CHAPTER XIV.
A SET OF RASCALS.
THE work of pacification had gone on steadily. It was on Thursdayevening, the 13th of July, the boys had returned to the town. On the15th Captain Fisher, who was in command of the naval party on shore,marched through the streets disarming the Egyptian soldiers, of whomthere were large numbers still in the place, and had a skirmish with astrong party of them at the Rosetta gate. Lord Charles Beresford was incharge of the police arrangements, and with a force of marines and threehundred disarmed Egyptian soldiers was occupied in stamping out thefires and in arresting marauders. A large number of Arabs were alsoenlisted in the service.
The population now began to return to the city. Many of the lower classof Greeks and Italians landed from the vessels, and were a source ofcontinual trouble, as they at once took to plundering what the nativeshad left.
On Monday morning the 38th Regiment and the third battalion of the 60thRifles arrived in the harbour, and were at once landed. General SirArchibald Alison also arrived and assumed the command on shore, and thefollowing day a body of troops marched along the line of railway toRamleh, six miles distant. Ramleh stands at the point where a narrowneck of land connects the peninsula on which Alexandria stands with themainland. Along this narrow isthmus run the road, the railway, and theSweet-water Canal, and here there is a pumping-station, by which wateris raised to a higher level for the supply of Alexandria.
The khedive has a summer palace at Ramleh, and here are a large numberof pretty villas, the summer abodes of the merchants of Alexandria. Itwas an important position, for here any advance upon the city from theeast could be readily checked.
Thursday was a busy day for the police and troops in Alexandria, for ahigh wind got up and fanned the masses of embers into flames again, andserious fires broke out in several places. The boys were busily engagedall day. They acted now as aides-de-camp to Lord Charles Beresford,carrying his orders to the various working parties, and makingthemselves generally useful.
Lord Charles had established himself with his officers in an emptyhouse, and the three boys had a room assigned to them here. The partyall messed together. In the evening Lord Charles said to the officers,"I hear that the khedive's people have got news that Arabi is damming upthe Sweet-water Canal. We shall have a deal of trouble if he does. Thereis very bad news, too, from the country. They say that everywhereexcept at Cairo the natives have risen and massacred the Europeans.Arabi has ordered all the able-bodied men in the country to join thearmy."
"I don't call the last part bad news," Captain Archer said. "We shallhave ten thousand men here in a short time, and the more of thesescoundrels that are gathered together the better, so that we can end itat one blow. If Arabi does but stand there is no doubt as to the result.The thing that would puzzle us would be for him and his troops to marchaway into Upper Egypt and lead us a long dance there. In this tremendousheat our fellows would not be able to march far, and it would be like atortoise trying to catch a hare, hunting them all over the country. Themore men Arabi gets together the more likely he is to make a stand andfight it out."
"There is no doubt that is the case," Lord Charles agreed. "We shallmake short work of them directly Lord Wolseley and the troops arrive.However, I hope we sha'n't be idle in the meantime. There are two moreregiments expected to-morrow or next day, and I expect we shall see somefighting then. The soldiers are furious at the frightful destructionthat has taken place, and they will make it hot for these fellows ifthey get a chance of going at them. They say that they are throwing uptremendous fortifications across the isthmus."
On Sunday night the 46th Regiment arrived. The water in the canal wasnow sinking fast. A dam had been erected at its mouth to keep in whatwater it contained. Order had now been restored in the town, and theplundering had been almost put a stop to. The next morning a wing of the60th and a squadron of mounted infantry went out beyond Ramleh. Theenemy's cavalry were driven off, and there was an exchange of artilleryfire between some heavy guns that had been sent out by rail and placedinto position there, and Arabi's battery.
The next week was a quiet one, but on Friday the 28th a reconnaissancewas made by a railway train, which Captain Fisher of the navy had platedwith iron. It was manned by sailors, and carried a heavy gun and severalGatlings. The enemy on seeing it approaching came out in force, but weredriven back by the guns of the train and those in the batteries atRamleh. The reconnaissance showed that the Egyptians had erected anumber of strong works across the end of the isthmus.
