Wet, cold and hungry, but inspired by his indomitable purpose, his soldiers began their first march across the sands of Egypt. The horses so far landed were so few and in such poor shape that he and his Generals marched with the men. On their way they were fired on by a few mounted Arabs, but no serious resistance was offered until by mid-morning they came within musket shot of the walls of the city, beyond which rose the domes of mosques and the slender towers of minarets.
There he divided his force into three columns. One was to be led by Bon against the Rosetta Gate, another by Kleber against the Gate of the Pillar and the third by Menou against the Gate of the Catacombs. The Turkish garrison maintained a steady fire with both muskets and antiquated cannon, whereas the French had so far been unable to land any of their artillery. But now, suffering for the first time under a blazing sun from acute thirst, their desperate need for water inspired them with a fierce determination to break into the city. After a number of bloody assaults, in which both Kleber and Menou were seriously wounded, they forced a breach in the crumbling walls, poured through it and drove the defenders back in confusion through the narrow streets.
A Turkish Captain who had been captured realized that further resistance was useless, and offered to act as intermediary. Bonaparte then produced a proclamation which he had prepared and sent him with it to his Commander. In this proclamation the wily Corsican declared that the French had come only to liberate the Egyptian people from the tyranny of the Mamelukes and prevent their further depredations on French commerce. He guaranteed respect for property and the Mohammedan religion —pointing out that it was France that had destroyed the Pope and the Knights of Malta, who had for centuries waged war on the Muslims—and promised to support the Sheiks, Cadis and Imams in a continuance of their duties to the glory of the Sultan.
These specious promises had the desired effect. A cease-fire was ordered and by four o'clock that afternoon he was master of Alexandria.
Yet when the French Army took possession of the city the troops were bitterly disappointed. Thousands of them were veterans of Bonaparte's Italian campaign, during which they had lined their pockets and had hoped, on returning to France, to buy pleasant farms or Httle businesses and settle down to a peaceful life of domesticity. Thousands of others were conscripts who had been forced to leave their homes in order that regiments might be brought up to full strength. The reluctance on the part of both veterans and conscripts to leave France had been overcome after the armada had sailed by a rumour put about amongst them that they were on their way to the East, where riches were inexhaustible, and that every man of them would return with a fortune.
Now, as they marched through the streets of the ancient city where Cleopatra had ruled in splendour, and which had been famous for centuries for its luxury, they saw only half-ruined mosques, palaces long since fallen into disrepair and squalid slums inhabited by poverty-stricken people.
This was no surprise to Roger, as he had spent several days in Alexandria during the previous July. He knew that, apart from the residences of the Mameluke Beys, the only well-furnished, comfortable houses were those occupied by Greek merchants in the so-called ' new town' which lay outside the city.
One of them was the property of a Greek banker named Sarodopulous, who had been most helpful to Roger and, moreover, had him invited to stay until he could get a passage to Crete. This now presented Roger with a problem, as he had been travelling as an Englishman and Sarodopulous's principal reason for entertaining him so hospitably was because Mrs. Sarodopulous had been born an Englishwoman. If Bonaparte remained long in Alexandria it seemed highly probable that, since the banker was one of the town's wealthiest citizens, he and Roger would meet; and the Greek was going to be very surprised at finding that the Englishman he had entertained had in a few months been transformed into a French Colonel.
The thought of such a meeting did not cause Roger any great anxiety because, unlike Talleyrand and the despicable Fouché— who appeared to have sunk into oblivion—the Sarodopulouses.
had only the story he had given them himself to go on. He could, therefore, simply repudiate it; and, should Bonaparte learn of the encounter, he would accept without question Roger's explanation that while in Alexandria he had posed as an Englishman in order to secure as much information as he could about the enemies of France.
