selected; and each Arab was to come against
Rire-pour-tout singly, in succession. Our drums rolled the pas de
charge, and their cymbals clashed; they shouted 'Fantasia!' and the
first Arab rode at him. Rire-pour-tout sat like a rock, and lunge went
his steel through the Bedouin's lung, before you could cry hola!--a
death-stroke, of course; Rire-pour-tout always killed: that was his
perfect science. Another and another and another came, just as fast as
the blood flowed. You know what the Arabs are--vous autres? How they
wheel and swerve and fight flying, and pick up their saber from the
ground, while their horse is galloping ventre a terre, and pierce you
here and pierce you there, and circle round you like so many hawks? You
know how they fought Rire-pour-tout then, one after another, more like
devils than men. Mort de Dieu! it was a magnificent sight! He was gashed
here and gashed there; but they could never unseat him, try how they
would; and one after another he caught them sooner or later, and sent
them reeling out of their saddles, till there was a great red lake of
blood all round him, and five of them lay dead or dying do