st," answered Adair.
"And, as I am a gentleman, look here, the fellows have shot away the
handle of my sword!"

Such was the case. Adair had indeed had a narrow escape; his coat was
torn and his skin slightly grazed. An eighth of an inch on one side,
and he would have received a very ugly, if not a mortal, wound. Happily
he was very little hurt, and the cheers with which the boat was
received, as she got alongside the frigate, made him forget entirely
that anything was the matter with him.

"Oh! I am so jealous of you two fellows," exclaimed Jack, as they were
all seated together in the berths. "You'll make me volunteer to lead a
forlorn hope, or to do something terrifically heroic. However, the fun
is not over yet; we shall have plenty more work to do before long."

The fun, as Jack called it, was not over. Sidon was soon afterwards
attacked by a squadron under Sir Charles Napier, in his usual slap-dash
gallant determined-to-conquer manner. The ships bombarded, then the
Turks, marines, and bluejackets were landed, and stormed one castle
after another, killing or putting to flight every one who opposed them.
Jack, Murray, and Adair, to their great delight, were all on shore
together. The cannonading had not, however, driven the Egyptians from
their entrenchments, so the ships again opened their fire. Captain
Austin, at the head of a Turkish battalion, had taken one castle,
Captain Mansel, with great gallantry, led a body of marines into
another, and then they fought their way into another castle which
overlooked the town, not, however, without some loss. And now the
commodore conceived that the time had come for storming the town itself,
and, putting himself at the head of the troops, he led them on. The
three midshipmen, with a body of seamen from the different ships, were
with him. They broke into some strongly fortified barracks, and drove
out the enemy, then they fought their way through the streets to the
citadel. Several boats had brought their ensigns, Jack carried theirs
at the end of a pole.

"Hurrah, now!" he sang out; "let us have our colours on the top of the
wall before any one else." Terence and Murray echoed the sentiment;
and, leading on some of their men, they endeavoured to reach the spot
before a boat's crew of their Austrian allies, led on by a midshipman,
as well as before other parties of British seamen. Never was there a
better race. No one felt inclined to stop at obstacles,