But the fear of arriving too late prevented Roland from profiting by this permission to its full extent.

He left his mother, promising her--a promise he was careful not to keep--that he would not expose himself unnecessarily, and arrived at Marseilles eight days before the fleet set sail.
Our intention is no more to give the history of the campaign of Egypt than we did that of Italy.

We shall only mention that which is absolutely necessary to understand this story and the subsequent development of Roland's character.

The 19th of May, 1798, Bonaparte and his entire staff set sail for the Orient; the 15th of June the Knights of Malta gave up the keys of their citadel.

The 2d of July the army disembarked at Marabout, and the same day took Alexandria; the 25th, Bonaparte entered Cairo, after defeating the Mamelukes at Chebreiss and the Pyramids.
During this succession of marches and battles, Roland had been the officer we know him, gay, courageous and witty, defying the scorching heat of the day, the icy dew of the nights, dashing like a hero or a fool among the Turkish sabres or the Bedouin bullets.