The G.A. Henty

by G. A. Henty

  “Belonging to me!” Mr. Blagrove said in astonishment. “What on earth do you mean?”

  “I bought her in your name, father, and you will have a bill presented in the course of a couple of months or so for eight hundred and fifty pounds. At any rate you will not be a loser by her. There will be from six to seven hundred pounds, I cannot say how much exactly, for the cargo was not weighed, but it is somewhat over two hundred tons at three pounds a ton, and there is, besides, a hundred pounds for the passage-money of twenty invalid sailors, so you see you get the ship for practically about a hundred pounds, to which there will have to be added the payment of a captain, mate, and ten Italian sailors. She was valued by a court of naval officers at eight hundred and fifty pounds, that being the price they considered that she might fetch if sold there. I should say that she is worth quite double that. She is about three hundred tons, and carried six guns, so at any rate you are likely to make a thousand by the transaction.

  “Then I have to inform you that, at Sir Sidney Smith’s request, which I have no doubt will be complied with, you will be appointed, by the president of the prize court, agent for the sale of what Eastern goods there are on board her. The cargo is made up of European goods, dried fruits, and Eastern goods. They are what we captured from the pirates, and Sir Sidney Smith suggested that it would be as well to intrust to one who knew the value of the Eastern goods the work of selling them privately, instead of putting them up to auction, and he requested that the agency should be given to you. Wilkinson, who has come home with me, is going to see the president of the prize court this morning, and he is to come up here afterwards. Of course Sir Sidney did it chiefly to oblige me, but he thought that the goods would really fetch more if sold in that way. He said, of course, that you would get a commission on the sale, and as you said in the last letter that I received that you were getting very sick of having nothing to do, I thought you might like the job.”

  “Certainly I should like it, Edgar, and that purchase of the ship seems a very satisfactory one, though, of course, the profit will be yours and not mine, as I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Oh, yes, it is your business, father; she is bought with your money, and I am glad that I have been able to do something for the firm. I shall soon be getting my prize money, which will keep me in cash for a very long time.”

  “We won’t argue about that now, Edgar. At any rate I shall be glad to see to the sale of these Eastern goods, though, of course, it will be but a small thing.”

  “I don’t know, father. I think that it will be rather a large thing. At any rate there is something between eighty and a hundred tons of them.”

  “Between eighty and a hundred tons!” his father replied. “You mean with the dried fruits, of course.”

  “Not at all, father! The fruits will be sold in the ordinary way in the prize court.”

  “Then, what can these things be?”

  “I should say the great proportion of them are carpets—Turkish, Persian, and Syrian.”

  “A hundred tons of such carpets as those, Edgar, would be worth a very large sum, indeed; surely you must be mistaken?”

  “It’s the accumulation of years of piracy, father; perhaps from hundreds of ships captured by those scoundrels. But, of course, they are not all carpets. There are silks, muslins, embroidered robes, Egyptian scarves and manufactures, and other sorts of things. We have not opened above a dozen bales out of some twelve hundred, and have, therefore, no idea of the relative value of the others. We were a tender of the Tigre’s, our craft being a prize taken by her, and all of us, officers and men, being borne on her books, the whole ship divides. Still, if the things are worth as much as we think, it will bring us in a handsome sum. And there is, besides, twelve thousand five hundred in cash, the proceeds of the sale of the vessels we captured; and we also share with the other ships under Sir Sidney Smith’s command in the value of the vessels and cargoes they have captured as they tried to reach an Egyptian port. They say they were worth something like forty thousand, of which the Tigre’s share will be about half.”

  “Well, Edgar, if there are a hundred tons of such goods as you describe, your cargo must be a valuable one indeed. Of course I can tell nothing about it until I see them opened. At any rate it will give me occupation, and I should say a good paying occupation, for some time.”

  “I suppose you got that letter, father, that I sent from Constantinople, from Mr. Muller?”

