. As
soon as the enemy caught sight of them they again opened their fire.
Several of the daring party were hit. The officers cheered them on.
The fire was hotter than ever. One officer fell. He was a midshipman.
The men rallied round him, and lifting him on their shoulders bore him
on towards the boats. He did not breathe or give a sign of life. "Who
is it? who is it?" was asked. They reached the boats and shoved off,
for the Egyptians were gathering in force to attack them. Jack and
Terence, perched on the hammock-nettings, were looking out for the
return of the expedition. The frigate was close in, and the boats had
to pass her on their way to their respective ships. One of the boats of
the _Hastings_ came first, the one in which Murray had embarked. A
union jack was thrown over a part of the stern-sheets.

"Who have you there?" asked Jack, not able to restrain his anxiety.

"A midshipman, sir, who has been killed," was the answer.

"Oh, Terence, it must be Murray!" exclaimed Jack, almost falling off the
hammock-nettings overboard. "And yet, no, it can't be; it must not be.
Who is he, that midshipman?" shouted Jack; but the boat was already at
some distance, and the people in her did not hear the question asked.

The report soon got about the decks that Murray was killed. Jack and
Adair would have been gratified at hearing all the things said about
him, and the grief expressed at his loss. Still, after giving vent to
their grief for a time, they began to hope that possibly he might not
have been killed, but only desperately wounded, and they resolved to ask
leave to go on board the _Hastings_ to ascertain the state of the case.
As they were going aft for that purpose, a boat came alongside, and in a
few seconds afterwards, who should appear on deck uninjured in limb, and
in capital spirits, but Murray himself.

"Who are you? what are you? where do you come from?" exclaimed Terence,
scarcely knowing what he said. "Why, Alick, to a certainty you are
dead, are you not?"

"I hope not," answered Murray, laughing at the reception his two friends
were giving him. "I have not been hit or hurt that I know of."

"All right," exclaimed Jack, springing forward and grasping his hand,
which he wrung heartily. "I am so glad. It would have been too
dreadful if you had been killed."

"Unhappily, one poor fellow of our party, a midshipman, L--, of the
_Hastings_, was killed," observed Murray. "However, let us