it was only just as they were about to fire on them that they perceived the French in the hollow, and a very sad sequel to the former tragedy was thus averted. I saw the two heads at kilomètre 37 as I passed on to Medjez yesterday. The impression produced by the occurrence is a very unfortunate one. The haste with which the proceedings were conducted greatly tends to confirm the assertion of the Arabs that the case in question was merely an example of the indiscriminate punishment which they allege is being dealt out to them all over the country, and makes them entertain very serious doubt as to the reality of the promises contained in the Saussier manifesto. [Illustration: EN TUNISIE.—Châtiment infligé aux auteurs d’un déraillement de chemin de fer. (Dessin de M. de Haenen, d’après le croquis de M. Dick.)] CHAPTER XXXVI. THE TAKING OF KAIRWÁN. Ever since the middle of August preparations had been in progress for the capture of the so-called focus of Moslem sedition in North Africa. Although everybody knew from the first, that Kairwán was built in the middle of a plain, with no other defence than dilapidated battlements and a few old cannon of uncertain age, all the refinements of modern warfare were brought to bear on the undertaking. This being the case, nearly two months elapsed before the various columns which were to encompass the Holy City could be made ready to commence the elaborate concentric movement, which, in the dreams of M. Saint-Hilaire, was to crush out rebellion from one end of the Regency to the other, and envelop at the same time in its meshes the authors and abettors of the insurrection. The coming campaign had cost Generals Saussier and Logerot a vast amount of trouble, and this was hardly to be wondered at, as half the current maps of Tunis were drawn from imagination, and the only guide to Kairwán was a sketch plan made by Mr. Edward Rae some five years before. At last everything was agreed on; General Étienne was to advance on Kairwán from Susa, General Forgemol was to move from Tebessa, and General Saussier in person was to march with Generals Logerot, Sabatier, and Philibert from Tunis and Zaghouán. The movement was to be made simultaneously, but the palm of conquest was to be reserved for the Commander-in-Chief. Roughly speaking, the total force employed in the expedition amounted to at least 22,000 men. On the 22d October General Étienne received orders to set out, and as he became by waywardness or accident the captor of Kairwán, I shall first follow his advance, before describing that of the columns Saussier and Forgemol. Lieutenant Kane thus writes of the setting out of the French army from Susa:— OUED LIA, _October 23d_.