A THREATENING SKY.
AT the end of July so large a number of troops had arrived that the
services of the sailors on shore were no longer required, and with the
exception of those serving with the iron-clad train they returned on
board, the marines, however, still remaining in the town. On the 4th of
August the lads heard that a reconnaissance would take place next day,
and that there would probably be a fight. Accordingly in the evening
they walked up to Ramleh, and slept for the night in one of the
deserted houses. The trains soon began to arrive loaded with troops, and
the boys took up their position near one of the batteries on the
sand-hills, where they could obtain an excellent view over the isthmus
between the lakes Mareotis and Aboukir.
The advance soon began; it was composed of six companies of the 60th
Rifles, four companies of the 38th, and four of the 46th. These were to
march by the canal, while seven companies of the marines moved along the
railway embankment in company with the iron-clad train. The two parties
were to join at the point where the canal and the railway approach
closely to each other. The ground between the two embankments consisted
of fields and marshy swamps.
The boys watched the 60th Rifles extending in skirmishing order, and as
soon as they began to advance a movement was visible in the enemy's
lines, and the Egyptians took up their position in a deep ditch across
the line of advance and opened a heavy fire upon the Rifles.
The Egyptians were altogether invisible, their position being only
marked by a light line of smoke rising in front of a thick jungle.
Fortunately they fired high, and the boys could see that the Rifles
continued advancing without much loss. When they neared the Egyptian
position the supports came up to the skirmishing line, and the whole
went forward at a rush. The instant they did so the Egyptians sprang
from their ditch and rushed into the jungle behind.
The column was intended to advance to a white house on the canal, at
the point where the railway came close to it; but its commander
misunderstanding his orders stopped at a white house before he came to
it. Thus the marines advancing along the embankment were left
unsupported. They had been met with a hot fire from the enemy, who were
posted in a large house surrounded by entrenchments, on which some guns
had been mounted. The guns on the train kept up a steady fire on this
position, and the marines pushing forward were soon hotly engaged by the
enemy's infantry, who were massing in great numbers on both of their
flanks.
As the marines were now far in advance of the other column, the order
was given them to fall back. To cover this movement, Major Donald with
fifty men advanced boldly close to the Egyptian position, and kept up so
hot a fire that the enemy's advance was checked, while the main bodies
of the marines retired steadily across the fields to the embankment,
keeping perfect order in spite of the tremendous fire that was poured
into them, and bringing off every wounded man as he fell. Major Donald's
party then fell back rapidly and joined them.
The enemy had now brought up several batteries of artillery, which
opened upon the marines, while the infantry pressed forward in heavy
masses. The marines, however, aided by the musketry fire of the sailors
in the train, as well as by their machine-guns and heavy pieces of
artillery, kept them at bay as they fell back along the embankment, and
as soon as the Egyptians came within range, the guns at Ramleh opened
upon them, and they fell back to their camps, while the British columns
returned to Ramleh.
The object of the reconnaissance had been served by the discovery of the
strength and position of the enemy's batteries, and it was evident that
it would need a large force to carry the formidable positions which
guarded the isthmus.
A week later the lads, on paying their usual morning visit to the
consulate, heard to their delight that the _Wild Wave_ had just been
signalled approaching the harbour, which was now crowded with shipping,
as steamers laden with troops were arriving every day from England. The
lads hurried down to the port, and as soon as the _Wild Wave_ dropped
her anchor they were alongside of her. They were very warmly greeted by
the captain and officers as they came on board ship.
"Well, you young scamps," Captain Murchison said after the first
greetings were over, "you have given us a nice fright. What has it all
been about? for at present we have heard nothing whatever beyond the
fact that you were safe; and we are prepared to put you in irons for
desertion unless you can give us a completely satisfactory explanation
of your absence. Mr. Timmins and myself are strongly of opinion that you
simply hid yourselves till the vessel sailed, so as to be able to have a
run on shore and see all that was going on."
"We are very glad we have seen it, sir," Jim said; "but I don't think it
was at all our fault that we were left behind." And he then proceeded to
relate to the captain the story of what had befallen them since they
last met.
