The G.A. Henty MEGAPACK ®. G.a. Henty Henty
felt no uneasiness; coming from Alexandria, a French vessel would regard him as a friend, while a British ship would certainly not interfere with an Italian trader, for the court of Naples was most friendly, and a portion at least of the British fleet were off the town. The ship-of-war was bringing up the breeze with her, and came along fast, and ere long the captain was able to declare that she was British. As she approached they found that she was the Tigre, an eighty-gun ship captured some time before from the French. When she came near she fired a gun across the bows of the brig, which at once lowered her sails. The man-of-war was thrown up into the wind as she approached, and a voice shouted in French, “What ship is that, and where from?”
“He wants to know your name and where from,” Edgar translated, and the captain shouted back, “the Annetta, bound from Alexandria to Naples.”
“Send a boat alongside with your captain,” was the order from the Tigre.
“Shall I go with you, captain, to translate,” Edgar volunteered.
The captain gladly assented, and the boat was at once lowered, and they were rowed to the Tigre. On ascending the deck they were taken to the captain. The latter glanced at Edgar and said, “Why, surely you are English?”
“I am, sir. My father was a merchant at Alexandria. I was away at the time the French arrived, and was left behind, and have been with a party of Arabs ever since.”
“Can you speak Arabic?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Any other languages?”
“French and Italian, sir. It was for that reason that I came on board with the captain to interpret for him.”
“Where are you going now?”
“I was going to Naples first, in order to take a passage home from there.”
“Ah! What have they got on board?”
“Little enough, sir. They came across with spirits and wine and other cargo. The man is a small trader and part owner of the ship.”
“Tell him if he carries stores again to Alexandria his ship will be seized as a prize by the first ship-of-war that comes across her. By carrying them to Alexandria he is aiding the French. Now about yourself. What are you going home for?”
“To join my father in England.”
“What are you going to do there?”
“I believe that I shall go into an office, sir, till my father can return to Egypt again.”
“You speak these three languages well.”
“Yes, sir; well enough to pass as a native.”
“Have you been doing any fighting ashore?”
“Not much fighting, sir,—the Arabs could not stand against the French; but I have seen a good deal. I saw the battle of the Pyramids, the sea fight in Aboukir Bay, and the street fighting in Cairo.”
“Well, with your knowledge of languages you ought to be able to do better than go into a London office. You might be very useful to me, and if you like to go with me to Constantinople, where I am bound, I will give you a midshipman’s rating. You may have an opportunity of seeing some more service, and when this affair is over you could, of course, leave the navy if you thought fit and rejoin your father. What do you say? I will give you five minutes to think it over.”
It required less time than this for Edgar to take his resolution. He had no fancy whatever for work in a London office, and the prospect of serving on board ship, the chance of seeing Constantinople and other places, and possibly of active service against the French, was vastly more pleasant. Before the end of that time he went up to the captain, touched his hat, and said that he thankfully accepted his offer.
“Very well, then, that is settled,” the officer said kindly. “I will give you ten minutes to row back to the brig and return with your clothes.”
In ten minutes Edgar was on board again, having explained to the astonished captain that he was going as interpreter on board the British ship. As soon as he stepped on deck again orders were shouted, the sails trimmed, and the Tigre proceeded on her way. An officer came up to Edgar.
“What is your name, sir?”
“Edgar Blagrove, sir.”
“I remember the name,” the officer said. “I put into Alexandria some ten months ago to get some repairs done, and I remember that your father undertook them.” He beckoned to a lad of about the same age as Edgar. “Mr. Wilkinson,” he said, “you may take this young gentleman, Mr. Blagrove, down to the cockpit and introduce him to your messmates. He is entered on board the ship as a midshipman by Sir Sidney Smith’s orders.”
The midshipman took him below without a word. There were two other lads in the cabin.
“Allow me,” Edgar’s guide said with a theatrical flourish of the hand, “to introduce to you Mr. Blagrove, a fellow midshipman and messmate.”
“Really, Wilkinson, one never knows whether you are in earnest or playing the fool,” growled one of the others, who was a master’s mate some nineteen years old.
“On the present occasion I am in earnest, Mr. Condor,” Wilkinson replied.
“Where did he spring from?”
“He has just come on board from that little brig that we made lie to just now.”
“I come from Alexandria,” Edgar said quietly.
“From Alexandria!” Condor repeated in surprise, for he had not been on deck when the Italian captain had answered the hail.
“I was accidentally left behind when most of the English inhabitants left when the French ships came in sight.”
“What did they do to you? Have you been in prison ever since?”
“Fortunately they never laid hands on me. A sheik of one of the Arab tribes was a friend of mine, and I have been staying with him ever since.”
“How did you make them understand what you wanted?”
“I can talk Arabic as well as I can English,” Edgar replied.
“Still you must have felt it awfully slow stopping at an Arab camp all this time.”
“It has not been by any means slow. The tribe harassed the French on their march. We were present at the battle of the Pyramids, though we did not take any active part in it; for when the Mamelukes were defeated the Arabs knew that alone they had no chance of success. Then we came down to the place where they generally encamp, some twelve miles from Alexandria, and I had the good luck to see Nelson’s fleet destroy the French in Aboukir Bay.”
“That was luck!” Wilkinson said warmly. “I would have given anything to have been in that fight.”
“You are taking late to the sea,” the midshipman who had not yet spoken remarked.
“I have no intention of taking to the sea for good,” Edgar replied. “My father has one of the largest businesses in Alexandria, and as soon as the French leave Egypt I shall go back there. Sir Sidney Smith asked me to come, as I talk French and Italian as well as Arabic, and he thought that I should be useful to him as an interpreter, and said he would rate me as a midshipman. I was very glad to accept, as I should have nothing particular to do if I had gone home, and I thought that it would be far more pleasant to have two or three years of active service.”
“Have you been in England?” Wilkinson asked.
“Yes, I was there nearly three years, and only returned a few months before the French landed.”
“Well, it seems a rum start,” Condor said, “but I suppose Sir Sidney knows what he is doing.”
“I should imagine he did,” Edgar said quietly. “Possibly, if you like to question him he will be good enough to explain