During the 28th and 29th of September the officers at Tunis were inundated with reports as to the hostile attitude of the Arabs around Zerga; M. Raimbert even demurred to remaining there the evening before his death, and when taunted with cowardice, answered, “Then I am going to my destruction;” and several _employés_ quitted their posts rather than continue on the threatened portion of the line. M. Aubert made no communication to General Logerot; and everybody knows the result. As I have often pointed out, the apparently chronic disagreement between military and civil authorities has entailed some of the most calamitous mistakes and grossest blunders which have characterised the Tunisian campaign. The Railway Company seems now anxious to atone for its former want of energy. On the morning of Sunday (October 23) some Arabs were observed placing a stone on the line in the vicinity of Tabourba. The train returned to that place, and having obtained a military escort, the railway officials promptly repaired to the spot in question. After a chase two Arabs were captured in the neighbourhood, who were identified by the engine-driver as being among the offenders. It seems unlikely that the Arabs who really committed the crime, and who must have learnt by the return of the train that they were detected, should have hung about the locality in order to be captured, and the Caid of Tabourba assured the French authorities that he personally knew the accused as unoffending and peaceable shepherds, but they were promptly conveyed to Tunis and brought before General Japy. They were at once sentenced to die on the scene of their alleged offence. A special train was prepared, which brought the prisoners to Tabourba, where the respectable inhabitants of the town were ordered to be in attendance. They were imperatively invited to enter one of the carriages, and travel to kilomètre 37, where they would witness the execution of their co- religionists. Soon after their arrival, the two Arabs were shot by a platoon of French soldiers, the prisoners being secured in the middle of the permanent way, and the mufti, head-man, and other notables of Tabourba, being compelled to look on from the top of the cutting. The heads of the supposed culprits were then struck off and fixed on two poles on the side of the line _pour encourager les autres_. Just after the men had been shot, the train from Medjez was observed to be approaching. A guard was sent on to stop it. It happened to contain two companies of infantry, sent on the previous day from Manouba to Medjez, owing to a rumour of an impending Arab attack on that place. The guard who stopped the train could only speak French imperfectly, and all that was intelligible were the words “Arab attack.” The officer in command at once directed his soldiers to descend and advance in skirmishing order. They perceived the unfortunate notables of Tabourba on an eminence, and