When Dr. Burke had left, Bob broke into an Indian war dance,
expressive of the deepest satisfaction; and Captain O'Halloran
burst into a shout of laughter at the contrast between the boy's
vehement delight, and the dissatisfaction expressed in his wife's
face.
"I am not at all pleased, Gerald, not at all; and I don't see that it
is any laughing matter. I never heard a more ridiculous thing. Uncle
intrusted Bob to our care, believing that we should do what was best for
him; and here you go and engage the most feather-headed Irishman in the
garrison--and that is saying a good deal, Gerald--to look after him."
It was so seldom that Carrie took matters seriously that her
husband ceased laughing, at once.
"Well, Carrie, there is no occasion to put yourself out about it.
The experiment can be tried for a fortnight; and if, at the end of
that time, you are not satisfied, we will get someone else. But I
am sure it will work well."
"So am I, Carrie," Bob put in. "I believe Dr. Burke and I will get
on splendidly. You see, I have been with two people, both of whom
looked as grave as judges, and one of them as cross as a bear; and
yet they were both first-rate fellows. It seems to me that Dr.
Burke is just the other way. He turns everything into fun; but I
expect he will be just as sharp, when he is at lessons, as anyone
else. At any rate, you may be sure that I will do my best with him;
so as not to get put under some stiff old fellow, instead of him."
"Well, we shall see, Bob. I hope that it will turn out well, I am
sure."
"Of course it will turn out well, Carrie. Why, didn't your uncle at
first think I was the most harum-scarum fellow he ever saw; and now
he sees that I am a downright model husband, with only one fault,
and that is that I let you have your own way, altogether."
"It looks like it, on the present occasion, Gerald," his wife
laughed. "I will give it, as you say, a fortnight's trial. I only
hope that you have made a better choice for Bob's Spanish master."
"I hope so, my dear--that is, if it is possible. The professor, as
I call him, has been teaching his language to officers, here, for
the last thirty years. He is a queer, wizened-up little old chap,
and has got out of the way of bowing and scraping that the senors
generally indulge in; but he seems a cheery little old soul, and he
has got to understand English ways and, at any rate, there is no
fear of his leading Bob into mischief. The Spaniards don't
understand that; and if you were to ruffle his dignity, he would
throw up teaching him at once; and I have not heard of another man
on the Rock who would be likely to suit."
On the following Monday, Bob began work with the professor; who
called himself, on his card, Don Diaz Martos. He spoke English very
fairly and, after the first half hour, Bob found that the lessons
would be much more pleasant than he expected. The professor began
by giving him a long sentence to learn by heart, thoroughly; and
when Bob had done this, parsed each word with him, so that he
perfectly understood its meaning. Then he made the lad say it after
him a score of times, correcting his accent and inflection; and
when he was satisfied with this, began to construct fresh sentences
out of the original one, again making Bob repeat them, and form
fresh ones himself.
Thus, by the time the first lesson was finished the lad, to his
surprise, found himself able, without difficulty, to frame
sentences from the words he had learned. Then the professor wrote
down thirty nouns and verbs in common use.
"You will learn them this evening," he said, "and in the morning we
shall be able to make up a number of sentences out of them and, by
the end of a week, you will see we shall begin to talk to each
other. After that, it will be easy. Thirty fresh words, every day,
will be ample. In a month you will know seven or eight hundred; and
seven or eight hundred are enough for a man to talk with, on common
occasions."
"He is first rate," Bob reported to his sister, as they sat down to
dinner, at one o'clock. "You would hardly believe that I can say a
dozen little sentences, already; and can understand him, when he
says them. He says, in a week, we shall be able to get to talk
together.
"I wonder they don't teach Latin like that. Why, I shall know in
two or three months as much Spanish--and more, ever so much
more--than I do Latin, after grinding away at it for the last seven
or eight years."
"Well, that is satisfactory. I only hope the other will turn out as
well."
