On the third day after her arrival at Lisbon, the Antelope's anchor
was hove up, and she dropped down the river. Half an hour later, a
barque and another brig came out and joined her; the three captains
having agreed, the day before, that they would sail in company, as
they were all bound through the Straits. Captain Lockett had
purchased two 14-pounder guns, at Lisbon; and the brig, therefore,
now carried three guns on each side, besides her long 18 pounder.
The barque carried fourteen guns, and the other brig ten; so that
they felt confident of being able to beat off any French privateer
they might meet, on the way.
One or two suspicious sails were sighted, as they ran down the
coast; but none of these approached within gunshot, the three craft
being, evidently, too strong to be meddled with. Rounding Cape St.
Vincent at a short distance, they steered for the mouth of the
Straits. After the bold cliffs of Portugal, Bob was disappointed
with the aspect of the Spanish coast.
"Ah! It is all very well," the first mate replied, when he
expressed his opinion. "Give me your low, sandy shores, and let
those who like have what you call the fine, bold rocks.
"Mind, I don't mean coasts with sandbanks lying off them; but a
coast with a shelving beach, and pretty deep water, right up to it.
If you get cast on a coast like that of Portugal, it is certain
death. Your ship will get smashed up like an eggshell, against
those rocks you are talking of, and not a soul gets a chance of
escape; while if you are blown on a flat coast, you may get carried
within a ship's length of the beach before you strike, and it is
hard if you can't get a line on shore; besides, it is ten to one
the ship won't break up, for hours.
"No, you may get a landsman to admire your bold cliffs, but you
won't get a sailor to agree with him."
"We seem to be going along fast, although there is not much wind."
"Yes, there is a strong current. You see, the rivers that fall into
the Mediterranean ain't sufficient to make up for the loss by
evaporation, and so there is always a current running in here. It
is well enough for us, going east; but it is not so pleasant, when
you want to come out. Then you have got to wait till you can get a
breeze, from somewhere about east, to carry you out. I have been
kept waiting, sometimes, for weeks; and it is no unusual thing to
see two or three hundred ships anchored, waiting for the wind to
change."
"Are there any pirates over on that side?" Bob asked, looking
across at the African coast.
"Not about here. Ceuta lies over there. They are good friends with
us, and Gibraltar gets most of its supplies from there. But once
through the Straits we give that coast a wide berth; for the
Algerine pirates are nearly as bad as ever, and would snap up any
ship becalmed on their coast, or that had the bad luck to be blown
ashore. I hope, some day, we shall send a fleet down, and blow the
place about their ears. It makes one's blood boil, to think that
there are hundreds and hundreds of Englishmen working, as slaves,
among the Moors.
"There, do you see that projecting point with a fort on it, and a
town lying behind? That is Tarifa. That used to be a great place,
in the time when the Moors were masters in Spain."
"Yes," the captain, who had just joined them, said. "Tarif was a
great Moorish commander, I have heard, and the place is named after
him. Gibraltar is also named after a Moorish chief, called Tarik
ibn Zeyad."
Bob looked surprised.
"I don't see that it is much like his name, captain."
"No, Master Repton, it doesn't sound much like it, now. The old
name of the place was Gebel Tarik, which means Tank's Hill; and it
is easy to see how Gebel Tarik got gradually changed into
Gibraltar."
In another two hours the Straits were passed, and the Rock of
Gibraltar appeared, rising across a bay to the left.
Illustration: View of Gibraltar from the Mediterranean.
View of Gibraltar from the Mediterranean.
"There is your destination, lad," the captain said. "It is a
strong-looking place, isn't it?"
"It is, indeed, Captain," Bob said, taking the captain's glass from
the top of the skylight, and examining the Rock.
"You see," the captain went on, "the Rock is divided from the
mainland by that low spit of sand. It is only a few hundred yards
wide, and the sea goes round at the back of the Rock, and along the
other side of that spit--though you can't see it from here--so
anything coming to attack it must advance along the spit, under the
fire of the guns.
"There, do you see that building, standing up on the hill above the
town? That is the old Moorish castle, and there are plenty of
modern batteries scattered about near it, though you can't see
them. You see, the Rock rises sheer up from the spit; and it is
only on this side, close to the water's edge, that the place can be
entered.
"The weak side of the place is along this sea face. On the other
side, the Rock rises right out of the water; but on this side, as
you see, it slopes gradually down. There are batteries, all along
by the water's edge; but if the place were attacked by a fleet
strong enough to knock those batteries to pieces, and silence their
guns, a landing could be effected.