Now that the Army of Egypt had established itself on land, Roger knew that he was likely to be very fully employed. His appointment by Bonaparte as his Aide-de-Camp-in-Chief had, of course, not matured, as the appointment had been dependent on the invasion of England and had been announced only as one of many little bluffs which would help give credence to the deception plan. But Bonaparte's reason for making Roger one of his aides-de-camp when in Italy had been because he was already dreaming of conquering the East and, as Roger had just returned from travelling in India and Egypt, he had decided that an old companion-in-arms with such experience would be of value to him on his Staff.
As usual, the General-in-Chief lost no time in putting to use any asset he had secured and that morning, much to Roger's relief, he had kept him out of the battle, but told him to arrange for suitable quarters as soon as the city surrendered.
It was Geraud Duroc, one of Roger's companions in Italy, who now held the appointment of Aide-de-Camp-in-Chief. He was a Republican and puritan but a man whose gentle charm made him beloved by all, and he now lived only to serve Bonaparte. Roger set off with him and an escort from Bonaparte's pet regiment of Guides and in the course of an hour they visited several palaces. Had Roger been in his master's shoes he would have taken up his quarters in one of the fine villas in the ' new town', but he knew that the General-in-Chief would be extremely angry if he were not installed in one of the most imposing buildings in the city. There was also the point that he had given strict instructions that there was to be no pillaging and that the inhabitants were to be put to a minimum of inconvenience in accommodating his troops. They were, therefore, fortunate in finding a palace owned by a wealthy Pasha who had fled with his family on learning of the approach of the invaders.
Roger did all the talking, while Duroc made certain suggestions about the allocation of rooms for various purposes. The water carts were sent for, so that there would be ample for all purposes, extra divans brought in for junior members of the Staff and a lavish supply of food procured from the nearest market. In due course Bonaparte arrived with his entourage. They ate a hearty meal then, utterly exhausted from their night and day of strenuous effort, threw themselves, still in their clothes, on the divans and slept.
Soon after Roger awoke next morning his mind turned again to Sarodopulous. He decided that it would be sound policy to go to see the banker and give an explanation to him in private, rather than leave their meeting to chance when the odds were that other people would be present.
Immediately they had broken their fast Bonaparte set to work with Bourrienne, and kept all his aides-de-camp hurrying hither and thither on a score of errands; but during the morning Roger managed to get a word with Lannes and offered his help to the harassed Quartermaster-General in one of that functionary's most important responsibilities. Lannes gave the idea his blessing and passed him on to Andreossi, who readily accepted the proposal. That evening Roger got his master's permission to ride out to the ' new town'.
Sarodopulous's handsome white villa had a terrace on the seaward side with a splendid view over the beautiful bay and as Roger trotted up the road he saw the banker sitting alone on the terrace; so, instead of riding round to the front door of the villa and having himself announced, he dismounted, hitched his horse to a stone pillar and walked up the steps.
As he approached the table at which Sarodopulous was sitting, the banker stood up, eyeing Roger's uniform with some apprehension. Then his dark eyes opened wide and he exclaimed in English:
'Why! If it isn't Mr. Brook.'
'Colonel Breuc, aide-de-camp to the General-in-Chief of the Army of Egypt,' replied Roger, keeping h
is face expressionless as he made a formal bow.
'But . . . but . . .' stammered the Greek.
With a laugh, Roger held out his hand. ' But the same person to whom you extended much kindness when last in Alexandria. You will recall that I came to your office to cash a draft on Hoare's bank. As it was drawn on London and I am bilingual, you naturally took me for an Englishman; then, your wife being English, you invited me to become your guest. I had travelled for many months and was positively starved for civilized society, so I gave way to the temptation to accept your hospitality under false pretences. I can only hope that you will not think too harshly of me.'
Sarodopulous stroked his greying, curly beard and smiled. ' Why, no. Since you had come all the way from India, with only Asiatics for companions, I can understand how you must have felt. Personally, too, it would have made no difference to me had you declared yourself a Frenchman. As an international banker, my relations with French and British merchants are equally good. But I fear my poor wife would not have agreed to receive you.'
