Chapter XVI The Campaign of Tel-el-Kebir

I have got £260 left, after paying all expenses of my journey, etc., in hard money in my despatch box, and to-day twenty thousand pounds in gold were brought by ship and paid into my account here! I have carte blanche to do everything. I give passes to the sentries. If I see a dozen horses I buy them off-hand. Yesterday I found thirty camels and gave a man £360 for them by just writing on a slip of paper. To-night I have been interpreting while the Governor dined with the Admiral. I have servants, clerks, and interpreters at my beck and call, and in short I could not be in a higher position. We are very securely entrenched here and the enemy is eighty miles off, and to-morrow the Indian troops are coming. Of course it is war time, but as I am on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, I am not likely to get into risky places. I have seen active service though, having been one of the first to land when Suez was taken. The Admiral is such a nice man, and I am told he never forgets his officers, but pushes them on to promotion. He told me I should get the 'Star of India'! good-bye."