the scouts

during this evening when bonaparte had assembled all his staff, not as a council of war or to formulate a plan of battle, but as a literary and historical committee, several messengers arrived for the sheik of aher to warn him that the pasha of damascus was preparing to cross the jordan with an army, in order to force bonaparte to raise the siege of saint-jean-d'acre.

this army, which, according to the always exaggerated reports of the arabs, had an immense baggage train with it, was to cross the jordan at jacob's bridge.

on the other hand, djezzar's agents had visited all the sea-coast of said, and this contingent had joined those of aleppo and damascus, with the greater feeling of security since the messengers of the pasha had everywhere spread the report that the french were a mere handful of men, that they had no artillery, and that it would suffice for the pasha of damascus to show himself and unite with djezzar to exterminate bonaparte and his army.

at this news, bonaparte threw down the volume of plu[pg 608]tarch which he was reading and called for junot, vial and murat. he sent vial north to take possession of sour—the ancient tyre. he despatched murat northeast to make sure of the fort of zaphet; and junot south, with orders to take possession of nazareth, and to take observation of the surrounding country from the elevated position of this village.

vial crossed the mountains at cape blanco, and came in sight of sour on the 3d of april. the french general, from his post at the crest of a little hill, could see the frightened inhabitants leaving the town in disorder with every sign of great terror. he entered the town without any opposition, promised peace and protection to the people who had remained, reassured them, persuaded them to go and look for those who had run away, and at the end of three or four days had the pleasure of seeing them all in their own homes again. vial returned to saint-jean-d'acre on the 6th of april, leaving a garrison of two hundred men at sour.

murat was equally fortunate with his expedition. he made his way to fort zaphet, where a few shots drove away half of the garrison. the other half, which was composed of maugrabins, offered to put themselves under murat's orders. from there he went to the jordan, reconnoitred its right bank, took a look at the lake of tiberias, and, leaving a french garrison well-provisioned at the fort, he returned with his maugrabins on the 6th of april.

junot had taken nazareth—our saviour's birthplace—and had encamped there, half in and half out of the village, awaiting fresh orders from bonaparte, who had told him not to return until he was recalled.

but murat's endeavors to reassure the commander-in-chief were all vain. his presentiments, and above all the insistence of the sheik of aher, gave him no rest in regard to this invisible army which was marching against him. therefore he accepted the sheik's offer to go as a scout to the lake of tiberias.

[pg 609]

roland, who was weary of remaining in the camp, where, being constantly under bonaparte's eyes, he could not risk his life as he wished, asked leave to accompany the sheik in his explorations. they set forth that same night, taking advantage of the coolness and darkness to reach the plain of esdrelon, which offered them the double shelter of the mountains of nablos to the right and those of nazareth to the left.

"on the 7th of april, the promontory on which saint-jean-d'acre is built, the ancient ptolemais, seemed to be wrapped in as much thunder and lightning as was mount sinai on the day when the lord appeared to moses from the burning bush.

"whence came those reports which shook the coast of syria as with an earthquake? whence came that smoke which covered the gulf of carmel with a cloud as thick as though mount elias had become a burning volcano?"

we began the first chapter of the new narrative with these words. the other chapters have only served to explain what had preceded this syrian campaign—the eighth, and probably the last crusade.

bonaparte was in fact beginning his second assault. he had taken advantage of the return of vial and murat to try his luck once more. he was in the trench scarcely a hundred paces from the ramparts. near him stood general caffarelli, with whom he was talking. the latter was standing with his hand on his hip, to help balance himself on his wooden leg. the joint of his elbow was just visible above the trench. the peak of bonaparte's three-cornered hat was also visible above the trench, and it was carried away with a bullet. he stooped down to pick it up, and as he did so noticed the general's position, and, drawing near to him, he said: "general, those arnauts and albanians are excellent marksmen, as my hat has just discovered. take care that they do not do to your arm what they have just done to my hat."

[pg 610]

caffarelli made a disdainful movement. the gallant general had left one of his legs on the banks of the rhine, and he did not seem alarmed at the prospect of leaving some other portion of his body on the banks of the kerdaneah. he did not move.

a moment later bonaparte saw him start and turn round with his arm hanging lifeless at his side. a bullet had struck his elbow and broken the joint. at the same moment bonaparte raised his eyes and discovered croisier, not ten paces from them, standing on the edge of the trench. it was useless bravado. bonaparte therefore called out: "come down, croisier, come down! you have no business there. come down: i wish it."

