accompanied us, and sentries were posted on the different gates with orders to let no one in or out during the night. The Citadel seemed quiet, and I thought our task was over, but as Captain Lawrence and I were returning to the middle gate, we were rather startled by hearing a tremendous noise, shouting and clanking of chains, as if pandemonium had broken loose. We then found that the din was caused by the prisoners, of whom there were many hundreds, who had been roused by the sound of the departing garrison, and had opened the prison door and were trying to escape. We succeeded in driving them back, and then went into the prison, which smelt badly. Here were a great number of prisoners, closely packed together, some regular jail-birds, and others who looked as if they might be respectable members of society. The latter crowded round us, and said that they had been put in prison because they would not support the rebels, and they asked me to investigate their cases immediately and release them, The idea of holding a court under the circumstances was rather humorous, and I told them that it was impossible to do anything for them that night, but that as the English had taken possession of Cairo their cases would be gone into as soon as possible, and justice would be done. The following day, when Colonel Sir Charles Wilson arrived in Cairo, I told him of the state of the prison in the Citadel, and he obtained authority to go into the matter, and to release all those persons who had been imprisoned without due cause. were Having quieted the prisoners as far as possible, we went out of the prison, the doors were locked, and sentries posted with orders to shoot any one who tried to escape. Notwithstanding this, I believe that a certain number did succeed in getting away after I left the Citadel, and I know that one man at least was shot. This was an inoffensive individual, coachman to one of the American officers in the Egyptian service, who had been put in prison because he was supposed to be in favour of the Europeans. Fortunately he was not much hurt, and soon recovered. After the episode with the prisoners had concluded satisfactorily, I went with the Commandant to his quarters to discuss the situation. Having been a supporter of Arabi, he was naturally anxious as to his prospects, and inquired whether I was satisfied with the way he had acted. I told him that he had behaved admirably so far, but that he must remain in the Citadel for the night and do all he could to assist Captain Lawrence, explaining to him at the same time that if anything disagreeable happened he would be held responsible. I then questioned him as to the composition and strength of the Egyp tian garrison which had been chilly. So we made a dein the Citadel, but, rather tour, and I found all the curiously, neither he nor his streets we rode through equalofficers could give a definite ly tranquil. It was rather a account of the number of men, curious situation: here was I, and their estimates varied from an officer of the invading 5000 to 7000. By a rough army, riding quietly through calculation I had made while what had been supposed to they were marching out, there be a hostile city, having as were about 6000, and this companion an officer of the number, or perhaps a little enemy who, less than twelve more, was probably nearly hours before, had been preparing to put Abbasiyeh in a state of defence against us; and yet it seemed quite natural, and as if there had never been a war at all. correct. After again giving a word of caution to the Commandant, I bade him good-night, and went with Captain Lawrence to the main gate. Here the After passing the Esbekiyeh, Egyptian officer had just ar- we rode by the Coptic quarter rived who had carried out of the town, which was also the evacuation of the fort perfectly quiet, though, as I on Mokattam heights, and I learned afterwards, the Copts thanked him for having as- had been in a great state of sisted me, and let him go anxiety since the defeat of home. Then, leaving Captain Arabi at Tel-el-Kebir, and Lawrence in charge of the were much relieved when they Citadel, I started to carry out heard that Cairo was in the the second part of my in- possession of the English, and structions as regards the ex- that all danger was past. amination of the state of Then we went on to the Cairo, taking with me Hussein Ramsi and the Engineer officer. Fagalla; and as by this time I had been through the city from one end to the other, I We followed the main road had seen sufficient to justify down from the Citadel to the me in reporting to General mosque of Sultan Hassan, and Lowe that Cairo was peacethen proceeded along the ful. So we took the road Boulevard Mohamed Ali to to Abbasiyeh by the mosque the Esbekiyeh Gardens. Cairo of Zahir, and reached the was like a city of the dead: barracks a little after 4 A.M., the news of the occupation of just twenty-five hours since the Citadel by the English we had prepared to had become known, and the from Belbeis. It had been an inhabitants wisely kept to interesting day, but I was their houses. The Engineer not sorry it had come to an asked if we might go round end at last. by his home to get his greatcoat, as the night was start On entering the barracks I went to find Colonel Stewart, who told me that during my absence in Cairo Arabi Pasha and Toulba Pasha had come out from the city and surrendered. The Egyptian military revolt was at an end. Stewart took me to General Lowe, to whom I reported that all had gone well at the Citadel, and that Cairo was perfectly quiet. He said, "Well done," and in a few minutes we were all asleep. The next morning General Lowe ordered me to accompany a squadron to the railway station to meet Sir Garnet Wolseley, who was expected to arrive by train from Zagazig, where he had been delayed by a breakdown on the line; so he did not reach Cairo until 9.45 A.M. On returning from the station, I made