  “Yes, and a very satisfactory one it was. It reconciled me to some extent to staying here. It was not pleasant to think that one was living upon one’s capital, but I found from his statement that my share of the business he was doing would fully cover my expenses here. And now, let us hear something more about your doings. Your letter from Constantinople told us about your adventures in Egypt; then we had one written the day after the French had retreated from before Acre, and the one that we received from Smyrna two months since; but that was a short one, and beyond saying that you had been very lucky in capturing and destroying a number of pirates, and that you were enjoying your cruise very much, you did not give us any detail. You may as well tell us that part first.”

  Early in the afternoon Wilkinson arrived. As Edgar had spoken warmly of his kindness to him when he had first joined the Tigre, and of the friendship that had sprung up between them, he was very cordially received by Mr. and Mrs. Blagrove. The former was well pleased when he heard the details of the interview with the president of the prize court, and said that he would go up and see him in the morning.

  “I will hire a warehouse for a month or two,” he said. “It will be much more satisfactory than working in a place where a lot of other business is being transacted. The bales will all have to be opened and examined, the goods classed and assorted, and I shall have to bring people down there to examine them. The expense will be nothing in comparison to the advantage of having a quiet place to one’s self.”

  On the following morning Mr. Blagrove went up and had a very satisfactory talk with the president of the prize court. The Suzanne arrived four days later, having made a fast run from Portsmouth. By that time Mr. Blagrove had engaged a warehouse, where, in a short time, the whole of the goods of which he was to dispose were safely stored. Wilkinson went down on the day after his arrival to his people in Devonshire, and Edgar established himself as assistant to his father. As bale after bale was opened, the latter was astonished at the beauty and value of some of the contents. A few only of the bales contained common country cloths, and it was evident that such goods of this sort as had fallen into the hands of the pirates had been sold at once, as there was a ready market for them at the towns and villages of the islands and the mainland. Many of the carpets were of great size. Some of the very large ones Mr. Blagrove valued at fully £500, and there were scores worth from £50 to £100. Some of the silks and embroideries he pronounced to be almost priceless.

  “They must,” he said, “have been specially woven and worked for the ladies of the Sultan’s harem.”

  When, after a month’s stay, Edgar prepared to rejoin with his friend Wilkinson, not more than one-third of the contents of the warehouse had been sold, but these had fetched over £40,000, and his father had no doubt that he should obtain a proportionate sum for the remainder. The Italian sailors who had aided to bring the Suzanne home had been sent off a week after her arrival by a vessel bound for Naples, and the brig herself had, as soon as the cargo was all cleared out, fetched £1800 by auction, being almost a new vessel.

  “I have no doubt,” Mr. Blagrove said, “that ere long a British army will be sent out, and the French compelled to leave Egypt. If I thought that the war was likely to go on for some time as at present, I should say that you had better leave the service. As it is, you would not be doing much good if you stayed here, and so may as well hold on.”

  It was the first day of March, 1800, when the vessel with supplies for the troops, in which Wilkinson and Edgar had taken their passage, joined the fleet off
Alexandria, and until the beginning of December they took part in the somewhat tedious work of blockading the Egyptian coast. In spite of their efforts the fleet were not always successful, for from time to time one or other of the ships was forced to sail to Cyprus to obtain fresh supplies, although quite a fleet of small vessels was employed in bringing water, fresh meat, and vegetables for the use of the fleet, as the health of the seamen would have suffered much from living for so long a period upon salt meat.

  In November news was received that the army under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, which had for so long been engaged in watching Cadiz, was to sail upon an expedition for the reconquest of Egypt. It was stated that the expedition would, in the first place, sail for Syria, there to join the army that the Sultan assured the English government was in readiness to advance. Sir Sidney Smith was ordered to sail at once for that coast, to ascertain the real state of things, and to decide upon the spot where the fleet had best assemble, for, from its long absence from England, there were many repairs needed, and it was desirable that the situation should be such that the ships could be careened, and a portion at least of the weeds that had accumulated be scraped off.

