departure
during the year that this eighth crusade lasted—the ninth if we count saint louis's double attempt as two—bonaparte did all that it was humanly possible to do. he took alexandria, conquered the mamelukes at chebrou?ss and the pyramids, took cairo, achieved the[pg 669] conquest of the delta, and by means of its marshes completed the conquest of upper egypt, took gaza, jaffa, and destroyed the turkish army of djezzar at mount tabor; and finally he annihilated a second turkish army at aboukir.
the tri-color had floated triumphantly over the jordan and the nile.
but he was ignorant of what was happening in france, and that was why on the evening of his victory of aboukir he was gazing dreamily at the gulf which had swallowed up his fleet.
he sent for quartermaster falou, and questioned him about the battle of beyrout, the disaster to the flotilla, and the loss of the "italie," and his presentiment haunted him more persistently than ever. he called roland in the hope of learning some news.
"my dear roland," said he, "i greatly desire to open a new career for you."
"what is it?" asked roland.
"that of a diplomat."
"oh, what a sad idea that is, general."
"nevertheless, you must yield to it."
"what! you are not going to allow me to refuse?"
"no."
"then explain."
"i am going to send you with a flag of truce to sidney smith."
"my instructions?"
"you are to find out what is happening in france, and you will try to distinguish the truth from the false in what the commodore tells you, by no means an easy matter."
"i will do my best. what will be the ostensible object of my embassy?"
"an exchange of prisoners. the english have twenty-five of our men; we have two hundred and fifty turks. we will give them the two hundred and fifty men if they will give us our twenty-five frenchmen."
"and when am i to start?"
[pg 670]
"to-day."
it was the 26th of july.
roland went and he returned that same evening with a pile of newspapers. sidney had recognized him as the hero of saint-jean-d'acre, and had offered no objections to telling him what was going on in europe. then, as he had read incredulity in roland's eyes, he had given him all the french, english, and german papers which he had on the "tiger."
the news which these papers contained was disastrous. the republic, defeated at sockah and magnano, had lost germany at sockah and magnano. masséna, intrenched in switzerland, occupied an unassailable position on the albis. the appenines had been invaded and the var threatened.
the next day, when bonaparte saw roland, he asked: "well?"
"well?" replied the young man.
"i knew that italy was lost!"
"you will have to take it again."
"we will try," returned bonaparte. "call bourrienne."
bourrienne was called.
"ask berthier where ganthéaume is," said bonaparte.
"he is at ramanieh superintending the construction of the fleet which is to start for upper egypt."
"are you sure?"
"i received a letter from him yesterday."
"i need a brave and reliable messenger," bonaparte said to roland; "send for falou and his dromedary."
roland went out.
"write these few words to alexandria, bourrienne," continued bonaparte.
as soon as this is received admiral ganthéaume will report to general bonaparte.
bourrienne.
26th july, 1799.
ten minutes later roland returned with falou and his dromedary.
[pg 671]
bonaparte glanced at the messenger with satisfaction.
"is your mount in as good a condition as you are?" he asked.
"my dromedary and i, general, are in condition to do seventy-five miles a day."
"i only ask twenty."
"a mere nothing."
"you must carry a letter."
"where?"
"to ramanieh."
"it shall be delivered to-night."
"read the superscription."
"admiral ganthéaume."
"now if you were to lose it—"
"i will not lose it."
"one must foresee everything. listen to what it says."
"is it long?"
"only a sentence."
"that is all right then; what is it?"
as soon as this is received admiral ganthéaume will report to general bonaparte.
"that is easy to remember."
"then go."
falou made his dromedary kneel down, climbed upon his hump, and started him off at a trot.
"i am off," he shouted.
and he was in fact already some distance off. the next evening he appeared again.
"the admiral is following me," he shouted.
the admiral arrived during the night. bonaparte had not retired and ganthéaume found him writing.
"you will prepare," said bonaparte, "two frigates, the 'muiron' and the 'carrière,' and two smaller vessels, the 'revanche' and the 'fortune,' with provisions enough to last forty or fifty men two months. not a word about it to any one. you are to come with me."
[pg 672]
ganthéaume withdrew, promising not to speak of it.
bonaparte sent for murat.
"italy is lost," said he; "the wretches! they have wasted the fruits of our victories. we must go. select five hundred men for me." then, turning to roland, he added: "you will see that falou and faraud are included in the detachment."
roland bowed assent.
general kléber, to whom bonaparte intended to leave the command of the army, was invited to rosetta, "to confer with the commander-in-chief on matters of the utmost importance."
bonaparte made an appointment with him which he knew very well he could not keep. he wished, however, to avoid kléber's reproaches and bitter frankness. he wrote all that he would have said to him, and gave as his reason for not keeping his appointment his fear that the english cruisers might return at any moment.
the vessels destined for bonaparte were once more to carry c?sar and his fortune. but this time it was not c?sar sailing eastward to add egypt to the conquests of rome; it was c?sar revolving in his mind the vast projects which had made the conqueror of the gauls cross the rubicon.
he was going back without recoiling at the idea of overturning the government for which he had fought on the 13th vendémiaire, and which he had sustained on the 18th fructidor.
a dream of gigantic magnitude had faded away before saint-jean-d'acre. a still vaster vision was forming in his mind as he left alexandria.
on the 23d of august, a dark and gloomy night, a boat pushed off from the egyptian shore, and put bonaparte aboard the "muiron."
