Off Crete, those aboard the armada remained blissfully ignorant that it had been missed by Nelson by only a matter of hours; but when approaching Egypt the frigate Junon was sent on ahead to Alexandria, and returned with the alarming news that the British Squadron had put in there the previous day. Roger again began to scan the horizon with acute anxiety, but the General-in-Chief showed no trace of dismay. He ordered Admiral Brueys to continue on course, and his lucky star was in the ascendant. Nelson, having revictualled his Fleet at Naples, had guessed that Bonaparte's probable destination was Egypt, so he had made all sail there. Not finding the enemy he had turned north, now believing that the French had made their landing in Syria. On July 1st, the topmasts of his ships disappeared below one horizon only as those of the French armada began to appear over the other.
The French Consul at Alexandria, who had been taken on board the Junon, declared that any attempt to enter the harbour would certainly be opposed, so Bonaparte ordered sail to be set again for Marabout, some nine miles along the coast. It was nightfall when they arrived there, the hundreds of transports were scattered over many square miles of sea, and a gale had arisen driving them on to a lee shore. Nevertheless, the General-in-Chief gave orders for an immediate landing. Brueys protested that such an attempt would be suicidal; but Bonaparte, now harassed by the thought that at any hour Nelson might return and catch him at a terrible disadvantage, overruled his Admiral and was the first to step into a boat.
A night ensued of desperate effort, terror, and death for many. The shore of the creek was lined with reefs upon which the sea broke furiously. The howling wind frequently drove the boats from their course or piled them up on rocks. Bonaparte had brought only a limited number of horses, counting on mounting the bulk of his cavalry on animals procured in Egypt, but it was important to land a few dozen for scouts and despatch riders. The poor brutes were lowered by slings into the heaving sea, and men in the boats then grabbed their bridles to tow them ashore.
Terrified and, except for their heads, totally submerged, many of the horses dragged the men from the boats so that they drowned with them, but others swam gamely and survived the ordeal. In the darkness on the beach there was hopeless confusion. The night was cold and everyone was drenched to the skin, yet Bonaparte would not allow any attempt to form a camp. By dawn he had some five thousand troops ashore and ordered an immediate advance on Alexandria.
Wet, cold and hungry, but inspired by his indomitable purpose, his soldiers began their first march across the sands of Egypt. The horses so far landed were so few and in such poor shape that he and his Generals marched with the men. On their way they were fired on by a few mounted Arabs, but no serious resistance was offered until by mid-morning they came within musket shot of the walls of the city, beyond which rose the domes of mosques and the slender towers of minarets.
There he divided his force into three columns. One was to be led by Bon against the Rosetta Gate, another by Kleber against the Gate of the Pillar and the third by Menou against the Gate of the Catacombs. The Turkish garrison maintained a steady fire with both muskets and antiquated cannon, whereas the French had so far been unable to land any of their artillery. But now, suffering for the first time under a blazing sun from acute thirst, their desperate need for water inspired them with a fierce determination to break into the city. After a number of bloody assaults, in which both Kleber and Menou were seriously wounded, they forced a breach in the crumbling walls, poured through it and drove the defenders back in confusion through the narrow streets.
A Turkish Captain who had been captured realized that further resistance was useless, and offered to act as intermediary. Bonaparte then produced a proclamation which he had prepared and sent him with it to his Commander. In this proclamation the wily Corsican declared that the French had come only to liberate the Egyptian people from the tyranny of the Mamelukes and prevent their further depredations on French commerce. He guaranteed respect for property and the Mohammedan religion —pointing out that it was France that had destroyed the Pope and the Knights of Malta, who had for centuries waged war on the Muslims—and promised to support the Sheiks, Cadis and Imams in a continuance of their duties to the glory of the Sultan.
These specious promises had the desired effect. A cease-fire was ordered and by four o'clock that afternoon he was master of Alexandria.
Yet when the French Army took possession of the city the troops were bitterly disappointed. Thousands of them were veterans of Bonaparte's Italian campaign, during which they had lined their pockets and had hoped, on returning to France, to buy pleasant farms or Httle businesses and settle down to a peaceful life of domesticity. Thousands of others were conscripts who had been forced to leave their homes in order that regiments might be brought up to full strength. The reluctance on the part of both veterans and conscripts to leave France had been overcome after the armada had sailed by a rumour put about amongst them that they were on their way to the East, where riches were inexhaustible, and that every man of them would return with a fortune.
Now, as they marched through the streets of the ancient city where Cleopatra had ruled in splendour, and which had been famous for centuries for its luxury, they saw only half-ruined mosques, palaces long since fallen into disrepair and squalid slums inhabited by poverty-stricken people.
This was no surprise to Roger, as he had spent several days in Alexandria during the previous July. He knew that, apart from the residences of the Mameluke Beys, the only well-furnished, comfortable houses were those occupied by Greek merchants in the so-called ' new town' which lay outside the city.
One of them was the property of a Greek banker named Sarodopulous, who had been most helpful to Roger and, moreover, had him invited to stay until he could get a passage to Crete. This now presented Roger with a problem, as he had been travelling as an Englishman and Sarodopulous's principal reason for entertaining him so hospitably was because Mrs. Sarodopulous had been born an Englishwoman. If Bonaparte remained long in Alexandria it seemed highly probable that, since the banker was one of the town's wealthiest citizens, he and Roger would meet; and the Greek was going to be very surprised at finding that the Englishman he had entertained had in a few months been transformed into a French Colonel.
The thought of such a meeting did not cause Roger any great anxiety because, unlike Talleyrand and the despicable Fouché— who appeared to have sunk into oblivion—the Sarodopulouses.
had only the story he had given them himself to go on. He could, therefore, simply repudiate it; and, should Bonaparte learn of the encounter, he would accept without question Roger's explanation that while in Alexandria he had posed as an Englishman in order to secure as much information as he could about the enemies of France.
Now that the Army of Egypt had established itself on land, Roger knew that he was likely to be very fully employed. His appointment by Bonaparte as his Aide-de-Camp-in-Chief had, of course, not matured, as the appointment had been dependent on the invasion of England and had been announced only as one of many little bluffs which would help give credence to the deception plan. But Bonaparte's reason for making Roger one of his aides-de-camp when in Italy had been because he was already dreaming of conquering the East and, as Roger had just returned from travelling in India and Egypt, he had decided that an old companion-in-arms with such experience would be of value to him on his Staff.