I get away I shall go round the port, and shall find you without difficulty. Still, I do not anticipate any trouble arising \rith-out our having sufficient warning to allow me to come and see you settled on hoard ship, and I can then keep on in the office until it closes, when I can join you again. Of course, all this is very remote, and I trust that the occasion will never arise; still, there is no doubt that the situation is critical, and there is no harm in making our preparations for the worst.
" At any rate, dear, I beg that you will not go out alone till matters have settled down. We will do the shopping together when I come back from the office. There is one thing that I have reason to be grateful for. Even if the worst comes to the worst and all Christians have to leave the country, the object for which I came out here has been attained. I have not heard you cough for months, we have laid by fifty pounds, and I have written some forty stories, long and short, and if we go back I have a fair hope of making my way, for I am sure that I write better than I used to do; and as a good many of the stories are laid in Egypt the local colouring will give them a distinctive character, and they are more likely to be accepted than those I wrote before. Editors of magazines like a succession of tales of that kind.
"For the present there is no doubt that the arrival of the fleet will render our position here more comfortable than it is at present; the mere mob of the town would hesitate to attack Europeans when they know that three or four thousand sailors could land in half an hour. But on the other hand, Arabi and his generals might see that Alexandria was, after all, the most important position, and that it was here foreign interference must be arrested. I should not be surprised if, on the arrival of the ships, Tewfik, Arabi, and all the leaders of the movement come here at once. Tewfik will come to get the support of the fleet, Arabi will come to oppose a landing of troops. The war in the beginning of the century was decided at Alexandria, and it may be so again. If I were sure that you would come to no harm, and I think the chances of
that are very small, I own that all this would be immensely interesting, and a break to the monotony of one's life here. One thing is fairly certain. If there is anything like a regular row all commercial work will come to an end until matters are settled, in which case, even if the offices are not altogether closed and the whole staff recalled to England, they would be glad enough to allow me to leave instead of keeping me to the two years' agreement that I signed before starting."
" I should hardly think that there will be a tumult here, Gregory; the natives all seem very gentle and peaceable, and the army is composed of the same sort of men."
"They have been kept down for centuries, Annie; but there is a deep fanatical feeling in every Mussulman's nature, and at any rate the great proportion of the officers of the army are Mussulmans. As for the Kopts, there would be no danger of trouble from them; but the cry of death to the Christians would excite every Mahomedan in the land almost to madness. Unfortunately, too, there is a general belief, whether truly founded or not, that although the French representative here is apparently acting in concert with ours, he and all the French officials are secretly encouraging Arabi, and will take no active steps whatever. In that case it is doubtful whether England would act alone. The jealousy between the two peoples here is intense. For years the French have been thwarting us at every turn; and they may very well think that, however matters might finally go, our interference would make us so unpopular in Egypt that their influence would become completely paramount.
"Supremacy in Egypt has always been the dream of the French. Had it not been for our command of the sea they would have obtained possession of the country in Napoleon's time. Their intrigues here have for years been incessant; their newspapers in Egypt have continually maligned us, and they believe that the time has come when they will be the real, if not the nominal, rulers of Egypt. The making of the Suez
Canal was quite as much a political as a commercial move, and it has certainly added largely to their influence here; though in this respect a check was given to them by the purchase of the Khedive's shares in the canal by Lord Beaconsfield, a stroke which, however, greatly increased the enmity of the French here and heightened their efforts to excite the animosity of the people against us. Well, I hope that whatever comes of all this, the question as to whose influence is to be paramount in Egypt will be finally settled. Even French domination would be better then the constant intrigues and trouble that keep the land in a state of agitation. However, I fancy that it will be the other way if an English fleet comes here and there is trouble. I don't think we shall back down, and if we begin in earnest we are sure to win in the long run. France must see that, and if she refuses to act at the last moment it can only be because Arabi has it in his power to produce documents showing that he was all along acting in accordance with her secret advice."
A week later, on the 20th of May, the squadrons of England and France anchored off Alexandria. The British fleet consisted of eight ironclads and five gun-boats, carrying three thousand five hundred and thirty-nine men and one hundred and two guns, commanded by Sir Frederick Seymour. Two days before the approach of the fleet was known at Cairo, the French and English consuls proposed that the Khedive should issue a decree declaring a general amnesty, and that the president of the council, the minister of war, and the three military pashas should quit the country for a year, This request was not complied with.
The ministry resigned in a body on the day the fleet arrived, on the ground that the Khedive acquiesced in foreign interference. A great meeting was held of the chief personages of state, and the officers and the representatives of the army at once told the Khedive that they refused to obey his orders and only recognized the authority of the Porte.
At Alexandria all trade ceased at once when it became known that the troops were busy strengthening the forts, mounting cannon, and preparing for a resistance. That this was done by the orders of Arabi, who was now practically dictator, there could be no question. The native population became more and more excited, being firmly of belief that no vessels could resist the fire of the heavy guns, and that any attempt on the part of the men-of-war to reduce the place would end in their being sunk as soon as fighting began. The office and stores were still kept open, but Gregory's duties were almost nominal, and he and Mr. Parrot, who was also married, were told by the manager that they could spend the greater portion of their time at their homes. Part of Gregory's duties consisted in going off to vessels that came into the port with goods for the firm, and seeing to their being brought on shore, and he had no difficulty in making arrangements with the captain of one of these ships for his wife and child to go on board at once should there be any trouble in the town.
" If you hear any sounds of tumult, Annie, you must disguise yourself at once and go down to the wharf. I have arranged with our boatman, Allen, whom you know well, as we have often gone out with him for a sail in the evening, that if he hears of an outbreak he shall bring the boat to the steps at the end of this street and take you off to the Simoon. Of course I shall come if I can, but our house is one of those which have been marked off as being most suitable for defence. The men from half a dozen other establishments are to gather there, and, as belonging to the house, I must aid in the defence. Of course, if I get sufficient warning I shall slip on my disguise and hurry here and see you down to the boat, and then make my way back to our place. But do not wait for me. If I come here and find that you have gone, I shall know that you have taken the alarm in time, and shall return at once to the office. Of course, if the outbreak commences near here, and you find that your way down to the water is blocked, you will simply put on your disguise, stain your face, and wait till I come to you, or till you see that the way to the water is clear.