"And now let us await the enemy. Allah and the right are with us.
The grand-sultan at Stamboul has appointed me viceroy; the rebels
have driven me from Cairo, but my just cause will lead me back in
triumph!"
In such terms did Cousrouf speak to his soldiers to encourage them
to make a gallant defence of the fortress.
But Cousrouf's words excited little enthusiasm among his followers;
the scouts sent out returned with the intelligence that the enemy
was approaching in immense force.
They were advancing along the Nile, Mohammed with the infantry,
Bardissi with the mounted troops. Now they were separated from the
enemy by the canal only, but Cousrouf's cannon made impassible the
one bridge that united the two shores.
"Yet we must effect our passage to the other side," said Bardissi.
"Yes, but the question is, how are we to do so?" said Mohammed.
All the bim bashis and boulouk bashis, together with the beys and
their kachefs, were called together in a council of war. For a long
time their deliberations were fruitless. How were they to get over
without boats or bridges?
"We must ford it," said Mohammed Ali. "There must be some place
where we can venture to cross on foot. There are shallow places in
the canal, I have been told; and, if some one could be found willing
to incur the danger of making inquiries on the other side, in
Damietta, where they are better informed on the subject, we might
succeed in finding such a place.
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