had like water; and then the white-bosomed Grecian girls, with their
bare ankles and black eyes! Ah! it beats Egypt, which is a very good
place to live in, if one is a sheikh or pacha. And so you are really a
nephew of my old crony and bottle-companion, Lodowick Lisle? I remember
his first joining us at Aberdeen, when we were embodied in 1794. A
handsome fellow he was! standing six feet three in his shoes; but I
over-topped him by four inches."
"I have often heard him mention your name--Colin Campbell, at Inchavon,
with terms of singular affection and respect."
"Have you, really? Honest Lodowick," replied the major, his eyes
glistening. "Would that I had something in my canteen to drink his
health with! Did he ever tell you of our march to Grand Cairo, when we
were in Egypt with Sir Ralph?"
"I do not remember."
"'Twas a most harassing affair, I assure you."
"Now for an Egyptian story," thought Ronald, observing the major
composing his vast bulk more easily in his saddle.
"It was sad work, Mr. Lisle, marching over dusty plains of burning sand;
the scorching sun glaring fiercely above us in a cloudless sky,
blistering and stripping the skin from our bare legs and faces; while
our parched throats were dry and cracked, but not a drop of water could
be found to moisten them with in the accursed desert through which we
marched. Our shoes were worn out completely, and the hot rough sand
burned our feet to the bone; and I assure you we were in a most
miserable state when we halted among the mosques and spires, the gaudy
kiosks and flowery gardens of Grand Cairo,--a place which at a distance
appears like a city of candlesticks and inverted punch-bowls. Old
Wallace, the quarter-master, (a queer old carle he was,) was sent about
to provide shoes for the corps, who, by his exertions, were in a short
time all supplied with elegant pairs of Turkish slippers, embroidered
and laced, and turned up at the toes. Droll-looking brogues they were,
certainly, for the Gordon Highlanders, in their gartered hose and
filleadh-begs; yet, certes, they were better than nothing. But I was
not so lucky as the rest. In all Grand Cairo there was not a pair of
their canoe-looking slippers to be found which would suit me,--my foot,
you see, is a size above a young lady's. And so I might have marched
the next day in my tartan hose, had not Osmin Djihoun, a shoemaker,
(whose shop occupied the very site of the great temple of Serapis, which
was destroyed by Theophilus the patriarch,--as you, having just come
from school, will remember,--) undertaken to produce me a pair of shoes
by next morning under terror of the bastinado and bow-string, which the
Sheik-el-Beled, or governor of the city, threatened duly to administer
if he failed to do."
"Well, major; and your next day's march passed over in comfort?" asked
Ronald, who had listened with impatience to this story.
"Comparatively so. Another affair I could tell you of, in which
Ludowick Lisle bore a part. It happened at the Diamond Isle. The
Diamond Isle, you must know, is a place at the mouth of the new port of
Iskandrieh, as the Arabs call the city of Alexander the Great. Old
Ludowick and I----"
"The baggage has all passed, major. You will scarcely overtake your
command by sunset, if you wait to tell us _that_ story; it is very long,
but nevertheless, very interesting. I have heard it some dozen times."
"A good story," replied Campbell composedly, "cannot be told too often.
Therefore, the Diamond Isle--" But I will not insert here the worthy
major's story, which he obstinately related, and with, all the tedious
prolixity and feeling of entire self-satisfaction that every old soldier
displays in the narration of some personal adventure.
"By the by, Stuart," said he, as he concluded, "have you any thing in
the pig-skin I see lying near the fire yonder?"
"Not a drop; otherwise it should have been offered long ago. I am sorry
'tis empty; but not expecting visitors, the last drain was squeezed out
last night."
"_Carajo_! Well, Lisle, and how are all the depot? How's old
Inverugie, and Rosse of Beinderig,--the _Barba-Roxo_, as the dons used
to call him?"
"All well when I left."
"Glad to hear so,--jovial old Egyptians they are; many a cask of Islay
and true Ferintosh we have drunk together, and, through God's help, many
more I hope to drink with them. The very idea of the smoking toddy--the
lemons and nutmeg, makes me confoundedly thirsty."
"Doubtless, major, you had a morning draught at Merida?"
"The devil the drop, Stuart; but very nearly a wame full of cold
pewter,--and ounce balls are hard to digest."
"How! What occurred?"
"It was unluckily my turn to be field-officer of the guard over this
infernal baggage, which, as we are retreating, moves of course in front
of the column. We advanced as fast as possible to get into Merida,
hoping to halt there and refresh. As we approached the bridge, I was
drawing pleasant visions of the dark purple wine in the borachio skins
at the wine-sellers in the Plaza, and was thinking of the long-gulping
draught of the cool Malmsey liquor I would enjoy there; when
bang--whizz, came a bullet from the carbine of a French vidette, who
appeared suddenly before us at the bridge-end. My belt-plate turned the
shot, or else there would be a majority vacant at this hour in the
Gordon Highlanders. The same thing happened to me once in Egypt, when I
was there with Sir Ralph. I will tell you how it was."
"I would rather hear it at the halt, major, if it be all the same to
you," said Ronald, interrupting the prosy field-officer without
ceremony. "Well, and this vidette? His shot--"
"Caused a devil of a commotion among my motley command. The ladies
shrieked and galloped off, the children cried in concert, the donkeys
and mules kicked and plunged, the drivers lashed, and swore, and prayed,
while the guard began to fire. I knew not what to do, when up came the
9th and Germans, sword in hand, sweeping on like wildfire; and entering
the city, after a little fighting and a great deal of shouting and
swearing, captured a hundred and fifty French lancers, all in their
shirts. Their quarter-guard alone escaped by swimming the Guadiana; but
their _chef d'escadre_, a French colonel, the Baron Clappourknuis, was
taken in his saddle. You will see him when Sir Rowland comes up. But I
must ride hard now, and regain my straggling command, which has left me
far in the rear. Adieu, lads, adieu!" and away he went at a hand-gallop.
In a short time, the long line of dust which appeared in sight announced
the approach of the division; and the bright steel points of
standard-poles, of pikes[*] and bayonets, glanced "momentarily to the
sun" as they advanced across the level plain. About a quarter of a mile
off, moving forward on the right and left, appeared two dark masses of
armed horse--Colonel Campbell's brigade of Portuguese cavalry, covering
the flanks of the infantry. Eagerly did Stuart watch the dark forest of
waving feathers which distinguished his own regiment, while he awaited
their arrival standing apart from Louis Lisle, who eyed him with an
expression of anger and disquiet. Since the departure of Campbell,
neither had addressed a word to the other, and both felt how exceedingly
irksome and disagreeable was this assumed indifference, this appearance
of hauteur and coldness.
[*] Carried by Serjeants at that time, instead of the fusee and bayonet
now in use.
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON:
Maurice and Co., Howford buildings, Fenchurch-street.