by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER IX.
SIR SIDNEY SMITH.
The first intimation that Napoleon received that the Sultan had declaredwar with France, was the news that an army from Syria had advanced andestablished itself at a fort in the desert half-way between the frontierof that country and Egypt. He had, in the interval, endeavoured to makehimself familiar with the country. Forts had been erected all roundCairo on heights dominating the town, so that a comparatively smallforce could overawe the population. He himself paid two visits to Suez.Desaix had pushed the Mamelukes still farther into Upper Egypt; adivision had established the French authority at Damietta and Rosetta,and every arrangement was made by which the main body of the army couldmove away with a fair hope that Egypt would remain quiet during itsabsence.
It was now the beginning of December. During the journey down to thecoast Edgar had thought seriously of his position. It seemed to himthat, although finally the French would have to evacuate Egypt, a longtime might elapse before this took place, and he finally came to theresolution to attempt to escape. He was doing neither himself nor hisfather any good by remaining. He had already witnessed a great battle byland, and one by sea, and he thought, by returning home and rejoininghis father, he would be better employed in acquiring commercialknowledge in a business in London than in remaining in Egypt.Accordingly, on the day after his arrival at the oasis he mounted androde into Alexandria, and entered his father's place of business for thefirst time since the French had landed. Muller did not recognize him ashe entered, owing to his Arab dress and coloured skin. There were twonative clerks present, and Edgar went up to him, and said in a lowvoice:
"I want to talk with you, Mr. Muller." The latter started slightly onhearing the voice, but only requested him in Arabic to follow him intothe inner office, then he closed the door.
"My dear Edgar," he said, "I am delighted to see you. I have been ingreat uneasiness about you. I had no doubt that you were with thatBedouin chief, but whether he had taken part against the French, orremained quiet, I knew not, and have been for a long time expecting tohear from you."
Edgar gave him a brief sketch of what he had been doing since he hadbeen away, and then said, "I am desirous of making my way to England. Ofcourse it will be impossible to go direct, but if I could get to Italy,I might get a ship home from there."
"That would not be difficult. No large Italian vessels come in here, butsmall ones do so not infrequently. They generally bring spirits, wines,and other goods that command a ready sale here, and they make aconsiderable profit on their trading. No doubt you could obtain apassage in one of these."
"And how goes on business, Mr. Muller?" Edgar asked after the questionof the passage had been discussed for some time.
"We have been pretty busy ever since the French arrived. Many of thetransports and store ships received damage on their voyage. We have hada fair share of the work. Before you go I will draw up a short statementof what we have done, for your father. I am on very good terms with theFrench general and his staff. I represented to them that your fatherhad, on seeing the approach of their fleet, determined to abandon hisbusiness altogether and leave the country, and that having saved aconsiderable sum during my service with him, I was able to purchase fromhim the heavy goods that he could not take away with him, and arrangedto conduct the business on my own account. I may tell you what perhapsyou did not know, that, before leaving, your father executed a deed ofpartnership with me, by which he gave me a fourth share in the business,and moreover arranged that I was to receive half the profit of it duringthe French occupation. On his return it was arranged that the businessshould be conducted under the name of Blagrove, Son, & Muller."
"I am glad to hear it, Mr. Muller. My father indeed mentioned to me,some months before he left, that he intended to take you intopartnership, and that possibly he should, after a time, leave me herewith you and should fix himself in London and carry on the business ofthe firm there, so the French invasion has only hastened it on. Ofcourse I have my European clothes here, and though I fancy I have growna couple of inches in the last five months, I daresay they will do verywell for me. The best plan will be to take the passage for me as aFrench lad, the son of a trader in Cairo, who, in view of the lateevents there, his father is sending home."
"I will look at my sailing lists," Mr. Muller said, "and will see if anyItalian craft is intending to sail in the next day or two."
He left the room, and returned in two or three minutes.
"There is one bound for Naples. She will sail on Saturday, so there arefour days to make your preparations."
"That will do well," Edgar said; "on Friday evening I will be here."
