| Show the algerian swordsman by fred gibert blakeslee a e copyright 1909 by J lippincott co fo 1 play Is pretty but it is not swordplay A man does many things with a buttoned foil that he would scaife dare attempt with an ered po nt M beaupre u officer of chass eurs sat in the salle d armes of his friend roget rouleau watching an assault with foils between twp pupils of that celebrated master who for instance continued M beaupre would risk making such complicated movements as counter parries doubles and ripostes with the disengagement in an actual duela elaborate combination combi natio s are well enough in the salle d armes where one fisl s not mg but a touch on a pad ded jacket but they have no place in the play of a man who Is fighting for his 1 fe there is truth in what you say pierre responded M rouleau but do you not think that a knowledge of this nature serves to develop to the h chest degree that fencer s judgment which is of the greatest importance to a man who engages in actual instead of mimic combats undoubtedly my friend the train ing of which you speak is excellent so far as it goes but it Is not varied enough the fencer is usually taught to defend himself with but one type of weapon and in a certain rigidly pre scribed manner a thoroughly corn detent swordsman however should be able to fight with all weapons and to withstand attacks no matter how ir regular they may be what chance foi instance do you think one of your pupils would have if called upon to defend himself a half savage algerian whose method of fighting violates every principle of the fencer s code but whose utter unconventionality makes him all the more dangerous an opponents 9 but you shall hear and drw your own conclusions while I 1 was serving with my regi ment in algeria we stationed at bargh a dreary post lying on the outskirts of the great desert where there was little to do except eat and sleep we had been here for some months without occurring to break the monotony of our existence when to our great delight we were one da ordered upon active service reports had reached headquarters that a certain mohammed el hadid had declared hemelt to be a prophet and was inciting the desert tribes to join efm in a holy war we were or dered to take the field at once find tho reputed prophet and stamp out the rebellion before it had a chance to spread further orders which you may well believe afforded us the keenest pleasure after a five days march through the desert we discovered mohammed encamped at hassa on the mo issa river we found however thit the prophet with a military skill for which we had not given him credit was strongly entrenched among the foothills with which the country at that point abounded and it was at once evident that dislodging him would be a task of considerable dim culty we accordingly encamped in front of his lines and having thrown up hast entrenchments and established ul table outposts to guard against sur we settled down to study the hard problem before us it was evident that mohammed was the mainstay of the revolt and that if he could be either killed or captured the tribes that had joined him could lacking a leader be easily crushed but it did not seem poss hie to get at the prophet in iny way ex capt by a gereral assault and our colonel had about decided upon that arse when quite unexpectedly a way out of our difficulties was opened for us and an opportunity presented to show the fanatical edans that their belief in the reputed pow ers of their prophet was in vain mohammed was noted for his great skill in swordsmanship and possessed a blade which was slid to be able to cut through the sword of any infidel judging that a single handed victory over a frenchman would enormously increase his reputation as well as his influence over his followers he sent a message into our camp saying that he defied and cursed us and daring us to send a chief to fight him with the sword between the two armies our commander received the mes told him that we would accept the challenge and send an officer to meet the prophet and that we would show his followers how little they could rely upon their leader s prom aises after the messenger had gone the colonel called the officers together tu select a champion for our cause all of us were anxious to volunteer but as our chief pointed out it was abao cutely necessary for us to send our best man for a defeat at the hands of the fanatical prophet would immense ly lower the prestige of our arms while victory might break the back bone of the rebellion at once As I 1 was even then universally edged to be the best swordsman in the regiment the selection naturally fell i pon me and I 1 was formally as ignec to uphold the honor of the french arms a decision my dear roget wl ich you may well believe at forded me the greatest p ealure it was just before sundown when I 1 stepped out from behind the shelter of our guns and advanced tow ards the enemy s lines to meet their redoubt able champion I 1 was clad in the form of my rank and carried my drawn sword in my hand having dis carded my scabbard so as to avoid the risk of accidentally tripping over it in the coming encounter my weapon the regulation cavalry sabre was a good one and I 1 knew that it would not play me false midway between the two forces my savage adversary awaited me and as I 1 advanced towards him his tall spare fig re standing outlined against the red disk of tl e setting sun was truly an awe inspiring spectacle he was robed entirely in white and held in his right hand his famous meter chile his left gripped a small circular buckler of hippopotamus hide A great silence had fallen over both forces and as I 1 walked briskly over the heat ed sands of the desert it seemed to me that I 1 had never known the air to be so still within a dozen paces of my adver sary I 1 halted then tor a few mo ments neither of us moved but each subjected the other to the keenest scrutiny seeking to discover some weak point of which he might take advantage I 1 saw at once that the possession of the buckler gave the algerian an enormous advantage over me since it enabled him to both cut abid parry at the same time while I 1 had to rely upon the sword itself for both attack and defense for what seemed minutes we stood gazing intently at each other and then with a wild cry of allah the algerian raised his glittering blade alett and rushed upon me with my sword in tierce I 1 stood my ground and let him come down came his blade with a vicious cut for right shoulder up prang my sword and met the blow back went my point for his breast only to be put aside by his buckler while he cat again this time tor my head I 1 successfully parried his head cut and seeing that it had failed he sprang quickly back in timeto avoid my riposte for a few seconds neither of us moved except that I 1 shifted my ground a bit so as to get the sun on my left instead of in front of me as it had been at first then with an other shout he charged me again ard so the fight went on until our breath came in hoarse quick gasps and the perspiration streamed down our faces well nigh blinding us the red sun had by this time sunk below the horizon but still we con tinned to struggle sometimes out of distance and sometimes locked so close together in corps a corps that each could feel tl e other s hot breath on his cheek however it is evident that such a combat could pot go on forever and at last I 1 determined to risk a ruse a trick which was sometimes em aloyed sf illy by the hipler men of the sixteenth century being at the time somewhat out of distance with mohammed watching me as a cat does a mouse I 1 advanced my right leg more than I 1 had previous ly done pretending at the same time to overbalance myself the prophet was quick to see the opening and to tare advantage of it with a tri cry he sprang forward and delivered a terrific cut against the in side of my exposed leg it was a fatal error As he cut I 1 slipped the leg back out of danger and at the same time bending my body forward I 1 ran him through the heart with a straight thrust over his arm there is little more to tell just as the colonel had prophesied meds death broke the backbone of the rebellion and we had little biffl culty in dislodging and dispersing his followers I 1 was warmly congratulated upon my victory by my brother officers and received from the government this cross of the legion of honor |
