CHAPTER XI.
THE BOMBARDMENT.
WHILE the riot had been going on, a considerable proportion of theEuropean community of Alexandria had taken refuge on board the ships inthe harbour, the men who remained behind to protect their propertysending off their wives and children. Many returned on shore as soon asit was known that the troops had arrived, but the alarm was by no meansabated when it was seen next day by the manner of the soldiers that theysympathized entirely with the rioters. In two or three days a largeproportion of the garrison of Cairo arrived, and Arabi himself came toAlexandria. No steps were taken to punish those concerned in the riot,although many were known to the Europeans who had escaped.
The khedive was evidently powerless. The remonstrances of the Europeanconsuls were received by Arabi's council with contempt, and it was tooevident to all that the riot had been but the beginning of a very muchmore serious affair. The women and children remained on board the ships;but the Europeans reopened their shops and continued business as usual,encouraged by the fact that not a day passed without vessels of war ofone European power or another arriving in port. These had beendespatched in all haste upon the news being received of the riot inAlexandria, and of the threatening aspect of affairs there.
In ten days after the outbreak there were in port English, French,Italian, Spanish, and German ships of war, and the European communitynow regained confidence, believing that with so powerful a fleet closeat hand the Egyptians would not venture upon any fresh act ofaggression.
Captain Murchison had been engaged in business connected with the cargoat the office of one of the principal merchants, when one of the clerksran in with the news that there was a serious riot in the native part ofthe town, and it was said that the Europeans had been massacred. Theoffice was at once closed, and the strong shutters put up. The clerksand employes were armed and placed in readiness to defend the placeagainst an attack, and then Mr. Spratt and Captain Murchison went out tothe great square to see what was going on. The greatest confusionreigned there. Numbers of women and children, the families of theItalian and Greek shopkeepers, were hurrying past on their way down tothe port.
The shops and offices had been hastily closed and barricaded. The clerksof the great mercantile houses and banks were turning out rifle in hand.The wildest rumours prevailed as to the extent of the riot, and it wasnot until two hours after the commencement of the disturbance that theconsuls, finding that they could obtain no aid from the governor, tookupon themselves to summon aid from the two ships of war that happened tobe lying in the port. The appearance of two hundred sailors fully armedand ready for action at once restored confidence among the Europeans,and prevented the riot from extending.
Upon his return to his ship after the arrival of the Egyptian troops andthe termination of the riot, Captain Murchison was astonished andalarmed to hear that the three boys had not returned. He at once went onshore again, and remained for some hours making inquiries for them, butwithout obtaining any information whatever. The next morning he renewedthe search. Matters had now settled down a little, and the shops werereopened. Going to the various restaurants in the great square helearned that three young officers had come in and eaten ices at one ofthem between two and three o'clock the day before, but he could learnnothing further.
He went to the English consul. The latter sent a dragoman with him tothe head of the police, who promised to have inquiries made. The firstand second mates also went on shore and joined in the search. Theyagreed the best way would be that they should take various streetsleading from the square and inquire at every European shop if three ladsin European uniform had been noticed. For some time no success attendedthem; but at last they met with a Maltese at whose shop Jack hadpurchased two little filigree brooches. He said he had noticed thatafter they left his shop they walked down the street which led directlyto the spot where the riot had began, and where the greater proportionof Europeans had lost their lives. The two officers went down to thescene of the riot, but could obtain no further information respectingthe missing lads.
The Europeans who had remained shut up in their houses while the riotwas going on had all left immediately order was restored. The whole ofthe shops were wrecked and plundered, two or three houses had beenburned down, and dark stains in the roadway showed where men had fallenand died.
"I fear there is no doubt whatever," Captain Murchison said, when thetwo mates reported to him the result of their inquiries, "that the ladsmust have been just at the spot where the riot broke out; the time atwhich they passed exactly answered to it. But in that case what couldhave become of them? Mr. Cookson has shown me the official list of thekilled as far as it is known at present. Their bodies have all beenfound; but neither in that list, nor in the list of the wounded, isthere any mention of three young English lads. If they had been killedtheir bodies would have been found with the others, and indeed theiruniforms would have at once attracted attention."
"What in the world can have become of them? Could they have been in oneof the houses that are burned?" Mr. Hoare suggested.
"I should hardly think that possible," the captain said. "Their remainswould have been found, and would have been returned in the list as threepersons unrecognized; but all the bodies seem to have been identified."
