rier
and the others are so disappointingly indefinite.

Everything was ready for my departure from Wargla. Everything, which
is to say, very little. Three mehara: mine, my companion Bou-Djema's
(a faithful Chaamba, whom I had had with me in my wanderings through
the Air, less of a guide in the country I was familiar with than a
machine for saddling and unsaddling camels), then a third to carry
provisions and skins of drinking water, very little, since I had taken
pains to locate the stops with reference to the wells.

Some people go equipped for this kind of expedition with a hundred
regulars, and even cannon. I am for the tradition of Douls and Rene
Callie, I go alone.

I was at that perfect moment when only one thin thread still held me
to the civilized world when an official cable arrived at Wargla.

"Lieutenant de Saint-Avit," it said briefly, "will delay his departure
until the arrival of Captain Morhange, who will accompany him on his
expedition of exploration."

I was more than disappointed. I alone had had the idea of this
expedition. I had had all the difficulty that you can imagine to make
the authorities agree to it. And now when I was rejoicing at the idea
of the long hours I would spend alone with myself in the heart of the
desert, they sent me a stranger, and, to make matters worse, a
superior.

The condolences of my comrades aggravated my bad humor.

The Yearly Report, consulted on the spot, had given them the following
information:

"Morhange (Jean-Marie-Francois), class of 1881. Breveted. Captain,
unassigned. (Topographical Service of the Army.)"

"There is the explanation for you," said one. "They are sending one of
their creatures to pull the chestnuts out of the fire, after you have
had all the trouble of making it. Breveted! That's a great way. The
theories of Ardant du Picq or else nothing about here."

"I don't altogether agree with you," said the Major. "They knew in
Parliament, for some one is always indiscreet, the real aim of
Saint-Avit's mission: to force their hand for the occupation of Touat.
And this Morhange must be a man serving the interests of the Army
Commission. All these people, secretaries, members of Parliament,
governors, keep a close watch on each other. Some one will write an
amusing paradoxical history some day, of the French Colonial
Expansion, which is made without the knowledge of the powers in
office, when it is not actually in spite of them."

"Whatever the