As Mrs. O'Halloran sat that evening, with her work in her hand, on
the terrace; with her husband, smoking a cigar, beside her. She
paused, several times, as she heard a burst of laughter.
"That doesn't sound like master and pupil," she said, sharply,
after an unusually loud laugh from below.
"More the pity, Carrie. Why on earth shouldn't a master be capable
of a joke? Do you think one does not learn all the faster, when the
lecture is pleasant? I know I would, myself. I never could see why
a man should look as if he was going to an execution, when he wants
to instil knowledge."
"But it is not usual, Gerald," Carrie remonstrated, no other
argument occurring to her.
"But that doesn't prove that it's wrong. Why a boy should be driven
worse than a donkey, and thrashed until his life is a burden to
him, and he hates his lessons and hates his master, beats me
entirely. Some day they will go more sensibly to work.
"You see, in the old times, Carrie, men used to beat their wives;
and you don't think the women were any the better for it, do you?"
"Of course they weren't," Carrie said, indignantly.
"But it was usual, you know, Carrie, just as you say that it is
usual for masters to beat boys--as if they would do nothing,
without being thrashed. I can't see any difference between the two
things."
"I can see a great deal of difference, sir!"
"Well, what is the difference, Carrie?"
But Carrie disdained to give any answer. Still, as she sat sewing
and thinking the matter over, she acknowledged to herself that she
really could not see any good and efficient reason why boys should
be beaten, any more than women.
"But women don't do bad things, like boys," she said, breaking
silence at last.
"Don't they, Carrie? I am not so sure of that. I have heard of
women who are always nagging their husbands, and giving them no
peace of their lives. I have heard of women who think of nothing
but dress, and who go about and leave their homes and children to
shift for themselves. I have heard of women who spend all their
time spreading scandal. I have heard of--"
"There, that is enough," Carrie broke in hastily. "But you don't
mean to say that they would be any the better for beating, Gerald?"
"I don't know, Carrie; I should think perhaps they might be,
sometimes. At any rate, I think that they deserve a beating quite
as much as a boy does, for neglecting to learn a lesson or for
playing some prank--which comes just as naturally, to him, as
mischief does to a kitten. For anything really bad, I would beat a
boy as long as I could stand over him. For lying, or thieving, or
any mean, dirty trick I would have no mercy on him. But that is a
very different thing to keeping the cane always going, at school,
as they do now.
"But here comes Bob. Well, Bob, is the doctor gone? Didn't you ask
him to come up, and have a cigar?"
"Yes; but he said he had got two or three cases at the hospital he
must see, and would wait until this evening."
"How have you got on, Bob?"
"Splendidly. I wonder why they don't teach at school, like that."
"It didn't sound much like teaching," Carrie said, severely.
"I don't suppose it did, Carrie; but it was teaching, for all that.
Why, I have learned as much, this evening, as I did in a dozen
lessons, in school. He explains everything so that you seem to
understand it, at once; and he puts things, sometimes, in such a
droll way, and brings in such funny comparisons, that you can't
help laughing. But you understand it, for all that, and are not
likely to forget it.
"Don't you be afraid, Carrie. If Dr. Burke teaches me, for the two
years that I am going to be here, I shall know more than I should
have done if I had stopped at Tulloch's till I was an old man. I
used to learn lessons, there, and get through them, somehow, but I
don't think I ever understood why things were so; while Dr. Burke
explains everything so that you seem to understand all about it, at
once. And he is pretty sharp, too. He takes a tremendous lot of
pains, himself; but I can see he will expect me to take a
tremendous lot of pains, too."
At the end of a fortnight, Carrie made no allusion to the subject
of a change of masters. The laughing downstairs still scandalized
her, a little; but she saw that Bob really enjoyed his lessons and,
although she herself could not test what progress he was making,
his assurances on that head satisfied her.
The Brilliant had sailed on a cruise, the morning after Bob's
arrival; but as soon as he heard that she had again dropped anchor
in the bay, he took a boat and went out to her; and returned on
shore with Jim Sankey, who had obtained leave for the afternoon.
