QUIET AND REST.
Mr. Muller came forward to meet his visitor as he entered, thinking it
probable that this naval officer had come in reference to some
arrangements to be made with regard to the transports that would carry
the French army away. It was three years since he had last seen Edgar,
and the latter had grown from a boy into a young man, and the uniform
had altered him beyond recognition, for no news had been received from
England since he had left, and Mr. Muller had supposed that he was all
this time there with his father. Edgar smiled as he saw the absence of
recognition in his face.
"Don't you know me, Mr. Muller?" he asked. "I have no doubt changed a
good deal since you saw me last in the dress of an Arab."
"Mr. Edgar Blagrove!" the latter exclaimed in astonishment. "Your
disguises are endless, sir, and I think that this is the best of them,
though why you should have adopted it I do not know."
"It happens that it is not a disguise at all this time. I am what I seem
to be, a naval lieutenant. I have been serving in the navy ever since I
joined it, ten days after I sailed from here, and was through the siege
of Acre with Sir Sidney Smith. As you see, I have had the good fortune
to be promoted. I have been serving ashore since we first landed here,
and have been up to Cairo with the force that marched there as a sort of
guide and interpreter."
"I am sure I congratulate you heartily. But you don't intend to stop in
the navy, do you?"
"No, I think not. Of course I like the life, and have been so fortunate
in getting early promotion and in being mentioned in despatches that I
ought to rise very rapidly if I stayed in it, and I am sure that Sir
Sidney Smith would interest himself for me. But I do not think that it
would be fair to my father. He has reckoned on taking the management of
the business at home, and that I should be established here with you,
and probably it would be the best thing for me in the long run. The war
with France cannot last many years, and when peace comes there will, of
course, be a great reduction of the navy, and an immense number of
officers put upon half-pay, without much chance of again obtaining
employment. My time during the last three years will not have been
misspent. As a lieutenant in the service who had obtained exceptionally
rapid promotion I should be able to secure orders for stores or repairs
to any men-of-war who might put in, and the knowledge I have gained of
ships, their fittings, rigging, and so on, would render me far more
useful to you in superintending the harbour work than I would have been
had I not had that experience."
"Certainly, Mr. Blagrove. I myself have, as you know, always been in
charge of the office here, and as far as books and accounts go I think I
know my work thoroughly, but in the last three years I have felt that my
want of knowledge of the practical side of the business has been a
serious drawback. I have been able to have the repairs necessary to
French transports and so on carried out, for the two shipwrights are
good workmen, and after it was done I could, of course, calculate what
had been the cost, and charge it with a percentage for profit; but, as a
rule, captains want an estimate before we begin, and I was unable to
give one.
"On a few occasions I did so after consulting the shipwrights, but I
burnt my fingers badly in each case, for it turned out that the defects
were much more serious than met the eye; so after that, I refused to
give an estimate at all, and lost some business in consequence, for a
French firm here snapped up all the work they could get, and were always
ready to give an estimate, though I believe in nine cases out of ten
they either did not carry out their work thoroughly or else when
half-way through were obliged to ask for considerable increase on the
ground that the amount to be done far exceeded what they supposed. This
has been so notorious that for the past year we have had our hands full,
and I believe that they intended to leave even if the French occupation
had continued. Indeed, they came to me three months ago and asked if I
should be inclined to buy their yard and appliances and stock. I refused
at that time, but I am of opinion that the matter is well worth
thinking over. Since trade increased again we have been very cramped for
room. Of course it formed but a small portion of your father's business,
but I think that in future it could be made at least as important a part
as the inland trade, and certainly with you at the head it could be
largely extended."
"That would quite suit me. As you know, I have always been fond of
ships, and now, after being three years at sea, am naturally more fond
of them than before; and although I could make myself very happy in
looking after the work of a ship-yard and superintending the business
afloat, I should feel altogether like a fish out of water if I were to
be kept to book-keeping inside. I know that there is a ship sailing for
England to-night with despatches. I will sit down at once and write to
my father, and say that I am ready to leave the navy at once and fall to
work here. He is certain to come out as soon as he hears the news that
the place has surrendered, and that the French are going.
