tian garrison which had been in the Citadel, but, rather curiously, neither he nor his officers could give a definite account of the number of men, and their estimates varied from 5000 to 7000. By a rough calculation I had made while they were marching out, there were about 6000, and this number, or perhaps a little more, was probably nearly correct. After again giving a word of caution to the Commandant, I bade him good-night, and went with Captain Lawrence to the main gate. Here the Egyptian officer had just arrived who had carried out the evacuation of the fort on Mokattam heights, and I thanked him for having assisted me, and let him go home. Then, leaving Captain Lawrence in charge of the Citadel, I started to carry out the second part of my instructions as regards the examination of the state of Cairo, taking with me Hussein Ramsi and the Engineer officer. We followed the main road down from the Citadel to the mosque of Sultan Hassan, and then proceeded along the Boulevard Mohamed Ali to the Esbekiyeh Gardens. Cairo was like a city of the dead: the news of the occupation of the Citadel by the English had become known, and the inhabitants wisely kept to their houses. The Engineer asked if we might go round by his home to get his greatcoat, as the night was chilly. So we made a detour, and I found all the streets we rode through equally tranquil. It was rather a curious situation: here was I, an officer of the invading army, riding quietly through what had been supposed to be a hostile city, having as companion an officer of the enemy who, less than twelve hours before, had been preparing to put Abbasiyeh in a state of defence against us; and yet it seemed quite natural, and as if there had never been a war at all. After passing the Esbekiyeh, we rode by the Coptio quarter of the town, which was also perfectly quiet, though, as I learned afterwards, the Copts had been in a great state of anxiety since the defeat of Arabi at Tel-el-Kebir, and were much relieved when they heard that Cairo was in the possession of the English, and that all danger was past. Then we went on to the Fagalla; and as by this time I had been through the city from one end to the other, I had seen sufficient to justify me in reporting to General Lowe that Cairo was peaceful. So we took the road to Abbasiyeh by the mosque of Zahir, and reached the barracks a little after 4 A.M., just twenty-five hours since we had prepared to start from Belbeis. It had been an interesting day, but I was not sorry it had come to an end at last. On entering the barracks I went to find Colonel Stewart, who told me that during my absence in Cairo Arabi Pasha and Toulba Pasha had come out from the city and surrendered. The Egyptian military revolt was at an end. Stewart took me to General Lowe, to whom I reported that all had gone well at the Citadel, and that Cairo was perfectly quiet. He said, "Well done," and in a few minutes we were all asleep. The next morning General Lowe ordered me to accompany a squadron to the railway station to meet Sir Garnet Wolseley, who was expected to arrive by train from Zagazig, where he had been delayed by a breakdown on the line; so he did not reach Cairo until 9.45 A.M. On returning from the station, I made a written report to General Lowe respecting the surrender of the Citadel, and strongly recommended the Commandant for favourable consideration. I am glad to say that, though he was a senior officer of the Egyptian army, and a great supporter of Arabi, he received a free pardon from his Highness the Khedive. him that, though I was greatly obliged to him for his assistance on the night of September 14, it was not in accordance with English custom to give medals to officers of the enemy's forces. But there can be no doubt that but for the cordial way in which he and Hussein Effendi Ramsi assisted me, it would have been much more difficult to carry out General Lowe's instructions. The cavalry march to Cairo affords an excellent instance of the importance of following up a beaten enemy without an instant's delay, and Sir Drury Lowe is worthy of the highest credit for the manner in which he carried it out. It is to be regretted that in the 'Official History of the Campaign,' published by the War Office in 1887, neither Sir G. Wolseley's orders to General Lowe nor that officer's report upon the march is given. As regards the former, all that is stated is "that the cavalry were directed to continue their pursuit, and advance upon Cairo with all possible rapidity, to save it, if possible, from the destruction intended by Arabi Pasha." Apparently this meant that Lowe was to take the whole of the cavalry division to Cairo. If this is so, he took a considerable responsibility on himself in leaving the greater part of one brigade and the whole of the artillery behind when he started from Belbeis; but his action probably saved the situation, as, if he had waited for the heavy brigade and I told the guns, he would not have The Engineer officer was, of course, also pardoned, and a few months later, when I was employed under General Sir Evelyn Wood on the organisation of the new Egyptian army, he became one of my subordinates in the War Office. We often talked over the night of our first acquaintance, and he asked me once whether there was any chance of his getting the British war medal. reached Cairo until Septem- the more probable. The Coptic ber 15. What would have occurred in the interval it is, of course, not possible to say with certainty, but one of two things might have happened. Either the forward military party would have taken the lead, and an attempt would have been made to defend Cairo with its large garrison, or else the fanatical Mohamedans would have put Arabi and his colleagues on one side, and Cairo would have been treated like