hips had not come out scatheless, but their injuries were, for the
most part, immaterial; although rigging had been cut away, bulwarks
smashed, and sides dinted. One gun of the Penelope had been disabled,
and two of the Alexandra. Only five men had been killed, altogether,
and twenty-seven wounded.

No sign was made of surrender, and an occasional fire was kept up on
the forts, to prevent the Egyptians from repairing damages. At one
o'clock, twelve volunteers from the Invincible started to destroy the
guns of Fort Mex. Their fire had ceased, and no men were to be seen in
the fort; but they might have been lying in wait to attack any landing
party.

On nearing the shore, the surf was found to be too heavy for the boat
to pass through it, and Major Tulloch and six men swam ashore and
entered the fort. It was found to be deserted, and all the guns but two
ten-inch pieces dismounted. The charges of gun cotton, that the
swimmers brought ashore with them, were placed in the cannon; and their
muzzles blown off. After performing this very gallant service, the
little party swam back to their boat.

The British admiral's position was now a difficult one. There were no
signs of surrender; for aught he could tell, fifteen thousand Egyptian
troops might be lying round the ruined forts, or in the town hard by,
in readiness to oppose a landing. That these troops were not to be
despised was evident, by the gallantry with which they had fought their
guns. This force would be aided by the mass of the population; and it
would be hazardous, indeed, to risk the loss of fifteen hundred men,
and the reversal of the success already gained.

At the same time, it was painful to think that the Europeans on shore
might be massacred, and the whole city destroyed, by the exasperated
troops and fanatical population. It was known that the number of
Englishmen there was not large, two or three hundred at most; but there
was a much larger number of the lower class of Europeans--port
labourers, fishermen, petty shopkeepers, and others--who had preferred
taking their chance to the certainty of losing all their little
possessions, if they left them.

Anxiously the glasses of those on board the ships were directed towards
the shore, in hopes of seeing the white flag hoisted, or a boat come
out with it flying; but there were no signs of the intentions of the
defenders, and the fleet prepared to resume the action in the morning.
Fort Marabout, and sever