He had, on the previous evening, acquainted the sheik and his son of hisintention. Both had expressed deep regret, but acknowledged that hisarguments in favour of the plan he proposed were so strong that theycould urge nothing against them. On the Friday afternoon the sheik andSidi both rode down to Alexandria with him. The former returned thatevening to his camp, one of his followers taking Edgar's horse, whichthey promised to keep for him until his return, as he assured them thatit would be next to impossible to get a passage for it to England, andthat even could he do so it might die during the voyage, and moreoverthat it would be useless to him in London. Sidi slept at the house, andaccompanied him on board on the following morning.
The Italian craft was a brig of about a hundred and fifty tons burden,but as Edgar was the only passenger the accommodation was ample. A fewminutes after he stepped on board the crew began to get up the anchor,and as soon as this was done, Mr. Muller and Sidi said good-bye andreturned to shore. Edgar had, on coming on board, spoken a few words tothe captain, who was glad to find that his passenger spoke Italianfluently. The wind was very light, and the brig made but littleprogress, and five days after sailing was still a hundred miles south ofthe Italian coast. Edgar, however, greatly enjoyed the time. He was inno particular hurry, and the comparatively cool air and the fresh greenof the sea was delightful to him after the dry heat and sandy waste ofEgypt.
On the sixth day a vessel-of-war was seen in the west. The captain feltno uneasiness; coming from Alexandria, a French vessel would regard himas a friend, while a British ship would certainly not interfere with anItalian trader, for the court of Naples was most friendly, and a portionat least of the British fleet were off the town. The ship-of-war wasbringing up the breeze with her, and came along fast, and ere long thecaptain was able to declare that she was British. As she approached theyfound that she was the _Tigre_, an eighty-gun ship captured some timebefore from the French. When she came near she fired a gun across thebows of the brig, which at once lowered her sails. The man-of-war wasthrown up into the wind as she approached, and a voice shouted inFrench, "What ship is that, and where from?"
"He wants to know your name and where from," Edgar translated, and thecaptain shouted back, "the _Annetta_, bound from Alexandria to Naples."
"Send a boat alongside with your captain," was the order from the_Tigre_.
"Shall I go with you, captain, to translate," Edgar volunteered.
The captain gladly assented, and the boat was at once lowered, and theywere rowed to the _Tigre_. On ascending the deck they were taken to thecaptain. The latter glanced at Edgar and said, "Why, surely you areEnglish?"
"I am, sir. My father was a merchant at Alexandria. I was away at thetime the French arrived, and was left behind, and have been with a partyof Arabs ever since."
"Can you speak Arabic?"
"Yes, sir."
"Any other languages?"
"French and Italian, sir. It was for that reason that I came on boardwith the captain to interpret for him."
"Where are you going now?"
"I was going to Naples first, in order to take a passage home fromthere."
"Ah! What have they got on board?"
"Little enough, sir. They came across with spirits and wine and othercargo. The man is a small trader and part owner of the ship."
"Tell him
if he carries stores again to Alexandria his ship will beseized as a prize by the first ship-of-war that comes across her. Bycarrying them to Alexandria he is aiding the French. Now about yourself.What are you going home for?"
"To join my father in England."
"What are you going to do there?"
"I believe that I shall go into an office, sir, till my father canreturn to Egypt again."
"You speak these three languages well."
"Yes, sir; well enough to pass as a native."
"Have you been doing any fighting ashore?"
"Not much fighting, sir,--the Arabs could not stand against the French;but I have seen a good deal. I saw the battle of the Pyramids, the seafight in Aboukir Bay, and the street fighting in Cairo."
"Well, with your knowledge of languages you ought to be able to dobetter than go into a London office. You might be very useful to me,and if you like to go with me to Constantinople, where I am bound, Iwill give you a midshipman's rating. You may have an opportunity ofseeing some more service, and when this affair is over you could, ofcourse, leave the navy if you thought fit and rejoin your father. Whatdo you say? I will give you five minutes to think it over."
It required less time than this for Edgar to take his resolution. He hadno fancy whatever for work in a London office, and the prospect ofserving on board ship, the chance of seeing Constantinople and otherplaces, and possibly of active service against the French, was vastlymore pleasant. Before the end of that time he went up to the captain,touched his hat, and said that he thankfully accepted his offer.
