CHAPTER IX.
THE RIOT IN ALEXANDRIA.
FOR half an hour the lads sauntered on, interested in the people ratherthan the shops. They bought a few things. Jack invested in half a poundof Egyptian tobacco and a gaily-decorated pipe for his Uncle Ben, twolittle filigree brooches, and a couple of very large silk handkerchiefsof many colours, with knotted fringes, for his mother and sister.
"I do not know what they will do with them," he said; "but they will doto put on the back of a sofa or something of that sort."
The others also made some purchases, both expending a good deal morethan Jack did; but the latter said that he would keep his money forSmyrna, where probably he would get all sorts of pretty things.
They were walking quietly along, when they saw a commotion in front ofthem. A number of men were shouting and gesticulating angrily, and blowswere exchanged.
"Let us get out of this," Jack said. "It is no good running the risk ofgetting our heads broken."
People were now running from the shops, while from side streets thenatives poured down.
"This is a regular row!" Jim Tucker exclaimed. "Look! those fellows areall armed with big sticks. Listen! there are pistols going off somewhereelse."
A moment later the natives fell suddenly upon some Europeans standingclose to the boys. These drew knives and pistols, and a fierce combat atonce raged.
"Come out of this!" Jim exclaimed, running into a shop close by. "Wemust make a bolt for it somewhere."
At that moment an Italian, armed with a pistol, rushed in from behindthe shop.
On seeing the three lads he exclaimed in broken English, "Shut the door,they mean to kill us all!"
The boys closed the door, and the owner piled some boxes and other goodsagainst it; but there was no fastening up the window, for the fasteningswere outside.
"Come upstairs," the man said, and the lads followed him to the floorabove.
The battle was still raging in the street. Groups of Greeks and Italiansstood together, defending themselves with their knives from the heavysticks of their assailants, but were being fast beaten down. The shrieksof women rose loud above the shouting of the combatants, while from theupper windows the cracks of revolvers sounded out as the Greek, Maltese,and Italian shopkeepers who had not sallied out into the streets triedto aid their comrades below.
"Now, have you got any arms you can give us?" Tucker asked. "This lookslike a regular rising of the natives. They would never all have theirsticks handy if they hadn't prepared for it."
"There are some long knives in that cupboard," the man said, "and thereis another pistol my brother Antonio has got. He is sick in bed."
Just at this moment the door opened and another Italian came in introusers and shirt.
"What is it, Joseph?"
"The natives have risen and are massacring all the Europeans."
The sick man made his way to the window.
"I am not surprised," he said, as he discharged his pistol and broughtdown a native who was in the act of battering in the head of a fallenman. "You said only yesterday, you thought there was mischiefbrewing--that the natives were surly and insolent; but I did not thinkthey would dare to do this."
"Well, brother, we will sell our lives as dearly as we can."
The conflict was now pretty nearly over, and the two men withdrew fromthe window and closed the jalousies.
"Most of them are making off," Antonio said, peeping cautiously outthrough the lattice-work. "I suppose they are going to attack somewhereelse. What are the police doing? They ought to be here soon."
But the time went on, and there were no signs of the police. The nativesnow began to break open the shops and plunder the contents. The two menplaced themselves at the top of the stairs. It was not long before theyheard a crashing of glass and a breaking of wood, then a number of menrushed into the shop.
"Don't fire, Joseph," Antonio said, "so long as they do not try to comeup here. They may take away the soap and candles and other things ifthey choose, if they will but leave us alone."
The stairs were straight and narrow, and led direct from the shop itselfto the floor above. After plundering the shop the natives departedladen with their spoil, without attempting to ascend the stairs.
"We are in an awful fix here," Jim Tucker said. "What do you think wehad better do? Shall we get out at the back of the house and try andmake a bolt of it?"
"I do not think that is any good," Jack replied. "I was at the backwindow just now, and could hear shouts and the report of firearms allover the place. No; if we go out into the streets we are safe to bemurdered, if we stop here they may not search the house. Anyhow, at theworst we can make a better fight here than in the streets."
Two hours passed. At times large bodies of natives rushed along thestreets, brandishing their sticks and shouting triumphantly. Some few ofthem had firearms, and these they discharged at the windows as theypassed along.
"We ought to have had some troops here long before this," Antonio saidto his brother.
The latter, who was sitting on a chair evidently exhausted by hisexertions, shrugged his shoulders.
