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[Illustration: "WELL, MY LAD, WHO ARE YOU?"
_Page 124_]
At Aboukir and Acre
A Story of Napoleon's Invasion
of Egypt
BY
G. A. HENTY
Author of "The Dash for Khartoum" "By Right of Conquest"
"In Greek Waters" "St. Bartholomew's Eve" &c.
_Illustrated_
BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
LONDON AND GLASGOW
BLACKIE & SON LIMITED
50 Old Bailey, LONDON
17 Stanhope Street, GLASGOW
BLACKIE & SON (INDIA) LIMITED
Warwick House, Fort Street, BOMBAY
BLACKIE & SON (CANADA) LIMITED
1118 Bay Street, TORONTO
_Printed in Great Britain by
Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_
PREFACE
With the general knowledge of geography now possessed we may well wonder
at the wild notion entertained both by Bonaparte and the French
authorities that it would be possible, after conquering Egypt, to march
an army through Syria, Persia, and the wild countries of the northern
borders of India, and to drive the British altogether from that country.
The march, even if unopposed, would have been a stupendous one, and the
warlike chiefs of Northern India, who, as yet, were not even threatened
by a British advance, would have united against an invading army from
the north, and would, had it not been of prodigious strength, have
annihilated it. The French had enormously exaggerated the power of
Tippoo Sahib, with whom they had opened negotiations, and even had their
fantastic designs succeeded, it is certain that the Tiger of Mysore
would, in a very short time, have felt as deep a hatred for them as he
did for the British.
But even had such a march been possible, the extreme danger in which an
army landed in Egypt would be placed of being cut off, by the superior
strength of the British navy, from all communication with France, should
alone have deterred them from so wild a project. The fate of the
campaign was indeed decided when the first gun was fired in the Bay of
Aboukir, and the destruction of the French fleet sealed the fate of
Napoleon's army. The noble defence of Acre by Sir Sidney Smith was the
final blow to Napoleon's projects, and from that moment it was but a
question of time when the French army would be forced to lay down its
arms, and be conveyed, in British transports, back to France. The credit
of the signal failure of the enterprise must be divided between Nelson,
Sir Sidney Smith, and Sir Ralph Abercrombie.
CONTENTS
CHAP. Page
I. MAKING A FRIEND 11
II. A BEDOUIN TRIBE 31
III. LEFT BEHIND 49
IV. THE BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS 66
V. A STREET ATTACK 86
VI. THE RISING IN CAIRO 105
VII. SAVED 122
VIII. AN EGYPTIAN TOMB 142
IX. SIR SIDNEY SMITH 162
X. A SEA-FIGHT 182
XI. ACRE 199
XII. A DESPERATE SIEGE 217
XIII. AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND 234
XIV. A PIRATE HOLD 251
XV. CRUISING 270
XVI. A VISIT HOME 287
XVII. ABERCROMBIE'S EXPEDITION 304
XVIII. THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA 322
XIX. QUIET AND REST 340
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Facing Page
"WELL, MY LAD, WHO ARE YOU?" Frontispiece
ALI AND AYALA APPEARED 144
EDGAR HITS OUT 184
WITH A TREMENDOUS CHEER, FLUNG THEMSELVES UPON THE PIRATES 256
GIVING A YELL OF DERISION AND DEFIANCE 328
* * * * *
Plan of the Battle of the Nile 84
Plan of the Siege of St. Jean D'Acre 209
Plan of the Battle of Alexandria 329
AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE
CHAPTER I.
MAKING A FRIEND.
Two lads were standing in one of the bastions of a fort looking over the
sea. There were neither guards nor sentinels there. The guns stood on
their carriages, looking clean and ready for action, but this was not
the result of care and attention, but simply because in so dry a climate
iron rusts but little. A close examination would have shown that the
wooden carriages on which they stood were so cracked and warped by heat
that they would have fallen to pieces at the first discharge of the guns
they upheld. Piles of cannon-balls stood between the guns, half-covered
with the drifting sand, which formed slopes half-way up the walls of the
range of barracks behind, and filled up the rooms on the lower floor.