"At the southern end you see the rocks are bolder, and there is no
landing there. That is called Europa Point, and there is a battery
there, though you can't make it out, from here."
The scene was a very pretty one, and Bob watched it with the
greatest interest. A frigate, and two men-of-war brigs, were
anchored at some little distance from the Rock; and around them
were some thirty or forty merchantmen, waiting for a change in the
wind to enable them to sail out through the Straits. White-sailed
boats were gliding about among them.
At the head of the bay were villages nestled among trees, while the
country behind was broken and hilly. On the opposite side of the
bay was a town of considerable size, which the captain told him was
Algeciras. It was, he said, a large town at the time of the Moors,
very much larger and more important than Gibraltar. The ground rose
gradually behind it, and was completely covered with foliage,
orchards, and orange groves.
The captain said:
"You see that rock rising at the end of the bay from among the
trees, lads. That is called 'the Queen of Spain's Chair.' It is
said that, at a certain siege when the Moors were here, the then
Queen of Spain took her seat on that rock, and declared she would
never go away till Gibraltar was taken. She also took an oath never
to change her linen, until it surrendered. I don't know how she
managed about it, at last, for the place never did surrender. I
suppose she got a dispensation, and was able to get into clean
clothes again, some day.
"I have heard tell that the Spaniards have a colour that is called
by her name--a sort of dirty yellow. It came out at that time. Of
course, it would not have been etiquette for other ladies to wear
white, when her majesty was obliged to wear dingy garments; so they
all took to having their things dyed, so as to match hers; and the
tint has borne her name, ever since."
"It is a very nasty idea," Bob said; "and I should think she took
pretty good care, afterwards, not to take any oaths. It is hot
enough, now; and I should think, in summer, it must be baking
here."
"It is pretty hot, on the Rock, in summer. You know, they call the
natives of the place Rock scorpions. Scorpions are supposed to like
heat, though I don't know whether they do. You generally find them
lying under pieces of loose rock; but whether they do it for heat,
or to keep themselves cool, I can't say.
"Now, Mr. Probert, you may as well take some of the sail off her.
We will anchor inside those craft, close to the New Mole. They may
want to get her alongside, to unload the government stores we have
brought out; and the nearer we are in, the less trouble it will be
to warp her alongside, tomorrow morning. Of course, if the landing
place is full, they will send lighters out to us."
Illustration: View of Gibraltar from the Bay.
View of Gibraltar from the Bay.
The sails were gradually got off the brig, and she had but little
way on when her anchor was dropped, a cable's length from the end
of the Mole. Scarcely had she brought up when a boat shot out from
the end of the pier.
"Hooray!" Bob shouted. "There are my sister, and Gerald."
"I thought as much," the captain said. "We hoisted our number, as
soon as we came round the point; and the signal station, on the top
of the Rock, would send down the news directly they made out our
colours."
"Well, Bob, it gave me quite a turn," his sister said, after the
first greetings were over, "when we saw how the sails were all
patched, and everyone said that the ship must have been in action.
I was very anxious, till I saw your head above the bulwarks."
"Yes, we have been in a storm, and a fight, and we came pretty near
being taken. Did you get out all right?"
"Yes, we had a very quiet voyage."
The captain then came up, and was introduced.
"I have a box or two for you, madam, in addition to your brother's
kit. Mr. Bale sent them down, a couple of days before we sailed.
"At one time, it didn't seem likely that you would ever see their
contents, for we had a very close shave of it. In the first place,
we had about as bad a gale as I have met with, in crossing the bay;
and were blown into the bight, with the loss of our bowsprit,
fore-topmast and four of our guns, that we had to throw overboard
to lighten her.
"Then a French lugger, that would have been a good deal more than a
match for her, at any time, came up. We might have out sailed her,
if we could have carried all our canvas; but with only a jury
topmast, she was too fast for us. As you may see by our sails, we
had a smart fight but, by the greatest good fortune, we knocked the
mainmast out of her.
"Then we were chased by a French frigate, with the lugger to help
her. However, we gave them the slip in the night, and here we are.
"I am afraid you won't get your brother's boxes, till tomorrow.
Nothing can go ashore till the port officer has been on board, and
the usual formalities gone through. I don't know, yet, whether we
shall discharge into lighters, or go alongside; but I will have
your boxes all put together, in readiness for you, the first thing
in the morning, whichever way it is."
