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Nothing could hold the fierceness of this last charge. Then Yakouh fell, riddled with French lead. DO\>n crashed the big banner to the blood- stained sand, oov,ering him in its folds. The thundering horde waver- ed, and as the legionaires took fresh hope, th ey turned and fled.
A hard-faced legionaire, pumpin_.r lead as fast as he could pull the trig--
ger, saw the body under the folds :Jf the green flag move. Words came faintly to his ears above the din and roar-"Am I a coward? Do I need to go to my women? Am I weak? To- day will l see the houris in Paradise -Allah is merciful." The body stit· fened and the soldier · of fortun e turned again to the fray.
By Howard Gamble, lA
On the afternoon of June 5, 1905, we found ourselv·es seated in our suite of rooms in Hotel Italienne
Rome, Italy. By "we" I mean a part)~ Of four people, Bob, mother, fath~r and myself. We had sailed from Can- ada on May 1st and since then we had been touring Spain, France, Hol- land, Belgium and Switzerland and we had now reached the capital of that country, so renowned for its blue
skies-ltaly.
We had arrived in Rome that
morning and had just unpacked our bags, valises and trunks. As we wanted to make a thorough tour of Italy, we decided to begin our sight- seeing of Rome the next morning. We all retired early that night as we were wearied by the long train journey from Florence to Rome. On revived spirits vye all rose betimes the next morning. After having dis- posed of a hearty breakfast, out party wended its way to the street. M.y father hailed a taxi and instruct- ed the driver to take us to the For- um. After an hour's ride we arrived at the Arch of Constantine which i;;; one of the entrances to the Forum of Ancient Rome. We passed through this magnificent arch and entered the ancient city of Rome. On the right we saw the ruins of the Colis- eum, the place where the lion and the bull fights had taken place. As we gazed at its ruined structure, we
r ealized how magnificent this build- ing must have been. The gigantic Rtructure was a masterpiece. We en- tered a trading house where all the
merchants had congregated to sell and trade their goods.
As we ·were walking through what seemed to have been one of the pri- vate rooms of the traders, we were suddenly aware that Bqb wa/S not with us. I turned around in time to see a portion of the floor behind me rise into its place. I rushed back to the spot and gently put my foot on the floor, but it.made no impression on it. I then stepped on it a little harder but still it would not move. I thought I must have been dream-
ing,. however. once rnpre ,to make sure. I stepped on it, this time put- ting my wnole weight on the spot. Then followed one of the greatest surprises of my life. The floor sud- denly gave way beneath me. When my head was just level with the· floor, l heard mother utter a shrill scream. The part of the floor on which I was standing gradually came to a .stop. I was then about five or ten feet below the floor, a distance much too far for me to reach up to lift myself out of this pit. I saw a- head of me a dark hole which later proved to be the entrance to a tun- nel. I also realized that I would have to get off the portion of the floor on which I was standing if I ever wanted to get out of my prison. 1 walked off my ,pl:;;tform into this uninviting hole. Then to my dismay the flooL rose into place shutti:::g out an th.:: light. Then I arrive(~ at tne s0lutw,1 to these strange happenings.
This portion of the, floo;r was at- tached to a large spring which would let the floor down when the weight
IITHE GLEANER,,
19
AN ADVENTURE
-W alter G. Rice.