Behind rose the city of Alexandria, with its minarets and mosques, its
palaces and its low mud-built huts. Seaward lay a fleet of noble ships
with their long lines of port-holes, their lofty masts, and network of
rigging.
"What do you think of it, Sidi?"
"It is wonderful!" his companion replied. "How huge they are, what lines
of cannon, what great masts, as tall and as straight as palm-trees!
Truly you Franks know many things of which we in the desert are
ignorant. Think you that they could batter these forts to pieces?"
The other laughed as he looked round. "One of them could do that now,
Sidi, seeing that there is scarce a gun on the rampart that could be
fired in return; but were all in good order, and with British
artillerists, the whole fleet would stand but a poor chance against
them, for while their shot would do but little injury to these solid
walls, these cannon would drill the ships through and through, and if
they did not sheer off, would sink them."
"But why British artillerists, brother, why not our own people?"
"Because you have no properly trained gunners. You know how strong
Algiers was, and yet it was attacked with success, twice by the French,
twice by ourselves, and once by us and the Dutch; but it is a rule that
a strongly defended fort cannot be attacked successfully by ships. If
these forts were in proper condition and well manned, I don't think that
even Nelson would attack them, though he might land somewhere along the
coast, attack and capture the town from the land side, and then carry
the batteries. Successful as he has been at sea, he has had some
experience as to the difficulty of taking forts. He was beaten off at
Teneriffe, and although he did succeed in getting the Danes to surrender
at Copenhagen, it's well known now that his ships really got the worst
of the fight, and that if the Danes had held on, he must have drawn off
with the loss of many of his vessels."
"I know nothing of these things, brother, nor where the towns you name
are, nor who are the Danes; but it seems to me that those great ships
with all their guns would be terrible assailants. As you say, these
forts are not fit for fighting; but this is because no foes have ever
come against us by sea for so many years. What could an enemy do if they
landed?"
"The Mamelukes are grand horsemen, Sidi, but horsemen alone cannot win a
battle; there are the artillery and infantry to be counted with, and it
is with these that battles are won in our days, though I say not that
cavalry do not bear their share, but alone they are nothing. One
infantry square, if it be steady, can repulse a host of them; but you
may ere long see the matter put to proof, for I hear that the officers
who came on shore this morning asked if aught had been heard of the
French fleet, which had, they say, sailed from Toulon to conquer Egypt.
It is for this that the English fleet has come here."
"Their bones will whiten the plains should they attempt it," the other
said scornfully. "But why should they want to interfere with us, and why
should you care to prevent them doing so if they are strong enough?"
"Because, in the first place, we are at war with them, and would prevent
them gaining any advantage. In the second place, because Egypt is a step
on the way to India. There we are fighting with one of the great native
princes, who has, they say, been promised help by the French, who are
most jealous of us, since we have destroyed their influence there, and
deprived them of their chance of becoming masters of a large portion of
the country."
The conversation had been carried on in Arabic. The speakers were of
about the same age, but Edgar Blagrove was half a head taller than his
Arab friend. His father was a merchant settled in Alexandria, where
Edgar had been born sixteen years before, and except that he had spent
some two years and a half at school in England, he had never been out of
Egypt. Brought up in a polyglot household, where the nurses were French
or Italian, the grooms Arab, the gardeners Egyptians drawn from the
fellah class, and the clerks and others engaged in his father's business
for the most part Turks, Edgar had from childhood spoken all these
languages with equal facility. He had never learned them, but they had
come to him naturally as his English had done. His mother, never an
energetic woman, had felt the heat of the climate much, and had never
been, or declared she had never been--which came to the same
thing--capable of taking any exercise, and, save for a drive in her
carriage in the cool of the evening, seldom left the house.