As the work of the bands of hired natives was now only clearing uprubbish and litter, the boys agreed that as there was no more fun to behad in the way of putting out fires, they might as well give up whatthey called slave-driving, and enjoy themselves until the _Wild Wave_arrived. They had only undertaken the work as an alternative to going onboard one of the crowded ships in the harbour, and as the populationwere now returning and the shops opening again there was no occasion fortheir further stay as overlookers of the scavengers. Several temporaryinns had been opened by enterprising Italians for the benefit of thosewho on landing from the ships found their houses burned, sacked, oruninhabitable.
"I vote," Jack said the first morning that they were free to do exactlyas they liked, "that we go up and have a look at our prison."
"A bright idea!" Jim Tucker said. "But that is an out-of-the-way part,Jack, and there may be some of those skulking thieves hanging aboutthere."
"They won't catch us napping this time, Jim."
The boys had, in fact, armed themselves from the store of weapons thathad been taken from the natives or found scattered about in the streetsand houses. These weapons had been piled up in a shed, and as they hadno owners the boys concluded that it would be as well to pick some outfor themselves, having previously asked their officer to allow them todo so, as they were entirely without arms. He at once gave thempermission to take what they liked, and each had taken two revolvers--afull-sized one which they wore openly in their belts, and a small one intheir jacket-pockets. The precaution was by no means a useless one, ason carrying messages for their commander from one part of the town tothe other they had often to pass through narrow streets. So armed theboys had no fear of being attacked when together, and after breakfastthey started on their trip of exploration.
As they knew nothing of the road by which they had been taken to thehouse, and had again left it after nightfall, they were by no means sureas to its exact position, the only indication being the view they hadobtained of the sea from its garden. When once beyond the town theyfound almost all the houses entirely deserted; for bands of plundererswere still pillaging everywhere beyond the range of the parties ofBritish troops, and even after Ramleh was occupied they made their wayalong the shore from the direction of the Aboukir Forts, and broke intothe houses and carried away their contents.
"I think this must be just about the position," Jim said at last. "Ishould say from the other side of that house there must be just the sameview we had."
The gate was locked and closed, but the boys soon found a place wherethey could enter the grounds. Upon going round to the north side of thehouse they found that they had judged correctly, for they at oncerecognized the appearance of the building and the various objects in thegarden.
"Here is the bank from which we watched the bombardment," Arthur Hillsaid. "Well, we have got better out of it than seemed likely then."
"That we have," Jack agreed. "Now, Jim, I suppose we may as well getinto the house and have a look at it. I should like to get something tocarry away. I don't want anything valuable, but something as a sort ofmemento of our prison."
"It would serve the beggar right," Jim said, "if we were to set fire tohis place and burn it down."
"It might serve him right if someone else were to do it," Jack said;"but not for us, Jim. He saved our lives, you see. If it had not beenfor him we should never have come alive out of that street."
"That is so," Jim agreed; "but you know when we talked it ove
r we wereall of opinion that he carried us off only to act as hostages forhimself."
"Well, I know we agreed that that was it, Jim; but after all we cannotbe sure about it. It may have been that, but on the other hand he mayreally have wanted to save our lives. He would not dare treat uskindly, and was obliged to keep us imprisoned because of the fellowsround him. For you know he really did treat us well. We may be sure thatblack fellow of his did not bring us down fruit and other things eachmeal without his knowledge."
"It may have been that," Jim assented, "though I doubt it. I amconvinced he only carried us off and treated us well in order to getgood terms for himself if things went wrong."
"Perhaps so, Jim; but whatever the reason he did save our lives, and hedid treat us well, and I feel obliged to him. Now, let us look at thehouse. I wonder whether it is empty?"
"Oh, of course it is empty. Why, we saw all his fellows coming away withus."
"Yes, but that is no reason why it should be empty, Jim. There are lotsof these plundering fellows about. We know they do not come back intothe town because we have got guards at the gates, and I expect they hideup during the day in some of these deserted houses. Anyhow we may aswell keep our eyes open till we know the place is clear."
Jim agreed to the prudence of the suggestion, and they went up to thehouse. The door opening into the garden was fastened, but the woodenshutters outside one of the windows about four feet from the ground wereunfastened, and swung open as they touched them. The window inside wasclosed.
"Just give me a back, Arthur," Jack said. "I have no doubt I can openthe fastenings."
Standing on Arthur's shoulders Jack took out his knife, and had nodifficulty in inserting the blade between the frames of the window,which opened inwards, and in pushing back the slight and simplefastening. He pushed the window open, and had his foot on the sill readyto enter when he paused.
