_Par_. You give me most egregious indignity.
_Laf_. Ay, with all my heart; and thou art worthy of it.
"_All's Well that Ends Well_."
Naturally anxious to behold a country from which we had hitherto been
excluded for so many years, we all applied for leave to go on shore,
and obtained it. Even the seamen were allowed the same indulgence, and
went in parties of twenty and thirty at a time. We were followed and
gaped at by the people; but shunned at the same time as "hereticos."
The inns of the town, like all the rest of them in Spain, have not
improved since the days of the immortal Santillana--they were all more
or less filled with the lowest of the rabble, and a set of bravos,
whose calling was robbery, and who cared little if murder were its
accompaniment. The cookery was execrable. Garlic and oil were its
principal ingredients. The olla podrida, and its constant attendant,
the tomato sauce, were intolerable, but the wine was very well for
a midshipman. Whenever we had a repast in any of these houses, the
bravos endeavoured to pick a quarrel with us; and these fellows being
always armed with stilettos, we found it necessary to be equally well
prepared; and whenever we seated ourselves at a table, we never failed
to display the butts of our pistols, which kept them in decent order,
for they are as cowardly as they are thievish. Our seamen, not being
so cautious or so well provided with arms, were frequently robbed and
assassinated by these rascals.
I was, on one occasion, near falling a victim to them. Walking in the
evening with the second master, and having a pretty little Spanish
girl under my arm, for, to my shame be it spoken, I had already formed
an acquaintance with the frail sisterhood, four of these villains
accosted us. We soon perceived, by their manner of holding their
cloaks, that they had their stilettos ready. I desired my companion to
draw his dirk, to keep close to me, and not to let them get between us
and the wall. Seeing that we were prepared, they wished us "_buenos
noches_" (good night); and, endeavouring to put us off our guard by
entering into conversation, asked us to give them a cigar, which my
companion would have done, had I not cautioned him not to quit his
dirk with his right hand, for this was all they wanted.
In this defensive posture we continued until we had nearly reached the
plaza or great square, where many people were walking and enjoying
themselves by moonlight, the usual custom of the country. "Now," said
I to my friend, "let us make a start from these fellows. When I run,
do you follow me, and don't stop till we are in the middle of the
square."
The manoeuvre was successful; we out-ran the thieves, who were not
aware of our plan, and were encumbered with their heavy cloaks.
Finding we had escaped, they turned upon the girl, and robbed her of
her miserable earnings. This we saw, but could not prevent; such was
the police of Spain then, nor has it improved since.
This was the last time I ventured on shore at night, except to go once
with a party of our officers to the house of the Spanish admiral, who
had a very pretty niece, and was _liberale_ enough not to frown on
us poor heretics. She was indeed a pretty creature: her lovely black
eyes, long eyelashes, and raven hair, betrayed a symptom of Moorish
blood, at the same time that her ancient family-name and high
good-breeding gave her the envied appellation of _Vieja Christiana_.
This fair creature was pleased to bestow a furtive glance of
approbation on my youthful form and handsome dress. My vanity was
tickled. I spoke French to her: she understood it imperfectly, and
pretended to know still less of it, from the hatred borne by all the
Spaniards at that time to the French nation.
We improved our time, however, which was but short; and, before
we parted, perfectly understood each other. I thought I could be
contented to give up everything, and reside with her in the wilds of
Spain.
The time of our departure came, and I was torn away from my Rosaritta,
not without the suspicions of my captain and shipmates that I had
been a too highly favoured youth. This was not true. I loved the dear
angel, but never had wronged her; and I went to sea in a mood which I
sometimes thought might end in an act of desperation: but salt water
is an admirable specific against love, at least against such love as
that was.
We joined the admiral off Toulon, and were ordered by him to cruise
between Perpignan and Marseilles. We parted from the fleet on the
following day, and kept the coast in a continued state of alarm. Not
a vessel dared to show her nose out of port: we had her if she did.
Batteries we laughed at, and either silenced them with our long
eighteen-pounders, or landed and blew them up.
In one of these little skirmishes I had very nearly been taken, and
should, in that case, have missed all the honour, and glory, and
hairbreadth escapes which will be found related in the following
pages. I should either have been sabred in mere retaliation, or
marched off to Verdun for the remaining six years of the war.
We had landed to storm and blow up a battery, for which purpose we
carried with us a bag of powder, and a train of canvas. Everything
went on prosperously. We came to a canal which it was necessary to
cross, and the best swimmers were selected to convey the powder
over without wetting it. I was one of them. I took off my shoes and
stockings to save them; and, after we had taken the battery, I was so
intent on looking for the telegraphic signal-box, that I had quite
forgotten the intended explosion, until I heard a cry of "Run, run!"
from those outside who had lighted the train.