Edgar had, from the first, been left greatly to his own devices. His
father was a busy man, and, as long as the boy was well and strong, was
content that he should spend his time as he chose, insisting only on his
taking lessons for two hours a day from the Italian governess, who
taught his twin sisters, who were some eighteen months younger than
himself; after that he was free to wander about the house or to go into
the streets, provided that one of the grooms, either Hammed or Abdul,
accompanied him. When at thirteen he was sent to England to stay with an
uncle and to go through a couple of years' schooling, he entered a world
so wholly unlike that in which he himself had been brought up, that for
a time he seemed completely out of his element.
His father had an excellent library, and during the heat of the day the
boy had got through a great deal of reading, and was vastly better
acquainted with standard English writers than his cousins or
school-fellows, but of ordinary school work he was absolutely ignorant,
and at first he was much laughed at for his deficiencies in Latin and
Greek. The latter he never attempted, but his knowledge of Italian
helped him so greatly with his Latin that in a very few months he went
through class after class, until he was fully up to the level of other
boys of his age. His uncle lived in the suburbs of London, and he went
with his cousins to St. Paul's. At that time prize-fighting was the
national sport, and his father had, when he sent him over, particularly
requested his uncle to obtain a good teacher for him.
"Whether Edgar will stay out here for good, Tom, I cannot say, but
whether he does or not, I should like him to be able to box well. In
England every gentleman in our day learns to use his fists, while out
here it is of very great advantage that a man should be able to do so.
We have a mixed population here, and a very shady one. Maltese, Greeks,
Italians, and French, and these probably the very scum of the various
seaports of the Mediterranean, therefore to be able to hit quick and
straight from the shoulder may well save a man's life. Of course he is
young yet, but if he goes regularly for an hour two or three times a
week to one of the light-weight men, I have no doubt that when he
returns he will be able to astonish any of these street ruffians who may
interfere with him.
"Even if he is never called upon to use his fists, it will do him a
great deal of good, for boxing gives a quickness and readiness not only
of hands, but of thought, that is of great service; and moreover, the
exercise improves the figure, and is, in that respect, I think, fully
equal to fencing. Please put this matter in hand as soon as he arrives.
As to his studies, I own that I care very little; the boy speaks
half-a-dozen languages, any one of which is vastly more useful to a
resident here than Latin and Greek together. Naturally he will learn
Latin. Of course his Italian will facilitate this, and it is part of a
gentleman's education to be able to understand a quotation or turn a
phrase in it. Still, it is not for this that I send him to England, but
to become an English boy, and that your Bob and Arthur and his
school-fellows will teach him."
Edgar was quite as much surprised at his cousins and school-fellows as
they were with him. The fact that he could talk half-a-dozen languages
was to them amazing, while not less astonishing to him was their
ignorance of the affairs of Europe except, indeed, of the French
Revolution--their vagueness in geography, and the absolute blank of
their minds as to Egypt. It was not until three months after his arrival
that he had his first fight, and the instructions he had received during
that time sufficed to enable him to win so easy a victory, that it was
some months before he had again occasion to use his fists in earnest.
This time it was in the streets. He was returning home with his cousins,
when a pert young clerk thought it a good joke to twitch off his cap and
throw it into a shop, and was astounded when, before the cap had reached
the floor, he himself was prostrate on the pavement.
He was no coward, however, and leapt up, furious, to punish this boy of
fourteen, but in spite of his superior strength and weight, he was no
match for Edgar, whose quickness on his legs enabled him to avoid his
rushes, while he planted his blows so quickly and heavily that in ten
minutes the clerk was unable to see out of his eyes, and had to be led
away amid the jeers of the crowd. This success increased Edgar's ardour
to perfect himself in the art. If he could so easily defeat an English
lad of seventeen, he felt sure that after another year's teaching he
need not fear an attack by the greatest ruffian in Alexandria. His
uncle had taken advice on the subject, and, desirous of carrying out his
brother's instructions to the fullest, changed his master every six
months; so that during the two years and a half that he was in England
Edgar had learned all that the five most skilled light-weight pugilists
in England could teach him.