"Perhaps they have been carried off, and are prisoners somewhere," Mr.Timmins suggested.
"That is more likely, Mr. Timmins. They may have been taken formidshipmen belonging to one of the ships of war, and have been seized bysomeone in the hope of getting a handsome ransom for them. Anyhow, Icannot believe that they are dead; or, at any rate, if they have beenkilled, it has not been in a fight in the street, or their bodies musthave been found. I am most anxious about them, but I cannot believe thatthe worst has happened to them."
Captain Murchison had bills printed in English, French, Italian, andEgyptian and distributed through the town, offering a reward for anyinformation that would lead to the discovery, either dead or alive, ofthe missing lads. The bills met with no response. The Egyptians engagedin the attack upon the shops, who alone could have furnished informationregarding the boys, were afraid to come forward, as they could not havedone so without admitting their share in the massacre. As he could donothing more, Captain Murchison left the matter in the hands of Mr.Cookson, the English consul, and a week after the riot the _Wild Wave_sailed for Smyrna, Captain Murchison saying that he should look in atAlexandria on his way back, and that the boys if found were to await hisreturn there. He did not write home to announce their disappearance; hisbelief that they must be still alive was strong, and he was unwilling toplunge their friends into anxiety and grief until a further time hadbeen allowed to elapse.
For a long time negotiations went on between Admiral Seymour, whocommanded the British fleet now at the port of Alexandria, and thegovernment of the khedive. The ministers were really nothing more thanthe nominees of Arabi and the army, and the demands of the Englishadmiral for satisfaction for the outrages, compensation to thesufferers, and the punishment of the guilty, were met with evasiveanswers. So threatening and insolent was the bearing of the Egyptiantroops, that the greater part of the European population again lefttheir houses and took refuge on board the ships in the harbour.
More and more peremptory became the demands of the English admiral, butstill no results were obtained. Egyptian troops now commenced throwingup fortifications at points commanding the position of the British shipsin the harbour. The admiral sent ashore and insisted that these worksshould be at once discontinued. No attention was paid to the demand. Amessage was then sent through the consuls warning all Europeans in thetown to embark at once, and an ultimatum was despatched to the Egyptianministry, saying that unless the works were stopped and a satisfactoryanswer to the demands returned before nightfall the ships would openfire the next day; in the afternoon, as no reply had been received, themen-of-war steamed out of the harbour and took up their position off thetown.
The warships of the other nationalities a
lso left the harbour; but astheir governments refused to support actively the action of the English,they either steamed away or anchored at a distance as spectators of theapproaching event. The various merchant-ships in harbour also sailedout, all of them crowded with fugitives from the town. The English fleetconsisted of the _Invincible_, _Monarch_, _Penelope_, _Sultan_,_Alexandria_, _Superb_, _Inflexible_, and _Temeraire_, with thegun-boats _Signet_, _Condor_, _Bittern_, _Beacon_, and _Decoy_.
Nearly a month had passed since the lads had been taken prisoners. Theywere in absolute ignorance as to what was going on in the town, exceptthat they had been told by one of their guards, who spoke a few words ofEnglish, that Arabi and his troops were masters of Alexandria, and thatevery European in Egypt would be destroyed.
"They may be masters of Alexandria at present," Jim Tucker said to hiscomrades as they talked the matter over, "but they won't be masterslong. It is possible enough that they may cut the throats of all theEuropeans in Egypt, but they will have to pay dearly for it if they do.I do not believe they will keep Alexandria long. Just look at all thosemen-of-war in the harbour. Why, there are white ensigns flying over adozen of them! I suppose they are wasting time palavering at present,but when the time for action comes you see they will astonish theseEgyptians."
"That fellow said this morning that there were twenty thousand troops inthe town," Jack said.
"If there were a hundred thousand it would make no odds, Jack."
"It would make no odds about our blowing the place up, Jim, but it wouldmake a lot of odds if it came to landing. I do not suppose they couldland more than a couple of thousand sailors from the fleet, if they didas much, and though I have no doubt they could lick about five timestheir own number in the field, it would be an awkward business if theyhad to fight their way through the narrow streets of the town."
"Well, I suppose there will be some ships along with troops soon," Jimsaid. "It would take them a fortnight or three weeks to get ready, andanother fortnight to get out here. Perhaps they waited a week or so tosee whether the Egyptians were going to cave in before they began to getready; but at any rate there ought to be troops here in anotherfortnight."
