Nothing has impressed the Kairwánis more than the presence of the Algerian army with its Moslem soldiers, who seem to have lost none of their religious ardour by their loyalty to the present rulers of their country. When the Turcos reached the Bab-el-Tunis a rumour spread with wonderful rapidity that the much-longed-for troops of the Sultan were at hand, but this momentary ray of hope soon gave place to bitter disappointment. From that moment the Moslems of Kairwán have apparently resigned themselves to their fate, and green-turbaned Ulema, and venerable Sheikhs of still more venerable sanctuaries, spend their time in exhibiting to their unbidden guests those very buildings, the entry into which a fortnight before would have cost the intruder his life. I had while at Kairwán many opportunities of talking over the campaign with several of the officers of the _Colonne Forgemol_. I shall not easily forget one of them, who had seen over a quarter of a century’s service in Algeria, saying to me—“We came to Kairwán, but we have done nothing; we shall go to Gafsa, and we shall still do nothing, for we can never come up with the Arabs. In a single day they can march four times as far as we can, and as they have already removed their herds out of our reach we cannot starve them. In Tunis, as in Algeria, the conquest must be a matter of years. The Algerians have been tired out, the Tunisians must be tired out also.” The one question asked a thousand times a day at Kairwán during my stay was, “What will the Chamber decide about Tunis?” That question has never been answered yet. My own impression is, that there was not one of those brave men around Kairwán who was not heartily tired of an expedition which as yet has done nothing but call forth misplaced energy and zeal, and the ultimate results of which are justly dreaded by every patriotic Frenchman. CHAPTER XXXVII. INSIDE KAIRWÁN.