"Yes, he is going in for it thoroughly," his uncle would say to his
friends. "Of course, I shall have my own boys taught in another three or
four years, for I think that every gentleman should be able to defend
himself if assaulted by a street ruffian; but in his case he has to
learn when quite young or not at all, and I think that it will be very
useful to him, as all these foreign fellows draw their knives on the
least occasion."
When Edgar returned to Alexandria, nine months before the time when he
and Sidi were watching Nelson's fleet, his father was well pleased with
the change that had taken place in him. He had been tall for his age
before he left, now he had not only grown considerably, but had widened
out. He was still far from being what may be called a squarely-built
boy, but he was of a fair width across the shoulders, and was a picture
of health and activity. The muscles of his arms, shoulders, and loins
were as tough as steel, his complexion was fresh and clear, and he had
scarce an ounce of superfluous flesh upon him.
"Save for your complexion, Edgar, you might well pass as a young Bedouin
if you were to wrap yourself up in their garb. I see you have profited
well by your teachers' instructions. Your uncle wrote to me a year ago
that you had administered a sound thrashing to a fellow seventeen years
old who had meddled with you, and as, no doubt, you have improved in
skill and strength since that time, I should think that you need have no
fear of holding your own should you get into trouble with any of these
street ruffians."
"I should hope so, father; at any rate I should not mind trying. I know
that I could hold my own pretty fairly with young Jackson. They call him
the 'Bantam'. He is the champion light-weight now, though he does not
fight above nine stone, so there is not much difference between us in
weight."
"Good! and how about your school work?"
"Oh, I did pretty well, father! I was good in Latin, but I was nowhere
in figures."
"Not grown quarrelsome, I hope, on the strength of your fighting,
Edgar?"
"No, sir, I hope not. I never had a fight at school except the one I had
three months after I got there, and I only had that one row you speak of
with a clerk. I don't think it would be fair, you see, to get into rows
with fellows who have no idea how thoroughly I have been taught."
His father nodded.
"Quite right, Edgar. My ideas are that a man who can box well is much
less likely to get into quarrels than one who cannot. He knows what he
can do, and that, if forced to use his skill, he is able to render a
good account of himself, and therefore he can afford to put up with
more, than one who is doubtful as to whether he is likely to come well
out of a fight if he begins one."
Edgar found on his arrival at Alexandria that his mother and sisters
were about to leave for England. Mrs. Blagrove had become seriously
indisposed, the result, as she maintained, of the climate, but which was
far more due to her indolent habits, for she never took any exercise
whatever. Her general health was greatly impaired, and the two Italian
doctors who attended her--there being no English medical men resident
there--had most strongly advised that she should return home. They had
frankly told Mr. Blagrove that a colder climate was absolutely necessary
to her, not only because it would brace her up and act as a tonic, but
because she would probably there be induced to take a certain amount of
exercise. The two girls were to accompany her, in order that they
should, like Edgar, enjoy the advantage of going to an English school
and mixing with English girls of their own age. They, too, had both felt
the heat during the preceding summer, and Mr. Blagrove felt that a stay
of two or three years in England would be an immense advantage to them.
Mrs. Blagrove was to stay with her father, a clergyman in the west of
England, for a few months, when her husband intended himself to go over
for a time. The war had much reduced business, the activity of the
French privateers rendered communication irregular and precarious, the
rates both for freight and insurance were very high, the number of
vessels entering the port were but a tithe of those that frequented it
before the outbreak of the war, and as no small part of Mr. Blagrove's
business consisted in supplying vessels with such stores as they needed,
his operations were so restricted that he felt he could, without any
great loss, leave the management of his affairs in the hands of his
chief assistant, a German, who had been with him for twenty years, and
in whom he placed the greatest reliance.
Edgar would be there to assist generally, and his father thought that it
would even benefit him to be placed for a time in a responsible
position. It was, of course, a great disappointment to Edgar to find
that his mother and the girls were on the point of returning. Their
departure, indeed, had been decided upon somewhat suddenly owing to a
strongly-armed English privateer, commanded by an old acquaintance of
Mr. Blagrove, coming into port. She had been cruising for some time, and
had sent home a number of prizes, and was now returning herself to
England for another refit and to fill up her crew again. As she was a
very fast vessel, and the captain said that he intended to make straight
home and to avoid all doubtful sail, Mr. Blagrove at once accepted the
offer he made to take his wife and daughters back to England,
immediately he heard that his friend was looking for a passage for them.