'Do you . . .' Roger's face suddenly became grave, 'do you mean . . . ? '
The Greek nodded. 'Alas, yes. Last January. You will recall her fondness for the pleasures of the table. Nothing could restrain her, and her weight became too much for her heart. Going upstairs one evening ... I miss her greatly, but it is some consolation to me that it was all over very quickly.'
Roger well remembered the enormous bulk that the one-time Suffolk girl had acquired from her love of rich foods, and the gargantuan meals she had pressed upon him. Sorry as he was for Sarodopulous, he could not help feeling some relief at her demise, as she had remained fanatically patriotic and he had feared that she would prove an awkward stumbling block in his resuming good relations with the banker. Having expressed his sympathy with the bereaved husband he went on:
' You will, no doubt, have been informed of General Bonaparte's proclamation, announcing that the French have come to Egypt only to drive out the Mameluke tyrants and that they wish to establish most cordial relations with the Egyptian people. He does not, therefore, come here as a robber, but intends to pay for the great quantity of supplies he will need for his Army. To do so we shall require large sums of local currency. Having in mind your past kindness to me, and knowing you to be an honest broker, I had a talk with General Andr£ossi this morning. As our Paymaster-General he will be responsible for obtaining Egyptian money in exchange for gold. On my recommendation he has agreed that you should be appointed our principal agent.'
Sarodopulous's dark eyes opened wide, and he exclaimed, ' But Mr. ... I mean Colonel Breuc, how can I ever thank you!
I give you my word that General Andreossi shall have the best rate of exchange that can be procured in Alexandria. Yet, even so, to act as agent for the French Army will bring me a fortune. But come; we are still standing. Be pleased to sit down while I order wine. Then you must tell me about yourself and this amazing General on whose Staff you are. And you will honour me, I hope, by staying to supper.'
For the next hour Roger said little of his own doings, but talked freely about other matters, and gave a graphic description of the hazardous landing of the Army. He was then introduced to the banker's widowed sister-in-law and her son Achilles, who had been living with him since his wife's death. This Greek lady must have been a beauty when young, in spite of her face being somewhat marred by smallpox, and her son—a tall, well-built young man of about twenty-five, who had recently been made a partner in the family firm—was strikingly handsome. After a most excellent meal with these charming and intelligent Greeks, Roger rode back to the old city, well content with the outcome of his visit.
The following day proved another of feverish activity at Bonaparte's headquarters. Having sent for Sheik Koraim and other principal officials of the city, he spoke at great length of the benefits the French Republic was bringing to the world through its systematic destruction of all tyrants, and particularly the religious tyranny long wielded by Rome and her Christian priests. He even went so far as to say that he personally thought more highly of the Mohammedan faith, and quoted at them extracts from the Koran that he had learned by heart during the voyage.
Roger, who was present at this performance, thought it unlikely that the Sheiks and Imams would believe in the sincerity of these statements; but they were at least favourably impressed and willingly agreed to form a new Council to maintain order in the city and to co-operate with the French military authorities.
To have gained their goodwill was an important asset, as Bonaparte intended to push on as soon as possible to Cairo and he could afford to leave only a limited garrison in Alexandria. He would, however, have probably secured it without great difficulty in any case, owing to the very exceptional conditions maintaining in Egypt.
The country had for long been a part of the Turkish Empire and, in theory, was ruled by a Pasha appointed by the Sultan. But as Egypt was so far from Constantinople the Sultans had feared that one day an ambitious Viceroy might repudiate their authority and make himself Sultan of Egypt. To guard against such an eventuality they had appointed twenty-four Mameluke Beys, each with a following of several hundred men, to act as Governors of the provinces, independently of the Viceroy. In this they had been too clever, as it was the Beys who had repudiated the authority of Constantinople and had for centuries treated Egypt as a flight of vultures would have treated the carcass of a dead horse.
