e and peak of grizzled hair "a cubit and a span"--or
nearly--in length. And the short, grizzled hair had been shaved far
back from his prominent temples, giving a sinister and grotesque effect
to his naturally hard face. Turc was a favorite with the officers, and
his dress was rather cleaner than that of the others; a difference that
was hardly an improvement.

We were just seated at breakfast--and having a special train we took
our time--when a wild scream of the whistle, succeeded immediately by
the heavy rumble of cars, came up the hill. We rushed to the windows,
just in time to see a column of smoke disappearing round the curve and
the officers' car standing solitary and empty on the road.

The Zouaves had run away with the train!

The language the officers used, as we surrounded the "sole
survivors"--the two buglers--was, at least, strong; and short, hard
words not in the church service dropped frequently from their lips.

It was no use; the train had gone and the men with it, and the best we
could do was to speculate on the intention of the runaways, while we
waited the result of the telegrams sent to both ends of the line for
another engine. At last it came puffing up, and we whirled at its full
speed into Montgomery.

Meanwhile the _Zou-Zous_ had several hours' start. Led by one ardent
spirit--whose motto had been _similia similibus_, until he lost his
balance of mind--they had uncoupled the officers' car and forced the
engineers to take them on. On arriving at Montgomery, they wandered
over the town, "going through" drinking houses until they became wild
with liquor; then bursting open the groceries to get whisky, threatening
the citizens and even entering private houses. The alarm became so
great, as the Zouaves became more maddened, that the first Georgia
regiment was ordered out and stationed by platoons, with loaded muskets
and fixed bayonets, across the streets where the rioters were. Serious
trouble was beginning, when the car with their officers dashed into the
depot.

The charge of the Light Brigade was surpassed by those irate Creoles.
With the cars still in rapid motion, they leaped off, revolver in hand;
and charged into the quarter where their drunken men were still engaged
in every sort of excess. The old bugler still trotted at their head,
his black eyes gleaming at the prospect of a row, and his bugle
occasionally raised to sound the "rally." Into the midst of the drunken
and yelling crowd