little
cabins out of the branches of trees, with their leaves on, interwoven
together, all in straight lines, forming streets, very commodious, and
perfectly impervious to the withering sun. There were _restaurants,
cafes, debis de vin et d'eau-de-vie_, sausage-sellers, butchers,
grocers--in fact, there was every trade almost, and everything you
required; not very cheap certainly, but you must recollect, that this
little town had sprung up, as if by magic, in the heart of the desert.

"`It was in the month of September that Damremont ordered a
_reconnoissance_ in the direction of Constantine, and a battalion of my
husband's regiment, the 47th, was ordered to form a part of it. I have
said nothing about my husband. He was a good little man, and a brave
officer, full of honour, but very obstinate. He never would take
advice, and it was nothing but "_Tais-toi, Coralie_," all day long--but
no one is perfect. He wished me to remain in the camp, but I made it a
rule never to be left behind. We set off; and I rode in one of the
little carriages called _cacolets_ which had been provided for the
wounded. It was terrible travelling, I was jolted to atoms, in the
ascent of the steep mountain called the Rass-el-akba; but we gained the
summit without a shot being fired. When we arrived there, and looked
down beneath us, the sight was very picturesque. There were about four
or five thousand of the Arab cavalry awaiting our descent; their white
bournous, as they term the long dresses in which they enfold themselves,
waving in the wind as they galloped at speed in every direction; while
the glitter of their steel arms flashed like lightning upon our eyes.
We closed our ranks and descended; the Arabs, in parties of forty or
fifty, charging upon our flanks every minute, not coming to close
conflict, but stopping at pistol-shot distance, discharging their guns,
and then wheeling off again to a distance--mere child's play, sir;
nevertheless, there were some of our men wounded, and the little waggon,
upon which I was riding, was ordered up in the advance to take them in.
Unfortunately, to keep clear of the troops, the driver kept too much on
one side of the narrow defile through which we passed: the consequence
was, that the waggon upset, and I was thrown out a considerable distance
down the precipice.' `And broke your nose,' interrupted I.

"`No, indeed, sir, I did not. I escaped with only a few contusions
about the region of t