"From Alexandria!" Condor repeated in surprise, for he had not been on deck when the Italian captain had answered the hail.
"I was accidentally left behind when most of the English inhabitants left when the French ships came in sight."
"What did they do to you? Have you been in prison ever since?"
"Fortunately they never laid hands on me. A sheik of one of the Arab tribes was a friend of mine, and I have been staying with him ever since."
"How did you make them understand what you wanted?"
"I can talk Arabic as well as I can English," Edgar replied.
"Still you must have felt it awfully slow stopping at an Arab camp all this time."
"It has not been by any means slow. The tribe harassed the French on their march. We were present at the battle of the Pyramids, though we did not take any active part in it; for when the Mamelukes were defeated the Arabs knew that alone they had no chance of success. Then we came down to the place where they generally encamp, some twelve miles from Alexandria, and I had the good luck to see Nelson's fleet destroy the French in Aboukir Bay."
"That was luck!" Wilkinson said warmly. "I would have given anything to have been in that fight."
"You are taking late to the sea," the midshipman who had not yet spoken remarked.