"Very well, then, that is settled," the officer said kindly. "I willgive you ten minutes to row back to the brig and return with yourclothes."
In ten minutes Edgar was on board again, having explained to theastonished captain that he was going as interpreter on board the Britishship. As soon as he stepped on deck again orders were shouted, the sailstrimmed, and the _Tigre_ proceeded on her way. An officer came up toEdgar.
"What is your name, sir?"
"Edgar Blagrove, sir."
"I remember the name," the officer said. "I put into Alexandria some tenmonths ago to get some repairs done, and I remember that your fatherundertook them." He beckoned to a lad of about the same age as Edgar."Mr. Wilkinson," he said, "you may take this young gentleman, Mr.Blagrove, down to the cockpit and introduce him to your messmates. He isentered on board the ship as a midshipman by Sir Sidney Smith'sorders."
The midshipman took him below without a word. There were two other ladsin the cabin.
"Allow me," Edgar's guide said with a theatrical flourish of the hand,"to introduce to you Mr. Blagrove, a fellow midshipman and messmate."
"Really, Wilkinson, one never knows whether you are in earnest orplaying the fool," growled one of the others, who was a master's matesome nineteen years old.
"On the present occasion I am in earnest, Mr. Condor," Wilkinsonreplied.
"Where did he spring from?"
"He has just come on board from that little brig that we made lie tojust now."
"I come from Alexandria," Edgar said quietly.
"From Alexandria!" Condor repeated in surprise, for he had not been ondeck when the Italian captain had answered the hail.
"I was accidentally left behind when most of the English inhabitantsleft when the French ships came in sight."
"What did they do to you? Have you been in prison ever since?"
"Fortunately they never laid hands on me. A sheik of one of the Arabtribes was a friend of mine, and I have been staying with him eversince."
"How did you make them understand what you wanted?"
"I can talk Arabic as well as I can English," Edgar replied.
"Still you must have felt it awfully slow stopping at an Arab camp allthis time."
"It has not been by any means slow. The tribe harassed the French ontheir march. We were present at the battle of the Pyramids, though wedid not take any active part in it; for when the Mamelukes were defeatedthe Arabs knew that alone they had no chance of success. Then we camedown to the place where they generally encamp, some twelve miles fromAlexandria, and I had the good luck to see Nelson's fleet destroy theFrench in Aboukir Bay."
"That was luck!" Wilkinson said warmly. "I would have given anything tohave been in that fight."
"You are taking late to the sea," the midshipman who had not yet spokenremarked.
"I have no intention of taking to the sea for good," Edgar replied. "Myfather has one of the largest businesses in Alexandria, and as soon asthe French leave Egypt I shall go back there. Sir Sidney Smith asked meto come, as I talk French and Italian as well as Arabic, and he thoughtthat I should be useful to him as an interpreter, and said he would rateme as a midshipman. I was very glad to accept, as I should have nothingparticular to do if I had gone home, and I thought that it would be farmore pleasant to have two or three years of active service."
"Have you been in England?" Wilkinson asked.
"Yes, I was there nearly three years, and only returned a few monthsbefore the French landed."
"Well, it seems a rum start," Condor said, "but I suppose Sir Sidneyknows what he is doing."
"I should imagine he did," Edgar said quietly. "Possibly, if you like toquestion him he will be good enough to explain the matter to yoursatisfaction."
"Look here, youngster!" Condor growled. "You have come in here as amidshipman, and let me tell you that whether a fellow is an interpreteror not we don't allow cheek here."
"But you allow rudeness, eh?" Edgar said quietly. "I am new to ship'smanners, but at school, anyhow, a fellow was just as likely to getthrashed for rudeness as he was for cheek."
"Come, Condor," Wilkinson said, as the master's mate sprang to his feet,"you won't do yourself any good by quarrelling with a fellow who hasjust come on board. He has certainly said nothing offensive to you.Moreover, it is quite possible that the captain may want to ask himquestions about Egypt, and if he had any marks on the face you may bepretty sure you would get such a wigging that you would never wantanother, and possibly you might never have a chance of getting one."
