LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 940, 29 June 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

WHO WAS HE? WHO IS HE? {Continued.) A firm ' Yes, I hear and understand ! Thank God for his infinite mercy!' came back in clear silvery tones, with never a tremor in them. ' I will not move, but patiently wait, aud do as you will direct me.' ' That is all right then. Wait patiently, and trust in our heavenly Father.' Just at the very moment when the un happy sergeant was going over the edge, and poor Estelle was stumbling and sliding after him, a youth of fifteen or sixteen was turning the corner of the rock along the path in whic this shocking tragedy was being enacted. He was horror-struck at the sight; but instantly recovering his self-possession, he, with prompt decision and prudence beyond his years, resolved upon his course of action. He made his way cautiously to the spot, and threw himself down at full length to peer over the edge. Here he saw, some thirteen feet below, the young girl providentially stopped in her downward course. It was he, then, who had sent his whisper of hope and help down to the poor child, whom he shudderingly beheld in such appalling peril. With the same rapid decision he now arose from his prostrate took off his knapsack, and unstrapped a coil of rope from it, which he unwound. Having securely fastened one end of the rope round his waist, and tied the other end round his left wrist, he threw himself down again at full length, pushing the looped rope over the edge, and guiding it with his [hands ;and his alpenstock.

To his indescribable joy lie found that the double rope was more than long enough to reach be'ow the jagged projection which had caught Estelle's silk sash. He guided the loop successfully over the child's head. He then bade her in a cheery voice to pass it under her arms, and lay hold of it firmly on both sides. The fearless little sylph accomplished this in a twinkliug. He then began to haul up both ends of the rope with all his might, yet steadily and gently, that he might not hurt the child, whom he was resolved to save even at the risk of his own life. Thus she was drawn gradually into an upright position, when the same jagged projection which had caught her sash afforded firm ground for her lit *le feet to rest on, enabling her thus to turn her face to the slope, and to assist her preserver materially by taking advantage, with equal courage and skill, of the jagged conformation of the incline to climb up. A few minutes of combined exertion saw the little heroine landed safe once more on the path. She looked deadly pale ; but the little hands which so warmly pressed her preserver's in heartfelt thankfulness did not tremble in the least. Only the peril past, the natural reaction set in, and the poor child fainted. The storm had ceased ere this, and the sun was shining once more warmly and brightly. Some guides were just then passing that way with a party of excursionists, on their return to MartigDy. Among the latter happened to be an English gentleman, a physician, who knew General Duplessis-Tersac and his daughter. The youth who had so heroically saved Estelle from from such imminent peril explained to this gentlemen in a few brief words the state of the case, and handed his charge over to him to convey her back to her father, and to take the necessary steps to recover the body of the unfortunate man who had so sadly met his death. The young man went on his way to Chamouny rejoicing, deeply thankful to the Almighty that it had pleased Him to make him His humble instrument in saving a precious human life. He had not thought of even asking the name of her whom he had preserved or of her father; and in the excitement of the moment no one had thought of asking him his name ; so that the general knew not to whom he owed his daughter's life. All that Estelle could remember of her preserver was his thrilling voice, and that he was a handsome faircomplexioned youth. She declared that his face and the tone of his voice would live for ever in her memory. But who was he ?

***** It was five years after. The Revolution of July 1830 had restored General Count Duplessis-Tersac to the active ranks of the French army. He was now—in June 1834 —second in command at Algiers. General Voirol—the same who, some two years after, commanded at Strasburg, where he was actually made prisoner for a few hours by Louis Napoleon in his mad attempt on that fortress (which, by the bye, was within an ace of succeeding) —was then interimistic Governor-General of Algiers. In his temporary absence—he had been suddenly summoned to Paris by the Minister of War— General Duplessis-Tersac replaced him. The general had now turned threescore; but the last five years had passed over him apparently without ageing or altering him. He looked as tall and commanding as in '29, and his moustaches still kept the original dark colour. There was one great alteration, indeed, in him ; but it was a change for the better—he had been free from gout for the last two years. Altogether the climate of Africa seemed to agree with him marvellously well. The general was in his private cabinet at the Algerian head-quarters in the Rue des Lotophages. Said private cabinet was a handsome Moorish apartment, opening upon a tiled couityard, with a very large marble fountain in the centre. The ceiling of the room was supported on eight marble pillars ; the walls were lined to a height of some six feet above the ground with quaintly-painted glazed Dutch tiles. The general was in full uniform. He was standing at his desk, with his brow ominously contracted, his rijajht hand ominously raised and extended, and his eyes Hashing angry glances upon a richlydressed middle-aged Arab, standing before him in an attitude of half fear, half defiance, who was darting back from time to time furtive looks of bitterest enmity and hatred.

'Beware, Ali Ben Maza!' the general cried ; ' beware, 1 tell you ! Think you I know not of your treacherous plots against France, of your treasonable correspondence with the Marabout and the Fezzans ? I have had my eye upon you for some time. I knew you would rebel against France if you but dared. Take care ! take care ! Loyal and absolute submission henceforth alone can save you. If I again detect in your actions the least approach even to an attempt to play us false, by the memory of my father, you die the death of a traitor ; ay, though you could claim descent in a direct line from

the great Haroun-al-Raschid, or even from the camel-driver of Mecca himself. Depart now, and strive to deserve the merciful leniency which is once more extended to you. Go!'

Ali Ben Maza darted a last gleam of hatred at the general, saluted in the Oriental fashion, and withdrew. At the gate he mounted a richly-caparisoned horse, held by a servitor, and rode off. Ali Ben \laza was simply a Moorish patriot, who hated the conquerors and oppressors of his land, though, submitting to the compulsion of necessity, he had sworn lip fealthy to them. Conquerors always have the unpleasant, and certainly scarcely rational, habit of treating as rebels and traitors those who would endeavour to shake off the foreign yoke imposed upon them. What they would look upon in themselves as the noblest and sublimest patriotism were they to have the misfortune of being conquered by others they visit as the blackest and most unpardonable offence upon the unlucky heads of those whom the misfortune of war alone has subjected to their chance sway. General Duplessis-Tersac was a thorough type of a Frenchman of that greatest and best - but also worst—period of France, the Republic and the Empire. He had all the noble qualities and the undoubted virtues of his race ; but he had also a liberal allowance of the foibles of his countrymen. Inordinate national pride and an unfortunate tentency to treat the natives with contumelious disdain and stern harshness bordering on cruelty ranked unhappily among the chiefest of these foibles. Well, we must not be too hard upon him, considering the strange way in which English officers and officials deem it but too often incumbent upon them to treat 'the niggers' of her Majesty's new Indian Empire. (To he continued.^.