"I will tell him what you say about the other ship-yard, and ask him to
go to the Admiralty. I have no doubt that the president of the prize
court, who had some business with my father, and has since been on very
friendly terms with him, will give him a good introduction, and may
possibly go with him to urge that as I am going to undertake the
superintendence of a ship-yard here, and that we hope to be of service
to ships of war putting in for repairs, they will consent to my going on
half-pay instead of retiring altogether. It would certainly strengthen
my position here so far as our ships of war are concerned. I daresay
that you will be sending off too."
"Yes; I have kept everything written up and copies made so that I could
send them off should an opportunity offer; and a couple of hours' work
will enable me to bring matters pretty well up to date."
"I suppose, except for the ship work, everything has been of late very
dull?"
"Very dull indeed. We have had literally no goods whatever from the
interior. Of course production has fallen off very greatly, and the sale
of Egyptian products at Cairo, to the troops, has been considerable.
Then, too, the disturbed state of the country has prevented the
manufacturers from sending valuable goods down here, so that practically
that part of the business has been at a standstill, and I have not
attempted to accumulate a stock. However I have lately purchased many
large lots from native traders here who feared that their shops might be
pillaged in the event of a riot, and especially lately when they were
afraid that if your people took the town by storm there might be a
general sack. So as I was certain that the French must go before long,
and I got all these goods at a bargain, I have bought freely. Then I
have not done badly with goods run in by French ships that managed to
slip through the blockade, and which were laden with speculative cargoes
of luxuries for the army. As we are almost the only European house open,
and I was able to pay cash, I bought things up largely, and realized
very good profits by supplying the native shops here and the officers of
the garrison, and also sent a great deal of wine and goods of that sort
up to Cairo, getting leave from the commandant here for them to go up
under the guard of any body of troops that happened to be proceeding
there, so that altogether the firm had not done badly, all things
considered."
"Are you short of cash now, Mr. Muller? for if so I can give you a draft
on my father, who has some money of mine in his hands, for a thousand
pounds, the result partly of prize-money, partly of a speculation I
made in the purchase of a prize which I went home in. I bought it in his
name, but he insists that as it was purely my speculation he should put
the profit to my account."
"Thank you; I do not require it. I have had no opportunity of sending
the money home for the last three years, and have therefore an abundance
of funds for all purposes."
"I suppose that you must be very short of timber, cordage, and ship
stores?"
"Not so much so as you would think. I am indeed very short of timber,
and would gladly take the whole cargo of a ship laden with it should it
arrive, but in other respects I am well off, for I boarded every
transport and merchantman before they left the port, and bought up all
their spare stores, which they were glad enough to part with on
reasonable terms, for there was no advantage in carrying them back to
France, and of course I could well afford to pay a considerable advance
on the prices they would obtain there. I hope that you will stay here
for the night, Mr. Blagrove, for I am anxious to hear all that you have
been doing. I can offer you nothing but horse-flesh for dinner, for the
town is in a state of starvation."
"I cannot do that. I have only leave till five o'clock, and indeed I
only obtained permission to enter the town for two hours, and the French
might object were I to stop here to-night."
Edgar wrote a long letter to his father. An hour after he had done so he
left, taking it and the trader's packet away with him. These he placed
in the headquarter-staff mail-bag. The letters were to be taken the next
morning by the _Carmine_, which carried Sir Sidney Smith and Colonel
Abercrombie, who were in charge of the naval and military official
despatches, giving an account of the successful termination of the
campaign, to England. Lord Keith was most anxious that the men-of-war
should get away from the coast before bad weather set in, and
accordingly 5000 of the troops, under the command of General Craddock,
embarked on board the ships of war, and sailed on the 12th of September,
and two days later the first division of French marched to Aboukir, and
embarked on board transports.
