On almost the same day, the Eighth Battalion succumbed to a frightful catastrophe.  At a period of supposed tranquillity, the Souhalia tribe, who had been steadfast allies of the French, were unexpectedly attacked by Abd-el-Kader at the head of an overwhelming force.  Lieutenant-Colonel Montagnac, with only sixty-two horsemen of the Second Hussars and three hundred and fifty men of the Eighth Chasseurs d’Orleans, hurried to the rescue.  He was repeatedly warned of the danger, but, despite all that could be said, he dashed at the whole force of Abd-el-Kader.  At the very first discharge, Montagnac fell mortally wounded, and in a few moments all the horses and nearly all the men were disabled.  Captain Cognord, of the Second Hussars, rallied the survivors, and this little handful of heroes, huddled together upon a hillock, fought like tigers, until their ammunition was exhausted.  The Arabs then closed in upon the group, which had become motionless and silent, and, to use the expressive language of an eye-witness, “felled them to the earth as they would overturn a wall.”  The enemy found none remaining but the dead, or those who were so badly wounded that they gave no sign of life.  Before expiring, Montagnac had summoned to his aid a small detachment he had left in reserve.  The latter, on its approach, was immediately surrounded, and perished to the very last man.  There was now surviving of the whole French force only the Carabinier company of the Eighth Chasseurs, upon whom the Arabs rushed with fury, from every side.  After a resistance of almost fabulous heroism, during which the flag of the company was shot away in shreds, and the Carabiniers cut their bullets into six and eight pieces so as to prolong their defence, every volley decimating the foe, this little band of seventy men, encumbered with ten wounded, succeeded in wearying and disheartening the Emir to such an extent that he determined to abandon the direct assault which was costing him so dearly, and to surround the French detachment in the ruined building which served them for a refuge, and so starve them out.  Captain Dutertre, Adjutant of the Eighth, who had been captured by the Arabs in the early part of the action, was sent forward by the enemy toward his old comrades.  For a moment the firing ceased, and the Captain shouted so that all could hear him,—­“Chasseurs, they have sworn to behead me, if you do not lay down your arms; and I say to you, Die, rather than surrender one single man!”

The Captain was instantly sabred, and the conflict recommenced.  The same summons was repeated twice afterwards, and twice failed, when, finally, the firing ceased, and the Arabs bivouacked around their prey.  Every possible approach was closed and guarded, and, thus caged in, the Chasseurs remained for three nights and days without food or drink.  At length, by a sudden and desperate dash, on the morning of September 20th, the seventy heroes, bearing their ten wounded comrades, succeeded in breaking through the line of