Enraged at seeing their blockade evaded by the arrival of Darby's
fleet, the Spaniards revenged themselves by directing such a fire
upon Gibraltar, from their batteries in the Neutral Ground, as in
a short time reduced the town to a mass of ruins. This misfortune
was rendered the more intolerable to the besieged, as it came in
the moment of exultation and general thanksgiving. While words of
congratulation were passing from mouth to mouth, the blow descended,
and "turned to groans their roundelay."
The contrast between the elation of the inhabitants when my
grandfather entered the Fives' Court, and their universal
consternation and despair when he quitted it, was terrible. The
crowd that had a few minutes before so smilingly and hopefully
entered their homes, now fled from them in terror. Again the
streets were thronged by the unhappy people, who began to believe
themselves the sport of some powerful and malevolent demon. Whole
families, parents, children, and servants, rushed together into
the streets, making their way to the south to escape the missiles
that pursued them. Some bore pieces of furniture snatched up in
haste, and apparently seized because they came first to hand; some
took the chairs they had been sitting on; one man my grandfather
noticed bearing away with difficulty the leaf of a mahogany table,
leaving behind the legs which should have supported it; and a woman
had a crying child in one hand, and in the other a gridiron, still
reeking with the fat of some meat she had been cooking. Rubbish
from the houses began to strew the streets; and here and there
a ragged breach in a wall rent by the cannon afforded a strange
incongruous glimpse of the room inside, with its mirrors, tables,
and drapery, just as the inhabitants left them. Armed soldiers
were hastening to their different points of assembly, summoned by
bugles that resounded shrilly amid the din, and thrusting their way
unceremoniously through the impeding masses of fugitives.
The house of the Jew Lazaro was one of the first that was seriously
injured. The blank wall of the great warehouse before mentioned,
that faced the street, had, either from age or bad masonry, long
before exhibited several cracks. A large segment, bounded by
two of these cracks, had been knocked away by a shot, and the
superincumbent mass falling in consequence, the great store, and all
its hoarded treasures, appeared through the chasm.
The Jew's instincts had, at first, led him to save himself by
flight. But, on returning timorously to look after his property, the
sight of the ruined wall, and the unprotected hoards on which he had
so securely reckoned as the source of wealth, obliterated in his
mind, for the time, all sense of personal danger. Seeing a party of
soldiers issuing from a wine-house near, he eagerly besought them to
assist him in removing his property to a place of safety, promising
to reward them largely for their risk and trouble.
One of the soldiers thus appealed to was Mr Bags.
"Ho, ho!" said Mr Bags; "here's a chance--here's a pleasure,
comrades. We can help Mr Lazaro, who is always so good to us--this
here Jewish gentleman, that gives such liberal prices for our
things. Certainly--we'll remove 'em all, and not charge him nothing.
Oh--oh--ah!" And, to give point to his irony, Mr Bags distorted his
face hideously, and winked upon his friends.
The idea of giving Lazaro any assistance was considered a capital
joke, and caused a great deal of mirth as they walked towards the
store, to which the Jew eagerly led the way.
"If there's anything good to eat or drink in the store, we may
remove some of it, though it won't be on our backs, eh, boys?" said
Bags, as he stept in advance, over a heap of rubbish, into the store.
"These first--these, my friends," cried the Jew, going up to a row
of barrels, standing a little apart from the crowded masses of
articles.
"Oh, these first, eh?" said Bags; "they're the best, be they? Thank
you, Mr Lazaro; we'll see what's in 'em;" and, taking up a gimlet
that lay near, he proceeded to bore a hole in one of the barrels,
desiring a friend, whom he addressed as Tim, to tap the next one.
"Thieves!" screamed the Jew, on witnessing this proceeding, seizing
Bags' arm, "leave my store--go out--let my goods alone!" Bags lent him
a shove that sent him into a corner, and perceiving liquor flowing
from the hole he had drilled, applied his mouth to the orifice.
"Brandy," said he, as he paused for breath, "real Cognac. Comrades,
here's luck to that 'ere shot that showed us the way in;" and he
took another diligent pull at the hole.
Meantime his comrades had not been idle; other barrels were opened,
and their contents submitted to a critical inspection.
The Jew tried various modes to induce them to relinquish their
booty: first threats--then offers of reward--then cajolery; and,
at last, attempted to interpose and thrust them from their spoil.
A shot from the enemy entering the store, enfiladed a long line of
barrels, scattering the staves and their contents. The place was
instantly flooded with liquor--wine, molasses, spirits, and oil,
ran in a mingled stream, soaking the _débris_ of biscuit and salt
provisions that strewed the floor. One soldier was struck dead, and
Mr Bags only escaped destruction by the lucky accident of having his
head at that moment apart from the barrel which had engrossed his
attention, and which was knocked to pieces.