  His absence was in one respect unfortunate, for some of the other blockading ships were, after a very heavy gale, obliged to go to Cyprus to repair damages; and two French men-of-war heavily laden with troops and ammunition managed to run safely in to Alexandria, thereby increasing the strength of the French army by four thousand seasoned soldiers, and by an ample supply of ammunition. It was a great disappointment to the crews when, on their return to their stations off the coast, they found that the French had taken advantage of their absence, and that the result of their eighteen months of incessant vigil had been wasted.

  Wilkinson had by this time served his full time, and Condor having been appointed to the Theseus, Sir Sidney Smith again gave the command of the Tigress to him, with the rank of acting lieutenant, which would, he was sure, be confirmed.

  “I suppose you would like to have Mr. Blagrove with you?”

  “Certainly, sir. There is no one I would rather have.”

  “It is a pity that he has not served his time yet,” Sir Sidney said. “He is a most active young officer, and his knowledge of so many languages is of immense advantage. I would gladly give him an independent command, but as there are so many midshipmen senior to him, I could not do so. You know the coast of Anatolia probably better than anyone else here. Which harbour would you recommend as the most suitable for the entry of a large fleet? It must be well sheltered, and the shore should offer facilities for heeling the vessels over as far as possible in order to clean them. I know that at Rhodes there is not enough water for first-class men-of-war.”

  “By far the best place I know, sir, is the Bay of Marmorice. It is on the mainland almost opposite Rhodes, and within a day’s easy sail. We went into it quite by accident, for the entrance might be passed without notice, but we had been chasing a suspicious craft, and saw her disappear, and, following her, found ourselves in a great landlocked harbour, big enough to hold a hundred ships-of-war, and absolutely sheltered. It is by far the finest harbour that I have ever seen.”

  “I am sailing for Rhodes in the first place. Lord Keith, who commands the fleet, has written to request me to meet him there; and if your report is correct, it will save me the trouble of examining the whole line of coast between Rhodes and Acre.”

  Edgar was glad to be again on board the Tigress. The account of the sale of the goods she had captured had now been received; the total amounted to £133,000, of which £110,000 had been paid in to the prize court by Mr. Blagrove, the other £23,000 had been the proceeds of the fruits and other goods. There were in addition the sums received for vessels sold. The astonishment of the officers of the Tigre was great indeed when they heard the result, for very little had been said about the value of the cargo, and the sum realized was at least three times as great as the most sanguine had hoped.

  “It was an excellent plan getting your father to undertake the business,” Sir Sidney Smith said to Edgar, when the latter informed him that he had received a communication from his father saying how much the goods he had sold had realized. “I don’t suppose they would have fetched a third of that amount had they been sold in the ordinary way by auction by the prize court. I am sure that we must all feel greatly obliged to him.”

  “And he must feel greatly obliged to you, Sir Sidney; for, as he told me, his commission had been fixed at three per cent, so he has, after paying his expenses, done a fine stroke of business for himself.”

  “He has managed extremely well, Mr. Blagrove, and it has been a fortunate affair for us all.”

  CHAPTER XVII

  ABERCROMBIE’S EXPEDITION

  On arriving at Rhodes Sir Sidney Smith left the Tigre, and in the Tigress sailed across to the Bay of Marmorice, preferring to explore it, in the first place, in a craft drawing but little water. He was delighted with the harbour, and after a day spent in sounding in various parts of it, found that there was ample depth of water for the larger ships, and that there were spots where these could lie alongside, run the upper-deck guns directly ashore, and careen the ships over to a point that would enable them to be freed of a considerable proportion of their weeds and barnacles. Returning to Rhodes, he then started in the Tigre for Syria. He took Edgar with him as interpreter, replacing him temporarily by another midshipman, and leaving Wilkinson with a report from himself to Lord Keith strongly recommending Marmorice as being suitable in all respects for a rendezvous for the fleet and transports.