I was at that moment on the wall of the fort, nearly thirty feet high,
but sloping. I jumped one part, and scrambled the other, and ran away
as fast as I could, amidst a shower of stones, which fell around me
like an eruption of Vesuvius. Luckily I was not hit, but I had cut my
foot in the leap, and was in much pain. I had two fields of stubble
to pass, and my shoes and stockings were on the other side of the
canal--the sharp straw entered the wound, and almost drove me mad, and
I was tempted to sit down and resign myself to my fate.
However, I persevered, and had nearly reached the boats which were
putting off, not aware of my absence, when a noise like distant
thunder reached my ears. This I soon found was cavalry from Cotte,
which had come to defend the battery. I mustered all my strength, and
plunged into the sea to swim off to the boats, and so little time had
I to spare, that some of the enemy's chasseurs, on their black horses,
swam in after me, and fired their pistols at my head. The boats were
at this time nearly a quarter of a mile from the shore; the officers
in them fortunately perceived the cavalry, and saw me at the same
time: a boat laid on her oars, which with great difficulty I reached,
and was taken in; but so exhausted with pain and loss of blood, that I
was carried on board almost dead; my foot was cut to the bone, and I
continued a month under the surgeon's care.
I had nearly recovered from this accident, when we captured a ship,
with which Murphy was sent as prize-master; and the same evening a
schooner, which we cut out from her anchorage. The command of this
latter vessel was given to me--it was late in the evening, and the
hurry was so great that the keg of spirits intended for myself and
crew was not put on board. This was going from one extreme to the
other; in my last ship we had too much liquor, and in this too little.
Naturally thirsty, our desire for drink needed not the stimulus of
salt fish and calavances, for such was our cargo and such was our
food, and deeply did we deplore the loss of our spirits.
On the third day after leaving the frigate, on our way to Gibraltar, I
fell in with a ship on the coast of Spain, and knew it to be the one
Murphy commanded, by a remarkable white patch in the main-topsail. I
made all sail in chase, in hopes of obtaining some spirits from him,
knowing that he had more than he could consume, even if he and his
people got drunk every day. When I came near him, he made all the sail
he could. At dusk I was near enough almost to hail him, but he stood
on; and I, having a couple of small three-pounders on board, with
some powder, fired one of them as a signal. This I repeated again and
again; but he would not bring to; and when it was dark, I lost sight
of him, and saw him no more until we met at Gibraltar.
Next morning I fell in with three Spanish fishing-boats. They took me
for a French privateer, pulled up their lines, and made sail. I came
up with them, and, firing a gun, they hove to and surrendered. I
ordered them alongside; and, finding they had each a keg of wine on
board, I condemned that part of their cargo as contraband; but I
honestly offered payment for what I had taken. This they declined,
finding I was "_Ingles_," too happy to think they were not in the
hands of the French. I then gave each of them a pound of tobacco,
which not only satisfied them, but confirmed them in the
newly-received opinion among their countrymen, that England was
the bravest as well as the most generous of nations. They offered
everything their boat contained; but I declined all most nobly,
because I had obtained all I wanted; and we parted with mutual good
will, they shouting, "Viva Ingleterre!" and we drinking them a good
passage in their own wine.
Many days elapsed before we reached Gibraltar: the winds were light,
and the weather fine; but as we had discovered that the fishing-boats
had wine, we took care to supply our cellar without any trouble from
the excise; and, from our equitable mode of barter, I had no reason to
think that his Majesty King George lost any of his deserved popularity
by our conduct. When we reached Gibraltar, I had still a couple of
good kegs wherewith to regale my messmates; though I was sorry to find
the frigate and the rest of her prizes had got in before us. Murphy,
indeed, did not arrive till the day after me.
I was on the quarter-deck when he came in; and, to my astonishment, he
reported that he had been chased by a French privateer, and had beat
her off after a four hours' action--that his rigging had suffered a
good deal, but that he had not a man hurt. I let him run on till
the evening. Many believed him; but some doubted. At dinner, in the
gun-room, his arrogance knew no bounds; and, when half drunk, my three
men were magnified into a well-manned brig, as full of men and guns as
she could stuff!
