for two or three hours before the cessation of bombardment flames had been bursting out from several buildings in the neighbourhood of the palace of ras-el-tin. these being in the line of fire, had doubtless been struck by shell from the ships passing over the forts in front.
[121]
when the fire ceased the egyptians rose and motioned the boys to return to their prison.
"well, you see, my friend," jack said to the man who spoke english, "you have not sunk the english vessels in a few minutes, as you talked about. not even one of the little gun-boats; and as far as i can see from here you have not even damaged them."
the man made no reply. to him and his comrades the escape of the british ships was a mystery. that they were made of iron they understood, but had no idea of the enormous thickness of their sides; and could not even imagine that ships could be built sufficiently strong to keep out the missiles discharged by the immense cannons in the forts. that not even a mast should have been knocked away seemed to them almost miraculous. in point of fact the ships had been struck but once or twice with the shells from these massive cannon. the egyptian gunners were unaccustomed to the use of the huge pieces, and had consequently aimed too high, and the shell had passed either between the masts or far overhead.
upon the other hand the smaller guns had been worked with accuracy, but their missiles had dropped harmless from the iron plates of the ships. the fire of the men-of-war had, in the first place, been directed mainly against these great cannon. the machine-guns in the top had created terrible havoc among the men who were carrying on the laborious and to them difficult operation of loading them, while the huge shell from the great guns had carried wholesale destruction among them. thus the powerful guns upon which the egyptians had relied to beat[122] off any attack from the sea, had been fired but seldom, and one by one had been dismounted or rendered unserviceable by the fire from the ships.
the gallantry with which the egyptian gunners stuck to their work was the object of surprise and admiration to the british sailors. it seemed scarce possible that men could work under so tremendous a fire as that to which they were exposed. the forts were literally torn to pieces, and at the end of the day were little better than heaps of ruins scattered thickly with the corpses of the egyptian artillerymen.
"well, what do you suppose they will be up to next, jim?" arthur hill asked when the door had again closed upon them.
"i suppose they will begin again to-morrow if these fellows have not had enough of it. you see, they hardly fired a gun for the last three hours, and as far as we could see the forts were pretty well knocked to pieces; the one at the mouth of the harbour blew up, and there were several other explosions. they held out a lot better than i thought they would do, i must say, but i cannot believe they will be fools enough to go on to-morrow."
they chatted for some time as to the chances of surrender or of resistance to the last, and as to what was likely to befall themselves; then, wearied with the excitement of the day their voices became more and more drowsy and they dosed off upon their heaps of straw. jack was the first to wake. he sat up and looked round, puzzled for a time.
"i say, wake up, you fellows!" he exclaimed suddenly. "there is a tremendous fire somewhere."
[123]
the others sat up at once. they had been asleep for some hours and night had fallen, but there was a red glow of light in the cell.
"here, arthur, you jump up on my shoulders," jim said, standing under the opening in the wall.
arthur climbed up, and uttered an exclamation as his eyes became level with the opening. "i cannot see the town, but i think it must be all on fire; it is almost as light as day outside, the whole air is full of sparks and red clouds of smoke. it is tremendous!"
"jump down and let us have a look," jim said impatiently, and he and jack had by turns a view of the scene. a quarter of an hour later the door opened suddenly and four of their guards ran in.
"come, quick!" one of them said, and seizing the boys by their wrists they hurried them up the stairs. the house was in confusion. men were packing up bundles and the bey giving directions in an angry voice. as soon as his eye fell on the boys he gave an order in egyptian.
"take off your clothes, quick!" the guard translated the order.
it was evidently no time for hesitation. the boys took off their waistcoats, jackets, and trousers, then the guard picked up from a bundle lying beside him three women's dresses, and wound them round them, bringing an end as usual over the head and falling down to the eyes. then he put on the thick blue veil, extending across the face just under the eyes and falling down to the waist. the disguise was thus completed, and the three boys were transformed into egyptian peasant women, of whom only the eyes were visible.
another five minutes all were ready, and the bey[124] with ten or twelve men and the boys started out from the house. most of the men carried muskets, all had large bundles upon their shoulders. as they issued from the house the boys obtained a full sight of the city, and uttered a simultaneous exclamation as they did so. half the city appeared to be in flames. a sea of fire extended from the port over the european quarter, including the great square, while in many other parts separate conflagrations were raging.
