The charges of gun cotton, that the swimmers brought ashore with them, were placed in the cannon; and their muzzles blown off.

After performing this very gallant service, the little party swam back to their boat.
The British admiral's position was now a difficult one.

There were no signs of surrender; for aught he could tell, fifteen thousand Egyptian troops might be lying round the ruined forts, or in the town hard by, in readiness to oppose a landing.

That these troops were not to be despised was evident, by the gallantry with which they had fought their guns.

This force would be aided by the mass of the population; and it would be hazardous, indeed, to risk the loss of fifteen hundred men, and the reversal of the success already gained.
At the same time, it was painful to think that the Europeans on shore might be massacred, and the whole city destroyed, by the exasperated troops and fanatical population.