oard might mean to his
protector, and for the rest of the journey kept out of sight.

CHAPTER IX

THE REIGN OF TERROR IN ALEXANDRIA

After what had happened, Helmar was prepared for almost anything
when he actually arrived at Alexandria.

For some time past everybody had been possessed of the feeling that
something serious was about to happen. Arabi Pasha and his
co-conspirator, Mahmoud Sami, had caused sedition to be preached
amongst the native soldiers and police, and amassed together so
large a following that his party had become masters of the
situation. His firm conviction that the Khedive's rule and the power
of the Europeans could be easily overthrown, got so instilled into
the souls of the populace they could restrain their hot-blooded
feelings no longer, and on an ever-memorable day in June 1882, broke
out in one of the bloodiest riots of modern times.

The first indication of what was to take place occurred one
afternoon, when the chief streets of the city were suddenly awakened
from their tranquillity by the shouts and yells of hundreds of
natives.

"Down with the Christians," some cried; others, "Death to the
unbelievers!" And they rushed about madly in different parts of the
town, ultimately joining forces when the riot became general.

Europeans were beaten with "nabouts," knocked down and trampled on;
shots were fired, the soldiers charged, and the police helped to
make the butchery more complete. Shops and houses were attacked and
pillaged, the proprietors being taken out and massacred in cold
blood, and, after all valuables had been taken from them, their
bodies thrown into the bye-streets. In one of these streets were
found three bodies of Europeans. One was stabbed through the heart,
another had bullet-holes in his head, whilst the head of the third
was almost severed from the trunk, and the body divested of nearly
all its clothes. The mob evidently felt confident that their actions
were approved, for they paraded the streets with their stolen goods
and clothes with an air of glory and bravado. One soldier was seen
to sit on the curbstone and change his own garments for the new
stolen ones he had just acquired.

The riff-raff of the crowd consisted of the lowest class of Arabs of
the city. They fortified themselves with club-like weapons, felled
their victims with them, and after stripping their bodies, cast them
into the sea. Most dia