The two spent hours in rambling about the Rock, and talking of old
times at Tulloch's. Both agreed that the most fortunate thing that
ever happened had been the burglary at Admiral Langton's; which had
been the means of Jim's getting into the navy, and Bob's coming out
to Gibraltar, to his sister.
Jim had lots to tell of his shipmates, and his life on board the
Brilliant. He was disposed to pity Bob spending half his day at
lessons; and was astonished to find that his friend really enjoyed
it, and still more that he should already have begun to pick up a
little Spanish.
"You can't help it, with Don Diaz," Bob said. "He makes you go over
a sentence, fifty times, until you say it in exactly the same voice
he does--I mean the same accent. He says it slow, at first, so that
I can understand him; and then faster and faster, till he speaks in
his regular voice. Then I have to make up another sentence, in
answer. It is good fun, I can tell you; and yet one feels that one
is getting on very fast. I thought it would take years before I
should be able to get on anyhow in Spanish; but he says if I keep
on sticking to it, I shall be able to speak pretty nearly like a
native, in six months' time. I quite astonish Manola--that is our
servant--by firing off sentences in Spanish at her. My sister
Carrie says she shall take to learning with the Don, too."
"Have you had any fun since you landed, Bob?"
"No; not regular fun, you know. It has been very jolly. I go down
with Gerald--Carrie's husband, you know--to the barracks, and I
know most of the officers of his regiment now, and I walk about a
bit by myself; but I have not gone beyond the Rock, yet."
"You must get a long day's leave, Bob; and we will go across the
neutral ground, into Spain, together."
"Gerald said that, as I was working so steadily, I might have a
holiday, sometimes, if I did not ask for it too often. I have been
three weeks at it, now. I am sure I can go for a day, when I like,
so it will depend on you."
"I sha'n't be able to come ashore for another four or five days,
after having got away this afternoon. Let us see, this is
Wednesday, I will try to get leave for Monday."
"Have you heard, Jim, there is a talk about Spanish troops moving
down here, and that they think Spain is going to join France and
try to take this place?"
"No, I haven't heard a word about it," Jim said, opening his eyes.
"You don't really mean it?"
"Yes, that is what the officers say. Of course, they don't know for
certain; but there is no doubt the country people have got the idea
into their heads, and the natives on the Rock certainly believe
it."
"Hooray! That would be fun," Jim said. "We have all been grumbling,
on board the frigate, at being stuck down here without any chance
of picking up prizes; or of falling in with a Frenchman, except we
go on a cruise. Why, you have seen twice as much fun as we have,
though you only came out in a trader. Except that we chased a craft
that we took for a French privateer, we haven't seen an enemy since
we came out from England; and we didn't see much of her, for she
sailed right away from us. While you have had no end of fighting,
and a very narrow escape of being taken to a French prison."
"Too narrow to be pleasant, Jim. I don't think there would be much
fun to be got out of a French prison."
"I don't know, Bob. I suppose it would be dull, if you were alone;
but if you and I were together, I feel sure we should have some
fun, and should make our escape, somehow."
"Well, we might try," Bob said, doubtfully. "But you see, not many
fellows do make their escape; and as sailors are up to climbing
ropes, and getting over walls, and all that sort of thing, I should
think they would do it, if it could be managed anyhow."
Upon the following day--when Bob was in the anteroom of the mess
with Captain O'Halloran, looking at some papers that had been
brought by a ship that had come in that morning--the colonel
entered, accompanied by Captain Langton. The officers all stood up,
and the colonel introduced them to Captain Langton--who was, he
told them, going to dine at the mess that evening. After he had
done this, Captain Langton's eye fell upon Bob; who smiled, and
made a bow.
"I ought to know you," the captain said. "I have certainly seen
your face somewhere."
"It was at Admiral Langton's, sir. My name is Bob Repton."
