_Corporal Jacques of the Foreign Legion_ The longest route march ends ere long, The hottest sun to the west must go, The Legion marches a thousand strong, On the wind of the desert the bugles blow, The wild notes die as the stars out-shiver, But the wind of the desert it blows for ever. Corporal Jacques of the Foreign Legion By H. de Vere Stacpoole, Author of "The Pearl Fishers," "The Reef of Stars," &c. LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO. PATERNOSTER ROW LETTER OF A LÉGIONNAIRE RECEIVED BY THE AUTHOR FROM THE EDITOR OF "THE POPULAR MAGAZINE," NEW YORK, U.S.A. July 27, 1916. SIR, Reading an article in _The Popular Magazine_, I thought I would write to you. In number May 20, 1916, is an article, "Stories of the Legion" by H. de Vere Stacpoole. He states nobody escaped from the Legion. Well, I have done so, though it involved me becoming a Mohammedan and joining a wandering band of Touaregs and took two years to accomplish. I finally wandered across the Sahara, helped in the looting of caravans, and sailed from Cape Tuby with the assistance of Baba Hamid of the Wad Lagin Hameva Tribe, on the western Sahara seaboard below Morocco on a Spanish fishing boat to Teneriffe, Canary Islands. I am longing for the desert, the smell of the camel dung fire, and the freedom of the everlasting sand ever since. The hardship, adventures and escapes I went through are incredible. This took place ten years ago, since then I have been elephant hunter in Central Africa, in the army of Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia, pearl fishing off North Australia, diamond digging at the Cape, and in a revolution in Central American republic, not to mention fighting with Muley Mohamad El Hiba, the son of Sheik Ma-el-deinne of South Morocco when he tried for the throne of Morocco against Muley Hafid, the Ex-Sultan of Morocco. If Mr. Stacpoole would be interested in my story, a letter will find me care of General Delivery, New Orleans, in the period of the next thirty days, when I leave for Honduras. Yours faithfully, ***** ***** CONTENTS Choc Quits Schneider The Little Prince Mansoor The Bird Cage The Son of Choc CORPORAL JACQUES CHOC I The first rays of the morning sun were stealing up the palm-bordered roads towards Sidi-bel-Abbès, above whose ramparts the minaret of the great mosque blazed white in the sky. Eighty miles from Oran on the coast, and the headquarters of the Foreign Legion, Sidi-bel-Abbès is surely one of the strangest cities on earth. It was built by the Foreign Legion, it is swept and garnished by the Foreign Legion, it is held against the Arabs by the Foreign Legion. At night the electric lights round the bandstand of the Foreign Legion on the Place Sadi Carnot blaze against the Algerian stars, whilst the Muezzins on the balconies of the minarets keep watch over Islam and their voices send north, south, east and west the cry that was old in the time of Sindbad the Sailor!