Keith was in command of the fleet, and on the way fell in with a ship
bringing despatches which had been sent out in anticipation of an early
fall of Alexandria. The fleet was ordered to rendezvous at Malta.
General Coote, with 6000 of the troops, were to be taken to Gibraltar.
General Moore was ordered to England. General Hutchinson had leave to
return home, and Lord Cavan was to remain in command in Egypt. Edgar
had, two days after his visit to the city, been appointed as third
lieutenant to one of the frigates that sailed with the first division of
the army, and convoyed it to Gibraltar. It arrived there at the end of
September, but as no orders had been received as to the destination of
the force, the sick were landed, to be cared for in the hospitals, and
the rest of the troops remained on board ship until the middle of
November, when a vessel brought the news that a general peace had been
virtually concluded.
England gave up all her conquests with the exception of Ceylon and
Trinadad, while France was permitted to retain all hers. The treaty of
Amiens, which was finally signed in the following March, was one of the
most humiliating ever made by England. With it came an order for the
ships at Gibraltar to carry the greater portion of the troops retained
on board, to England. The wind was favourable, and on the last day of
the month the fleet cast anchor in Spithead. It was soon known that
almost the whole fleet were to be paid off and the ships laid up at
once. The men were pleased at the news, for most of the vessels had been
engaged in arduous service in the Mediterranean for years, and the men
were glad at the prospect of an opportunity of a turn ashore, until they
had got rid of the prize-money that had accrued to them.
The officers, on the other hand, were depressed at the news. To them it
meant that they might be years before they again obtained employment,
that all chances of gaining distinction or promotion were at an end, and
that they would be reduced to live on their scanty half-pay for an
indefinite time. Mr. Addington indeed, who was now in power, thought
only of retrenchment, and although it was evident to every thinking
person that such a peace could only be of short duration, he crippled
the country by paying off the greater portion of her ships-of-war; and
when in May in the following year war again broke out, and Pitt returned
to power, the whole work of getting the navy into fighting order had to
be done over again. Two days after the fleet anchored at Spithead, Edgar
was delighted to see his father on board a shore-boat that came
alongside.
"Everything has turned out well," he said as soon as the first greeting
was over. "On the very day that I got your letter, I had an intimation
that the war was likely to come to an end shortly. I thought it better,
therefore, to wait before moving in your matter until things were
definitely settled, as it was infinitely better that you should be put
on half-pay because the war had come to an end than to apply to give up
active service while the war lasted."
"Certainly, father. There can be no doubt of that."
"Of course I got the letter that you wrote when you were at Gibraltar,
saying what ship you were on, and learned from my friend Captain
Harrington of the prize court, that unless some hitch occurred in the
negotiations, the fleet there, with the troops on board, would at once
be ordered home, and on arrival would be paid off. There was, therefore,
no occasion for me to make any application in the matter. The troops
are, I see, landing to-day, and I suppose that in a week at latest the
ships will be taken to the harbour and you will all be paid off."
"Nothing could be better, father."
"At any rate, there would be no chance whatever of your obtaining
employment until the war breaks out again. When it does, my friend
Harrington says that he has no doubt that he will be able to obtain for
you an official post at Alexandria, with special instructions to aid in
the provisioning and general repairs of any ships-of-war that may put in
there, and that indeed he has no doubt that he will be able to get you
the post of vice-consul there at once, for this, as you know, is as a
rule given to merchants of standing, and as Sir Sidney Smith is in
London, he would no doubt be able to support you in the matter. Of
course there will be a consul-general in Egypt, and a vice-consul at
each of the ports. So far, no appointments of the kind have been made,
and, as he says, from your knowledge of the country, with our firm being
long established as merchants there, with your knowing so many languages
and your naval record, there can be little doubt that, if you apply, and
are backed by Sir Sidney Smith, you will get the appointment at once."
"That would be capital, father. I hope that Muller's account of the work
of the last three years has been satisfactory?"
