A FALSE ALARM.

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for proclamations, &c., but the work of the department required one man specially for it. I was therefore well pleased when Sir F. Goldsmid, who had been employed in connection with the Egyptian finance, kindly consented to take it over. Phillips of the Egyptian Gazette,' and Hasseltine a civilian friend, who had been invaluable to me, and Gibson also, assisted Sir Frederick.

With so much to do, I had but little time for sleep, and had not been able to take my clothes off for several days and nights; but one night I thought I might safely do so, and had just got to sleep when a blue-jacket ran into my cabin saying the captain wanted me at once on the bridge. I ran up as I was, in that great luxury, a night-shirt. A man had just come on board, the only survivor of his guard, he said, which had been attacked at one of the gates, and, after a sharp fight, nearly all destroyed. As firing had been heard, I at first believed what the man said, but on cross-examining him, and looking into his ammunition-pouch, I came to the conclusion that what he said had to be taken with a very large amount of salt. It eventually turned out that the alarm and firing had been the result of a scare produced by some refugees trying to get into the town during the night. The admiral, however, considered we ought to be reinforced, the strain of the duties being excessive; so a fast despatch-boat was sent to Port Said to bring up General Alison's brigade of infantry, which was still on board ship there, the Iris being left at Port Said to look after the Egyptian corvette and its Arabist commander, anchored in the canal. The Iris's crew lay alongside their guns, a message being sent to the Gippy com

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mander that on the slightest move he would get a broadside from the Iris.

The arrival of General A. with his staff relieved me of my shore duties. The blue-jackets and marines all returned to their ships, and I was then free for other work.

With an infantry brigade in Alexandria the place was safe enough, and as it was of great importance to draw Arabi's attention away from the canal, reconnaissances in force were made as if preparing for an attack on his intrenchments. The concentration of the European portion of the expeditionary force at Alexandria helped to keep up the delusion until everything was ready for the coup on the canal and advance from Ismailia.

CHAPTER XXI.

SUEZ CANAL.

My work with the fleet and the shore forces at Alexandria being now at an end, I was transferred to the Penelope flagship at Port Said, the centre of gravity, so to say, of the situation being now on the canal. My chief was Admiral Sir Antony Hoskins. His welcome as I rowed alongside was amusing. "Hullo! here's the 'Stormy Petrel.' What are we in for now?" The actual protection of the canal was, thanks to Lesseps, not a difficult matter, more especially as there was now Admiral Hewett's Indian squadron at Suez, a battleship, the Orion, in Lake Timsah, and two battleships at Port Said. What I was specially required for was the formation of an Intelligence Department at Port Said, which should know everything about Arabi, and his military preparations to resist our getting to Cairo. By great good fortune I found an Intelligence Department almost ready made. The officials in charge of the great telegraph stations throughout Egypt were English or British subjects, who had lived years in the country, and knew all the principal Egyptian officials, and had native friends everywhere. All the telegraph officials who were British subjects had to

leave their posts when the rebellion broke out. The three principal ones remained at Port Said, where they were under the protection of our guns: by their help I not only received daily reports of what was being done everywhere in the Delta from Cairo downwards, but also copies of many of the important telegrams which passed between Arabi and his commanders. I even got copies of some of their letters: these were occasionally very amusing, showing the difficulties they had got into by their hasty unprepared outbreak. One of the first troubles of the Egyptian railway authorities was their want of coal, cotton-seed being used as a partial substitute. Of course attempts were made to get coal through Port Said for use by other nationalities, sometimes by concealing it under other cargo; but somehow information always came in which enabled us to stop it.

Arabi was very complimentary to me when he informed the admiral I knew more about his forts and batteries than he (Arabi) did. Had he been able to read the reports in my day-book on the Penelope at Port Said as they were written up, checked, and valued, it is possible he might again have been equally complimentary, or very much the reverse.

Had it not been for Lesseps, I was strongly of opinion that Arabi would have tried to block the canal, for which certain preparations had been made; but Lesseps, who was hand in glove with Arabi, was so furious against the English and any idea that they would dare to make use of the canal for military operations, that Arabi believed what he said. think there can be no doubt Lesseps himself was under the delusion that he, with the support of the

I

French Government, could prevent us taking possession of the canal. I had to be present at all the interviews with my admiral. Lesseps' moustache used occasionally to bristle with suppressed indignation, but he was a thorough gentleman, and, taken all round, we got on with him as well as could be expected under the circumstances. One day on leaving, the old fellow was, I am sure, very much pleased with a little remark I made about "le grand Français," although I did lay the butter on a bit thick. We were very good friends afterwards at Ismailia, where I had lunch, or rather déjeuner, with him one day, and he gave me some useful information.

What we had to do was to have all the necessary preparations ready for taking possession of the whole of the canal the night before the expedition arrived at Port Said, and this without exciting the suspicions of the Arabist Government. We were nearly having our scheme spoilt by the injudicious action of a naval officer, who landed and distributed proclamations at Ismailia, which caused great excitement at Arabi's headquarters. A happy thought struck me, which put matters right. I was aware there was regular communication, of all English news concerning Egypt, sent to Cairo via Constantinople. I knew well the correspondent of the 'Standard,' Cameron, a splendid fellow, afterwards killed in action in the Soudan, would be too patriotic to object to my taking his name in vain when it was for the good of our work; so I wired the editor of the London Standard,' as if from Cameron, to the effect that "the rumours of a possible occupation of the canal by the English are now disposed of. M. de Lesseps, who has the French Government behind him, has settled that the