"We shall be very glad if you will dine with us, tomorrow," Captain
O'Halloran said. "We dine at one o'clock or, if that would be
inconvenient for you, come to supper at seven."
"I would rather do that, if you will let me," Captain Lockett
replied. "I shall be pretty busy tomorrow, and you military
gentlemen do give us such a lot of trouble--in the way of papers,
documents, and signatures--that I never like leaving the ship, till
I get rid of the last bale and box with the government brand on
it."
"Very well, then; we shall expect you to supper."
"I shall come down first thing in the morning, captain," Bob said,
"so I need not say goodbye to anyone, now."
"You had better bring only what you may want with you for the
night, Bob," his sister put in, as he was about to run below. "The
cart will take everything else up, together, in the morning."
"Then I shall be ready in a minute," Bob said, running below; and
it was not much more before he reappeared, with a small handbag.
"I shall see you again tomorrow, Mr. Probert. I shall be here about
our luggage;" and he took his place in the boat beside the others,
who had already descended the ladder.
"And you have had a pleasant voyage, Bob?" Captain O'Halloran
asked.
"Very jolly, Gerald; first rate. Captain Lockett was as kind as
could be; and the first mate was very good, too, though I did not
think he would be, when I first saw him; and Joe Lockett, the
second mate, is a capital fellow."
"But how was it that you did not take that French privateer, Bob?
With a fellow like you on board--the capturer of a gang of
burglars, and all that sort of thing--I should have thought that,
instead of running away, you would have gone straight at her; that
you would have thrown yourself on her deck at the head of the
boarders, would have beaten the Frenchmen below, killed their
captain in single combat, and hauled down their flag."
"There is no saying what I might have done," Bob laughed, "if it
had come to boarding; but as it was, I did not feel the least wish
for a closer acquaintance with the privateer. It was too close to
be pleasant, as it was--a good deal too close. It is a pity you
were not there, to have set me an example."
"I am going to do that now, Bob, and I hope you will profit by it.
"Now then, you jump out first, and give Carrie your hand. That is
it."
And, having settled with the boatman, Captain O'Halloran followed
the others' steps. It was a busy scene. Three ships were
discharging their cargoes, and the wharf was covered with boxes and
bales, piles of shot and shell, guns, and cases of ammunition.
Fatigue parties of artillery and infantry men were piling the
goods, or stowing them in handcarts. Goods were being slung down
from the ships, and were swinging in the air, or run down to the
cry of "Look below!"
"Mind how you go, Carrie," Captain O'Halloran said, "or you will be
getting what brains you have knocked out."
"If that is all the danger, Gerald," she laughed, "you are safe,
anyhow.
"Now, Bob, do look out!" she broke off as, while glancing round, he
tripped over a hawser and fell. "Are you hurt?"
"Never mind him, Carrie--look out for yourself. A boy never gets
hurt.
"Now, keep your eyes about you, Bob. You can come and look at all
this, any day."
At last they got to the end of the Mole. Then they passed under an
archway, with a massive gate, at which stood a sentry; then they
found themselves in a sort of yard, surrounded by a high wall, on
the top of which two cannon were pointed down upon them. Crossing
the yard, they passed through another gateway. The ground here rose
sharply, and a hundred yards further back stood another battery;
completely commanding the Mole, and the defences through which they
had passed.
The ground here was comparatively level, rising gradually to the
foot of the rock, which then rose steeply up. A few houses were
scattered about, surrounded by gardens. Hedges of cactus lined the
road. Parties of soldiers and sailors, natives with carts, and
women in picturesque costumes passed along. The vegetation on the
low ground was abundant, and Bob looked with delight at the
semi-tropical foliage.
Turning to the right they followed the road, passed under an
archway in a strong wall, and were in the town, itself.
"We are not living in barracks," Carrie said. "Fortunately there
was no room there, and we draw lodging allowance, and have taken
the upper portion of a Spanish house. It is much more pleasant.
Besides, if we had had to live in quarters, we should have had no
room for you."
"The streets are steep," Bob said. "I can't make out how these
little donkeys keep their feet on the slippery stones, with those
heavy loads.
"Oh! I say, there are two rum-looking chaps. What are they--Moors?"
"Yes. You will see lots of them here, Bob. They come across from
Ceuta, and there are some of them established here, as traders.
