' That is sound reasoning,' Roger agreed. ' Now I must be frank. I have no intention of risking death going backwards and forwards in the desert, or of spending several months at Bonaparte's headquarters endeavouring to get periodical reports back to you of how matters are going there. If in a single mission I can secure for you the information you require, will you agree to send me back to England at the first opportunity? '
' Yes,' replied the Commodore, without hesitation. ' That is a fair offer and I willingly agree to your conditions.'
' Good,' Roger nodded. ' The next question is how am I to make connection with the French? Although the Turks are our allies, you cannot simply put me ashore. It is certain that I should fall in with a band of marauding Arabs who would promptly murder me.'
' We could disguise you as an Arab,' Sir Sidney suggested.
' Thank you, no,' replied Roger with a quick shake of his head. ' Your Arabic may have been good enough for you to pass as an Arab in Morocco, but mine is not good enough for me to pass as one in Palestine. And, as these people cannot read any laissez-passer with which you might furnish me, it would be useless.'
' It is a pretty problem,' the Commodore admitted.
After a moment's thought Roger said, 'There is one way in which it might be done: that is by an exchange of prisoners. To the French I am known as Colonel Breuc. If the French have a British prisoner of equivalent rank you could send a flag of truce and, perhaps, arrange an exchange. You would get something for nothing and without being subject to any danger I should be taken straight to Bonaparte's headquarters.'
'That is certainly an idea. Unfortunately, though, as it happens, the French have taken none of my people except a few seamen from boats sent in with reconnaissance parties. And it would look far too fishy should I propose an offer of a Colonel on the General-in-Chief's Staff in exchange for those poor fellows.*
' I fear it would,' Roger agreed. 1 We are, then, at a dead end, and must continue so until we can devise some plan by which I can reappear at Bonaparte's headquarters as an escaped prisoner without having first to be landed and make my way alone across country infested with murderous tribesmen.'
During the week that followed, neither of them could think of any way in which this could be accomplished. Roger took all his meals with Sir Sidney, who was his senior by only three years, and they had much in common. As they reminisced over events in which, although then unknown to one another, both had played a part, their mutual liking grew. Before long, too, Roger realized why it was that Sir Sidney was unpopular with his naval colleagues. He was by nature haughty and extremely intolerant of those typical naval Captains who were expert seamen but almost entirely ignorant of matters outside their profession. He spoke several languages fluently, was widely read, had an intimate knowledge of events which had led to the present international relationships and possessed a swift, inventive mind. It also emerged that he took good care of his men and that they reciprocated with respect and affection.
On the 15th they dropped anchor opposite the Crusaders' great fortress city of Acre. It lay on a rocky promontory, rectangular in shape and joined to the mainland by a wide area of flat desert and marsh. Thus, as Sir Sidney pointed out to Roger, ships anchored to north and south of the city would be in an excellent position to assist the defence by enfilading assaulting columns. They went ashore and, accompanied by Colonel Phelippeaux, carried out an inspection of the defences.
Roger was amazed at their strength and depth. The four-mile-long wall encircling the town was in most places a hundred feet high and so broad that three coaches could have been driven abreast round the top. Every few hundred feet great bastions jutted out, enabling cross-fire to be poured down on attackers. The succession of culverts, moraines and fosses seemed unending and it appeared impossible that the city could be taken by assault.
But Phelippeaux pointed out that in many places the walls were crumbling and that several of the towers had become unsafe, so would come down easily under bombardment; that some of the moats had become choked, having been used for generations as refuse dumps and that fields of fire had been -rendered useless because groups of shanties had been erected outside the walls, masking the lines of sight. He was particularly concerned about the north-eastern corner of the city, which was the furthest from the shore and largely an area of ruins. An enormous tower stood there but, if once seized, it would be very difficult to recapture, and possession of it would give the enemy dominance over the whole of that quarter.
However, he reported that Djezzar was doing his utmost to strengthen the defences and, as evidence of this, they saw many gangs of Arab men, women and children—hundreds strong— toiling at clearing twenty-foot-deep ditches and hacking down and burning scores of miserable huts.
Two days later a sloop came alongside Tigre, with the news that a French flotilla, composed of small craft, had passed Jaffa and, keeping close inshore, was coming up the coast. The Commodore at once ordered sail to be set and the Squadron headed south to meet it. Sir Sidney's luck was in. They surprised the flotilla that night as it rounded the promontory at the southern end of the long bay. There followed a sharp encounter and the French endeavoured to beach their ships, upon which every boat possessed by the British was sent in and a skirmish ensued on shore that ended in the capture by the British of every ship in the flotilla.
It proved to be a prize of incalculable value as it consisted of seven gunboats mounting thirty-four cannon, which could be used in defence of Acre, and the whole of Bonaparte's siege artillery, amounting to nearly forty heavy guns and a great quantity of ammunition. It would have required a labour force thousands strong to drag these heavy cannon all the way from Egypt by the camel-track that linked the coast towns; so Bonaparte had had no alternative but to send them up by water. Later it transpired that, on finding Sir Sidney Smith's Squadron in the Bay of Acre, he had sent a message back to Jaffa, ordering the flotilla to remain there; but by the time the message arrived the flotilla had already set sail.
It was a body blow to the French, for not only did the loss of their siege train deprive them of the swiftest means of reducing Acre but, as the material had been captured intact, it could now be used against them. Ph61ippeaux was overjoyed and at once set about landing the cannon at the Mole so that they could be installed, as he directed, to strengthen the weakest places in he fortress's defences, and Sir Sidney sent ashore to man them all the gunners he could spare.
Roger's future was also decided by this action. One of the boat parties had rashly chased the French too far from the shore, then found itself surrounded by superior numbers and forced to surrender. The party consisted of a Lieutenant, a Midshipman, a Petty Officer and seven seamen, and Sir Sidney thought it possible that the ten sailors might be released in exchange for one French Colonel. A flag of truce was sent ashore at the southern point of the long bay, on which lay the little port of Haifa, near which the flotilla had been captured. Two hours later the Lieutenant who had been sent ashore returned to report that a French officer there had agreed to the exchange.