"They were more likely to help the mob than to interfere with them. Thetroops are at the bottom of the whole trouble."
A clock on the mantel-piece struck five, just as a fresh body of nativescame down the street. They were evidently bent upon pillage, as theybroke up and turned into the shops. Shouts and pistol-shots were againheard.
"They are sacking the houses this time, Joseph. Now the hour has come."
The two brothers knelt together before the figure of a saint in alittle niche in the wall. The boys glanced at each other, and each,following the example of the Italians, knelt down by a chair and prayedfor a minute or two. As they rose to their feet there was a sudden dinbelow. Pistol in hand, the brothers rushed out on the landing.
"Do not try to come up!" Antonio shouted in Egyptian. "You are welcometo what you can find below, but you shall not come up here. We aredesperate men, and well armed."
The natives, who were just about to ascend the stairs, drew back at thesight of the brothers standing pistol in hand at the top, with the threelads behind them. The stairs were only wide enough for one to advance ata time, and the natives, eager as they were for blood and plunder,shrank from making the attempt. Some of those who were farthest backbegan to slink out of the shop, and the others followed their example.There was a loud talking outside for some time, then several of themagain entered. Some of them began to pull out the drawers, as if in thehopes of finding something that former searchers had overlooked, otherspassed on into an inner room.
"What are they up to now, I wonder?" Arthur Hill said.
"No good, I will be bound," Jim Tucker replied. "There! They seem to begoing out again now."
Just as the last man passed out Antonio exclaimed in Italian, "I smellsmoke, Joseph; they have fired the house! They have set fire to the roombelow," he translated to the lads; but even before he spoke the boysunderstood what had taken place, for a light smoke poured out from theinner room, and a smell of burning wood came to their nostrils.
"The beggars have done us," Jim Tucker said bitterly. "We could haveheld these stairs against them for an hour, but this fire will turn usout in no time."
The smoke rose thicker and thicker, and they could hear the crackling ofwood.
"Let us get out of the back window, we may get off that way."
Touching Antonio's arm he beckoned him in that direction. The Italiannodded, and the party went into the back room. Antonio drew the sheetsfrom the beds and knotted them. Jim went to the window and looked out.As he did so there was a yell of derision from below. A score of thenatives had made their way through the adjoining houses, and taken uptheir station from behind to cut off their retreat. It needed no wordsto tell those in the room what had taken place. Antonio threw down thesheets and said to his brother, "Let us sally out, Joseph; the sooner itis over the better. See, the smoke is coming up through the flooral
ready. Let us go out before we are suffocated."
"I am ready," the other replied.
Followed by the boys the brothers left the room and descended thestairs. The flames were already rushing out of the back room. There wasa shout from without as the defenders were seen to descend the ladder.The boys grasped each other's hands as a final farewell, and then withset lips and knives firmly grasped followed the two Italians and dashedinto the street. Sharp cracks of the revolvers sounded out, and then inan instant the mob closed round the little party. Keeping closetogether, cutting and thrusting with their knives, the boys tried tomake their way through. The crowd was so thick, that mixed up as theywere in it, the natives could not use their sticks, but drawing theirknives grappled with the boys. Jack felt a sharp pain in several places;he fell, struggled to his feet again, was again struck down. He seemedto hear a voice raised above the din, then he knew nothing more.
When he recovered his senses he found that a native was stooping overhim and pressing a cloth to his forehead. He lay still for a minute ortwo, wondering faintly what had become of him. Looking round he couldsee he was in a small room. An Egyptian of the better class, inbuttoned-up frock-coat and light trousers, and with a scarlet fez on hishead, was standing looking down at him, and was apparently givinginstructions to the native, who was endeavouring to staunch one of hiswounds. As soon as he took this in, the thought of his comrades flashedacross his mind, and pushing the man's hand back from his forehead hestruggled into a sitting position.
"Hurrah, Jack! I was afraid that they had done for you," a voice said,and he saw Tucker and Hill sitting propped up against a wall.
Two of the natives now took hold of him, dragged him along the floor,and placed him by the side of the others. Then the Egyptian said, "Youkeep quiet, I save your lives. If you move or make noise we kill you atonce."