"Very well," Condor said, sitting down again, "you are safe for a day ortwo; but mind, the first time I get an opportunity I will give you thesoundest thrashing that you ever had."
"I am sorry that it must be postponed," Edgar said quietly, "but Idaresay it will keep."
"Come on deck, Blagrove," Wilkinson said, putting his arm into that ofEdgar. "He is an ill-tempered brute," he went on as soon as they hadleft the cockpit. "He only passed his examination a week before wesailed, and we all heartily wish that he had failed. He is a regularbully, and as none of us are older than I am he has pretty well his ownway, for he is a strong chap, and, as I heard from a fellow who sailedwith him, knows how to use his fists, and none of us would have anychance with him. It is a great nuisance, for we should all be verypleasant together if it were not for him. However, I don't expect hewill dare touch you, for the captain may, at any time, want you to putquestions to craft he may overhaul, and Condor would certainly get ithot if he found out that he had been interfering with you."
Edgar smiled.
"I can assure you that I do not want the captain's assistance in thematter. Boxing is a branch of my education which has not beenneglected, and I fancy that Mr. Condor will not find that he has it allhis own way."
"Well, if you could lick him we should all regard you as a benefactor,Blagrove; but I am afraid you will find him a great deal too strong andheavy for you."
"Well, we shall see, as he says, on the first opportunity. I don't thinkthat I am at all a quarrelsome chap, but I am certainly not going to putup with being bullied by a fellow like that."
At this moment the boatswain came up. "Mr. Blagrove," he said, "I havethe first lieutenant's orders to take you to the tailor to be measuredfor your uniform--an undress suit, he said. The tailor can manage that,but you will have to get the rest of your kit later on."
"You will find me on deck, Blagrove," Wilkinson
said, as Edgar followedthe boatswain, who led the way to the lower deck, where, by the light ofa couple of lanterns, two or three tailors were at work.
"Hall, the first lieutenant's orders are that you are to measure thisyoung gentleman for a midshipman's undress uniform, and you are to puteverything else by and push it forward."
"Very well," the man replied. "It makes no odds to me what I does first.I doubt whether the first lieutenant will be pleased to-morrow; he torehis trousers yesterday, and sent them down to me to be mended."
"Well, one of your hands can finish that," the boatswain said. "Anyhow,you have got to do this suit, or you will hear of it."
Edgar was measured for his uniform by the head tailor, who was a cockneywho had been carried off by the press-gang. It was soon found that hewas of no use as a sailor, but as he was by trade a tailor he was givena rating below, and it was not long before he gave such satisfactionthat he was made chief of the little party employed on that work.
Returning on deck Edgar rejoined Wilkinson, and was introduced by him toseveral other midshipmen, who were all predisposed to like him, asWilkinson had informed them of his little encounter with Condor, and ofhis readiness to fight the bully of the mess. This was considered,however, a sign of pluck rather than wisdom, and one of them expressedthe general sentiment when he said, "You see he has been brought upamong these Egyptian chaps, who have no idea whatever of fighting. Hemay have licked some of them easily, and that may have made him think hecan fight; he will find the difference when he stands up against afellow like Condor."
The first lieutenant presently sent for Edgar to come to thequarter-deck.
"I quite understand, Mr. Blagrove, that although you are given amidshipman's rating, it is really as an interpreter that Sir SidneySmith has engaged you. Would you wish to perform midshipman's dutiesalso? I have asked him what are his wishes in the matter, and he left itentirely with you, saying that the very nominal pay of a midshipman wasreally no remuneration for the services of a gentleman capable ofinterpreting in three or four languages, but that as the rules of theservice made no provision for the engagement of an interpreter, exceptunder special circumstances, and as you said that you did not think itlikely you should make the sea your profession, you might not care toundertake midshipman's duties in addition to those of interpreter."
"Thank you, sir; but I should certainly wish to learn my duties asmidshipman, and to take my share in all work. My duties as interpretermust be generally very light, and I should find the time hang heavily onmy hands if I had nothing else to do. I hope, therefore, sir, that youwill put me to work, and have me taught my duty just as if I had joinedin the regular way."