"Of course it is," the officer said, shaking him cordially by the
hand. "But what on earth are you doing here? I thought you had
settled down somewhere in the city; with an uncle, wasn't it?"
"Yes, sir; but I have come out here to learn Spanish."
"Have you seen your friend Sankey?"
"Yes, sir. I went on board the frigate to see him, yesterday
afternoon; and he got leave to come ashore with me, for two or
three hours."
"He ought to have let me know that you were here," the captain
said. "Who are you staying with, lad?"
"With Captain O'Halloran, sir, my brother-in-law," Bob said,
indicating Gerald, who had already been introduced to Captain
Langton.
"I daresay you are surprised at my knowing this young gentleman,"
he said, turning to Colonel Cochrane, "but he did my father, the
admiral, a great service. He and three other lads, under his
leadership, captured four of the most notorious burglars in London,
when they were engaged in robbing my father's house. It was a most
gallant affair, I can assure you; and the four burglars swung for
it, a couple of months later. I have one of the lads as a
midshipman, on board my ship; and I offered a berth to Repton but,
very wisely, he decided to remain on shore, where his prospects
were good."
"Why, O'Halloran, you never told me anything about this," the
colonel said.
"No, sir. Bob asked me not to say anything about it. I think he is
rather shy of having it talked about; and it is the only thing of
which he is shy as far as I have discovered."
"Well, we must hear the story," the colonel said. "I hope you will
dine at mess, this evening, and bring him with you. He shall tell
us the story over our wine. I am curious to know how four boys can
have made such a capture."
After mess that evening Bob told the story, as modestly as he
could.
"There, colonel," Captain Langton said, when he had finished. "You
see that, if these stories I hear are true, and the Spaniards are
going to make a dash for Gibraltar, you have got a valuable
addition to your garrison."
"Yes, indeed," the colonel laughed. "We will make a volunteer of
him. He has had some little experience of standing fire, for
O'Halloran told me that the brig he came out in had fought a sharp
action with a privateer of superior force; and indeed, when she
came in here, her sails were riddled with shot holes."
"Better and better," Captain Langton laughed.
"Well, Repton, remember whenever you are disposed for a cruise, I
shall be glad to take you as passenger. Sankey will make you at
home in the midshipmen's berth. If the Spaniards declare war with
us, we shall have stirring times at sea, as well as on shore and,
though you won't get any share in any prize money we may win, while
you are on board, you will have part of the honour; and you see,
making captures is quite in your line."
The next day, Captain O'Halloran and Bob dined on board the
Brilliant. Captain Langton introduced the lad to his officers,
telling them that he wished him to be considered as being free on
board the ship, whether he himself happened to be on board or not,
when he came off.
"But you must keep an eye on him, Mr. Hardy, while he is on board,"
he said to the first lieutenant.
"Mr. Sankey," and he nodded at Jim, who was among those invited,
"is rather a pickle, but from what I hear Repton is worse. So you
will have to keep a sharp eye upon them, when they are together;
and if they are up to mischief, do not hesitate to masthead both of
them. A passenger on board one of His Majesty's ships is amenable
to discipline, like anyone else."
"I will see to it, sir," the lieutenant said, laughing. "Sankey
knows the way up, already."
"Yes. I think I observed him taking a view of the shore from that
elevation, this morning."
Jim coloured hotly.
"Yes, sir," the lieutenant said. "The doctor made a complaint that
his leeches had got out of their bottle, and were all over the
ship; and I fancy one of them got into his bed, somehow. He had
given Mr. Sankey a dose of physic in the morning; and remembered
afterwards that, while he was making up the medicine, Sankey had
been doing something in the corner where his bottles were. When I
questioned Sankey about it, he admitted that he had observed the
leeches, but declined to criminate himself farther. So I sent him
aloft for an hour or two, to meditate upon the enormity of wasting
His Majesty's medical stores."
"I hope, Captain O'Halloran," the captain said, "that you have less
trouble with your brother-in-law than we have with his friend."
