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His own
brothers had abandoned him. Ben Salem, the faithful, long-tried, devoted
friend and follower, was a voluntary prisoner in the French camp.
Abd-el-Kader's whole force was fewer than two thousand men, but among
these were twelve hundred horsemen, the flower of the Algerian cavalry.
Most of them had been his inseparable comrades, partakers in all his
hardships and dangers, throughout his career. During a short period of
rest he summoned them daily around him and aroused new enthusiasm among
the bronzed veterans by his eloquent words.
On December 9, 1847, the deira was stationed on Moorish territory, at
Agueddin, on the left bank of the Melouia. It comprised in all about
five thousand souls. The next day news arrived that a great Moorish host
under the Sultan's two sons was only three hours' march away. On January
11th, Abd-el-Kader gathered his armed force, marched at dead of night
and fell furiously on the first division of the Moors and Arabs. The
slumbering foe awoke to see the thick darkness illumined by flashes of
light from muskets.


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