"Very well, Mr. Blagrove, I think that you are right. I will put you inthe starboard watch. I am sure that Mr. Bonnor, the third lieutenant,will be glad to keep a special eye on you. Do you understand anythingabout handling a boat?"
"Yes, sir. I have been accustomed to sailing, rowing, and steering aslong as I can remember."
"That is something gained at any rate. Do you know the names of thevarious ropes and sheets?"
"I do in a vessel of ordinary size, sir. I was so often on board craftthat were in my father's hands for repair that I learned a good dealabout them, and at any rate can trust myself to go aloft."
"Well, Mr. Wilkinson is in your watch, and as I put you in his charge tostart with, I will tell him to act as your instructor in these matters.Please ask him to step here.
"Mr. Wilkinson," he went on, as the midshipman came up, "I shall beobliged if you will do what you can to assist Mr. Blagrove in learninghis duties. He has been knocking about among boats and merchant craftsince his childhood, and already knows a good deal about them; butnaturally there is much to learn in a ship like this. You will, ofcourse, keep your watches as usual at night, but I shall request Mr.Bonnor to release you from all other duties for the present, in orderthat you may assist Mr. Blagrove in learning the names and uses of allthe ropes, and the ordinary routine of his duty. He will, of course,attend the master's class in navigation. There will be no occasion forhim to go through the whole routine of a freshly-joined lad in otherrespects; but he must learn cutlass and musketry drill from themaster-at-arms, and to splice and make ordinary knots from theboatswain's mate. Thank you, that will do for the present."
Lieutenant Bonnor came up to Wilkinson a few minutes later, and told himthat he was to consider himself relieved from all general duties atpresent.
"I hope you won't find this a nuisance, Wilkinson," Edgar said.
"Not at all," the other laughed; "quite the contrary. It gets one off ofall sorts of disagreeable routine work, and as you know something aboutit to begin with, I have no doubt that you will soon pick up your work.A lot of the things that one has to learn when one first joins are notof much use afterwards, and may not have to be done once a year.However, I can lend you books, and if you really want to pick up all thewords of command you can study them when you have nothing else to do;and I can tell you there are plenty of times when one is rather glad tohave something to amuse one; when one is running with a light wind aft,like this, for instance, we may go on for days without having to touch asail. Well, we will begin at once. We won't go aloft till you have gotyour togs; a fellow going aloft in landsmen's clothes always looksrather a duffer. Now, let us see what you know about things."
As the names of the halliards, sheets, and tacks are the same in anysquare-rigged vessel, Edgar answered all questions readily, and it wasonly the precise position assigned to each on deck that he had to learn,so that, even on the darkest night, he could at once lay hands on themwithout hesitation; and in the course of a couple of days he knew theseas well as his instructor. On the third morning he put on hismidshipman's clothes for the first time.
"You are a great deal stronger fellow than I should have taken youfor," Wilkinson said, as he watched him dressing. "You have a tremendouslot of muscle on the shoulders and arms, and on the back too."
"I took a lot of exercise when I was at school in England," Edgarreplied, "and I have been accustomed to riding ever since I was a boy,and for the last five months have almost lived in the saddle. I havedone a good deal of rowing too, for I have had the use of a boat as longas I can remember. Of course, I have done a lot of bathing andswimming--you see, the water is so warm that one can stay in it for along time, and one can bathe all the year round. I cannot even rememberbeing taught to swim, I suppose it came naturally to me. I am sure thatmy father would never have let me go out in boats as I used to do if hehad not known that I was as much at home in the water as out of it."
"Now we will go aloft," Wilkinson said.
Edgar ran up almost as quickly as his companion. He had not only beenaccustomed to ships in the port of Alexandria, but on the voyage toEngland and back he had spent much of his time aloft, the captains beingfriends of his father, and allowing him to do as he liked, as soon asthey saw that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
"This is not the first time that you have been aloft, sir," one of thetop-men said, as he followed Wilkinson's example, instead of going upthrough the lubber's hole.