"Bob hasn't had much chance, yet," Captain O'Halloran said,
laughing. "He is new to the place, as yet; and besides, he is
really working hard, and hasn't much time for mischief; but I don't
flatter myself that it is going to last."
"Well, Mr. Sankey, you may as well take your friend down, and
introduce him formally to your messmates," the captain said; and
Jim, who had been feeling extremely uncomfortable since the talk
had turned on the subject of mastheading, rose and made his escape
with Bob, leaving the elders to their wine.
The proposed excursion to the Spanish lines did not come off, as
the Brilliant put to sea again, on the day fixed for it. She was
away a fortnight and, on her return, the captain issued orders that
none of the junior officers, when allowed leave, were to go beyond
the lines; for the rumours of approaching troubles had become
stronger and, as the peasantry were assuming a somewhat hostile
attitude, any act of imprudence might result in trouble. Jim often
had leave to come ashore in the afternoon and, as this was the time
that Bob had to himself, they wandered together all over the Rock,
climbed up the flagstaff, and made themselves acquainted with all
the paths and precipices.
Their favourite place was the back of the Rock; where the cliff, in
many places, fell sheer away for hundreds of feet down into the
sea. They had many discussions as to the possibility of climbing up
on that side, though both agreed that it would be impossible to
climb down.
"I should like to try, awfully," Bob said, one day early in June,
as they were leaning on a low wall looking down to the sea.
"But it would never do to risk getting into a scrape here. It
wouldn't, indeed, Bob. They don't understand jokes at Gib. One
would be had up before the big wigs, and court-martialled, and
goodness knows what. Of course, it is jolly being ashore; but one
never gets rid of the idea that one is a sort of prisoner. There
are the regulations about what time you may come off, and what time
the gate is closed and, if you are a minute late, there you are
until next morning. Whichever way one turns there are sentries; and
you can't pass one way, and you can't go back another way, and
there are some of the batteries you can't go into, without a
special order. It never would do to try any nonsense, here.
"Look at that sentry up there. I expect he has got his eye on us,
now; and if he saw us trying to get down, he would take us for
deserters and fire. There wouldn't be any fear of his hitting us;
but the nearest guard would turn out, and we should be arrested and
reported, and all sorts of things. It wouldn't matter so much for
you, but I should get my leave stopped altogether, and should get
into the captain's black books.
"No, no. I don't mind running a little risk of breaking my neck,
but not here on the Rock. I would rather get into ten scrapes, on
board the frigate, than one here."
"Yes, I suppose it can't be done," Bob agreed; "but I should have
liked to swing myself down to one of those ledges. There would be
such a scolding and shrieking among the birds."
"Yes, that would be fun; but as it might bring on the same sort of
row among the authorities, I would rather leave it alone.
"I expect we shall soon get leave to go across the lines again.
There doesn't seem to be any chance of a row with the dons; I
expect it was all moonshine, from the first. Why, they say Spain is
trying to patch up the quarrel between us and France. She would not
be doing that, if she had any idea of going to war with us,
herself."
"I don't know, Jim. Gerald and Dr. Burke were talking it over last
night, and Gerald said just what you do; and then Dr. Burke said:
"'You are wrong, entirely, Gerald. That is just the dangerous part
of the affair. Why should Spain want to put a stop to the war
between us and the frog eaters? Sure, wouldn't she look on with the
greatest pleasure in life, while we cut each other's throats and
blew up each other's ships, and put all the trade of the
Mediterranean into her hands? Why, it is the very thing that suits
her best.'
"'Then what is she after putting herself forward for, Teddy?'
Gerald said.
"'Because she wants to have a finger in the pie, Gerald. It
wouldn't be dacent for her to say to England:
"'"It is in a hole you are, at present, wid your hands full; and so
I am going to take the opportunity of pitching into you."
"'So she begins by stipping forward as the dear friend of both
parties; and she says:
"'"What are you breaking each other's heads for, boys? Make up your
quarrel, and shake hands."
