lf between Jaffa and Damietta, and
so cut off the retreat of the French army by sea. Not anticipating that
this would be the case, Napoleon, on his arrival at Jaffa, embarked the
twenty-three guns he had brought with him, on board ship, together with
all the sick and wounded who were unequal to the desert march.

So great was the haste, that the vessels were despatched short of hands,
and without provisions or water. As soon as the _Tigre_ was made out the
vessels all steered for her, confiding in the well-known humanity of the
British to their prisoners. They were not mistaken. Sir Sidney had
abundance of supplies and water put on board them, and he convoyed them
to Damietta, where they received from their countrymen the surgical and
medical aid that was beyond his power to afford them. Edgar was not on
board the _Tigre_ when she fell in with the convoy of wounded. Sir
Sidney had, early on the morning after the departure of the French,
informed him that he should, in his despatches, report most favourably
of the assistance that he had rendered him both as interpreter and
aide-de-camp during the siege.

"For the present," he went on, "I shall have no great need for an
interpreter, as I shall probably have little to do for some time beyond
cruising backwards and forwards on the coast of Egypt to prevent ships
from France entering the ports with stores and ammunition, therefore I
shall be able to give you employment which I think that you will like.
One of the gun-boats captured from the French is a fast sailer. Hassan
Bey tells me that when he was at Rhodes he heard great complaints of the
piracy that was being carried on among the islands. The Turkish troops
in most of these were withdrawn by him to swell his force as he sailed
south, and there are now no vessels of war in those waters. The French
flag has been driven from the sea, while our work has been too serious
to admit of our paying any attention to the Aegean, although, as I knew
before I left London, the complaints of merchants and ship-owners of the
capture of merchantmen trading with Constantinople and other eastern
ports were numerous. At the present moment I can well spare one of the
gun-boats; the others will go down to watch the Egyptian coast. I shall
therefore commission the _Foudre_, and re-name her the _Tigress_. I
shall appoint Mr. Wilkinson to the command. Mr. Condor would, of course,
have had it, but he has been transferred as third lieutenant to t