ypt would be placed of being cut off, by the superior
strength of the British navy, from all communication with France, should
alone have deterred them from so wild a project. The fate of the
campaign was indeed decided when the first gun was fired in the Bay of
Aboukir, and the destruction of the French fleet sealed the fate of
Napoleon's army. The noble defence of Acre by Sir Sidney Smith was the
final blow to Napoleon's projects, and from that moment it was but a
question of time when the French army would be forced to lay down its
arms, and be conveyed, in British transports, back to France. The credit
of the signal failure of the enterprise must be divided between Nelson,
Sir Sidney Smith, and Sir Ralph Abercrombie.

CONTENTS

CHAP. Page

I. MAKING A FRIEND 11

II. A BEDOUIN TRIBE 31

III. LEFT BEHIND 49

IV. THE BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS 66

V. A STREET ATTACK 86

VI. THE RISING IN CAIRO 105

VII. SAVED 122

VIII. AN EGYPTIAN TOMB 142

IX. SIR SIDNEY SMITH 162

X. A SEA-FIGHT 182

XI. ACRE 199

XII. A DESPERATE SIEGE 217

XIII. AN INDEPENDENT COMMAND 234

XIV. A PIRATE HOLD 251

XV. CRUISING 270

XVI. A VISIT HOME 287

XVII. ABERCROMBIE'S EXPEDITION 304

XVIII. THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA 322

XIX. QUIET AND REST 340

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Facing Page

"WELL, MY LAD, WHO ARE YOU?" Frontispiece

ALI AND AYALA APPEARED 144

EDGAR HITS OUT 184

WITH A TREMENDOUS CHEER, FLUNG THEMSELVES UPON THE PIRATES 256

GIVING A YELL OF DERISION AND DEFIANCE 328

* * * * *

Plan of the Battle of the Nile 84

Plan of the Siege of St. Jean D'Acre 209

Plan of the Battle of Alexandria 329

AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE

CHAPTER I.

MAKING A FRIEND.

Two lads were standing in one of the bastions