"Perfectly so. We have done much better than I could have expected
under the circumstances; and indeed the profits of the last three years
have been nearly as large as those of the years before the French
landed."
Four days later the order arrived for the ship to pay off, and Edgar at
once posted up to town, for the number of officers wanting to go up was
so large that it was impossible to secure a place by a coach to London
for a week to come. The next day he called upon Sir Sidney Smith and
stated to him the plans he had formed.
"They could not get a better man for the place," the admiral said
warmly, for he had now been promoted to that rank. "If you will bring me
your formal application for the post of vice-consul at Alexandria, I
will myself take it to the proper quarter. Put your qualification as a
resident merchant and as a linguist as strongly as you like. I will urge
your naval record, and myself testify to your abilities as a linguist
and to the services which you have rendered."
A week later Edgar received his formal appointment as His Majesty's
vice-consul at the port of Alexandria, and was given a fortnight's leave
before starting to take up his work. Wilkinson, who had also been
ordered home and placed upon half-pay, stayed with Mr. Blagrove during
the time Edgar was at home, and was much more communicative as to the
work his comrade had done than the latter had himself been.
"I can tell you," he said, "that for a midshipman to be promoted after
only two years and a half service is an almost unknown thing in the
navy, and shows what was thought by Lord Keith and Sir Sidney of his
work."
Mr. Blagrove returned to Alexandria with his son, having before he
started freighted a ship with timber, principally oak, of the kinds and
sizes that would most frequently be in demand for the execution of
repairs, together with an apparatus for steaming and bending them. He
had already, directly after receiving Edgar's letter from Gibraltar,
sent out directions to Mr. Muller to take over the yard and premises of
the French firm. The old name had not been replaced at the entrance of
the offices, but now read Blagrove, Son, & Muller, while over the door
of the premises recently acquired was now placed the words, "British
Vice-consulate," and an office here was set apart for consular business,
an Italian clerk, who spoke English well, being established there. As
there were still some thousands of British soldiers in Alexandria, among
whom were many officers who had been personally acquainted with Edgar
while he had served on the staff of the general, his position was a very
pleasant one. The Egyptian governor of the city, a Turkish general, who
had been with the army of the Capitan Pasha, and to whom Edgar had
frequently carried communications, also received him warmly.
"I am glad, indeed, to have a British vice-consul here," he said, "who
speaks our language so perfectly, and who is a British officer. So often
these posts are given to small traders, who, instead of endeavouring to
smooth over difficulties, seem to delight in causing them. Whenever you
have any complaint to make, sir, I hope that you will come direct to me,
and I will see that right is done."
After spending a month at Alexandria, Mr. Blagrove returned to England,
perfectly satisfied that matters would go on well, with his steady-going
partner controlling the commercial part of the business, and Edgar
taking the management of the shipping side. The business indeed
flourished greatly, and when, some time afterwards, the Turks were
forced to join in the European coalition against England, the firm was
enabled to continue their business without molestation, as the Capitan
Pasha himself took him under his special protection. Four years after
his appointment Edgar returned to England on a short visit, and was
present at the marriage of one of his sisters with Wilkinson, who had
returned home wounded after the battle of Trafalgar; though only a month
at home, he persuaded a friend of his sisters to return as his wife to
Alexandria.
Ten years later Mr. Muller died. Mr. Blagrove, who was now getting on in
years, wished to have Edgar at home with him; and as moreover the
climate was telling upon the latter's wife, the business was wound up
and the premises and good-will disposed of for a considerable sum of
money to another firm doing business there. Scarce a week had passed
during Edgar's stay in Alexandria without either the sheik or Sidi
riding into Alexandria to see him. He on his part purchased a large tent
from a Turkish general who had been recalled to Constantinople. This was
large and commodious, divided by hangings into two or three
compartments. It was set up in the Beni Ouafy's oasis, and there he and
his wife sometimes went out with their two children and spent a few
days. It was with the deepest regret that he and his Arab friends bade
farewell to each other when he finally left for England.