"Well, lads, I congratulate you on your escape, which was certainly a
very narrow one. You have, I hope, all written to your friends at home
to tell them everything that has taken place. It was most fortunate that
your telegram from here arrived the day after we got to England, so that
your friends practically received the news that you were missing and
that you were safe at the same time. We had delayed sending off letters
telling them that you were lost until we could receive an answer to our
telegram to the consul. I went over and saw your mother and sister the
same evening, Jack. Of course your mother was in some alarm at the
thought of the danger she pictured to herself that you must have gone
through. I told her I expected that when the row began you had hid up
somewhere, and that not knowing that matters had quieted down again you
had remained there until after we sailed."
The boys had all written home on the day after they had rejoined their
friends in Alexandria, and had, a week before the arrival of the _Wild
Wave_, received answers to their letters. An hour later an officer came
off with orders that the coal was not to be discharged on shore, but
that the transports would come alongside and fill up from her. For a
week all hands were engaged in the unpleasant duty of discharging the
coal. Steamer after steamer came alongside and took from one to three
hundred tons on board, to supply the place of the coal consumed on the
outward voyage. All on board were heartily glad when the work was over,
the decks scrubbed and washed down, and the hose at work upon the
bulwarks and rigging.
"We shall not be clean again till we have had twelve hour's rain on
her," Captain Murchison said. "It is the first time so far as I know
that the _Wild Wave_ has carried coal, and I hope it will be the last,
so long as I command her."
"Yes, I have been feeling a good deal like a chimney-sweep for the last
week, sir," Mr. Timmins remarked; "and shall not feel clean again till
all my togs have been ashore and had a regular wash."
"I shall be glad to be out of this harbour," the captain said. "These
tideless harbours soon get very unpleasant when there is much shipping
in them. And yet I own I should like to wait to see the attack on the
Egyptian position. I believe the last transports came in to-day, and as
Lord Wolseley arrived two days ago, I suppose they will be at it in a
day or two. However, as I sent off a telegram this morning saying that
we were empty, I suppose we shall get orders this afternoon or to-morrow
morning to go somewhere."
Late in the afternoon they were surprised by seeing the boats of the
fleet and transports occupied in re-embarking large numbers of troops.
"Something is evidently up," Mr. Hoare said, as he stood with the lads
watching the busy scene. "I suppose Lord Wolseley thinks it will cost
too many lives to attack the Egyptian position in front, and that he is
going to make a fresh landing somewhere along the coast so as to march
round and take them in the rear. Or it may be he is going to sail up the
canal and land at Ismailia; in that way, if he is sharp, he may get
between Arabi and Cairo, and cut the enemy off altogether from the
capital."
The next morning at daybreak the great fleet of men-of-war and
transports steamed away for the East on their way to Ismailia, and the
_Wild Wave_, which had got her orders late the evening before, sailed
for Genoa, where she was to take on board a cargo for England. Six weeks
later she entered St. Katharine's Docks, and the three midshipmen were
at once released from duty. Jack had already packed up his small kit,
and, taking the train to Fenchurch St. and then a bus to Dulwich, was
soon home. As the ship had been signalled when she passed the Downs, he
was expected, and received a joyous welcome. Great was the interest of
his mother and sister in the adventures he had passed through, and they
were delighted with the gold watch and the inscription, stating that it
had been presented to him by merchants of Alexandria whose property he
had been the means of rescuing from its plunderers.
The next morning Mrs. Robson received a note asking her to come up with
Jack and Lily to dine with the Godstones. Jack learned that while he had
been away Lily had been often there spending the day with Mildred, who
was nearly her own age. On their arrival Mildred took her off to her own
room to have tea, while Jack dined with Mr. Godstone and his wife, and
after dinner had again to repeat the full story of his adventures. His
stay in England was a short one, for the _Wild Wave_, as soon as she had
unloaded her cargo from Italy, was chartered for Calcutta, via the Cape,
and a fortnight after his arrival at home Jack was again summoned to
rejoin his ship.