What with the Moors, and Spaniards, and Jews, and the sailors from
the shipping, you can hear pretty nearly every European language
spoken, in one walk through the streets."
"Oh, I say, isn't this hot?" Bob exclaimed, mopping his face; "and
isn't there a glare from all these white walls, and houses! How
much higher is it?"
"About another hundred yards, Bob. There, you see, we are getting
beyond the streets now."
They had now reached a flat shoulder; and on this the houses were
somewhat scattered, standing in little inclosures, with hedges of
cactus and geranium, and embowered in shrubs and flowers.
"This is our house," Carrie said, stopping before a rickety wooden
gateway, hung upon two massive posts of masonry. "You see, we have
got a flight of steps outside, and we are quite cut off from the
people below."
They ascended the stairs. At the top there was a sort of wide
porch, with a wooden roof; which was completely covered with
creepers, growing from two wooden tubs. Four or five plants,
covered with blossoms, stood on the low walls; and two or three
chairs showed that the little terrace was used as an open-air
sitting room.
"In another hour, when the sun gets lower, Bob, we can come and sit
here. It is a lovely view, isn't it?"
"Beautiful!" Bob said, leaning on the wall.
Below them lay the sea front, with its gardens and bright foliage
and pretty houses, with Europa Point and the sea stretching away
beyond it. A little to the right were the African hills; and then,
turning slightly round, the Spanish coast, with Algeciras nestled
in foliage, and the bay with all its shipping. The head of the bay
was hidden, for the ground behind was higher than that on which the
house stood.
"Come in, Bob," Captain O'Halloran said. "You had better get out of
the sun. Of course, it is nothing to what it will be; but it is hot
now, and we are none of us acclimatized, yet."
The rooms were of a fair size, but the light-coloured walls gave
them a bare appearance, to Bob's eyes. They were, however,
comfortably furnished, matting being laid down instead of carpets.
"It is cooler, and cheaper," Carrie said, seeing Bob looking at
them.
"This is your room, and this is the kitchen," and she opened the
door into what seemed to Bob a tiny place, indeed.
Across one end was a mass of brickwork, rather higher than an
ordinary table. Several holes, a few inches deep, were scattered
about over this. In some of these small charcoal fires were
burning, and pots were placed over them. There were small openings
from the front, leading to these tiny fireplaces; and a Spanish
girl was driving the air into one of these, with a fan, when they
entered.
"This is my brother, Manola," Mrs. O'Halloran said.
The girl smiled and nodded, and then continued her work.
"She speaks English?" Bob said, as they went out.
"She belongs to the Rock, Bob. Almost all the natives here talk a
little English."
"Where do these steps lead to? I thought we were at the top of the
house."
"Come up and see," Carrie said, leading the way.
Following her, Bob found himself on a flat terrace, extending over
the whole of the house. Several orange trees--in tubs--and many
flowers, and small shrubs in pots stood upon it; and three or four
light cane-work lounging chairs stood apart.
"Here is where we come when the sun is down, Bob. There is no finer
view, we flatter ourselves, anywhere in Gib. Here we receive our
guests, in the evening. We have only begun yet, but we mean to make
a perfect garden of it."
"It is splendid!" Bob said, as he walked round by the low parapet,
and gazed at the view in all directions; "and we can see what
everyone else is doing on their roofs, and no one can look down on
us--except from the rock over there, behind us, and there are no
houses there."
"No, the batteries commanding the neutral ground lie over that
crest, Bob. We are quite shut in, on two sides; but we make up for
it by the extent of our view, on the others. We are very lucky in
getting the place. A regiment went home in the transport that
brought us out. Gerald knew some of the officers, and one of them
had been staying here, and told Gerald of it; and we took it at
once. The other officers' wives are all quite jealous of me and,
though some of them have very nice quarters, it is admitted that,
as far as the view goes, this is by far the best. Besides, it is a
great thing being out of the town, and it does not take Gerald more
than three or four minutes longer to get down to the barracks.
"But now, let us go downstairs. I am sure you must want something
to eat, and we sha'n't have supper for another three hours."
"I dined at twelve," Bob said, "just before we rounded the point,
and I could certainly hold on until supper time Still, I daresay I
could eat something, now."
"Oh, it is only a snack! It is some stewed chicken and some fruit.
That won't spoil your supper, Bob?"
"You will be glad to hear, Bob," Captain O'Halloran said, as the
lad was eating his meal, "that I have secured the services of a
Spanish professor for you. He is to begin next Monday."
