ith the sword almost every
day; and I soon showed them I was their master. But that is not to the
purpose; what I am about to speak of happened in this wise.

"At break of day, one morning, the picket to which I was joined received
orders to mount, and accompany the general along the bank of the Nile
to the village of Chebrheis, where we heard that a Mameluke force were
assembling, whose strength and equipment it was important to ascertain.
Our horses were far from fresh when we started; the day previous had
been spent in a fatiguing march from Rhemanieh, crossing a dreary
desert, with hot sands and no water. But General Bonaparte always
expected us to turn out, as if we had got a general remount; and so we
made the best of it, and set out in as good style as we could. We had
not gone above a league and a half, however, when we found that the
slapping pace of the general had left the greater part of the escort out
of sight; and of a score of four squadrons, not above twenty horsemen
were present.

"The Emperor--you know he was only general then, but it 's all the
same--laughed heartily when he found he had outridden the rest; indeed,
for that matter, he laughed at our poor blown beasts, that shook on
every limb, and seemed like to push their spare, gaunt bones through the
trappings with which, for shame's sake, we endeavored to cover them. But
his joke was but shortlived; for just then, from behind the wall of an
old ruined temple--whiz!--there came a shattering volley of musketry in
the midst of us; the only miracle is how one escaped. The next moment
there was a wild hurrah, and we beheld some fifty Mameluke fellows,
all glittering with gold, coming down full speed on us, on their Arab
chargers. _Mille cadavres!_ what was to be done? Nothing, you'd say, but
run for it. And so we should have done, if the beasts were able: but not
a bit of it; they couldn't have raised a gallop if Mourad Bey had been
there with his whole army. And so we put a good face on it, and drew up
across the way, and looked as if going to charge. Egad! the Turks were
amazed. They halted up short, and stared about them to see what infantry
or artillery there might be coming up to our assistance, so boldly did
we hold our ground.

"'We'll keep them in check, General,' said the officer of the picket.
'Lose no time now, but make a dash for it, and you'll get away.' And so,
without more ado, Bonaparte turned his horse's head round, and, driving
his