a written report to General Lowe respecting the surrender of the Citadel, and strongly recommended the Commandant for favourable consideration. I am glad to say that, though he was a senior officer of the Egyptian army, and a great supporter of Arabi, he he received a free pardon from his Highness the Khedive. The Engineer officer was, of course, also pardoned, and a few months later, when I was employed under General Sir Evelyn Wood on the organisation of the new Egyptian army, he became one of my subordinates in the War Office. We often talked over the night of our first acquaintance, and he asked me once whether there was any chance of his getting the British war medal. I told him that, though I was greatly obliged to him for his assistance on the night of September 14, it was not in accordance with English custom to give medals to officers of the enemy's forces. But there can be no doubt that but for the cordial way in which he and Hussein Effendi Ramsi assisted me, it would have been much more difficult to carry out General Lowe's instructions. The cavalry march to Cairo affords an excellent instance of the importance of following up a beaten enemy without an instant's delay, and Sir Drury Lowe is worthy of the highest credit for the manner in which he carried it out. It is to be regretted that in the 'Official History of the Campaign,' published by the War Office in 1887, neither Sir G. Wolseley's orders to General Lowe nor that officer's report upon the march is given. As regards the former, all that is stated is "that the cavalry were directed to continue their pursuit, and advance upon Cairo with all possible rapidity, to save it, if possible, from the destruction intended by Arabi Pasha." Apparently this meant that Lowe was to take the whole of the cavalry division to Cairo. If this is so, he took a considerable responsibility on himself in leaving the greater part of one brigade and the whole of the artillery behind when he started from Belbeis; but his action probably saved the situation, as, if he had waited for the heavy brigade and the guns, he would not have reached Cairo until Septem- the more probable. The Coptic ber 15. What would have occurred in the interval it is, of course, not possible to say with certainty, but one of two things might have happened. Either the forward military party would have taken the lead, and an attempt would have been made to defend Cairo with its large garrison, or else the fanatical Mohamedans would have put Arabi and his colleagues on one side, and Cairo would have been treated like Alexandria. In either case the result would have been disastrous for the city. In after years I often discussed the question with Egyptians who had lived in Cairo during the war, and met many who thought the latter event Patriarch, for example, used to say that he was sure there would have been a massacre of the Copts on the night of September 14, had it not been for the arrival of the British cavalry on the afternoon of that day, and their taking possession of the city. The burning of Alexandria might without any doubt have been prevented, if British troops had landed immediately after the bombardment; but the unfortunate delay in that case led to the loss of many lives, and the destruction of property of the value of £4,000,000, which Egypt had to pay. It is probable that the rapid advance of Sir Drury Lowe saved Cairo from a similar fate. THE STAIN IN THE CORNER. WHEN my regiment returned from service on the frontier in October 18- we were ordered to the little station of B. This was good news for us all, as B- was known as a capital place for sport, and, more important to me as a married man, had a good climate in the cold weather months, and was in reasonable distance of the hills. No cavalry had been stationed there for some years, and our orders were due to the readjustment of garrisons then taking place all over India. My wife had been in England for the last two years with the children, and I at once cabled to her to bring them out and join me as soon as possible. I had engaged a bungalow from the list sent to my regiment by the Station Staff Officer. From the description he gave, it seemed just what we wanted, plenty of accommodation and a very low rent, marvellously low in fact, the reason stated being the distance from the mess, and lines, which made it a difficult house to let. We reached B- late in the evening, and a friend in the Gunners put me up for the first night; while my servants, under the charge of Jalla Deen, my old bearer, went to my new abode to get things a little ship-shape. I was full of curiosity to inspect it for myself, for my wife was rather particular, and taking a house without her help was a distinct responsibility. All the morning, however, I was kept busy in the lines, and it was not till the afternoon that I was free to look after my own affairs. I felt very lighthearted as, after twenty minutes' ride, I turned in at the gateway. It was so good to know after these weary two years of separation I should be starting to meet Meg and the children in a few days' time. The first sight of the house impressed me favourably; it certainly looked what houseagents would describe as "most desirable." It stood in an unusually large compoundand the servants' quarters, I noticed with satisfaction, were some distance in rear. There was a capital garden, rather run to riot, with a tangle of flowering-shrubs, oleanders, jasmine, and roses. A charming walk, bordered with orangetrees, was quite a feature, and the house itself was clothed with masses of the lovely Rangoon creeper. "Ho, bearer," I shouted as I rode under the porch, and Jalla Deen appeared in spotless white garments, salaaming with grave dignity. Jalla Deen had been in my service for ten years, and when I married I prepared for trouble on his account, for as a rule the ways of bachelor's servants are not approved of by memsahibs, but fortunately my |