Accordingly for the next week there was much packing and confusion. At
the end of that time the three ladies, after a tearful adieu, sailed for
England, and things settled down again.
Edgar felt the absence of his sisters keenly. There were but a handful
of English traders in the city, and none of these had boys who were near
enough to his own age to be companions. However, it had the effect of
enabling him, without interruption, to settle down steadily to work with
his father, and to make himself acquainted with the details of the
business. This he did so industriously that Mr. Blagrove said more than
once: "You are getting on so well, Edgar, that I shall be able to go
home for my holiday with the comfortable conviction that in yours and
Muller's hands matters will go on very well here, especially as business
is so slack."
It was about three months after his return that Edgar had an opportunity
of finding the advantage of his skill in boxing. He had, on the day
after he came back, had a sack of sawdust hung up in his room, and every
morning he used to pummel this for half an hour before taking his bath,
and again before going to bed, so that he kept his muscles in a state of
training. Moreover, this exercise had the advantage that it enabled him
to stand the heat of the climate much better than he would otherwise
have done, and to save him from any of that feeling of lassitude and
depression so usual among Englishmen working in hot climates. He was
returning one day from a ride; dusk had fallen, and when just beyond the
limits of the town he heard shouts and cries, and saw a scuffle going on
in the road. Cantering on, he leapt from his horse, dropped the reins on
its neck, and ran forward.
Two of the lowest class Maltese or Greeks were dragging a young Arab
along, holding his hands to prevent him getting at his knife, and
beating him about the head with their disengaged hands. It was evident
that he was not one of the dwellers in the city, but an Arab of the
desert. His horse stood near, and he had apparently been dragged from
it.
"What is the matter? what are you beating him for?" he asked in Italian.
"This Arab dog pushed against us with his horse, and when we cursed him,
struck at us."
"Well, if he did, you have punished him enough; but perhaps his story is
a different one."
"Go your way, boy," one exclaimed with a Greek oath, "or we will throw
you into that fountain, as we are going to do him."
"You will, eh? Unloose that lad at once or it will be worse for you."
The man uttered a shout of rage. "Hold this young Arab wolf's other
hand, Giaccamo, so that he cannot use his knife. I will settle this
boy;" and his companion seized the lad's other wrist.
He rushed at Edgar, waving his arms in windmill fashion, thinking to
strike him down without the least difficulty, but he was astounded at
being met with a terrific blow on the nose, which nigh threw him off
his balance, and this was followed an instant later by another on the
point of his chin, which hurled him back, half-stunned, to the ground,
with a vague impression in his mind that his head was broken into
fragments. Before he even thought of rising, Edgar sprang at his
companion, who, releasing the Arab boy's hands, grasped his knife, but
before he could draw it, a blow, given with all Edgar's strength and the
impetus of his bound forward, stretched him also on the ground, his
knife flying from his hand.
The Arab boy had drawn his knife also, but Edgar exclaimed to him in his
own language, "No, no, pick up the other knife, and then stand over him,
but don't stab him." Then he turned to his first assailant, who was
rising to his feet, still confused and bewildered. He had instinctively
drawn his knife.
"Drop your knife, drop it!" Edgar cried. But with an oath the man sprang
at him. His eyes, however, were full of tears, his ears sung, and his
head buzzed, partly from the blow on the jaw, partly from the force with
which he had come in contact with the ground. Edward lightly sprung
aside and avoided the cut aimed at him, and then delivered a blow with
all his force just in front of the ear, and the man dropped again as if
shot. In a moment Edgar had wrenched the knife from his hand, then he
turned to the young Arab.
"That is enough," he said; "they have both got more than they wanted;
they are harmless now, we have their two knives."