  On the 28th of December the first division of the fleet arrived, and was at once ordered to proceed to Marmorice, the Tigress sailing ahead to show the way. The second division arrived four days later. Tents were at once erected ashore. The sick were landed and encamped; whole regiments were also put under canvas, while the ships which carried them were careened and cleaned. Sir Sidney Smith had already returned with the news that there was practically nothing that could be called an army in Syria, and his report was so discouraging that General Abercrombie and Lord Keith resolved that it would be far better to land the army in Egypt than to disembark at Jaffa and take the long and fatiguing march across the desert, merely in order to gain the aid of a few thousand useless Turkish troops.

  Great disappointment was occasioned by the remounts for the cavalry that had been purchased at Constantinople, for when these arrived they were such wretched animals that they were for the most part found to be absolutely useless, and the greater portion were either shot or sold for a dollar each. On the 8th of February one of the most terrible hail-storms that ever was experienced, took place, and lasted for forty-eight hours. The thunder rolled without intermission; the hailstones were as big as large walnuts, and lay two feet deep in the camp. The scene of confusion there was terrible; horses broke loose and rushed wildly about seeking shelter from the hail. The men dared not venture out, so terrible was the force with which the lumps of ice came down. Ships drove at their anchors, and many lost their upper spars, and the Swiftsure was struck by lightning.

  The weather continued violent for some time, and it was not until the 23rd of February that the ships weighed anchor, and, numbering a hundred and seventy-five, set sail, and made their way out of the harbour. The expedition on which the troops were about to embark was a most adventurous one. They had by this time learned that the French had received very considerable reinforcements, and that the force was a much larger one than had been reported. The Turkish army with which they were to operate was non-existent, and the only gleam of satisfaction was that Bonaparte himself had managed to get through the blockading force in a small craft, and had arrived in France, and that, therefore, the French army would not have the benefit of his leading, or be animated by his presence among them.

  Edgar found himself brought unexpectedly into notice. The fleet was entirely unprovided with reliable maps of Egypt, and none of the officers had any previous knowledge of it beyond the port of A
lexandria. Sir Sidney Smith was able to give every information regarding the coast, but had never set foot on shore.

  “It is most unfortunate,” General Abercrombie said, when he, Lord Keith, and Sir Sidney Smith were discussing the matter. “Here we are about to land in a country of which we know absolutely nothing. If we had, as originally intended, landed at Jaffa and marched through El A’rich with the Turks, we should have had the benefit of their knowledge and that of the Arabs of the country. As it is, we are totally ignorant of its features, while the enemy are thoroughly acquainted with them. It is like a blind man fighting in the dark against one who can see perfectly.”

  “By the way,” Sir Sidney exclaimed suddenly, “I have a young officer who knows the country well. He has been a resident at Alexandria for years, and, riding about, knows every foot of the country within many miles of it. He has been up to Cairo, was with the Arabs who harassed the French march, was present at the battle of the Pyramids, and at the fighting in Cairo, and knows the position of all the French forts round that city. He was on his way to England when I overhauled the craft he was in, on my way out, and as he speaks Arabic perfectly, to say nothing of French and Italian, I offered him a berth as midshipman and to act as my interpreter. In the latter capacity he was invaluable both in Constantinople and at the siege of Jaffa. He is, moreover, a most gallant young officer, and was second in command of the Tigress when she did such good service in eradicating piracy among the islands, capturing and destroying over a hundred piratical craft.”

  “That is good news indeed!” the general said. “Will you send for him now? His knowledge would be invaluable to me.”

  A boat was sent off at once to the Tigre with an order for Edgar to come on board the flagship immediately. Much surprised, but supposing that he was wanted to act as interpreter between Sir Sidney and some Turkish official who had come on board, he at once took his place in the gig and was rowed to the flagship. As soon as he reached the deck an officer told him that he was wanted in the admiral’s cabin. There he was again surprised at seeing not only the admiral, but General Abercrombie and Sir Sidney Smith.