eir ranks and rushed wildly to the
stream, into which thousands of them plunged in their uniforms. In the
cultivated fields great quantities of melons were found, affording a
delightful food, for since they had left Alexandria there had been
nothing to eat but the biscuits they had brought with them. Many paid
dearly for over-indulgence in the fruit, numbers being prostrated with
colic, while not a few died. Next day the army rested, the horses
needing the halt even more than the men, for they had not recovered from
the long confinement of the voyage when they started from Alexandria,
and the scanty supply of water, the clouds of dust, and the heaviness of
the passage across the deep sand had caused the death of a large number,
and had rendered the rest all but unserviceable.

They had learnt from the natives that Mourad, with a large number of
Mamelukes, was in front of them; and, indeed, on the day of their
arrival there they appeared in such force that the French formed in
order of battle outside the town. The Mamelukes rode backwards and
forwards in front of the line brandishing their weapons and threatening
a charge. A few rounds of artillery, however, speedily taught them the
power of the French guns, and they retired to Chebreisse, and the French
were not disturbed the next day. Here the army had the satisfaction of
being rejoined both by Dugua's division, with its flotilla, and by
another fleet of boats from Alexandria.

The Bedouins under the sheik had taken no part in the irregular
skirmishes. There were already as many Arabs as sufficed for cutting off
stragglers and compelling the French to march in military order, and the
sheik determined to hold his small party together until some opportunity
for a general encounter presented itself. Sometimes from the crest of
the sand-hills he and his followers watched the progress of the dark
masses of infantry.

"They march very slowly," he said to Edgar. "Why do they not go on
quicker?"

"I fancy that they are keeping pace with the baggage-train. Their
animals must be completely exhausted; and last night as we followed them
we came upon many dead horses. They know that their only safety is to
keep together, and I doubt not that the men are well-nigh as exhausted
as the animals. Even on horseback the heat is terrible, and although we
have our water-skins well-filled, I feel it very much, and of course men
on foot carrying their muskets and ammunition and knapsacks