The _Wild Wave_ was again fortunate in her weather during the early part
of her voyage, but when off the Cape encountered a heavy gale. Jack had
never before seen a storm at sea, and, accustomed as he was to the short
choppy waves at the mouth of the Thames, he was astonished at the size
of those he now beheld. They seemed to him as large in comparison to the
size of the barque as those he had before seen were to that of the
smack. For three days the vessel lay to. Fortunately the glass had given
notice of the approach of the storm, and all the upper spars had been
sent down and the vessel got under snug canvas before it struck her, and
she therefore rode out the gale with no farther damage than the carrying
away of part of her bulwarks, and the loss of some hen-coops and various
other of her deck gear. As soon as the gale abated sail was made, and
they continued on their course.
"Glad it is over, eh, Master Robson?" the sailmaker, Joe Culver, said to
Jack as he was leaning against the bulwark on the evening after the
storm had subsided, looking at the reflection of the setting sun on the
glassy slopes of the long swell that was still heaving. Joe Culver, or,
as he was always called on board, Old Joe, was a character; he had
sailed as man and boy over fifty-five years on board ships belonging to
the firm; and now, although sixty-seven years old, was still active and
hearty. It was a legend among the sailors that Old Joe had not changed
in the slightest degree from the time he was entered in the ship's books
as a boy.
"Old Joe is like the figure-head of a ship," a sailor said one day. "He
got carved out of wood when he was little; and though he has got dinted
about a bit, he ain't never changed nothing to speak of. If you could
but paint him up a bit he would be as good as new."
Joe could have gone into quarters on shore with a pension years before,
for his long service had made him a marked character; and while other
sailors came and went in the service of the firm, the fact that his name
had been on their books for so long a period, with but two breaks, had
made him a sort of historical character, and at the end of each long
voyage he was always expected to show himself at the office to have a
few words with the head of the firm. He was still rated as an able
seamen, with extra pay as sailmaker, but he was never expected to go
aloft. In every other respect he could still do his work, and could turn
out a new sail or alter an old one as well as any sailmaker on board Mr.
Godstone's fleet.
As Captain Murchison remarked to the owners when he saw that Joe was
this voyage to form one of his crew: "The old fellow would be worth his
pay if he never put his hand to work. He keeps a crew in good humour
with his yarns and stories; and if there is a grumbler on board he
always manages to turn the laugh against him, and to show him to the
others in his true light as a skulker and a sneak. He looks after the
boys and puts them up to their duty, and acts generally as a father to
them. A man like that, attached to the owners, always cheerful and
good-tempered, ready to make the best of everything, and to do his work
to the best of his power, is a very valuable man on board a ship. I
always feel that things will go on comfortably forward when I see Joe
Culver's name down in the articles."
"It was grand, Joe," Jack replied in answer to his question, "though it
was very awful. I had no idea that a storm would be anything like that,
or the waves so high. I have seen storms on our own East Coast, and they
seemed bad enough, but they were nothing to this."
"And this weren't nothing to some storms I have seen in these latitudes,
Master Robson. I have doubled the Cape two score of times, I should
say--eh, more than that, coming and going--and I have seen storms here
to which that which has just blown over was but a capful of wind. Why,
sir, I have seen a ship laid on her beam-ends when she was not showing a
rag of canvas, and even when we had cut all the masts away the pressure
of wind on her hull kept her down until we thought that she would never
right again. Altogether I have been wrecked eight times, and three of
them was down in these 'ere latitudes. They says as my name has been on
the books of the firm for fifty-five years; but that ain't quite
correct, for twice it was written off with D.D. after it, but somehow or
other I turned up again, just as you see. One of these 'ere businesses
happened hereabouts."
"I should like to hear about it awfully, Joe."
"Well, sir, seeing it was not what you may call an everyday sort of
affair, and as perhaps the yarn might give you a hint as might be useful
to you if you ever gets into the same kind of fix, I don't mind if I
tell you. Just at present I have not finished my work, but if you and
the other two young gents like to come forward here at six bells I will
tell you about it."