Kydd laid down the orders with satisfaction. Smith—now there was a fighting seaman! There was sure to be a chance for bold deeds with his old leader at the great siege of Acre in command.
* * *
Teazer sailed within the week. It was an easy passage and four days later they were in sight of Pompey's Pillar, the distant white sprawl of Alexandria and, ahead, the disciplined and purposeful progress of a small squadron of the Royal Navy under easy sail.
"Well met, Mr Kydd." Sir Sidney Smith held out his hand. The sensitive features, the odd, almost preoccupied air brought back a floodtide of memories from when Kydd had been truly blooded in personal combat. "It seems I must offer my felicitations," he continued, eyeing Kydd's epaulette.
"Aye, sir—a mort unexpected, I have t' allow," Kydd said modestly, his broad smile betraying the satisfaction beneath.
"And ready to try your worthy craft in an early meeting with the enemy?" Smith spoke drily, apparently ignorant of Kydd's recent encounter, or perhaps he had chosen to ignore it. Kydd knew that Smith was still in his original ship Tigre, unaccountably with little to show for his epic defence of Acre, Napoleon's first personal defeat on land.
"Sir, would ye be so good as t' lay out for me the situation ashore?" Before, he had been merely a lieutenant on secondment; now he was commander of a not insignificant unit of the fleet, with a valid interest in the larger picture.
Smith got to his feet, went to the broad sweep of windows and stared out pensively. "Very well. Since the glorious Nile the French have been cut off, some might say stranded, in this land of vast antiquity and endless desert. And following our late success in Acre, Napoleon has cravenly fled, leaving his great army to its fate."
He folded his arms and continued to gaze out wordlessly; Kydd thought he had been forgotten. "Nevertheless," he resumed suddenly, "they have not been idle. Under Kleber, their second before his assassination, they brazenly faced the Turks—who are still the nominal rulers of Egypt—and bested them at every turn.
"It is vital to our interests to eject the French Army from Egypt, for it is folly in the extreme to leave a still potent force in being, ready to do untold mischief if loosed. And, besides, it costs Lord Keith a sizeable portion of his ships of force to stand before Alexandria and many lesser vessels to enforce a blockade of the French forces."
"And our army, sir?" Kydd knew it had made a successful and courageous amphibious landing some months before but at the cost of its general, Abercrombie, and had heard nothing since.
"Yes, yes, I was coming to that. In essence, our army is heavily outnumbered and has been in a state of stalemate since. With the French in strong possession of Cairo, the capital, and Alexandria, the chief port, there is little they can do."
"An' therefore nothing we can do," Kydd said, seeing his chance of action ebb away.
"I didn't say that," Smith said sharply. "I have laid out a plan before General Hely-Hutchinson that I am sanguine has sufficient merit to interest him. For its accomplishment it will require participation by the Navy."
Kydd brightened. "May I know y'r plan, sir?"
"No, you may not. You will, of course, as a commander of one of His Majesty's ships be required to attend the general's councils at which, if the general is in agreement, the plan will be divulged to the meeting. Until then, I would be gratified at your attentions to squadron orders—your immediate tasks will become apparent at the council."
"And Commander Kydd, sir, of HMS Teazer, brig-sloop."
Kydd bowed studiously to the splendid vision of the Army officer before him. "Delighted t' be part o' your force, sir," he said.
"Quite so, Commander. We shall find work for ye soon enough." The eyes moved on and Kydd yielded obediently to the next in line.
"The sea officers will sit by me," Smith announced, when the ceremonies were complete and they had moved into the stuffy operations room with its vast table. Half a dozen naval officers clustered defensively round him, opposite the imposing chair at the head.
Kydd nodded to them; to his gratification a good half of Smith's squadron were luggers, gunboats and other small craft, which merited no more than a lieutenant-in-command, and therefore over all of them he was nominally senior.
Further introductions concluded and Hely-Hutchinson opened proceedings. "Gentlemen, I have been accorded the privilege of the overall command of this endeavour, and I do not propose to waste time. The French are undefeated and lie before us in superior numbers. I intend to strike fast and thrust deep into Egypt, thereby separating the two main concentrations of French." He paused and looked round the table before continuing.
"I shall first reduce Rosetta. This will secure the Canopic mouth of the Nile for us, of course. Then I shall follow the river as my path of advance inland through the desert and set Cairo to the sword before the French in Alexandria can achieve a junction with them."
It was a bold and imaginative stroke.
"Sir, if I may—how will we—"
"The Navy will be told to precede the attacking columns up the river to sweep the banks clear with cannon fire. Is that clear?"
Kydd saw Smith's blank expression, his fixed staring at the table and knew immediately where such audacity had originated.
"Splendid! Now we shall get to the details . . ."
An Ottoman squadron of Turks and Albanians joined the English soldiers landing opposite Rosetta. The town duly surrendered and the way was now clear for their daring thrust into the heart of Egypt.
But that did not include Kydd. "No, sir! Do you not see that upriver your otherwise charming sloop would be sadly discommoded by her draught? This work is for others." There was no shifting Smith, and Teazer was left to watch the dust of the troops disappearing round a bend in the river, leaving nothing but date palms and dunes behind them.
It was galling to be beating up and down guarding the seaward approaches to the Nile delta while Smith had taken personal command of the flotilla of gunboats clearing the way for the Army's advance. There was now every prospect of a titanic struggle in the trackless sands before the immeasurably ancient pyramids; 4,500 untried British soldiers against 10,000 men and 300 guns of the most experienced army in the world, safe behind the walls of the capital of Egypt. Only the surprise and daring of the approach was in their favour.
Days stretched to weeks: the endless sailing along past the low, ochre sands and straggling palms bore down on the spirit. There was no glory to be had in this—no French vessel worth the name was going to risk the ships-of-the-line of the blockade force, while the smaller feluccas, djerms and the rest were no prey for a man-o'-war.
Kydd could feel time slipping—with nothing in view that would give any kind of opportunity to win recognition and secure him in his command. He forced himself to patience.
News from the interior was slow and confused: there was talk of a general rising among the population against the French, but that transmuted into a petty insurrection against the Mamelukes. Word then came that Hely-Hutchinson had reached Cairo and had had the gall to demand the instant surrender of General Belliard and his army. With double the English numbers it was hardly surprising that the French had refused. The stage seemed set for either catastrophe or headlong retreat.
Returning gunboats appeared and made straight for the little harbour at Rosetta with the news that, by an astonishing mix of diplomacy and bluff, Hely-Hutchinson had persuaded the French general to capitulate. The price? That his troops would be shipped safely back to France. Shortly thereafter, a flood of vessels of all sizes converged on Rosetta from upriver, each packed with unarmed French soldiers.