"It is the first time that I have ever gone up the mast of aman-of-war," Edgar replied; "but everything is so big and solid here,that it seems easy after being accustomed to smaller craft. It is awonderful spread of sail, Wilkinson, after having been on board nothingbigger than a brig. I used to help reef the sails on my way back fromEngland; but these tremendous sails seem altogether too big to handle."
"So they would be without plenty of hands, but you see we have a greatmany more men in proportion here than there are on board a merchantcraft. Will you go up higher?"
"Certainly." And they went up until nothing but the bare pole, with thepennant floating from its summit, rose above them. "You don't feel giddyat all, Blagrove?"
"Not a bit. If she were rolling heavily perhaps I might be, but she isgoing on so steadily that I don't feel it at all."
"Then I will begin by giving yo
u a lesson as to what your duties wouldbe if the order were given to send down the upper spars and yards. It isa pleasure teaching a fellow who is so anxious to learn as you are, andwho knows enough to understand what you say."
For two hours he sat there explaining to Edgar exactly where hisposition would be during this operation, and the orders that he wouldhave to give.
"When we get down below," he said, when he had finished, "I will giveyou all the orders, and you can jot them down, and learn them by heart.The great point, you see, is to fire them off exactly at the rightmoment. A little too soon or a little too late makes all the difference.It is generally a race between the top-men of the different masts, andthere is nothing that the men think more of than smartness in gettingdown all the upper gear. When you have got all the words of command byheart perfectly, you shall come with me the first time the order isgiven to send down the spars and yards, so as to see exactly where theorders come in. It is a thing that we very often practise. In fact, as arule, it is done every evening when we are cruising, or in harbour, orat Spithead, or that sort of thing. When it is a race between thedifferent ships of a squadron, it is pretty bad for the top-men who arethe last to get their spars down. But, you see, as we are on a passage Idon't suppose we shall send down spars till we get to Constantinople."
"What are we going there for?"
"As far as I can understand, the captain is going on a sort ofdiplomatic mission. His brother is our ambassador there, and he isappointed to act with him in some sort of diplomatic way, I suppose, toarrange what troops the Sultan is going to send against the French, andwhat we are to do to help him, and what subvention is to be paid him,and all that sort of thing. I expect you will be pretty busy while weare there. Do you understand Turkish?"
"Yes, it is very like Arabic. All the officials and upper classes inEgypt are Turks, and one hears more Turkish than Arabic, except amongthe Bedouin tribes."
While they were talking they were leisurely descending the shrouds sideby side. As soon as they gained the deck, the captain's steward came upto Edgar, and said that Sir Sidney Smith would be glad to see him andMr. Wilkinson to dinner that evening. The captain had abstained frominviting him until he should have got his uniform, thinking that hewould find it uncomfortable sitting down in civilian dress. The factthat he was going to dine late in no way interfered with Edgar'senjoyment of his mid-day meal. During the two days he had been on board,he had got on friendly terms with all his messmates excepting Condor,who studiously abstained from noticing him in any way. The youngermidshipmen he bullied unmercifully, and had a general dictatorial waywith the others that made Edgar frequently long for the opportunity ofgiving him a lesson.
He had no doubt that Condor had determined to postpone the occasionuntil they had left the Pireus, at which point they were to call, as hisservice might be required there to interpret. Once away from the island,he would not be likely to be called upon to translate until they arrivedat Constantinople.
It was a pleasant dinner in Sir Sidney Smith's cabin. There were presentthe first and third lieutenants, the captain of the marines, the doctor,Wilkinson, and Edgar. Sir Sidney Smith was a delightful host; hepossessed a remarkable charm of manner, was most thoughtful and kind toall his subordinates, and, though strict in all matters of discipline,treated his officers as gentlemen and on terms of equality in his owncabin. He had already accomplished many dashing exploits in the Balticand elsewhere, and was beloved both by the sailors and officers. It wasa time when life in the navy was very rough, when the lash wasunsparingly used for the smallest offences, and when too many ships weremade floating hells by the tyranny of their commanders.