Before sailing he made an advantageous arrangement with the firm that
had purchased the business, that his father should act as their agent in
London, and by the influence of Sir Sidney Smith he himself obtained an
appointment in the Admiralty. As his father's savings during many years,
and his own share of the property during the time that he had been
partner amounted to a considerable sum, he cared less for the increase
of his income by going on full pay again than for the employment that it
afforded him. His father and mother died within a few months of each
other in 1825. His second sister had been married some fifteen years
before to a London merchant.
At the general reduction of the navy after the great war, Wilkinson was
retired with the rank of commander, and he and his wife settled down in
a pretty house within a few hundred yards of that of Edgar at Hampstead,
and the two friends often talked over their experience at Acre, and of
the cruise in search of pirates among the islands of the Archipelago.
THE NEW POPULAR HENTY
At Aboukir and Acre: A Tale of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt.
At Agincourt: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris.
At the Point of the Bayonet: A Tale of the Mahratta War.
Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion of Britain.
Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden.
Both Sides the Border: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower.
The Bravest of the Brave: or, With Peterborough in Spain.
By Conduct and Courage: A Tale of the Days of Nelson.
By England's Aid: A Story of the Freeing of the Netherlands.
By Pike and Dyke: A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic.
By Right of Conquest: or, With Cortez in Mexico.
By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War.
Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Goldfields of California.
The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt.
Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia.
The Dash for Khartoum: A Tale of the Nile Expedition.
The Dragon and the Raven: A Story of the Days of King Alfred.
Facing Death: or, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit.
A Final Reckoning: A Tale of Bush Life in Australia.
For Name and Fame: or, To Kabul with Roberts.
For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem.
Held Fast for England: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar.
In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce.
In Greek Waters: A Story of the Grecian War of Independence.
In the Heart of the Rockies: A Tale of Adventure in Colorado.
In the Irish Brigade: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain.
In the Reign of Terror: The Adventures of a Westminster Boy.
A Jacobite Exile: or, In the Service of Charles XII of Sweden.
A Knight of the White Cross: A Tale of the Siege of Rhodes.
The Lion of St. Mark: A Tale of Venice in the fourteenth century.
The Lion of the North: A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus.
Maori and Settler: A Tale of the New Zealand War.
A March on London: A Story of Wat Tyler's Insurrection.
No Surrender: A Tale of the Rising in La Vendée.
One of the 28th: A Tale of Waterloo.
On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War.
Redskin and Cowboy: A Tale of the Western Plains.
A Roving Commission: or, Through the Black Insurrection of Hayti.
St. Bartholomew's Eve: A Story of the Huguenot Wars.
St. George for England: A Story of Cressy and Poitiers.
Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow.
The Treasure of the Incas: A Tale of Adventure in Peru.
Through the Fray: A Tale of the Luddite Riots.
Through the Sikh War: A Tale of the Conquest of the Punjaub.
The Tiger of Mysore: A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib.
To Herat and Cabul: A Story of the First Afghan War.
True to the Old Flag: A Tale of the American War of Independence.
Under Drake's Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main.
Under Wellington's Command: A Story of the Peninsular War.
With Frederick the Great: A Story of the Seven Years' War.
When London Burned: A Tale of Restoration Times.
With Clive in India: or, The Beginnings of an Empire.
With Cochrane the Dauntless: A Tale of his Exploits.
With Kitchener in the Soudan: A Tale of Atbara and Omdurman.
With Lee in Virginia: A Tale of the American Civil War.
With Moore at Corunna: A Tale of the Peninsular War.
With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Boxer Rising.
With Wolfe in Canada: or, The Winning of a Continent.
Won by the Sword: A Tale of the Thirty Years' War.
Wulf the Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest.
The Young Carthaginian: A Story of the Times of Hannibal.
Orange and Green: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick.
Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah, and Ashantee.
With the British Legion: A Story of the Carlist Wars.
End of Project Gutenberg's At Aboukir and Acre, by George Alfred Henty