THE FOREIGN LEGION (photoplay Jitieqf THE RED MIRAGE Br I. A. R. WYLIE CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library PS 3545.Y52R3 1914 The foreign legioniphotoplay title of Th 3 1924 021 732 940 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021732940 THE RED MIRAGE A Universal-Jewel Production. The Foreign Legior}- Photoplay title of The Red Mirage. "GOODBYE, GABRIELLE—YOU HAVE OPENED MY EYES " THE FOREIGN LEGION PHOTOPLAY TITLE OF THE RED MIRAGE BY I. A. R. WYLIE AUTHOR OF FOUR SONS ILLUSTRATED WITH SCENES FROM THE PHOTOPLAY A UNIVERSAL-JEWEL PRODUCTION q£K^ NEW TORK GROSSET & DUNLAP P1JBI,I,SHERS All Rights Reserved Tte Boebs-Merrill Company CONTENTS CHAPTER PACr I No. 3112 1 n The Man She Left Behind Her 14 III The Fourth Floor Back ,25 IV The Great Law Comes Into Force . .37 V Mrs. Farquhar Explains 47 VI Colonel Destinn of the Legion 57 VII Richard Nameless 6S VIII Corporal Gotz Plays "Rule, Brittania'* . .73 IX At the Villa Bernotto's 8& X It Is the Devil W^ho Drives 91 XI Justification lOJ XII A Grave Is Opened 108 XIII The Rising Tide 120 XIV Behind the Mosque 124- XV The Choice 132 XVI Dreams 148 XVII The End of Ramazan 160 XVIII Mrs. Farquhar 177 XIX In the Teeth of the Storm 187 XX The Return 199 XXI Masquerade 213 XXII The Last Offer , 226 XXIII FateDeodes 239 XXIV Atonement 254 XXV Toward Dawn 265 XXVI Kismet 279 XXVII The Oasis 291 THE RED MIRAGE THE RED MIRAGE CHAPTER I jsro. 3112 NIGHT lay on the desert. Terrible in its solitude, the great waste stretched out beneath an emerald darkness, its frozen billows of sand rolling on to the blank invisible horizon where all commingled in brooding mystery and silence. To the south there was more than silence—a spirit of watchfulness, a somber enigma, heavy with formless menace; to the north a veil had been let down, soon to be lifted, hiding a vague but living promise of the future. No moon; overhead uncounted myriads whose signals flashed down through the frosty atmosphere in cold ironic splendor. But they were signals without key, and it was not their light which hung over the trackless desolation. Out of the desolation itself a gray unearthly luminousness rose up and spread on over the hills, stealing beneath their shadows and throwing shadows where no corporal form was visible. No life, no moving thing—save to the south. From thence a dark line wound, itself out of the obscurity and came on without halt or hesitation, seeming to follow some unseen track between the silver ridges of the hills. It was scarcely possible to recognize them as human. They marched four deep, anyhow, yet mechanically and steadily, like drunken men kept to a straight path by a relentless, omnipotent will. I — THE RED MIRAGE double beneath the burden of their knapsacks, their fixed ; trailed by the strap, their heads bowed, their eyes sightless, jaws set, they bore no semblance to military r save for the dogged persistency of their advance their silence. A man stumbled and reeled against his ibor. There was a curse and a groan, but no more—no ment, no change in the shuffling step. A tortured crea- lulled by a narcotic, had been stung to momentary con- isness by a keener pang, that was all. Theirs was the by of despair. t the head of the column an officer strode on alone. ; was no weariness, no faltering, but the indomitable itself, the very symbol of the power which kept the :ed crowd silent and patient at his heels. Shoulders red, head erect, he pressed on, the sand eddying beneath tride, the semi-darkness magnifying his spare figure to jthing sinister and superhuman. A little to his right a ier kept pace beside a limping exhausted charger. He no more than a boy, delicate in build, with bloodshot in which glittered a curious, fascinated terror. From to time he looked back over his shoulder, passing his ue over his cracked and swollen lips, but he made no id, no plaint. Then suddenly he stumbled with a cry of jressible suffering. !" Silence there fie command grated brutally on the quiet. The leaders fie column in their torpor seemed not to hear, but the bent his head lower, like a dog cringing under the whip, lently he began to drop behind. With one swift, terri- glance at the blank faces of his comrades he shifted his )sack on to the saddle, then crept on again, hiding in the t shadow of the horse beside him. The action had been t and almost noiseless. The lonely officer turned his I a little. NO. 3112 3 "3708!" "My Colonel !" "Take this coward's