These Mamelukes formed a caste apart, dating from the time of Saladin. They were fair-skinned, often blue-eyed, Circassians, hand-picked as the handsomest and fittest small boys in the Caucasus, bought as slaves and shipped to Egypt. There they were brought up under the strictest discipline, and in ignorance of their origin, to the profession of arms. Each Bey owned five or six hundred of them, and each Mameluke had two native Copts to groom his horses and care for his weapons. They lived in camps and had no relations with the population, other than to plunder it at the order of their masters. They were magnificently equipped, the finest horsemen in the world and lived only for fighting. The Beys were far stronger than the Turkish garrison; so they treated the Sultan's officials with contempt, while terrorizing the Arabs and the wretched Copts who formed the greater part of the population. Often they fought among themselves for the control of greater areas of territory; and at this time two of them wielded authority over all the others. The elder, Ibrahim Bey, was crafty and powerful; his rival, Murad Bey, was valiant and ambitious.
So eager was Bonaparte to continue his conquest of the country that the remainder of his men, with the guns and horses he had brought, having been landed at Marabout on July 2nd, on the night of the 3rd he despatched Desaix's Division to Rahmaniyeh, about thirty miles up the Rosetta mouth of the Nile to act as advance guard of the Army. Any other General would have sent them up to the coast to Rosetta, then along the inhabited banks of the river, but that would have meant their marching nearly double the distance. So impatient was he that he ordered Desaix to head straight across the desert and Reynier's Division to follow the next day. On that day, too, he ordered Menou to march up the coast, capture Rosetta, form a flotilla there and proceed up the Nile to rendezvous with Desaix at Rahmaniyeh. On the 6th, having completed his arrangements in Alexandria, he left the wounded Kleber in command of three thousand men to garrison the city and himself led the rest of the Army along the desert trail that the gallant Desaix had blazed.
During the next few days Roger's worst forebodings were nearly realized. The reports already sent back by Desaix were harrowing. Scorched and blistered, his weary men were staggering across miles of shifting sands. They had met with no serious opposition, so it was evident that the Mameluke strategy was to draw them as far as possible into the desert before attacking; but during the march they were constantly pestered by Bedouin, who skirted the flanks and rear of the column, occasionally firing at it and falling upon and butchering all stragglers.
Fear of these Arabs was the main factor that kept the column together, fo
r the suffering of the men from thirst was terrible and, as discipline had gone to pieces, small parties of them would have blundered off in all directions in a desperate search for water. Every well they came to had been filled in with sand by the Arabs, and even when they had frantically cleared away the sand there was not enough water in the holes to quench the thirst of more than a few dozen of them. Reynier's Division, following a day's march behind, suffered even worse, for on arriving at well after well they found them completely dry.
On the 7th both Divisions reached Damanhtir. They had been told that it was one of the largest towns in Lower Egypt, but found it to be only a huddle of tumble-down houses and mud huts, enclosed with walls that were falling to pieces. There was not sufficient food in the place to be worth commandeering, and they had nearly exhausted the hard biscuit they had brought with them from Alexandria. Almost at the end of their tether, they took such consolation as they could from the small ration of water that was available and the palm and pomegranate groves outside the town, which provided the first blissful shade they had encountered since starting on their terrible march.
The General-in-Chief caught up with them there on the following day, and the march of the other Divisions which accompanied him had been no less gruelling. Their route had lain along a canal dating from the Roman occupation. Having been abandoned for fifteen hundred years it was now no more than a series of elongated depressions, which filled with water each year only when the Nile flooded. As that took place in August or September, and this was July, the very little water left in it lay in small, stagnant pools, overgrown with moss and alive with horrible insects. In spite of that, every time the men sighted one of these greenish patches they rushed down to it and fought among themselves for the temporary relief afforded to those who succeeded in getting their mouths into the brackish filth and sucking it up.
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