there was, however, no time to pause to examine the scene. the party hurried along until they came down upon the road leading across the narrow strip of land running between the two inland lakes. it was crowded with fugitives: mixed up pell-mell together were egyptian soldiers in great numbers, and the population of the town—men, women, and children. for four hours they walked along. then the throng along the road thinned; the egyptian drums were sounding, and the soldiers turned off and lay down in the fields, ready to form into regiments again in the morning.
the rest of the fugitives, feeling that they were now beyond danger of pursuit, soon followed their example. the party to which the boys belonged kept on for a short distance further and then turned off. they followed a by-road for a quarter of a mile, and then stopped at a farm building. on their knocking at the door a peasant came out, but at a word from the bey he at once drew aside for the party to enter. the bey took possession of the cottage, and the men leaving their bundles inside threw themselves down on the ground without and[125] were soon fast asleep. the idea that their captives might escape did not even occur to them.
the boys had thrown themselves down a little apart from the rest.
"this is a nice go," jim said. "i suppose this chap is taking us off as hostages, and we may be dragged about like this for any time; for until an army is got together and conquers the whole country, i do not see how we are going to be released."
"i don't see what there is to prevent us going straight back again," jack said; "we have got splendid disguises and might go anywhere."
"that is not a bad idea, jack; but how are we to do it? every one is coming the other way."
"yes, i don't think we can go back by that road," jack agreed; "but we might get round the other side of the lake, i should think."
"but how are we to do that, jack? we do not know anything about the country."
"no, we do not know much about it, jim; but i remember the day before we landed, when we were looking at that book mr. hoare lent us so as to get up something about alexandria before we landed, there was a map of the town. i remember that the lake behind it, called mareotis or some such name, extended some eight or ten miles to the west of the town, and is only separated from the sea by the high beach on which the mex forts stand. i do not see why we should not work round there, and get down on to the beach and make our way on to the town. our fellows are sure to land to-morrow morning and take possession of it. we have passed across the isthmus between the two lakes, so the one we want[126] to get round must lie somewhere to the north-west. anyhow, the fire will be a guide to us. if we keep rather to the left of that we must strike the lake, and have only got to follow that to keep right."
"i am with you," jim said. "what do you say, arthur?"
"i am game," arthur replied, "but let us be off at once. what time do you think it is?"
"i have no idea. i don't know how long we slept, but it was quite dark except for the fire, so it must certainly have been past eight o'clock. we set out half an hour later. i should say that it must be between twelve and one now, if not later. it will begin to get light again soon after four, so we have no time to lose."
"well, let us crawl away as quietly as we can," jack said. "i think those chaps are all asleep, but we cannot be too careful until we get a bit away from them."
the boys found it very difficult to crawl in their female garments, but kept on as noiselessly as possible until some distance from the cottage, then they stood up. they followed the lane until they came to the road, crossed the line of railway beyond it and swam the fresh-water canal, and then, guided by the glare of light over alexandria, made their way across the fields. after half an hour's walking they found themselves on the shore of the lake. it was low and swampy, and they had to keep some distance from its edge. the reflection of the light on its smooth surface enabled them to follow its direction as well as if they had been walking close to it. they kept on until morning broke, by which time the[127] glare of light above alexandria lay due north of them.
"we had better lie up here," jim said. "there is sure to be a village near the lake, and the first person who came across us and questioned us would find us out."
"i shall not be sorry to stop at all," jack said, "for these loose yellow slipper things are horrid for walking in. i have tried going barefoot for a bit, but there are prickly things in the grass and i soon had to give that up."
there was no difficulty in finding shelter, for in many places belts of high rushes bordered the lake. entering one of these for some little distance, and pressing down a lot of the rushes to make a dry bed on the damp earth, the lads lay down and were soon fast asleep. the sun was blazing high overhead when they awoke.
"my eye, isn't it hot!" was jim tucker's first exclamation. "it is enough to roast a fellow alive."
"it is hot," jack agreed; "and the worst of it is there isn't anything to eat."
"no, and there is not likely to be," jack replied, "till we get to alexandria. there are the guns of the fleet still at it. it is evident that the forts have not surrendered. i don't see how we can possibly get along past those forts on the beach to the west as long as they hold out, besides it is not likely that there has been a landing from the ships yet, and the rabble of alexandria will be plundering and killing. we shall be safer anywhere than there."
