A Chapter of Adventures

re sorely bruised, and bleeding from many cuts and wounds, and breathless and exhausted by the way in which

u both-are either

to me there is nothing left of me. I am sore

er that I am alive at all, but I don

s try and se

cornfully. "Why, I ca

nd up and move about. We shall find out, an

h many exclamations of pain

u fellows up

es

eems to me that my jacket is soaked with blood, but where it comes from I d

eel, Jim," Arthur rep

eating ices and enjoying ourselves stunningly; then this frightful row took place (what it was all about I have not the least idea), and just as it seemed all up

ke a dream,"

d to us and tie ourselves up a bit; as it is, there is nothing to do but to lie down again and try to get off to sleep. I say, won't there be a row after th

s of the mob just for the pleasure of cutting our throats privately. Still the rough way we were carrie

k like it. Well there is no use halloing about that now, let us try and get

wark, the hardness of the ground did not trouble the boys, and before many minu

h on

nd. A ray of sunlight was streaming in through an o

huge swelling from a jagged bruise over the eyebrow. Jack had received a clear cut almost across the forehead, from which the blood was still oozing. Jim's face was swollen and bruised all over, and one of his ears w

ry boy in the street will point at it, and one will be a reg

r hair long, Jim; it won't

shall have fellows asking me what has happened to me. Now, had it been an arm, chaps

f an ear just at present for a good dr

d I," Art

bled. "I have lost half an ear an

t mean to starve us anyhow, so no doubt

ntly an underground cellar, generally used as a store-room. It was about twelve feet square, and the only light was that obtained through the little opening in the wall. Jack thought as he looked at i

ere undone, and two Egyptians with swords and pistols in their girdles ent

ent on as the men looked at him evidently without comprehending. "Wash, you see,-like this;" and he went through a pantomime of wa

," Jack said, "and that th

inclination to eat. Presently the steps were heard coming down the stairs again, and the men ente

ymen," and he shook the Egyptians warmly by the hand. "I have nothing to give you," he went on, "for they turned

waist, and after a general wash tore strips off their shirts and bandaged the various cuts they had received

into each other's way they would have done for us to a certainty; but they were all slashing away together, and not one could get a fair drive at us.

ied with him a wooden box of the shape of a bandbox. He opened this and took out a melon and three

l. That chap who brought us up here is evidently friendly, though why he should have sent us the fruit b

t ate the grapes; when these were finished they looke

that?" Jim asked. "Our knives h

foot. For two or three minutes he searched about. "Hurrah!" he exclaimed at last, "here is a bit of old hoop-iron that

ree parts, and devoured to the rind. Breakfast ov

i, or whoever comes to be their chief. If we get the best of it he will give us up, and say that he has saved our lives. That would account, you see, for this breakfast b

ime. Alexandria is a big place, and there are a lot of troops here, and they can bring any number more down from Cairo by rail. The crews of the ships of war here are nothing like strong enough to

much interested in the matter as we are, for I expect there were a good

erchants and bankers and that sort of thing, while all the small shops seem to have either French, Ita

know where one is and which way one is looking. We know we are somewhere on the high ground beside the town. We must be looking somewhere north-east by the way

eached the level of the loop-hole. "I can see the outer har

n. "We shall be able to see any men-of-war that come in, and form so

eet thick. I could only see a sma

e only way of escape I can see would be to spring on those two fellows who brin

e to shout. We might manage one easy enough, if one sprang on him and held his arms and prevented him getting his pistol, and another clapped his hands o

ouldn't do that," t

get away, and anyhow could not pass through the town down to the port and steal a boat. No, Jim, I don't think it is the least use in the world trying to escape that way. If we could dig through the wall and make our way out at night, an

this rubbish and see if we can find some more bits of iron. Anyhow, we can wait a day or two before we make up our minds about it and see what comes of it. I vote we clear up this litter a

ur way out, as we can put a lot of brick-dust and stuff under it. It would not do

Well then, we have nothing to do

piece of iron, and the bit they had used as a knife was so thin and rust

g to serve as beds for them, and on the following morning three or four men came down and swept up all the rubbish from the floor. Once every two days they were taken out under a guard of three men with swords and muskets, and allowed

ards and forwards to the shore," Jim said

f men at work. I believe they must be getting up a fresh battery the

of their hands (we know what will come of that when it begins), but if they