"'Then she sets to and proposes terms--which she knows mighty well
we shall never agree to, for the letters we had, the other day
said, that it was reported that the proposals of Spain were
altogether unacceptable--and then, when we refuse, she turns round
and says:
"'"You have put yourself in the wrong, entirely. I gave you a
chance of putting yourself in the right, and it is a grave insult
to me for you to refuse to accept my proposals. So there is nothing
for me to do, now, but just to join with France, and give you the
bating you desarve."'
"That is Teddy Burke's idea, Jim; and though he is so full of fun,
he is awfully clever, and has got no end of sense; and I'd take his
opinion about anything. You see how he has got me on, in these four
months, in Latin and things. Why, I have learnt more, with him,
than I did all the time I was at Tulloch's. He says most likely the
negotiations will be finished, one way or the other, by the middle
of this month; and he offered to bet Gerald a gallon of whisky that
there would be a declaration of war, by Spain, before the end of
the month."
"Did he?" Jim said, in great delight. "Well, I do hope he is right.
We are all getting precious tired, I can assure you, of broiling
down there in the harbour. The decks are hot enough to cook a steak
upon. When we started, today, we didn't see a creature in the
streets. Everyone had gone off to bed, for two or three hours; and
the shops were all closed, as if it had been two o'clock at night,
instead of two o'clock in the day. Even the dogs were all asleep,
in the shade. I think we shall have to give up our walks, till
August is over. It is getting too hot for anything, in the
afternoon."
"Well, it is hot," Bob agreed. "Carrie said I was mad, coming out
in it today; and should get sunstroke, and all sort of things; and
Gerald said at dinner that, if it were not against the regulations,
he would like to shave his head, instead of plastering it all over
with powder."
"I call it disgusting," Jim said, heartily. "That is the one thing
I envy you in. I shouldn't like to be grinding away at books, as
you do; and you don't have half the fun I do, on shore here without
any fellows to have larks with; but not having to powder your hair
almost makes up for it. I don't mind it, in winter, because it
makes a sort of thatch for the head; but it is awful, now. I feel
just as if I had got a pudding crust all over my head."
"Well, that is appropriate, Jim," laughed Bob; and then Jim chased
him all along the path, till they got within sight of a sentry in a
battery; and then his dignity as midshipman compelled them to
desist, and the pair walked gravely down into the town.
That evening after lessons were over Dr. Burke, as usual, went up
on to the terrace to smoke a cigar with Captain O'Halloran.
"It is a pity altogether, Mrs. O'Halloran," he said, as he stood by
her side, looking over the moonlit bay, with the dark hulls of the
ships and the faint lights across at Algeciras, "that we can't do
away with the day, and have nothing but night of it, for four or
five months in the year. I used to think it must be mighty
unpleasant for the Esquimaux; but faith, I envy them now. Fancy
five or six months without catching a glimpse of that burning old
sun!"
"I don't suppose they think so," Mrs. O'Halloran laughed, "but it
would be pleasant here. The heat has been dreadful, all day; and it
is really only after sunset that one begins to enjoy life."
"You may well say that, Mrs. O'Halloran. Faith, I wish they would
let me take off my coat, and do my work in my shirtsleeves down at
the hospital. Sure, it is a strange idea these military men have
got in their heads, that a man isn't fit for work unless he is
buttoned so tightly up to the chin that he is red in the face. If
nature had meant it, we should have been born in a suit of scale
armour, like a crocodile.
"Well, there is one consolation--if there is a siege, I expect
there will be an end of hair powder and cravats. It's the gineral
rule, on a campaign; and it is worth standing to be shot at, to
have a little comfort in one's life."
"Do you think that there is any chance at all of the Spaniards
taking the place, if they do besiege us?" Bob asked, as Dr. Burke
took his seat.
"None of taking the place by force, Bob. It has been besieged, over
and over again; and it is pretty nearly always by hunger that it
has fallen. That is where the pinch will come, if they besiege us
in earnest: it's living on mice and grass you are like to be,
before it is over."
