gh to hold a hundred ships-of-war, and absolutely
sheltered. It is by far the finest harbour that I have ever seen."

"I am sailing for Rhodes in the first place. Lord Keith, who commands
the fleet, has written to request me to meet him there; and if your
report is correct, it will save me the trouble of examining the whole
line of coast between Rhodes and Acre."

Edgar was glad to be again on board the _Tigress_. The account of the
sale of the goods she had captured had now been received; the total
amounted to L133,000, of which L110,000 had been paid in to the prize
court by Mr. Blagrove, the other L23,000 had been the proceeds of the
fruits and other goods. There were in addition the sums received for
vessels sold. The astonishment of the officers of the _Tigre_ was great
indeed when they heard the result, for very little had been said about
the value of the cargo, and the sum realized was at least three times as
great as the most sanguine had hoped.

"It was an excellent plan getting your father to undertake the
business," Sir Sidney Smith said to Edgar, when the latter informed him
that he had received a communication from his father saying how much the
goods he had sold had realized. "I don't suppose they would have fetched
a third of that amount had they been sold in the ordinary way by auction
by the prize court. I am sure that we must all feel greatly obliged to
him."

"And he must feel greatly obliged to you, Sir Sidney; for, as he told
me, his commission had been fixed at three per cent, so he has, after
paying his expenses, done a fine stroke of business for himself."

"He has managed extremely well, Mr. Blagrove, and it has been a
fortunate affair for us all."

CHAPTER XVII.

ABERCROMBIE'S EXPEDITION.

On arriving at Rhodes Sir Sidney Smith left the _Tigre_, and in the
_Tigress_ sailed across to the Bay of Marmorice, preferring to explore
it, in the first place, in a craft drawing but little water. He was
delighted with the harbour, and after a day spent in sounding in various
parts of it, found that there was ample depth of water for the larger
ships, and that there were spots where these could lie alongside, run
the upper-deck guns directly ashore, and careen the ships over to a
point that would enable them to be freed of a considerable proportion of
their weeds and barnacles. Returning to Rhodes, he then started in the
_Tigre_ for Syria. He took Edgar with him as interpreter, replacing h