place. Give him your rifle." !" "My Colonel It was Hke a smothered scream of agony. The sharply cut, impassive features under the kepi remained expression- less. "Add your knapsack—^back to the column, you cur. Cor- poral, see that 31 12 keeps his place. Forward—^march!" All was still again. Except for that stifled scream of protest, which seemed to linger like some ghost of sound on the still luminous air, there was nothing audible. The tramp of the thousand feet lost itself in the sand. An hour passed. Westward behind the darkness some- thing had begun to stir—^the faint, scarcely perceptible movement of reawakened life. The veil was lifting, and from whence the horizon slowly revealed itself against the flaming dawn a pale glow spread out over the desert, chang- ing with roseate fingers the gray twilight to a transparent, fiery iridescence. A chill wind, which for a moment had whirled up the sand to tiny spiral columns, died down. In hushed expectancy the desert awaited the hour of her trans- figuration. The thud of galloping horses—a tremor which seemed to pass through the whole length and breadth of the weary column. A lieutenant marching at the side of his men swung round sharply on his heel. "Who goes there?" No answer. Something shot out of the blackness which still hung sullenly over the south, and sped up the thin long line to where the commanding officer held his post. He turned his face. The hard blue eyes under the heavy brows flittered as he lifted them to the increasing light. "Well?" 4 THE RED MIRAGE The spahi drew rein sharply, dragging his foam-flecked animal to its haunches. With his flint-lock he pointed back into the shadow. "Arabs, my Colonel, Arabs to the southwest. Two hun- dred strong. They have followed all night. They will at- tack before the hour." The colonel shrugged his shoulders. His stride had not faltered. "They will not attack. It is too late. By nightfall we shall be in Sidi-bel-Abbes." The spahi drew his fluttering bumoose closer about him and set his horse to a walk. His bronzed features were sul- len with doubt and disappointment. "Sidi-bel-Abbes lies yet forty kilometers to the north." "We shall be there before nightfall." No one spoke. The spahi dropped back and, like some bird of ill-omen, hovered around the regiment, passing rest- lessly up and down the exhausted lines, his white teeth bared in a grin of malicious mockery. As he passed No. 3 1 12 he pulled up for an instant, his free hand stemmed insolently against his thigh. "Ah, mon bleu, what good spirits ! And what a nice little piece of luggage you have there ! When the sun rises it will !" help to keep you warm. Allah be praised The boy made no answer, but as though the taunt had awakened his mind to some terrifying presage of the fu- ture, he lifted his head and stared out westward. In a burst of golden splendor the red orb of the sun had risen above the horizon, and with its rising the night desert faded into an earthly paradise of color. Where there had seemed utter desolation there were now long stretches of waving grass, patches of green oasis where stately palms rose out of some hidden lake and silhouetted their leaves against the sapphire sky-line. And over all an atmosphere surcharged NO. 31 12 S with radiance, all warmth, all healing. The chill of the night softened, and yet on every haggard face, lifted for an in- stant to greet this resurrection of life, there was carved a speechless dread. The hours passed. The sun stood high above the crest of the sand-hills. It was no longer red, but a fierce merciless bronze. There was no longer life nor color; all—oasis, hills, that hidden promise that lay northward—^had sunk in shimmering, stifling waves which beat down upon the sand and rose again in fierce reflection to the brazen skies of their creation. !" "The whole column—^halt A shrill whistle, which yet sounded lifeless in the dead air. The men dropped where they stood. With their faces buried in their arms they lay inert, indifferent. Only the colonel remained standing. With a curt gesture he refused the flask which his adjutant courteously extended to him. "I thank you. One marches better on an empty stomach." "Surely you will use your horse now. Colonel ?" "No." For the first time the hard face softened as he turned and laid his gloved hand on the animal's neck. "The poor brute is done up already." "And you, my Colonel, are you never done up ?" "No." He glanced impatiently at his wrist-watch.