Only one way of salvation remained possible:to reach Hassi-Messeguem without going through the water point. Before dawn, Pobéguin gave the order to leave. Unable to walk following a foot injury, he mounted a mehari, followed by three camels carrying the wounded and the rest of the column. From Amguid to Ouargla, the distance was about one thousand kilometers.
The 34 men left in the moonlight. The troop advanced slowly all day, crushed by the heat of the sun, and with swollen feet. El Madani announced the next day in Pobéguin that a skirmisher and three camel drivers from the OuladNaïl tribe had deserted. At the evening stop. a wounded man did not join the column. The Oulad-Naïl began a discussion about the wineskins:they accused the skirmishers of having given themselves the largest ones.
The men looked at each other with hatred. Ragged, with sweaty faces, the unfortunates advanced with effort. The ears buzzed, so great was the fatigue. Woe to the stragglers who couldn't catch up with the column... On the 15th, we almost came to blows. The skirmishers seized the Pobéguin mehari, the OuladNaïl the camel carrying the wounded. Hostility grew among the starving men. They also disagreed on which route to take. Worn down by fever, Pobéguin watched these quarrels helplessly. His foot injury was getting worse.
The day that followed brought the disappearance of two wounded and a skirmisher who had fallen behind. Henceforth the column would regularly shell corpses. On the 18th, the troops reached the Tilmas-el-Mra wadi, where they could drink muddy, salty water.
The next day, an infernal wind arose. Without interruption, the hurricane launched waves of sand which shredded the eyelids, embedded themselves in the wounds.
So as not to be buried alive, the men straightened up for a moment:whirlwinds immediately rolled them on the ground. tore off their rags and slashed all the exposed parts of the body. Haggard, they endured the violence of the cyclone for eight hours.
The following day, when the dispersed mission succeeded in regrouping, three men were reported missing.
Succumbing of starvation, the troop camped for two days near the Hassi-el Hadjadj well. Belgacem slaughtered the Oulad-Naïl camel.
The wounded were taken to the well on the last camel. Two skirmishers who were to take the animal back to camp disappeared with it. The column had thus lost its ultimate resource.
On March 23, we had to separate from the wounded. The unfortunates were abandoned on the sand with the traditional wineskin. Hassi-Messeguem was three days' walk away; but no one seemed to have the strength to do so. In two hours we cover three kilometers, stopping every hundred meters.
This procession of ghosts constantly saw the horizon flee and dance before their eyes. The latecomers begged to be waited for. At sunset, eight men returned to the well to fetch water. Belgacem followed them.
At dawn, he offered Pobéguin the flesh of the wounded he had killed. Disgusted, Pobéguin turned away. Supported by this food, the tirailleurs covered a few kilometres. The heat was abominable. The next day, the corpses of three skirmishers and a Chaambi lined the trail. Belgacem retraced his steps to accomplish his horrible task, threatening with his sword anyone who wanted to intervene.
The night was terrible for Pobéguin. His gangrenous foot was black and swollen; he was shivering with fever. All morning he was delirious, and, staggering, reached a shrub. Finally he collapsed. It was the end.
Two days later, 12 skeletal survivors collapsed at the foot of Radja's tents in Hassi-Messeguem.
That was all that remained of the Flatters mission.