The lads were all faint from loss of blood, and half stupefied from theheavy blows they had received; and after a word or two of thankfulnessat finding themselves all together and alive, they lay quiet. There weretwo or three natives in the room, and from time to time one went out orcame in with news as to what was passing in the streets. Each time therewas much talk among their guards, and it was evident that they weredissatisfied with the result. The outbreak, indeed, had not been, as theboys supposed, universal; had it been, the whole European populationwould probably have been destroyed. It was confined to a portion only ofthe lower part of the town. Whether it was planned or not beforehand isa disputed point.
It began in a quarrel between some Maltese and natives; but this quarrelseemed to be accepted by the latter as a signal for a general attack,and they rushed from their houses armed with heavy sticks and knives andattacked the Europeans. Rumours had for some time been current amongthem that the Christians intended to conquer Egypt and to put down theMahomedan religion, and in their excited state a spark caused anexplosion. It was perhaps fortunate that it came when it did, and wasconfined to a comparatively small part of the town; for had it spreadover the whole city the loss of life would have been great indeed, forthe natives had entirely their own way from three o'clock in theafternoon until seven in the evening.
The police made no attempt whatever to put down the riot. The Englishand Italian consuls, immediately they heard what was going on, drovetogether to the governor's to call upon him to send for the troops, andto take vigorous steps to restore order. They were attacked upon the wayand both wounded, but they succeeded in reaching the governor's palace.By means of the strongest representations, and by telling him that hewould be held personally responsible by the Powers they represented forthe consequences of the disturbance, they at last induced him to act,and at seven o'clock the troops arrived and were marched through thestreets, when the natives at once dispersed to their homes.
Some seventy Europeans, including ten or twelve women, were killed, andall the shops in the quarter where the riot took place, pillaged. Nodamage was done in the business part of the town. There the Europeans atonce armed themselves as soon as the news of the riot reached them, andformed up in the square. Strong parties were landed from the ships ofwar, and were prepared to give so hot a reception to the mob should theycome that way, that the rioters confined their work to the quarter inwhich it began. The Egyptians are timid people, and the population ofAlexandria were not sure that the army would go to any great lengthagainst the Europeans, or that the country in general would be withthem. The outbreak was therefore rather the result of the hatredexisting among the lower class against the riffraff of the variousnationalities gathered in Alexandria, whose conduct frequently gave goodgrounds indeed for the feeling entertained against them, than ofdeliberate intention.
How many of the natives were killed in the fight was never known; thebodies were hastily carried away and buried by their friends as soon asthe rumour spread of the arrival of the troops, and only some eight orten of their dead were found lying in the streets. The rescue of theboys was due to the presence in the mob of a wealthy bey, who lived ashort distance out of the town. This man was a brother of one of theleaders of the military insurrection at Cairo, and was in closecommunication with Arabi and the colonels.
He had been actively preparing for a general rising against theEuropeans by the propagation of stories hostile to the latter, and byexciting the greed of the lowest classes of the town by pointing out howgreat was the wealth they could obtain by looting the well-filled shopsand warehouses. Some of his agents had assisted to bring about the riot.But he had not intended it to go so far, and had only wished to add tothe excitement and ill-feeling that prevailed, by a tumult attended withloss of life upon both sides.
He was well satisfied when he saw how eagerly the natives rushed toarms, but as soon as the conflict fairly began he had sent his men amongthe rioters urging them not to proceed further until the army was athand to support them. He knew that the plunder they had obtained fromthe small shops would only excite their desire to appropriate thecontents of the rich stores in the Europeans' quarters, and wastherefore well contented with what had been done. He had happened to bepassing when the little party rushed from the burning house into thecrowd. As they did so he caught sight of the naval uniform of the boys,and imagined that they belonged to one of the ships of war.
He saw at once that their lives might be valuable to him. If his partytriumphed he could hand them over and take credit for their capture; ifthe great insurrection that was already planned failed, he could usethem as a means of obtaining favourable terms for himself. He thereforecalled together two or three of his men who were in the crowd, and madehis way to the scene of conflict just as the lads succumbed to theirfoes. With great difficulty he succeeded in rescuing them from theirassailants, and then had them carried into a house hard by.
As soon as it was dark the boys were wrapped up in dark cloths andcarried away through the streets. As many dead bodies were beingsimilarly taken off by the natives no questions were asked, nor did thesoldiers now scattered about interfere with their bearers. The motionstarted the boys' wounds into bleeding again. They had difficulty inbreathing through the cloths bound round them, and when they were atlast thrown heavily down upon the ground their consciousness had almostentirely left them.