Sick of all this nonsense, I then simply related the story as it had
occurred, and sent for the quarter-master, who was with me, and who
confirmed all my statement. From that moment he was a mark of contempt
in the ship. Every lie was a Murphy, and every Murphy a liar. He dared
not resent this scorn of ours; and found himself so uncomfortable,
that he offered no objection to the removal proposed by the captain;
his character followed him, and he never obtained promotion. It is a
satisfaction to me to reflect that I not only had my full revenge on
this man, but that I had been the instrument of turning him out of an
honourable profession which he would have disgraced.
This was no time for frigates to be idle; and if I chose to give the
name of mine and my captain, the naval history of the country would
prove that ours, of all other ships, was one of the most distinguished
in the cause of Spanish freedom. The south of Spain became the theatre
of the most cruel and desolating war. Our station was off Barcelona,
and thence to Perpignan, the frontier of France, on the borders of
Spain. Our duty (for which the enterprising disposition of our captain
was admirably calculated) was to support the guerilla chiefs; to cut
off the enemy's convoys of provisions, either by sea or along the
road which lay by the sea-shore; or to dislodge the enemy from any
stronghold he might be in possession of.
I was absent from the ship on such services three and four weeks at a
time, being attached to a division of small-arm men under the command
of the third lieutenant. We suffered very much from privations of all
kinds. We never took with us more than one week's provision, and were
frequently three weeks without receiving any supply. In the article of
dress, our "catalogue of negatives," as a celebrated author says, "was
very copious;" we had no shoes nor stockings--no linen, and not all of
us had hats--a pocket-handkerchief was the common substitute for this
article; we clambered over rocks, and wandered through the flinty or
muddy ravines in company with our new allies, the hardy mountaineers.
These men respected our valour, but did not like our religion or our
manners. They cheerfully divided their rations with us, but were
always inexorable in their cruelty to the French prisoners; and no
persuasion of ours could induce them to spare the lives of one of
these unhappy people, whose cries and entreaties to the English to
intercede for, or save them, were always unavailing. They were either
stabbed before our faces, or dragged to the top of a hill commanding a
view of some fortress occupied by the French, and, in sight of their
countrymen, their throats were cut from ear to ear.
Should the Christian reader condemn this horrid barbarity, as he
certainly will, he must remember that those people were men whose
every feeling had been outraged. Rape, conflagration, murder, and
famine had everywhere followed the step of the cruel invaders; and
however we might lament their fate, and endeavour to avert it, we
could not but admit that the retaliation was not without justice.
In this irregular warfare, we sometimes revelled in luxuries, and at
others were nearly starved. One day, in particular, when fainting with
hunger, we met a fat, rosy-looking capuchin: we begged him to show us
where we might procure some food, either by purchase or in any other
way; but he neither knew where to procure any, nor had he any money:
his order, he said, forbade him to use it. As he turned away from us,
in some precipitation, we thought we heard something rattle; and as
necessity has no law, we took the liberty of searching the padre,
on whose person we found forty dollars, of which we relieved him,
assuring him that our consciences were perfectly clear, since his
order forbade him to carry money; and that as he lived among good
Christians, they would not allow him to want. He cursed us; but we
laughed at him, because he had produced his own misfortune by his
falsehood and hypocrisy.
This was the manner in which the Spanish priests generally behaved to
us; and in this way we generally repaid them when we could. We kept
the plunder--converted it into food--joined our party soon after,
and supposed the affair was over; but the friar had followed us at
a distance, and we perceived him coming up the hill where we were
stationed. To avoid discovery we exchanged clothes, in such a manner
as to render us no longer cognizable. The friar made his complaint to
the guerilla chief, whose eyes flashed fire at the indignant treatment
his priest had received; and it is probable that bloodshed would have
ensued had he been able to point out the culprits.
I kept my countenance though I had changed my dress, and as he looked
at me with something beyond suspicion, I stared him full in the face,
with the whole united powers of my matchless impudence, and, in a loud
and menacing tone of voice, asked him in French if he took me for a
brigand.
This question, as well as the manner in which it was put, silenced,
if it did not satisfy, the priest. He seemed to listen with apparent
conviction to the suggestion of some of our people, that he had been
robbed by another party, and he set out in pursuit of them. I was
quite tired of his importunities, and glad to see him depart. As he
turned away, he gave me a very scrutinizing look, which I returned
with another, full of well dissembled rage and scorn. My curling hair
had been well flattened down with a piece of soap, which I had in my
pocket, and I had much more the appearance of a Methodist parson than
a pickpocket.
Some time previous to this, the frigate to which I belonged had been
ordered on other services; and as I had no opportunity of joining her,
I was placed, _pro tempore_, on board of another.
But as this chapter has already spun out its length, I shall refer my
reader to the next for further particulars.