"so we should," jack agreed. "but there is one thing quite certain, we cannot stop here without food[128] or water. we might perhaps do without grub for a day or two, but certainly not without water. there is maize and grain ripe in the fields, so we shall do well enough for eating."
"i suppose they must have wells. people must drink here, jack."
"i suppose there must be wells," jack said doubtfully. "but, you see, the water in this lake is salt, and i should say they get no fresh water anywhere near, because the ground is so sandy. i rather expect they get it in small channels from the fresh-water canal."
"well, anyhow, we can get water there," arthur hill said. "i vote we go back there again. not of course anywhere near where the egyptians are; though i do not know whether that would make much difference, for we should be on one side of the canal and they on the other. still, we had better go beyond them; then we can, as you say, keep ourselves going by picking maize or corn or whatever we can find for a day or two, till we hear the firing cease."
"there are sure to be some boats somewhere on this lake," jack said, "and we might get hold of one and go across to alexandria some night, and reconnoitre. if we find there are no sailors or troops there, we can take to our boat and pull back again. i think it would be better to do that than to try to work round by the sea-shore, for i believe they have fortifications running across from the sea to the lake, so as to prevent the place from being attacked by a force landing beyond the forts."
"well, i vote we set out at once," jim tucker[129] said. "i am frightfully thirsty. there are very few houses as far as i can see; if we keep a sharp look-out we ought to be able to manage so as not to meet anyone. if any peasant does run against us and ask questions, so much the worse for him."
the others agreed, and they at once started across the country, which was only cultivated here and there. they laid their course so as to strike the canal at a point some miles higher up than that at which they had left it. they only saw a few peasants in the fields, and made detours so as not to come near any of these. on the way they picked a dozen heads of maize, but were too thirsty to attempt to eat them. after three hours' walking the vegetation became brighter and greener, the cultivated fields thicker, and in another half hour they stood on the bank of the canal. they went down to the edge, knelt down and took a long drink.
"shouldn't i like a dip!" arthur hill said.
"we will have one, arthur, when it gets dark; it would never do to bathe now. i do not see a soul about, but still someone might come up on the further bank at any moment, and our white skins would betray us at once. now we have had a good drink we can hold on. we will go back again now, and sit down among the bushes and eat our corn."
when they had finished their meal the boys agreed that maize eaten raw was not by any means desirable food; however, it satisfied their hunger, and they sat discussing their plans until evening. they agreed that arthur hill's plan was certainly the best.
"we will give them one more day," jim tucker said. "i vote we stop here to-night, then have a[130] good drink in the morning and then start back again, keeping along the canal here until we are close to the lake; then we will have another good drink and start out and walk along the lake until we find a boat, then we will hide away somewhere near it and cross after it gets dark."
it was agreed that this plan should be carried out, and after a good night's rest they started again next morning. they kept down by the foot of the bank of the canal, and followed it until they saw the lake stretching away on the left, then they went up and had another drink.
"hurrah!" arthur hill exclaimed, as he picked up a broken earthenware pot, which had apparently been thrown out by some passing boat; "this will hold a quart of water. that will give us a drink each to-night."
as they walked they had heard the heavy guns still booming over the sea, and felt by no means certain that the troops had yet landed. however, they determined not to put off their expedition across the lake if they could find a boat. carrying their jar of water carefully with them, they struck across to the lake and followed it as before, keeping a careful look-out for boats. they had proceeded about two miles along its edge, when they saw the stern of a boat projecting beyond the rushes that fringed the water's edge, and pushing more rapidly forward they came upon a beaten path through the reeds, and following this came upon a low flat boat, very roughly constructed.
"it is not much of a craft," jim tucker said; "but it will do for us capitally. now, we have only[131] to lie down and take things quietly until dark. i fancy it is about three o'clock in the afternoon now by the sun."
they lay down among a clump of bushes a short distance from the lake, and as soon as the sun had set went back to the boat again. they had already made another meal, and had finished their maize and water. they stood by the boat waiting until it should become perfectly dark, and looking across the tranquil sheet of water at the distant town, over which the smoke still hung heavily, and as the sky darkened flashes of fire could be seen. they were at last just going to get on board when they heard an exclamation of surprise behind them. looking round they saw two natives, who had evidently come down with the intention of going out in their boat.
