At Aboukir and Acre: A Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt, G. A. Henty [top 10 inspirational books .txt] 📗

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[Pg 349] 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[Pg 350] 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[Pg 351] 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[Pg 352] 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