The Jew, partly stunned by a wound in the forehead from the splinter
of a barrel, and partly in despair at the destruction of his
property, came to the entrance of the store, seating himself among
the rubbish. Other plunderers speedily followed the example of the
marauding soldiers, but he made no attempt to stop them as they
walked past him. My grandfather, passing at the time on his way
home, was horrified at the sight of him. Flour from a splintered
barrel had been scattered over his face, and blood from the wound
in his forehead, trickling down, had clotted it on his cheeks and
scanty beard, giving him an aspect at once appalling and disgusting.
His daughter had waited at the door of the Fives' Court till she
saw Owen come forth in safety, and had then availed herself of
the protection of the Major as far as her own home. Shrieking at
the dismal sight, she sprang forward and threw herself before the
Jew, casting her arms around him. This seemed to rouse him. He
arose--looked back into the store; and then, as if goaded by the
sight of the wreck into intolerable anguish, he lifted his clenched
hands above his head, uttering a sentence of such fearful blasphemy,
that a devout Spaniard, who was emerging from the store with some
plunder, struck him on the mouth. He never heeded the blow, but
continued to rave, till, suddenly overcome by loss of blood and
impotent rage, he dropt senseless on the ground.
My grandfather, calling some soldiers of his regiment who were
passing, desired them to convey him to the hospital at the South
Barracks, and, again taking the terrified and weeping Esther under
his protection, followed to see the unfortunate Jew cared for.
At the various parades that day Mr Bags was reported absent, being
in fact engaged in pursuits of a much more interesting nature than
his military duties. A vast field of interprise was opened to him
and other adventurous spirits, of which they did not fail to avail
themselves, in the quantity of property of all kinds abandoned by
the owners, in houses and shops where locks and bolts were no longer
a protection; and although the firing, which ceased for an hour
or two in the middle of the day, was renewed towards evening and
continued with great fury, the ardour of acquisition by no means
abated.
About midnight a sentry on the heights of Rosia (the name given
to a portion of the rugged cliffs towards the south and near the
hospital) observed, in the gloom, a figure lurking about one of the
batteries, and challenged it. Receiving no answer, he threatened to
fire, when Bags came forward reluctantly, with a bundle in his hand.
"Hush, Bill," said Bags, on finding the sentry was a personal
friend--"don't make a row: it's only me, Bags--Tongs, you know," he
added, to insure his recognition.
"What the devil are you doing there, you fool?" asked his friend in
a surly tone--"don't you know the picquet's after you?"
"I've got some little things here that I want to lay by, where
nobody won't see 'em, in case I'm catched," returned Bags. "Don't
you take no notice of me, Bill, and I'll be off directly."
"What have ye got?" asked Bill, whose curiosity was awakened by the
proceedings of his friend.
"Some little matters that I picked up in the town," returned Bags.
"Pity you should be on guard to-day, Bill--there was some pretty
pickings. I'll save something for you, Bill," added Bags, in an
unaccountable access of generosity.
The sentry, however, who was a person in every way worthy of the
friendship of Mr Bags, expressed no gratitude for the considerate
offer, but began poking at the bundle with his bayonet.
"Hands off, Bill," said Bags, "they won't abear touching."
"Let's see 'em," said Bill.
"Not a bit on it," said Bags; "they ain't aworth looking at."
"Suppose I was to call the sergeant of the guard," said Bill.
"You wouldn't do such a action?" said Bags, in a tone strongly
expressive of disgust at such baseness. "No, no, Bill, you ain't
that sort of fellow, _I'm_ sure."
"It's my dooty," said the sentry, placing the butt of his musket on
the ground, and leaning his elbow on the muzzle. "You see that what
you said, Tongs, was very true, about its being hard upon me to be
carrying about this here damnable weppin" (slapping the barrel of
the musket) "all day for fourpence ha'penny, while you are making
your fortin. It is, Tongs, d--d hard."
"Never mind; there'll be plenty left to-morrow," said Bags in a
consolatory tone.
"What shall we say, now, if I lets ye hide it?" said Bill, pointing
to the bundle. "Half-shares?"
"This ain't like a friend, Bill," returned Tongs, highly disgusted
with this ungenerous proposal. "Nobody ever knowed me interfere
with a comrade when I was on sentry. How long ago is it since I let
ye stay in my box an hour, till ye was sober enough to walk into
barracks, when I was sentry at the gate? Why, the whole bundle ain't
worth eighteenpence--and I've worked hard for it."
"Half-shares?" reiterated Bill, not melted in the least by the
memory of ancient benefits.
"No, by G--!" said Bags in great wrath.
"Serg----," began Bill in an elevated voice, porting his arms at the
same time.