The Arab, who was panting from his exertions, and who had evidently
restrained himself with difficulty from plunging his knife into his
fallen assailant, turned round towards him.
"Who are you, brother, whose blows fell men like strokes of lightning?"
"My name is Edgar Blagrove. I am the son of a merchant, whose place of
business is in the great square. Who are you, and how did this business
begin?"
"My name is Sidi Ben Ouafy. I am the son of a chief. My father's tribe
live in the oasis ten miles east of the old lake. I was riding from the
town when these two men, for whom there was, as you see, plenty of room
in the road, staggered suddenly against me, whether with evil intent or
merely to enjoy the pleasure of seeing me rolling in the dust, I know
not. They nearly unseated me from the suddenness of the attack, and as I
recovered I certainly struck at them with my whip. One seized me by the
foot and threw me off my horse, and then, as you saw, they fell upon me,
beat me, and were dragging me to the fountain to throw me in when you
came up. Had they not heard your horse coming along they would, I
believe, have killed me. Henceforth you are my brother; my horses and
all that I have are yours, and every sword of our tribe would leap from
its scabbard in your defence were it needed. To-morrow I will ride in
again, and my father himself will assuredly come with me. I cannot speak
of my gratitude now, my head is still dizzy with the blows they gave me;
even yet I cannot understand how it was that these two men have thus
fallen before you, and you with no weapon in your hands. Are they dead?"
"Not they," Edgar said scornfully; "they are wondering what has happened
to them, and fear to move, not knowing that their own knives might not
be driven into their hearts did they venture to rise. Well, good-bye,
Sidi; I will see you off first; and I should advise you, when you ride
into the town again, to bring your pistols with you. Like enough these
scoundrels will try to get revenge for this defeat."
"I will do so. I know not why I did not carry them to-day. I will not
only bring them, but two of my tribesmen shall ride with me. But
methinks that you will be in greater danger than I shall, brother."
"I shall be on the look-out, and will, for a time, carry pistols with
me; but I do not often go out after dark, and have no occasion ever to
enter the streets where rogues of this sort live. As to an open attack,
I have no fear of it; but I have no doubt that either of those
scoundrels would plant a knife between my shoulders if they had a chance
to do so."
Both the lads mounted their horses, and after a few words of farewell
rode off in different directions. Not until the sound of the horses'
hoofs died away did the two figures in the road move, then they sat up.
"What has happened, Zeno?"
"I know not, save that my head is ringing. I feel as if my jaws were
broken, and my nose is so swelled that it seems as big as my head."
"And I can scarcely see from my eyes," the other said. "Cospetto, never
before have I been thus handled!"
"We will kill him!" the other said furiously.
"That of course; I know not who he was, but we shall doubtless find out.
I can hardly believe even now that it was with his hand that he struck
us--it was done so quickly. He was there--then I struck at him,
when--paff!--and it seemed to me that the air was full of stars; then,
paff again! my jaws cracked, I fell backwards, there was a crash, and
the world seemed to have come to an end. And you, Giaccamo, what did he
do to you?"
"It was like that, except that I only had one blow, and there was an
end of it. I was drawing my knife when it came--how, I know not. My
knife flew from my hand--there was a flash of fire from my eyes, and I
was on the ground, and thought it best to lie there, lest that accursed
young Arab should take it into his head to sheathe my knife in my body.
The next time we will give the young fellow no chance to try those
strange tricks upon us."
"You are right, Giaccamo; I would sooner fight against even Thomasso,
who is the best knife-player in Alexandria, than face that fellow again.
Who can he be, I wonder?"
Edgar rode home, and after seeing his horse taken into the stable, went
into the house.
"I have found my boxing of use, father."
"How is that, Edgar?"
The lad told him what had happened.