The next morning early four of their guards came down and motioned themto follow them. They were evidently in high glee. Among them was the onewho spoke English.
"Come along, you English boys," he said. "Big fight going to begin. Yousee the forts sink all you ships in no time."
"Well, we shall see about that," Tucker muttered as they followed theirguard. "Perhaps you are crowing too early, my fine fellow."
"At any rate," Arthur Hill said, "we may thank them for giving us a viewof it."
The guards led them to a spot where six or seven other men, all likethemselves armed with muskets, were standing or sitting on a bank whichcommanded a view of the port and the sea beyond it. The boys threwthemselves on the ground and looked at the panorama stretched awaybefore them. They could see the two great ports, known as the Old andNew Ports, with the peninsula jutting out between them, on which stoodthe khedive's palace, named Ras-el-tin, and other important buildings.Beyond stretched a long spit of land parallel with the shore, andsheltering the two ports.
This spit was studded with forts, which formed the principal defencesof Alexandria, although there were several forts, among them Forts Mexand Marabout, on the mainland near the mouths of the harbour. Most ofthese forts had been erected under the superintendence of Frenchengineers, and were considered capable of defending the town against anynaval force that could be brought against it. They were armed with heavyartillery of the best modern construction.
The ports were entirely clear of shipping, but ranged along facing theforts lay the eight British ironclads. Four of them faced the forts atRas-el-tin and the mouth of the harbour, three lay off the MexBatteries, and one off a fort commanding what was known as the BoghazChannel, while the little group of gun-boats lay out beyond the line ofbattleships.
Further away to the east could be seen a great number of sailing-boatsand steamers. Just at seven o'clock a great puff of white smoke brokeout from the black side of the _Invincible_, which was carrying theadmiral's flag, and even before the sound reached the ears of the littleparty on the hill similar bursts of smoke spurted out from the othervessels. Then came the deep roar of heavy artillery, mingled with therushing sound of their huge missiles through the air. Almost immediatelyan answering fire broke out from all the batteries fringing the sea.
In a minute or two the hulls and lower masts of the men-of-war wereentirely hidden in clouds of white smoke. The very ground seemed toshake with the thunder of heavy guns, mingled with which came thesharper sound of some of the smaller artillery in the forts and thelong rattle of the machine-guns in the tops of the men-of-war. Soterrible was the din that the Egyptians ceased their chatter and sat inawed silence. The shell from the Egyptian guns could be seen burstingover the vessels, while jets of water spurting out far to seaward in alldirections marked the course of the round shot.
"It is downright awful, isn't it?" Arthur Hill said in a hushed voice."I've often thought I should like to see a sea-fight, but I neverthought it would be as terrible as this."
"No more did I, Arthur," Jack agreed. "I feel just as I have done when Ihave been out in the bawley and a big thunder-storm has burst overhead.If it feels like this here, what must it be on board a ship?"
"I don't believe it is half so bad there," Jim Tucker said. "They areall hard at work there at those big guns, and haven't got much time tothink about it. I wish we could see what harm the shot are doing them.They have got some tremendous guns in some of the forts--pretty well asbig as they are on board."
For an hour there was no change whatever in the state of things, thenthe little gun-boats were seen to be in motion. Steaming away to thewest, they engaged the Marabout Fort, which had hitherto taken its partin the fray without any return on the part of the assailants.
"I believe the fire of the forts is slackening," Jack said. "Look atthat fort at the entrance to the harbour, its outline is all ragged anduneven. I wish the wind would freshen up a bit, to let us see a littlemore of what is going on."
Another hour and it was evident to them all that the fire of the fortswas nothing like as heavy as it had been at first, while the guns of thefleet continued to thunder as steadily as when they first commenced. Attwelve o'clock several of the forts had ceased to fire altogether. Atone, the gun-boats having silenced the Marabout Fort, joined the threemen-of-war in the bombardment of the Mex Batteries, and the _Temeraire_,having silenced the fort at the entrance of the Boghaz Channel, joinedin the attack on the Ras-el-tin and Pharos Forts.
At three o'clock there was a tremendous explosion in the Pharos Fort,and now only an occasional gun answered the fire of the assailants. Thissoon ceased, and at four some signal flags were seen to run up to themasthead of the _Invincible_, and instantly the fire from the Britishships ceased, and a dead silence succeeded the din of battle that hadcontinued almost unbroken for nine hours.