Another Arab, named Mohammed-ben-Mokhtar, had come to buy corn in the Tell after the harvest. His tents were already pitched on Ouad-Seghrouan, and he had opened a business communication with the Arabs of the Tell,[28] when the bey Bou-Mezrag, "father of the spear," fell upon him at the head of a strong body of cavalry to chastise one of those imaginary offences which the Turks were in the habit of inventing as pretexts for their rapacity. Not the slightest warning had been given; the razzia was complete; and the horsemen of Makhzen gave themselves up to all the atrocities customary in such cases. Mohammed-ben-Mokhtar thereupon threw himself on his dark bay mare, a magnificent animal known and coveted throughout the Sahara, and perceiving the critical nature of the situation, at once resolved to sacrifice the whole of his property to save the lives of his three children. One of them, only four years old, he placed on the saddle before him, and another aged six or seven behind him holding on by the troussequin, and was about to place the youngest in the hood of his burnous when his wife stopped him, exclaiming: "No, no, I will not let thee have this one. They will never dare to slay an infant at its mother's breast. Away, I shall keep him with me. Allah will protect us." Mohammed-ben-Mokhtar then dashed forward, fired off his piece, and got clear of the mêlée; but, being hotly pursued, he travelled all that day and the following night until he reached Leghrouât, where he could rely upon being in safety. Shortly afterwards he received intelligence that his wife had been rescued by some friends he had in the Tell. Mohammed-ben-Mokhtar and his wife are still alive, and the two children he carried on his saddle are spoken of as two of the best horsemen of the tribe. Can there be imagined a scene more dramatic, or more worthy of a skilful artist, than this family being saved by a horse from the midst of plunder, confusion, and fighting! And why should I look for evidence to establish these facts? All the old officers of the Oran division can state how, in 1837, a General attaching the greatest importance to the receipt of intelligence from Tlemcen, gave his own charger to an Arab to go and procure the news. The latter set out from Château Neuf[29] at four o'clock in the morning and returned at the same hour on the following day, having travelled seventy leagues over ground very different from the comparatively level desert.