"Stop!" said Bags; "don't call the sergeant. Half is better nor
nothing, if ye're going to behave like that. We'll say half, then."
"Ah," said Bill, returning to his former position--"I thought we
should agree. And now let's see 'em, Tongs."
Muttering still his disapprobation of this unworthy treatment, Bags
put his bundle on the stone embrasure of the battery, and began to
unfold it.
Eighteenpence was certainly a low valuation. Bags appeared to have
visited a jeweller's shop. Watches, rings, bracelets, gold chains,
and brooches glittered on the dingy surface of the handkerchief.
"My eye!" said Bill, unable to repress a low laugh of delight--"why,
we'll turn bankers when we've sold 'em. Tongs and Co., eh?" said
Bill with considerable humour.
Bags, however, told him he was altogether mistaken in his
estimate--most of the things were pinchbeck, he said, and the stones
all glass; and, to save Bill any trouble, he offered to dispose of
them himself to the best possible advantage, and bring his partner
his share of the proceeds, which would certainly be at least
ninepence, and might perhaps be half-a-dollar. This arrangement
did not, however, meet the approbation of the astute William, who
insisted on dividing the spoils by lot. But here, again, there was
a slight misunderstanding, for both fixed their affections on a
gigantic watch, which never could have been got into any modern
pocket, and whose face was ornamented with paintings from the
heathen mythology. Both of them supposed, from the size and the
brilliancy of the colours, that this must be of immense value.
Finding they were not likely to come to a speedy arrangement on
this point, they agreed to postpone the division of the spoils till
morning.
"I'll tell ye where to put it, Bags," said Bill. "These here guns in
this battery haven't been fired for years, nor ain't likely to be,
though they loaded 'em the other day. Take out the wad of this one,
and put in the bundle."
Bags approved of the idea, withdrew the wad from the muzzle of the
gun, put in the bundle as far as his arm would reach, and then
replaced the wad.
"Honour bright?" said Bags, preparing to depart.
"Honour bright," returned Bill; and Bags disappeared.
Nevertheless he did not feel sufficient confidence in his
confederate's integrity to justify his quitting the place and
leaving him to his own devices. He thought Bill might perhaps avail
himself of his absence to remove the treasure, or be guilty of some
other treachery. He therefore crept back again softly, till he got
behind a crag from whence he had a full view of the battery.
For some time Bill walked sternly to and fro on his post. Bags
observed, however, that he always included the gun where the deposit
lay in his perambulations, which became shorter and shorter. At last
he halted close to it, laid down his musket against the parapet,
and, approaching the muzzle of the gun, took out the wad.
At this moment a neighbouring sentry gave an alarm. The guard
turned out, and Bill, hastily replacing the wad, resumed his arms
and looked about for the cause of the alarm. About a mile out in
the bay several red sparks were visible. As he looked there were a
corresponding number of flashes, and then a whistling of shot high
overhead told that the guns from which they had been discharged had
been laid too high. The Spanish gunboats were attacking the south.
The drums beat to arms, and in a few minutes the battery was manned
with artillerymen. To the inconceivable horror of Bags and Bill, the
whole of the guns in the battery were altered in position, and a
gunner took post at the rear of each with a lighted portfire. Then
a flushed face might be seen, by the blue light of the portfires,
rising from behind a neighbouring piece of rock, the eyes staring,
the mouth open in agonised expectation.
"Number one--fire!" said the officer in command, to the gunner in
rear of the gun in which Mr Bags had invested his capital.
"No, no!" shouted Bags, rising wildly from behind the rock.
The portfire touched the vent--there was a discharge that seemed to
rend Mr Bags's heartstrings and blow off the roof of his skull--and
the clever speculation on which he had counted for making his
fortune ended, like many others, in smoke. He gazed for a moment out
in the direction of the flash, as if he expected to see the watches
and rings gleaming in the air; then he turned and disappeared in the
darkness.
After a few ineffectual discharges, the Spaniards seemed to become
aware of the badness of their aim, and to take measures to amend it.
Several shot struck the hospital; and some shells falling through
the roof, exploded in the very wards where the sick lay. The unhappy
Jew, Lazaro, lying in a feverish and semi-delirious state from his
former hurt and agitation, was again struck by a splinter of a
shell which burst in the ward where the Major's care had seen him
deposited, blowing up the ceiling and part of the wall. In the midst
of the confusion, the Jew, frantic with terror, rushed unrestrained
from the building, followed only by his daughter, who was watching
by his bed. He was not missed for some time, and the attempts to
discover him, made after his disappearance became known, were of no
avail. A neighbouring sentry had seen a white figure, followed by
another crying after it, dash across the road and disappear in the
bushes; but the search made about the vicinity of the spot failed in
detecting any traces of them, and those who troubled themselves to
think of the matter at all, surmised that they had fallen into the
sea.