"What is it, Jack?" Jim asked impatiently.
"There is somebody in the house," Jack said in a low voice. "I can heartalking." He stepped very quietly down into the room, and a minute laterthe others stood beside him.
It was as Jack had said, there was a loud sound of talking somewhere inthe house.
"What shall we do, Jim?" Jack whispered.
"We will go and have a look at them," Jim replied. "We have got tworevolvers apiece, and are a match for a dozen Egyptians anyway; andbesides, if they haven't seen us, and I don't suppose they have, as wecame round at the back of the house, they will think we are officers andhave got a lot of men behind us."
With their pistols drawn and cocked the boys moved quietly across theroom and into a passage. The voices came from a room in the front of thehouse. The door was open. They crept up to it and then suddenly rushedin.
"Surrender," Jim shouted, "or we fire!"
The lads were astonished at the sight that met their eyes. They hadexpected to see a group of natives; instead of that they saw a party ofeight or ten Greeks and Italians sitting on the ground playing cards.The room was piled with goods of all sorts--silk curtains, females'dresses, clocks, rich ornaments, choice carpets, and other articles. Thefellows uttered a shout of astonishment and dismay at seeing, as theybelieved, three English officers suddenly appear before them; for bythis time the boys had been able to rig themselves out in naval costumeagain. Their appearance and that of the six levelled revolverscompletely paralyzed the party at cards.
"Throw down all your weapons in the centre," Jack said peremptorily."Not a moment's delay, or we will call our men in and string you up!"
Two or three of the party understood English, and at once threw theirpistols and knives into the centre of the circle; the othersunderstanding the order from their action did the same.
"Just collect them, Arthur, and take them into the next room," JimTucker said, "before they have time to think about it."
Arthur stepped forward, gathered up the weapons, and carried them intothe next room.
"We are all right now," Jim said in a low tone.
"Now, Arthur, you run down to the town as hard as you can and tell thefirst officer you meet we have got a gang of plunderers here, and askhim to bring up a guard and capture them; we will stand sentry till youcome back."
Arthur without question obeyed Jim's orders: went to the front door,opened it, and ran off at the top of his speed. The prisoners now beganto recover from the first panic, and to guess the true state of thecase. Angry oaths were uttered, and they began to talk to each other inrapid tones.
"You had better sit still!" Jim shouted. "The first man that makes amove I will blow his brains out. Jack, you stand on one side of thecircle and I will stand on the other. The first man who moves in theslightest, shoot him."
Jack moved round to the other side of the circle. The marauders, with afoe behind and another in front armed with revolvers, and themselveswithout weapons, did not dare to move, knowing that they would be shotdown before they could gain their feet. Half an hour passed and thenthere was a tramp of feet heard outside, and a moment later a navalofficer accompanied by Arthur and followed by a party of tenblue-jackets entered the room. In a couple of minutes the men's handswere all tied behind them, and they were led outside the house.
"You have made a fine haul, young gentlemen," the officer said as hewalked from room to room. Everywhere articles of value were piled up,and it was evident that the gang must for the last fortnight have beenengaged in looting all the villas and houses along the road to Ramleh."I expect we have got the whole gang, but I will leave four men here incharge with orders to make prisoners of anyone that enters. We willlodge these scoundrels in jail, and then make our report. There is animmense lot of valuable property here, and I should think it had betterbe taken down into the town and kept there until claimed by its rightfulowners."
Leaving the four sailors on guard, the party with the prisoners in theirmidst marched down again to the town, and the latter were speedilylodged in jail. On the affair being reported to Lord Charles Beresforda party of marines and natives with hand-carts were sent up to thehouse, and the whole of its contents brought down to an empty house inthe town. Here the articles were inspected by many merchants and otherowners of villas at Ramleh and near the town, and many of the articleswere at once identified by them. The next day the band of plundererswere brought up before the court, presided over by one of the khedive'sjudges; and the boys having given their evidence, and the owners of manyof the plundered villas swearing to their property, the whole band weresentenced to receive three dozen lashes apiece and to be imprisoned fortwo years.
The lads gained much credit by the capture, and were each presented witha handsome gold watch and chain, subscribed for by those whose propertythey had been the means of recovering.