"did you not say in public one day that i was a coward?"

"i was wrong, croisier," replied the general, "and you have proved to me since that i was mistaken. come down."

croisier started to obey, but he fell down instead. a bullet had broken his thigh.

"larrey! larrey!" cried bonaparte, stamping his foot impatiently, "here, come here; i have some work for you."

larrey came up. they laid croisier on some muskets. as for caffarelli, he walked away, leaning on the arm of the chief surgeon.

let us leave the assault, begun under such gloomy auspices, to take its course, and cast our eyes on the beautiful plain of esdrelon, covered with flowers, and the river kishon, whose course is marked by a long extent of rose-laurels.

two horsemen were carelessly riding along the banks of this river. one of them, dressed in the green uniform of the mounted chasseurs, with his sabre at his side and his three-cornered hat on his head, was fanning himself with a perfumed handkerchief, as he might have done with a fan. the tri-colored cockade in his hat showed that he belonged to the french army.

the other wore a red cap tied around his head with a piece of chamois skin. a brilliantly colored head-dress fell[pg 611] over his shoulders. he was completely enveloped in a burnoose of white cashmere, which, when it opened, revealed a rich oriental caftan of green velvet embroidered with gold. he had a party-colored silk belt, its shades arranged with that marvellous taste which is only to be found in eastern stuffs. two pistols with silver-gilt handles wrought like the finest lace were stuck into this belt on one side. his sword alone was of french make. he had wide trousers of red satin tucked into green boots embroidered like the caftan, and of the same material. besides all this he carried a long, slender lance, light as a reed and strong as a bar of iron, tipped at the end with a bunch of ostrich feathers.

the two young men halted in a bend of the river, in the shade of a little grove of palms; and there, laughing pleasantly together as befitted travelling companions, they began to prepare to eat their breakfast, which consisted of a few pieces of biscuit which the young frenchman took from his holsters and dipped for a moment in the river.

as for the arab, he began to look around and above him. then without saying a word he attacked one of the palm-trees, whose tender porous wood yielded readily to the sharp steel.

"in truth that is a good sword which the commander-in-chief gave me a few days ago," he said; "and i hope before long to try it on something besides palm-trees."

"i should think so," replied the frenchman, munching the biscuit with his teeth; "that was a gift of versailles manufacture. but are you destroying that poor tree just to try the temper of the blade?"

"look!" replied the arab, pointing upward.

"faith!" replied the frenchman, "we shall have a better breakfast than i thought, for it is a date-palm."

and just then the tree fell with a crash, bringing enough fully ripened dates for two or three meals within their reach. they began to attack with the appetites of twenty-five the manna which the lord had sent. they were in the midst of their meal when the arab's horse began to neigh.

[pg 612]

the arab uttered an exclamation, darted out of the little grove and scanned the plain of esdrelon, in the middle of which they had paused to breakfast.

"what is it?" asked the frenchman, nonchalantly.

"one of ours riding a fast mare. we shall probably learn what we want to know from him."

he returned and seated himself near his companion, without disturbing himself about his horse, which set off at a fast gallop to meet the oncoming rider. ten minutes later they heard the gallop of two horses.

a druse, who had recognized his chief's horse, stopped near the group of palms, where the presence of a second horse indicated that the party had stopped, even if there were no encampment.

"azib!" called the arab chief.

the druse leaped from his horse, throwing the reins upon its neck, and advanced toward the sheik with his hands crossed on his breast and bowing low. the sheik addressed a few words in arabic to him.

"i was not mistaken," said the sheik of aher, turning to his companion. "the advance-guard of the pasha of damascus has just crossed jacob's bridge."

"we will go and see," returned roland, whom our readers have doubtless recognized from his indifference to danger.

"there is no need," returned the sheik; "azib has seen."

"yes," returned roland, "but perhaps azib has not seen correctly. i shall feel more certain when i have seen for myself. this great mountain which looks like a pie must be mount tabor. the jordan is therefore just beyond it. we are within a mile of it. let us go and look; then we shall know for ourselves what to think."

and without stopping to see whether the sheik of aher was following him, roland leaped upon his horse, which was refreshed by its halt, and galloped swiftly away in the direction of mount tabor. a minute later he caught the gallop of the others behind him.