Bob's face fell.
"I don't see that there was need for such a hurry," he said,
ruefully, laying down his knife and fork. "I don't see there was
need for any hurry, at all. Besides, of course, I want to see the
place."
"You will be able to see a good deal of it, in four days, Bob; and
your time won't be entirely occupied, when you do begin. The days
are pretty long here, everyone gets up early.
"He is to come at seven o'clock in the morning. You have a cup of
coffee, and some bread and butter and fruit, before that. He will
go at nine, then we have breakfast. Then you will have your time to
yourself, till dinner at half past two. The assistant surgeon of
our regiment--he is a Dublin man--will come to you for Latin, and
what I may call general knowledge, for two hours. That is all;
except, I suppose, that you will work a bit by yourself, of an
evening.
"That is not so bad, is it?"
"What sort of man is the assistant surgeon?" Bob replied,
cautiously. "It all depends how much he is going to give me to do,
in the evening."
"I don't think he will give you anything to do, in the evening,
Bob. Of course, the Spanish is the principal thing, and I told him
that you will have to work at that."
"I don't think you need be afraid, Bob," his sister laughed. "You
won't find Dr. Burke a very severe kind of instructor. Nobody but
Gerald would ever have thought of choosing him."
"Sure, and didn't you agree with me, Carrie," her husband said, in
an aggrieved voice, "that as we were not going to make the boy a
parson, and as it was too much to expect him to learn Spanish, and
a score of other things, at once; that we ought to get someone who
would make his lessons pleasant for him, and not be worrying his
soul out of his body with all sorts of useless balderdash?"
"Yes, we agreed that, Gerald; but there was a limit, and when you
told me you had spoken to Teddy Burke about it, and arranged the
matter with him, I thought you had gone beyond that limit,
altogether."
"He is just the man for Bob, Carrie. That boy will find it mighty
dull here, after a bit, and will want someone to cheer him up. I
promised the old gentleman I would find him someone who could push
Bob on in his humanities; and Teddy Burke has taken his degree at
Dublin, and I will venture to say will get him on faster than a
stiff starched man will do. Bob would always be playing tricks,
with a fellow like that, and be getting into rows with him. There
will be no playing tricks with Teddy Burke, for he is up to the
whole thing, himself."
"I should think he is, Gerald. Well, we will see how it works,
anyhow.
"Go on with your fowl, Bob. You will see all about it, in good
time."
Bob felt satisfied that the teacher his brother-in-law had chosen
for him was not a very formidable personage; and his curiosity as
to what he would be like was satisfied, that evening. After he had
finished his meal, he went for a stroll with Captain O'Halloran
through the town, and round the batteries at that end of the Rock,
returning to supper. After the meal was over, they went up to the
terrace above. There was not a breath of wind, and a lamp on a
table there burned without a flicker.
They had scarcely taken their seats when Manola announced Dr.
Burke, and a minute later an officer in uniform made his appearance
on the terrace. He wore a pair of blue spectacles, and advanced in
a stiff and formal manner.
"I wish you a good evening, Mrs. O'Halloran. So this is our young
friend!
"You are well, I hope, Master Repton; and are none the worse for
the inconveniences I hear you have suffered on your voyage?"
Carrie, to Bob's surprise, burst into a fit of laughter.
"What is the matter, Mrs. O'Halloran?" Dr. Burke asked, looking at
her with an air of mild amazement.
"I am laughing at you, Teddy Burke. How can you be so ridiculous?"
The doctor removed his spectacles.
"Now, Mrs. O'Halloran," he said, with a strong brogue. "Do you call
that acting fairly by me? Didn't you talk to me yourself, half an
hour yesterday, and impress upon me that I ought to be grave and
steady, now that I was going to enter upon the duties of a
pedagogue; and ain't I trying my best to act up to your
instructions, and there you burst out laughing in my face, and
spoil it all, entirely?
"Gerald said to me, 'Now mind, Teddy, it is a responsible affair.
The boy is up to all sorts of divarsions, and divil a bit will he
attend to ye, if he finds that you are as bad, if not worse, than
he is himself.'
"'But,' said I, 'it's Latin and such like that you are wanting me
to teach him; and not manners at all, at all.'
"And he says, 'It is all one. It is quiet and well behaved that you
have got to be, Teddy. The missis has been houlding out about the
iniquity of taking a spalpeen, like yourself; and it is for you to
show her that she is mistaken, altogether.'