"You were quite right to strike, my boy," his father went on when he had
heard the story; "'tis likely enough that those ruffians would have
killed the lad. There are fellows here who would do murder for the sake
of a few copper coins; and, doubtless, those men thought that the young
chief would have some trinkets about him that would pay them for their
trouble. I am sorry that you did not let the Arab put his knife into
them; it would have been a good riddance, for the town abounds with
rascals of that kind--the scum of the Mediterranean, men who have made
their native towns too hot to hold them, and have committed crimes
untold. As it is, you will have to be careful; fellows of this kind are
not of a forgiving nature, and will be patient enough to wait for their
revenge, but sooner or later they will attempt to take it."
"It was so dark, father, that they can scarcely have seen my face."
"Perhaps not, but no doubt they were able to make out your figure, and
there are very few better-class young Europeans here. You will have to
be on your guard, lad; you had better always carry pistols with you.
Clever as you may be with your fists, if you were attacked by
half-a-dozen fellows with knives, you would stand but little chance with
them. Don't be out after dusk; in daylight you are fairly safe. At any
rate, you would be, if you avoid the rookeries, where the lower class of
European inhabitants live. I have a brace of short-barrelled pistols
up-stairs I will give you. I carried them at one time when things were
very unsettled here. You have made two bitter enemies, but, on the other
hand, you have made a friend who may be useful. These Arabs, when they
once form a friendship, are as true as steel, and in the event of any
fanatical troubles here, you would find a sure refuge among them. The
lad's father, Aboo Ben Ouafy, I know a little of, as he has made
purchases of me. His tribe is not a large one, but he himself is a fine
fellow. As the lad told you, their head-quarters are in an oasis some
eight or ten miles, I believe, east of the old site of Lake Mareotis.
They, of course, like all those people, are frequently absent on hunting
or plundering expeditions."
The next day Sidi and his father, followed by half a dozen tribesmen,
halted in front of Mr. Blagrove's place of business, and the two former
dismounted and entered. The Bedouin chief saluted the merchant gravely,
while Sidi went up to Edgar, who was sitting at a table, for he now
worked for some hours a day in his father's office, and who rose at the
lad's approach, and held out his hand in English fashion.
"You are none the worse for our scrimmage last night, Sidi?" he said
heartily.
"No harm was done," Sidi replied gravely. "I am glad of what happened,
for it has given me a friend, a brother."
"I am glad too," Edgar replied, "for I too am happy to have gained a
friend."
In the meantime his father was saying to Mr. Blagrove, "I have come,
effendi, to thank you and your son for the assistance he rendered to my
boy yesterday. I have no doubt that he saved his life, and that at the
peril of his own. It is wonderful what my son tells me, that, with his
hands alone he beat to the ground the two men who had attacked him,
though they were armed with knives. I know not how it could be done, but
since it was done 'tis plain that he must possess skill unknown to us.
Sidi has called him brother, and henceforth I shall regard him as a son,
and my tribe will be his should he need their services. I doubt not that
the attack was made in order to gain the horse my son rode, which is one
of famous breed, and would sell at high price at Cairo or any other of
the large towns. I feel sure that they would have killed him in order
that they might carry the horse away without search being made for it,
for before we found that Sidi had been slain the horse would have been a
hundred miles away."
"I know that your tribe is famous for having some of the best Arabian
blood in the country, sheik, and I think it probable that you are right.
The fellows may have seen your son ride into the town and determined to
waylay him on his return."
"Your son did wrong not to kill them," the Arab said, "he will be in
danger from them. I have called not only to thank him, but to ask him to
come and bide with us for a time; he will assuredly be in danger here.
Were I governor of the town I would chop off the heads of all those
people who breed disorders and are a curse to it. 'Tis well that Franks
like yourself should settle among us, and should trade with us, buying
our goods and selling to us those of Europe, but these thieves and
cut-throats, these ruffians who neither trade nor work, but live by
ill-doing, should be rooted out."
"I should be glad for my son to stay with you for a short time, sheik. I
share your opinion that these men will try to avenge themselves, and it
were well that he should be away for a time. Doubtless they will watch
narrowly to see if they can find the young fellow who interfered with
them, but if they meet with no one like him they may well think that he
has left the town."
