However, in the rear guard, under the orders of El Madani, the men had heard the shots. A panting camellia announced to them the massacre of the Tua regs. Without wasting a moment, El Madar hit the camels with his butts to make them turn back.
A band of Tuaregs mounted on mehara, seeing their prey escaping, rushed down the slopes. Disoriented by the precision of the carabiners, she dismounted and tried to envelop the section
Nine camel drivers fell. The twelve survivors had to abandon the altered camels that they had so much difficulty in containing and forced the dam. The Tuaregs retreated, taking the captured animals. At three o'clock in the afternoon, El Madani and his men, exhausted and dying of thirst, arrived in sight of the camp
A detachment of 20 skirmishers and the lieutenant of Dianous came to meet them.
After having organized the camp in a state of siege, they wanted to go to the scene of the carnage to try to save the wounded. But were there any? The road was strewn with mutilated corpses. There was no hope of finding survivors. Dianous returned to camp.
Night fell on the camp. cold and starry. The sentries were doubled. Dianous, who had become head of the mission, brought together the engineer Santin. Pobéguin, El Madani and the mokkadem to deliberate on the decision to be taken. At midnight, they opted for retirement. Each man took on as much food and water as his strength allowed. In total. the troop was made up of 56 men who were about to begin the most extraordinary march that men have ever made.
We were seventy-five days' march from Ouargla. All night the troops advanced, crushed by the weight of the guns. cartridges, skins. At daybreak. a short halt relaxed the weary limbs. Hour after hour, the temperature rose, more and more intolerable. and the men dragged themselves.
On the morning of February 20, one of the scouts picked up the tracks of the Tuaregs who were walking parallel to the mission. The news was disturbing. The rezzou was biding its time, all the more sure of winning as time was its ally. It would be easy for him to crush a troop weakened by deprivation.
The first post to reach was Temassint where the mission had already camped. There she would find dhanum, the plant that quenches thirst. Dianous calculated that we only had three days' worth of food:a few handfuls of dates and a little flour. Afterwards, it would be the horrible Amadghor plain, the desert where nothing grows.
On the 21st, the flankers signaled the presence of the Tuaregs a second time. The number of their meharas was estimated at 200. El Madani and five Chaamba set off to reconnoiter Temassint and its well. \ midday. they were joined by the bulk of the column. The men rested:the bones of two camels, slaughtered ten days earlier, were calcined and pounded, the skins of the animals roasted. The troop was an eight-hour walk from the plain of Amadghor which extends to Amguid. El Madani rightly pointed out that it was impossible to cross the desert without substantial supplies. A fight was called for. On the way out, we had seen donkeys:the lieutenant had to appoint a patrol to hunt them.
The operation proved successful. El Madani returned with four lost camels. Little joy entered the camp. After a long pause in a last wadi, what was left of the mission was on February 23. on the threshold of the most totally arid region, the plain of Amadghor.
The plain of sand stretched out to infinity like a field of molten lava, and the hope that had for a moment invaded the men, during the capture of the camels. fainted.
Too rich a ture stunned the men, and Dianous decided to bivouac. The scouts on the left wing spotted the Tuaregs two days later and the troops lined up in battle order. Six Tuareg camel riders. carrying a white flag, came a good distance from the guns.
Dianous dispatched a skirmisher, Sassi bin Chaïb. Perhaps they were promising food?
In fact, the Tuaregs were claiming the four camels captured near Temassint as their own, under threat of coming back in force.
On the advice of El Madani and the mokkadem, and in the hope of reconciling them, the lieutenant resigned himself to paying four hundred douros, or two thousand francs.
Inzimane-Thiskhsine was hit Wednesday, March 2, around three o'clock in the afternoon, after an exhausting walk on stony ground which lacerated the shoes and swelled the feet. The water supply was replenished, and the Chaamba were lucky enough to kill two onagers drawn to the well.
On the 6th, the right flankers indicated that the rezzou was close, but out of rifle range. The Tuaregs therefore did not dream of letting go of their prey. In the evening, the column feeds on cooked herbs. The next day she was so weak that a second camel had to be slaughtered. Only two pitiful beasts remained to be seen.
On the 8th, three groups of camel riders joined the troop and raised a white flag at the end of a spear. Sassi bin Chaib was again sent as a messenger. The riders claimed not to be from the tribes that had attacked the mission and offered to sell sheep and dates soon.
The next day Dianous and his men could finally tell each other that they had crossed the plain of Amadghor. The camp settled at the source of Aïn-el-Kerma, ten kilometers south-east of Amguid.
All day the Tuaregs had followed the column, and they settled on a nearby plateau to watch the camp's movements. After observing the mission for a long time, they waved a white cloth, and a Tuareg came to announce that they had dates, and that they would bring the sheep in the evening. Three skirmishers who had left with Sassi ben Chaïb returned carrying three bushels of dates. They were sandy, but now was not the time to be difficult. Dianous distributed them evenly:each man swallowed his ration, with the exception of Santin, too feverish to eat anything, and the sentries who were watching.
Suddenly the men seemed taken with madness. They began to run in all directions, some fled with mad gestures, others fell to the ground in strange convulsions. The whole camp resounded with howls, skirmishers threw themselves on the sentries or writhed on the sand. Dianous took out his
Until the limit of their forces, the troop advanced. Dianous knew that first of all he had to flee the terrible plain, even if it meant exhausting the resistance of the mission.
At six o'clock, the lieutenant gave the signal to encamp. However, anxiety tormented Dianous. The skins were almost empty. A surprise attack by the Tuaregs would be a disaster. El Madani reassured the officer on this point. The rezzou was waiting for them at the sources of Amguid, the limit of its territory. He wouldn't try anything before.
On the fifth day, in the plain of Amadghor - the twelfth since the death of Flatters - Belgacem ben Zebla, second orderly of the colonel who had received the sword, slaughtered a camel. The blood was collected, the flesh was distributed in equal parts, the skin left to dry. But this too rich food stunned the men, and Dianous decided to bivouac. The scouts on the left wing spotted the Tuaregs two days later and the troops lined up in battle order. Six Tuareg camel riders. carrying a white flag, came a good distance from the guns.
Dianous dispatched an infantryman, Sassi ben Chaïb. Perhaps they were promising food?
In fact, the Tuaregs were claiming the four camels captured near Temassint as their own, under threat of coming back in force.
On the advice of El Madani and the mokkadem, and in the hope of reconciling them, the lieutenant resigned himself to paying four hundred douros, or two thousand francs.
Inzimane-Thiskhsine was hit Wednesday, March 2, around three o'clock in the afternoon, after an exhausting walk on stony ground which lacerated the shoes and swelled the feet. The water supply was replenished, and the Chaamba were lucky enough to kill two onagers drawn to the well.
On the 6th, the right flankers indicated that the rezzou was close, but out of rifle range. The Tuaregs therefore did not dream of letting go of their prey. In the evening, the column feeds on cooked herbs. The next day she was so weak that a second camel had to be slaughtered. Only two pitiful beasts remained to be seen.
On the 8th, three groups of camel riders joined the troop and raised a white flag at the end of a spear. Sassi bin Chaib was again sent as a messenger. The riders claimed not to be from the tribes that had attacked the mission and offered to sell sheep and dates soon.
The next day Dianous and his men could finally tell each other that they had crossed the plain of Amadghor. The camp settled at the source of Aïn-el-Kerma, ten kilometers southeast of Amguid.