Alexandria. In either case the result would have been disastrous for the city. In after years I often discussed the question with Egyptians who had lived in Cairo during the war, and met many who thought the latter event Patriarch, for example, used to say that he was sure there would have been a massacre of the Copts on the night of September 14, had it not been for the arrival of the British cavalry on the afternoon of that day, and their taking possession of the city. The burning of Alexandria might without any doubt have been prevented, if British troops had landed immediately after the bombardment; but the unfortunate delay in that case led to the loss of many lives, and the destruction of property of the value of £4,000,000, which Egypt had to pay. It is probable that the rapid advance of Sir Drury Lowe saved Cairo from a similar fate. THE STAIN IN THE CORNER. WHEN my regiment returned from service on the frontier in October 18- we were ordered to the little station of BThis was good news for us all, as B- was known as a capital place for sport, and, more important to me as a married man, had a good climate in the cold weather months, and was in reasonable distance of the hills. No oavalry had been stationed there for some years, and our orders were due to the readjustment of garrisons then taking place all over India. My wife had been in England for the last two years with the children, and I at once cabled to her to bring them out and join me as soon as possible. I had engaged a bungalow from the list sent to my regiment by the Station Staff Officer. From the description he gave, it seemed just what we wanted, plenty of accommodation and a very low rent, marvellously low in fact, the reason stated being the distance from the mess, and lines, which made it a difficult house to let. We reached B late in the evening, and a friend in the Gunners put me up for the first night; while my servants, under the charge of Jalla Deen, my old bearer, went to my new abode to get things a little ship-shape. I was full of curiosity to inspect it for myself, for my wife was rather particular, and taking a house without her help was a distinct responsibility. All the morning, however, I was kept busy in the lines, and it was not till the afternoon that I was free to look after my own affairs. I felt very lighthearted as, after twenty minutes' ride, I turned in at the gateway. It was so good to know after these weary two years of separation I should be starting to meet Meg and the children in a few days' time. The first sight of the house impressed me favourably; it certainly looked what houseagents would describe as "most desirable." It stood in an unusually large compoundand the servants' quarters, I noticed with satisfaction, were some distance in rear. There was a capital garden, rather run to riot, with a tangle of flowering-shrubs, oleanders, jasmine, and roses. A charming walk, bordered with orangetrees, was quite a feature, and the house itself was clothed with masses of the lovely Rangoon creeper. "Ho, bearer," I shouted as I rode under the porch, and Jalla Deen appeared in spotless white garments, salaaming with grave dignity. Jalla Deen had been in my service for ten years, and when I married I prepared for trouble on his account, for as a rule the ways of bachelor's servants are not approved of by memsahibs, but fortunately my 1 The main part of the building was on the usual plan; a large verandah ran all round, in the centre were the drawingroom and dining-room, and on either side of these a bedroom, dressing-room, and bathroom. There was, however, a smaller bungalow to the left, which was connected by means of a covered-in verandah. It consisted of several very fairsized rooms opening one into the other; they were wonderfully well finished, with doors which could be locked and shutters which would close; I noticed, too, rings for stair-rods on the steps leading to the bathroom, and the floors were of a hard cement like marble, which would look well with rugs only, very different to the usual flooring of dried clay, which must be completely covered with matting. Evidently this part of the house had been at one time arranged to suit some one with a distinct taste for luxury! But why, I wondered, were the windows, without exception, all heavily barred? "Huzoor," said Jalla Deen, a slow smile spreading over his usually rather sombre countenance, "for the babalogue" (Anglicè, baby-people), "this will be very good! "Yes, capital!" I agreed. Jalla Deen was full of plans about furniture, and eager everything should be in order in good time; and as we talked I imagined our jolly, sturdy boys and their little fair-haired sister playing in these rooms, which now felt cold and dreary! What a difference their gay voices and merry laughter would make! And yet an unaccountable chilly feeling was creeping over me, and, against my own judgment, I began to have a sensation of distaste towards the proposed nurseries. wife's little fox terrier evidently shared my feelings, for he stood in shivering discontent in the doorway, and as soon as he caught my eye he sat up and begged, with quivering paws, to be taken away. My "You must light fires," I said, "and clean up that stain in the corner," and I pointed to a brown patch on the wall near the window, which spread down to the floor. "The mem - sahib won't like to see that." "Huzoor, I will give the order," said Jalla Deen gravely; "but men say no one can ever wash that out." "Nonsense!" I replied angrily. "It is the order." Jalla Deen salaamed submissively, conveying by his gesture, as only a native can, that my command of course settled the matter. I was tnrning away, when I caught sight of a decrepit old man peering in anxiously at the window. His dull eyes seemed fixed with a look of intelligent |