In 1841 the column commanded by Marshal Bugeaud marched to Taguedempt to destroy the fort erected there at great expense by the Emir Abd-el-Kader. We were encamped on the Ouad-Krelouk one of the tributaries of the Mina. In the course of the night we were awakened by the report of a musket shot fired in the middle of the camp. Every one rushed out of his tent, hastened in the direction of the sound, and inquired what was amiss. An Arab was lying on the ground, with his thigh broken. He held in his hand a small knife with a very sharp edge and, like all professional thieves in that country, he had nothing on save a leathern girdle furnished with a pistol. The sentinel who had fired explained that having observed a bush approach, halt, and then approach still nearer, he had suspected some trickery and so fired at it at ten paces distance, just as it was close to the horses of his captain. On hearing the tale of the African veteran, his comrades in their fury were about to massacre the Arab, but the officers who were present calmed their not unnatural excitement and reported the case to the superior authorities. The Arab was carried without delay to the ambulance and had his wound dressed. On the morrow the expedition resumed its march. The fellow had received a very severe wound, and it was useless to embarrass ourselves with him. To have put him to death would only have hastened his destiny, perhaps, by a few days, without doing us any particular good, and, besides, the adventure could be turned to a better account. The Governor General decided, therefore, that he should be left upon the site of the encampment, and that a letter should be entrusted to him for the powerful tribe of the Flittas, upon whose territory we then happened to be. In this letter clear intimation was given to that hostile people that their furious dislike to us would one day be fatal to themselves; that it was useless to contend with us, that France abounded in warriors and in wealth, that Abd-el-Kader by continuing the struggle would only bring upon them unnumbered woes; and lastly that the best thing they could do, was to draw off from that man, unless they preferred to see their rich harvests destroyed and burnt before their very eyes. At early dawn the column set out, and the rearguard was not a thousand _metres_ from our bivouac when they observed some Arab horsemen arrive, dismount, and carry off the wounded man. On the following day we received the reply of the Flittas. It was addressed to "General Bugeaud, Kaïd of the Port of Algiers," and was couched to the following effect:—