"It is well!" the Arab said. "I am going now to the governor to lay a
complaint against these men. My son will go with me to tell him what
they are like; the son of a sheik is not to be assaulted by town
ruffians with impunity. We may be kept some time, but when we have done
we will return hither. Will your son be ready to ride with us?"
"Certainly, sheik; it will not take him five minutes to make his
preparations."
"He will not need a horse," the sheik said; "I have brought one with me
for him."
Edgar had listened with delight to this conversation (which was in
Arabic, which his father spoke fluently). The idea of going to stay for
a time in an Arab encampment was exciting indeed, for he had already
begun to find the life monotonous after the two years spent at school
and in the lively companionship of his cousins.
"It were well that you should come out and see your horse," the sheik
said to him, "and make friends with him while we are away, for he is not
accustomed to Europeans, and might give you trouble were you to mount
him at once."
Edgar and his father both went out. One of the Arabs was standing at
the horse's head, rubbing its nose and talking to it as if it had been a
human being.
"That is the horse," the sheik said gravely. "Only to one, whom I regard
as a son, would I part with him. On his back you may scoff at pursuit by
any foes, for outside my encampment there is not a horse in Egypt which
it could not distance. Now it is yours to do with as you like, save to
sell it, for I would not that his blood should run in any veins save
those of the horses of my tribe."
"This is, indeed, a princely gift, sheik," the merchant said warmly.
"'Tis a noble horse, and one that a king might ride. My son is indeed
indebted to you, and will value it beyond all price."
Edgar was warm in his expressions of gratitude and admiration, although,
indeed, he was unable to appreciate at its full value the points of the
animal. It was a gray, and, to English eyes, would have looked light and
wanting in bone, and fit rather for a lady's use than for a man's, with
its slender limbs and small head; but one accustomed to Arab horses, as
Mr. Blagrove was, could see at once that it was of the purest strain and
highest breeding.
"Come with me," the sheik said to Edgar. "At present, you see, he is not
accustomed to your white face, but he will soon come to love you, and
answer to your call."
The horse, indeed, had laid back his ears, distended his dilated
nostrils, and stepped back a foot or two; but as the sheik approached it
gave a little whinny of pleasure, and, advancing, laid its muzzle
against his cheek.
"This is your new master, Beauty," he said, as he stroked its glossy
neck. "He will keep you well, and you will be as one of his children,
and you must be a good friend and servant to him."
Edgar now stroked the animal. A quiver as of fear ran through it as he
touched it, but as he continued, this died away; and as Edgar spoke
quietly to it in Arabic, it was not long before it responded to his
caresses, and after taking a good look at him with its soft liquid eyes,
it put its head on his shoulder.
"You are friends now," the sheik said, with a tone of pleasure. "It is
to few, even of my tribesmen, whom he would give such a greeting. He
recognizes you already as his friend. Give him a handful of sweetmeats,
and the bargain will be sealed."
The merchant at once sent one of the native boys out to buy a bag of
sweetmeats. The sheik waited until he saw the horse taking these out of
Edgar's hands and munching them contentedly, then, leaving one of his
tribesmen in charge of the horse, he mounted, and rode off with his son
and the rest of his followers. Edgar stood for some time talking to the
horse, and then, leaving it to the native, went into the house to make
his preparations for the journey.
"You have, indeed, done well for yourself, Edgar," his father said as he
came in. "'Tis in every way fortunate. The Turks love us little, and
though they put up with us, as they need the goods that we sell, still
there may at any moment be a fanatical rising, and it is well, indeed,
to have made friends with one of the desert tribes, among whom you can
find a safe refuge. You little know the value of the horse he has given
you. The breed is a famous one, and the sheik has been offered a
fabulous sum for one of his steeds, but nothing could tempt him to part
with one. An Arab prizes a valuable horse beyond all his earthly
possessions, and, save under the pressure of the direst want, nothing
could persuade him to part with it. In presenting it to you, therefore,
the chief has shown his friendship in the most striking manner
possible, and that he regards you, as he says, as one of his family."