Sitting at the terrace of a well-known café, on the main boulevard of the French capital, some time ago, I happened to glance down the columns of a Parisian newspaper, and was struck by a realistic account of the recent combat at El-Moungar.

After describing this action,—a long, arduous, but successful defence of a convoy of arms and ammunition by a handful of men from the Foreign Legion against the repeated attacks of more than a thousand fanatical Moorish horsemen,—the journalist expressed his admiration for the courage and disinterested devotion of which this corps has so often given proof.

The final phrase of his article can well[Pg x] serve as an excuse for, and introduction to, the present volume:—Si quelque philosophe ouvrait un jour une chaire pour enseigner l'hero?sme et le dévouement, son cours pourrait se tenir tout entier dans la lecture des citations obtenues par la Légion étrangère.