"So I said, 'You trust me, Gerald, I will be as grave as a doctor
of divinity.'
"So I got out these glasses--which I bought because they told me
that they would be wanted here, to keep out the glare of the
sun--and I came here, and spoke as proper as might be; and then,
Mrs. O'Halloran, you burst out laughing in my face, and destroy the
whole effect of these spectacles, and all.
"Well, we must make the best of a bad business; and we will try,
for a bit, anyhow. If he won't mind me, Gerald must go to the
chaplain, as he intended to; and I pity the boy, then. I would
rather be had up before the colonel, any day, than have any matter
in dispute with him."
"You are too bad, Teddy Burke," Mrs. O'Halloran said, still
laughing. "It was all very well for you to try and look sensible,
but to put on that face was too absurd. You know you could not have
kept it up for five minutes.
"No, I don't think it will do," and she looked serious now. "I
always thought that it was out of the question, but this bad
beginning settles it."
But Bob, who had been immensely amused, now broke in.
"Why not, Carrie? I am sure I should work better, for Dr. Burke,
than I should for anyone who was very strict and stiff. One is
always wanting to do something, with a man like that: to play
tricks with his wig or pigtail, or something of that sort. You
might let us try, anyhow; and if Dr. Burke finds that I am not
attentive, and don't mind him, then you can put me with somebody
else."
"Sure, we shall get on first rate, Mrs. O'Halloran. Gerald says the
boy is a sensible boy, and that he has been working very well under
an old uncle of yours. He knows for himself that it's no use his
having a master, if he isn't going to try his best to get on. When
I was at school, I used to get larrupped every day; and used to
think, to myself, what a grand thing it would be to have a master
just like what Dr. Burke, M.D., Dublin, is now; and I expect it is
just about the same, with him. We sha'n't work any the worse
because, maybe, we will joke over it, sometimes."
"Very well, then, we will try, Teddy; though I know the whole
regiment will think Gerald and I have gone mad, when they hear
about it. But I shall keep my eye upon you both."
"The more you keep your eye upon me, the better I shall be plazed,
Mrs. O'Halloran; saving your husband's presence," the doctor said,
insinuatingly.
"Do sit down and be reasonable, Teddy. There are cigars in that box
on the table."
"The tobacco here almost reconciles one to living outside Ireland,"
Dr. Burke said, as he lit a cigar, and seated himself in one of the
comfortable chairs. "Just about a quarter the price they are at
home, and brandy at one shilling per bottle. It is lucky for the
country that we don't get them at that price, in Ireland; for it is
mighty few boys they would get to enlist, if they could get tobacco
and spirits at such prices, at home."
"I have been telling Gerald that it will be much better for him to
drink claret, out here," Mrs. O'Halloran said.
"And you are not far wrong," the doctor agreed; "but the native
wines here are good enough for me, and you can get them at sixpence
a quart. I was telling them, at mess yesterday, that we must not
write home and tell them about it; or faith, there would be such an
emigration that the Rock wouldn't hold the people--not if you were
to build houses all over it. Sixpence a quart, and good sound
tipple!
"Sure, and it was a mighty mistake of Providence that Ireland was
not dropped down into the sea, off the coast of Spain. What a
country it would have been!"
"I don't know, Teddy," Captain O'Halloran said. "As the people
don't kill themselves with overwork, now, I doubt if they would
ever work at all, if they had the excuse of a hot climate for doing
nothing."
"There would not have been so much need, Gerald. They needn't have
bothered about the thatch, when it only rains once in six months,
or so; while as for clothes, it is little enough they would have
needed. And the bogs would all have dried up, and they would have
had crops without more trouble than just scratching the ground, and
sowing in the seed; and they would have grown oranges, instead of
praties. Oh, it would have been a great country, entirely!"
The doctor's three listeners all went off into a burst of laughter,
at the seriousness with which he spoke.
"But you would have had trouble with your pigs," Mrs. O'Halloran
said. "The Spanish pigs are wild, fierce-looking beasts, and would
never be content to share the cottages."
"Ah! But we would have had Irish pigs just the same as now. Well,
what do you think--" and he broke off suddenly, sitting upright,
and dropping the brogue altogether--"they were saying, at mess,
that the natives declare there are lots of Spanish troops moving
down in this direction; and that a number of ships are expected,
with stores, at Algeciras."