"I should have asked you to dinner on the day that you came on board,Mr. Blagrove," Sir Sidney said kindly, as the two midshipmen entered,"but I thought that you might prefer my not doing so until you got youruniform. It has been some privation for myself, for I am anxious to hearfrom you some details as to what has been doing in Egypt, of which, ofcourse, we know next to nothing at home."
During dinner no questions were asked, but after the cloth had beenremoved and the decanters were placed upon the table, he said:
"Now, Mr. Blagrove, we shall be glad if you will give us details of howyou came to be left behind, of your personal adventures, and what youyourself witnessed, and your opinion of the situation in Egypt. This isdesirable, not only as a matter of general information, but because itwill be really useful to me to understand the situation fully, for thepurposes of my mission."
Edgar began his story, but was interrupted almost at the outset by SirSidney asking him how he came to be so intimate with these Bedouins. Hewas therefore obliged to relate how he had rescued the sheik's son froman attack by two of the lowest class of Europeans in Alexandria. Edgartold the story modestly, making as little as possible of his share init.
"And were these fellows armed, Mr. Blagrove?"
"They had their knives, but they had not time to use them. These fellowshave no idea of boxing, and a straight hit is a mystery to them. Thething was all over in less than a minute."
"Then, I suppose, you can box?" Sir Sidney said, with a smile.
"I was taught it in England, sir. My father thought that it would beuseful, for the population of Alexandria is a rough one."
Sir Sidney said no more, and Edgar told his story without furtherinterruption, and then answered many questions as to the proceedings ofthe French, the rising in Cairo--of which Sir Sidney now heard for thefirst time, and the prospect of a general insurrection.
"I don't think that there is much chance of that, sir. The defeat of theMamelukes led them to believe that the French were invincible. Thedestruction of their fleet showed that this was not the case, and led tothe rising at Cairo, but their easy defeat there, and the terribleslaughter inflicted upon them, will certainly cow them for a long time,and as long as the whole French army remains there, I don't think therewill be much further trouble, but if a portion were to march away, nodoubt they might muster up courage to attack those that remained. MouradBey, with a considerable force of Mamelukes, still keeps the field, andthe Arab tribes would certainly join him if they saw a chance ofdefeating the invaders."
"And the two men you had that trouble with, have you ever come acrossthem again, Mr. Blagrove?" the first lieutenant asked.
"We came across them in Cairo, sir," Edgar replied reluctantly. "I waswith my friend, the sheik's son. They did not recognize me, being in myArab dress, but they knew him at once and pounced upon him, and weredragging him into a house. Of course, I took his part and there was afight."
"And what was the result, Mr. Blagrove?"
"The result was that they were both killed," Edgar said quietly. "Theyattacked us with knives, and we had to use ours. My friend killed one ofthem and I killed the other. It was unfortunate, but it was their livesor ours, and if we hadn't done it then, the thing would have happenedagain, and next time we might have been stabbed before we had a chanceof defending ourselves."
"I can quite understand that, Mr. Blagrove," Sir Sidney said kindly,while the others smiled at the matter-of-fact way in which Edgar relatedwhat must have been a very dangerous business.
"I see that, whatever else we may have to teach you, it will not be howto use your weapons. Indeed, it seems to me that you are getting on veryfast. I saw you go up the shrouds to-day, and I can see that you willvery soon be as much at home there as any of my midshipmen. And now,gentlemen, we have had rather a long sitting, for it is nearly teno'clock; but I am sure that you must have been as interested as I havebeen myself, in the information Mr. Blagrove has been good enough togive us."
"By Jove, Blagrove," Wilkinson said when they had left the cabin, "ifyou had told me all this before I should not have felt so doubtful aboutyour fight with Condor. So you can really use your fists well?"
"I learnt for over two years from some of the best light-weights inLondon," Edgar replied, "and unless he has had wonderfully good teachersI ought to have no trouble about the matter."
Two days later the _Tigre_ left the Pireus. To Sir Sidney Smith'sdisappointment, he had not found Lord Nelson there, as he had expectedto do, and he was the more disappointed inasmuch as he had missed LordSt. Vincent, who was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, atGibraltar.