Sahara Adventure Series

7. THUNDERING HOOVES-2

“Right, mon Colonel,” says D’Arlan, rising from the chair. “I will make them aware of the severity of the situation.”

mon Colonel“You will have to do better than that when you deal with that lot in Algiers before they take note of us. They will probably assume that old Le Clerq has lost his mind when they hear about the impending gas war.”

D’Arlan leaves the office, and Le Clerq gets up and goes to the map against the wall of the Southern Sahara. He takes a little stick and draws circles and lines around certain places and areas. He is trying to understand Madame Bonnet’s logic and establish her battle plan by looking at the map. He turns away from the map dispiritedly and returns to his desk, where he takes out the cognac bottle again. When in situations like these, Colonel Le Clerq’s only two friends are the bottle and Captain D’Arlan.

MadameHe lights a black cigar and looks through the window at the heat’s glimmer on the desert sand. It stretches away from the fort to where the dunes of the Sahara, on the other side of the little town of Dini Salam, are dancing and shivering in the haziness of the heat. He has been in many dangerous situations before, but as D’Arlan said, this has to be the worst.

Less than ten minutes later, D’Arlan returns, taking his place across the desk from the colonel.

“I have ordered the messages to be sent, mon Colonel,” D’Arlan reports, “but if it is going to help us, remains to be seen.”

mon Colonel“In the meantime, we will have to consider our position and make plans,” says Le Clerq. “We will draw the shortest straw as usual, of that you can be sure, mon ami.”

mon ami“As if I do not know Algiers yet,” D’Arlan concurs and moves over to the map. He looks carefully at the proportion and the locations of Fort Laval, Dini Salam, and Fort Petain. Laval is the closest in distance to Dutra, so it seems logical that they will be attacked first. Fort Petain is a little further away to the west, and Dini Salam is the furthermost of the three forts. He presses his finger on Fort Laval on the map and states. “Laval will be attacked first.”

D’Arlan had learned, through many perils before, how to assess any situation and to try and solve the problems facing them. “Laval are the nearest to Dutra,” he continues. “Fort Petain will have a longer period of grace than Laval, and Dini Salam will have the longest.”

“Do not console yourself with that, D’Arlan, and it will not help to study the fort’s locations on the map. This madame has enough human resources and weapons to attack all three places simultaneously.”

madame“I do realize that, mon Colonel, which is why I suggest that Fort Petain be immediately evacuated.”

mon Colonel“Evacuate Fort Petain? What are you talking about, D’Arlan?”

“What else is there to do? They have a small garrison of sixty men, and what can they do there? A couple of shots with the gas, and they are finished. Withdraw them back here. Here sixty men can accomplish much more than out in the open desert, where they only will be overpowered. They will be terribly exposed if you keep the garrison there because they will be eradicated. You are aware of the attack, so rather withdraw them as soon as possible.”

Le Clerq looks down at his hands and says. “You are probably right.” He picks up a piece of paper from his desk, puts it in front of him, and starts scribbling a radio message. He hits the bell on his desk, and the orderly enters. “Go and hand this message to the marconis for immediate dispatch. It is a high priority. It is an order for the garrison at Fort Petain to evacuate immediately and to move here to Dini Salam in rapid marches.”

“So what about Fort Laval?” asks Le Clerq, who looks slightly amused.

“Should we leave the men under Lieutenant Juin to their mercy?”

“They will not be forsaken, mon Colonel,” D’Arlan answers determinedly, and he looks his senior officer levelly in the eyes. “I have a job for them.”

mon Colonel“What do you want to do with them? You must be mad, mon Capitaine. Fort Laval is more than a week’s march from here. If you march fast, and by that time, the gas war will be over.”

mon Capitaine“We will have to take that risk, mon Colonel. According to El Dota, the madame had a shoulder wound when she was shot, and I have had the same injury before. It does not only take a day or two before it heals, and it should deter them for a couple of days or maybe even a week or longer.”

mon Colonelmadame“Just remember that these barbarians are on horseback, a luxury not extended to the Legion, so whatever you have in mind, D’Arlan, you and your men will have to move on foot.”

“I understand that completely, mon Colonel. I know I will have to consider that.”

mon Colonel“What are you going to do with those men? Do not devise textbook plans that will only cause Juin and his men to be overpowered in the open desert or something similar. They will still have shelter in the fort, although not much.”

“Before I lay out my plan for you, I have a request, mon Colonel.”

mon Colonel“A request?”

“You must give me two hundred men of the garrison.”

Le Clerq nearly chokes. “Two hundred men?! That is half of the garrison! Have you gone crazy?”

D’Arlan smiles like he always does when the colonel gets excited like this and says mildly. “Not as far as I know, mon Colonel, but two hundred men are what I need for us to teach the madame a lesson that she will never forget.”

mon Colonelmadame“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” shouts Le Clerq, firmly hitting the desk with his small hand. “And do not you try to wear me down like you usually do because this time, my no is my no!”

D’Arlan smiles silently because he has heard this story many times before and knows the colonel’s words by heart.

“Two hundred men, you say? You must have lost your mind because it is here where their main army will attack. I doubt they will even use a couple of hundred men against Fort Laval and Fort Petain, but here I will have to stop a flood of them, and then you want to take away half of my men on a whim?”

“Might I ask you to decide after you have heard my plan?”

“There is nothing to decide. I have made up my mind already, and no plan of yours will make me change my mind and allow you to take two hundred of my men! So what is your plan, if I might enquire?” the colonel asks mockingly and leans forward over his desk.

“The two hundred men, I want to…” D’Arlan starts but gets no further because, at that moment, the door swings open, and the orderly comes running in with a piece of paper in his hand. He salutes quickly and lays the paper down in front of the colonel.

Le Clerq takes out his glasses and places them on his nose. He starts reading, and D’Arlan sees how his face tenses and his jaw starts working.

“Mon Dieu!” the colonel whispers. “Mon Dieu! It is impossible!”

Mon DieuMon DieuHe looks up at D’Arlan. “They have stolen the Sabre of Dutra!”

“The Sabre of Dutra?” D’Arlan asks, shocked, and he jumps out of his chair.

“Yes, read it for yourself. I told that miserable lot in Algiers a long time ago that they should destroy that wretched sabre, but no, they had to keep it as a souvenir for the defeat of the Dulacs, and now look at this mess.”

D’Arlan slowly lays the message down on the desk and says bitterly. “This means that the whole of the Sahara will rise, every single tribe. The Sabre of Dutra has only one meaning for them, and that is victory. If they have the sabre, they would rather die than lose. It is the one big guarantee for them to secure victory and greatness. So now the whole desert will burn, and every competent Arab will join in the fight.”

D’Arlan sags back into his chair. “If only we had destroyed that thing ourselves when we had our hands on it, but it had to be sent to Algiers to serve as a trophy for the victory of the French Foreign Legion.”

Le Clerq strokes his grey hair downheartedly. “The Sabre of Dutra and the madame with her gas weapons… a potent combination, not true, mon ami? And then you still want to take away half of my garrison. Now they can turn twenty thousand Arabs into monsters instead of ten thousand.”

madamemon amiD’Arlan notices that Le Clerq is looking at him questioningly and asks. “Do you want to hear my plan?” Le Clerq signals with a nod for D’Arlan to continue.

“I have reckoned that this is how I would like to go with this…” He tells the astonished Le Clerq what he has in mind.

It is a long time before D’Arlan has finished talking, and afterward, he goes to the radio room and sends a message to Lieutenant Juin, the young man in charge at Fort Laval.