r Egypt to join the invaders;
that the village of Aboukir had been taken by the Turks, the garrison cut
to pieces, and the citadel compelled to capitulate. Thus the storm burst
upon Egypt.

Napoleon immediately retired to his tent, where he remained till 3 o'clock
the next morning, dictating orders for the instant advance of the troops;
and for the conduct of those who were to remain in Cairo, and at the other
military stations. At 4 o'clock in the morning he was on horseback, and
the army in full march. The French troops were necessarily so
scattered--some in Upper Egypt, eight hundred miles above Cairo, some upon
the borders of the desert to prevent incursions from Syria, some at
Alexandria--that Napoleon could take with him but eight thousand men. By
night and by day, through smothering dust and burning sands, and beneath
the rays of an almost blistering sun, his troops, hungry and thirsty, with
iron sinews, almost rushed along, accomplishing one of those extraordinary
marches which filled the world with wonder. In seven days he reached the
Bay of Aboukir.

It was the hour of midnight, on the 25th of July, 1799, when Napoleon,
with six thousand men, arrived within sight of the strongly intrenched
camp of the Turks. They had thrown up intrenchments among the sand-hills
on the shore of the bay. He ascended an eminence and carefully examined
the position of his sleeping foes. By the bright moonlight he saw the vast
fleet of the allies riding at anchor in the offing, and his practiced eye
could count the mighty host, of infantry and artillery and horsemen,
slumbering before him. He knew that the Turks were awaiting the arrival of
the formidable Mameluke cavalry from Egypt, and for still greater
reinforcements, of men and munitions of war, from Acre, and other parts of
Syria. Kleber, with a division of two thousand of the army, had not yet
arrived. Napoleon resolved immediately to attack his foes, though they
were eighteen thousand strong. It was indeed an unequal conflict. These
janizaries were the most fierce, merciless, and indomitable of men; and
their energies were directed by English officers and by French engineers.
Just one year before, Napoleon with his army had landed upon that beach.
Where the allied fleet now rode so proudly, the French fleet had been
utterly destroyed. The bosom of Napoleon burned with the desire to avenge
this disaster. As Napoleon stood silently contemplating the scene, Murat
by his side,