, and they would only
die of thirst if they went after us into the desert."

"Well, I hope that it is not going to be so, Sidi; but if the French
should land here I should like it very much. I suppose you would fight
against the French."

"If they came to take Egypt, of course we should, and then you could see
it all, and fight with us against them."

"It would be very jolly, Sidi, and I should like nothing better; but of
course I shall have to do as my father tells me. I expect he would shut
up his place, and get all his goods on board a ship and go away till it
was all over, if he was able. No doubt he would want me to go with him."

That evening Edgar learned that he had rightly guessed the steps that
his father would take in case a French army landed.

"It is an awkward business, lad," he said. "Of course if Nelson comes up
with the French fleet, we may hope that it will come out right; but if,
before he catches it, they manage to land twenty or thirty thousand
troops, our position here would be a most serious one. I intend to
charter the _Petrel_, which has just discharged the cargo she brought
here. I shall put all my most valuable goods on board at once,
especially all the Egyptian carpets and other oriental work, so that
within a few hours of hearing that their fleet was off the coast, I
should be ready to sail for England. Of course there would be an end to
the business here, so long as the French remained in Egypt; and no doubt
any British subjects they could lay their hands on would be thrown into
prison, just as was the case when they occupied Holland.

"I should not, however, propose to shut up the house altogether, for
although we, as English, would be seized, and thrown into prison, and
the place closed, France is not at war with Germany, and Muller could
carry on the shipping business without interruption, his own name being
substituted for mine. I should instruct him to do no trade with the
interior; everything will be turned topsy-turvy, and all trade of that
sort would be at an end. On the other hand, with the French masters
here, a considerable number of French and Italian ships will be coming
in with stores of all kinds, these will often need supplies, repairs,
and so on; and as we have men capable of doing anything in the way of
refitting, Muller could keep things going, and carry on a business that
should pay all expenses, and would probably leave a margin of profit. At
any rate, the house w