"Well, what of that?" Mrs. O'Halloran asked. "We are at peace with
Spain. What does it matter where they move their troops, or land
stores?"
"That is just the thing. We are at peace with them, sure enough;
but that is no reason why we should be always at peace. You know
how they hate seeing our flag flying over the Rock; and they may
think that, now we have got our hands full with France, and the
American colonists, it will be the right time for them to join in
the scrimmage, and see if they can't get the Rock back again."
"But they would never go to war, without any ground of complaint!"
"I don't know, Mrs. O'Halloran. When one wants to pick a quarrel
with a man, it is always a mighty easy thing to do so. You can
tread on his toe, and ask him what he put it there for; or sit down
on his hat, and swear that he put it on the chair on purpose; or
tell him that you do not like the colour of his hair, or that his
nose isn't the shape that pleases you. It is the easiest thing in
the world to find something to quarrel about, when you have a mind
for it."
"Are you quite serious, Teddy?"
"Never more serious in my life.
"Have you heard about it, Gerald?"
"I heard them saying something about it, when we were waiting for
the colonel on parade, this morning; but I did not think much of
it."
"Well, of course, it mayn't be true, Gerald; but the colonel and
major both seemed to think that there was something in it. It
seems, from what they said, that the governor has had letters that
seemed to confirm the news that several regiments are on the march
south; and that stores are being collected at Cadiz, and some of
the other seaports. There is nothing, as far as we know, specially
said about Gibraltar; but what else can they be getting ready for,
unless it is to cross the Straits and attack the Moors--and they
are at peace with them, at present, just as they are with us? I
mean to think that they are coming here, till we are downright sure
they are not. The news is so good, I mean to believe that it is
true, as long as I can."
"For shame, Teddy!" Mrs. O'Halloran said. "You can't be so wicked
as to hope that they are going to attack us?"
"And it is exactly that point of wickedness I have arrived at," the
doctor said, again dropping into the brogue. "In the first place,
sha'n't we need something, to kape us from dying entirely of
nothing to do at all, at all, in this wearisome old place? We are
fresh to it, and we are not tired, yet, of the oranges and the wine
and the cigars, and the quare people you see in the streets; but
the regiments that have been here some time are just sick of their
lives. Then, in the second place, how am I going to learn my
profession, if we are going to stop here, quiet and peaceful, for
years? Didn't I come into the army to study gunshot wounds and,
barring duels, divil a wound have I seen since I joined. It's
getting rusty I am, entirely; and there is the elegant case of
instruments my aunt gave me, that have never been opened. By the
same token, I will have them out and oil them, in the morning."
"Don't talk in that way, Teddy. You ought to be ashamed of
yourself. It seems to me that you are making a great to-do about
nothing. Some soldiers have been marched somewhere in Spain, and
all this talk is made up about it. They must know, very well, they
can't take the Rock. They tried it once, and I should have thought
they would not be in a hurry to try it again. I shall believe in it
when I see it.
"You need not look so delighted, Bob. If there should be any
trouble--and it seems nonsense even to think about such a
thing--but if there should be any, we should put you on board the
very first vessel sailing for England, and get you off our minds."
Bob laughed.
"I should go down and ship as a powder monkey, on one of the ships
of war; or enlist as a drummer, in one of the regiments; and then I
should be beyond your authority, altogether."
"I begin to think you are beyond my authority already, Bob.
"Gerald, I am afraid we did a very foolish thing in agreeing to
have this boy out here."
"Well, we have got him on our hands now, Carrie; and it is early,
yet, for you to find out your mistake.
"Well, if there should be a siege--"
"You know there is no chance of it, Gerald."
"Well, I only say if, and we are cut off from all the world, he
will be a companion to you, and keep you alive, while I am in the
batteries."
"I won't hear such nonsense talked any more, Gerald; and if Teddy
Burke is going to bring us every bit of absurd gossip that may be
picked up from the peasants, he can stay away, altogether."
"Except when he comes to instruct his pupil, Mrs. O'Halloran."
"Oh, that is not likely to last long, Dr. Burke!"
"That is to be seen, Mrs. O'Halloran. It is a nice example you are
setting him of want of respect for his instructor. I warn you that,
before another six months have passed, you will have to confess
that it has been just the very best arrangement that could have
been made; and will thank your stars that Dr. Edward Burke, M.D.,
of Dublin, happened to be here, ready to your hand."