"But the fleet will bring in provisions, surely, Dr. Burke?"
"The fleet will have all it can do to keep the sea, against the
navies of France and Spain. They will do what they can, you may be
sure; but the enemy well know that it is only by starving us out
that they can hope to take the place, and I expect they will put
such a fleet here that it will be mighty difficult for even a boat
to find its way in between them."
"Do you know about the other sieges?" Mrs. O'Halloran asked. "Of
course, I know something about the last siege; but I know nothing
about the history of the Rock before that, and of course Gerald
doesn't know."
"And why should I, Carrie? You don't suppose that when I was at
school, at Athlone, they taught me the history of every bit of rock
sticking up on the face of the globe? I had enough to do to learn
about the old Romans--bad cess to them, and all their bothering
doings!"
"I can tell you about it, Mrs. O'Halloran," Teddy Burke said.
"Bob's professor, who comes to have a talk with me for half an hour
every day, has been telling me all about it; and if Gerald will
move himself, and mix me a glass of grog to moisten my throat, I
will give you the whole story of it.
"You know, no doubt, that it was called Mount Calpe, by Gerald's
friends the Romans; who called the hill opposite there Mount Abyla,
and the two together the Pillars of Hercules. But beyond giving it
a name, they don't seem to have concerned themselves with it; nor
do the Phoenicians or Carthaginians, though all of them had cities
out in the low country.
"It was when the Saracens began to play their games over here that
we first hear of it. Roderic, you know, was king of the Goths, and
seems to have been a thundering old tyrant; and one of his nobles,
Julian--who had been badly treated by him--went across with his
family into Africa, and put up Mousa, the Saracen governor of the
province across there, to invade Spain. They first of all made a
little expedition--that was in 711--with one hundred horse, and
four hundred foot. They landed over there at Algeciras and, after
doing some plundering and burning, sailed back again, with the news
that the country could be conquered. So next year twelve thousand
men, under a chief named Tarik, crossed and landed on the flat
between the Rock and Spain. He left a party here to build the
castle; and then marched away, defeated Roderic and his army at
Xeres, and soon conquered the whole of Spain, except the mountains
of the north.
"We don't hear much more of Gibraltar for another six hundred
years. Algeciras had become a fortress of great strength and
magnificence, and Gibraltar was a mere sort of outlying post.
Ferdinand the Fourth of Spain besieged Algeciras for years, and
could not take it; but a part of his army attacked Gibraltar, and
captured it. The African Moors came over to help their friends, and
Ferdinand had to fall back; but the Spaniards still held
Gibraltar--a chap named Vasco Paez de Meira being in command.
"In 1333 Abomelique, son of the Emperor of Fez, came across with an
army and besieged Gibraltar. Vasco held out for five months, and
was then starved into surrender, just as Alonzo the Eleventh was
approaching to his assistance. He arrived before the town, five
days after it surrendered, and attacked the castle; but the Moors
encamped on the neutral ground in his rear, and cut him off from
his supplies; and he was obliged at last to negotiate, and was
permitted to retire. He was not long away. Next time he attacked
Algeciras; which, after a long siege, he took in 1343.
"In 1349 there were several wars in Africa, and he took advantage
of this to besiege Gibraltar. He was some months over the business,
and the garrison were nearly starved out; when pestilence broke out
in the Spanish camp, by which the king and many of his soldiers
died, and the rest retired.
"It was not until sixty years afterwards, in 1410, that there were
fresh troubles; and then they were what might be called family
squabbles. The Africans of Fez had held the place, till then; but
the Moorish king of Grenada suddenly advanced upon it, and took it.
A short time afterwards, the inhabitants rose against the Spanish
Moors, and turned them out, and the Emperor of Morocco sent over an
army to help them; but the Moors of Grenada besieged the place, and
took it by famine.
"In 1435 the Christians had another slap at it; but Henry de
Guzman, who attacked by sea, was defeated and killed. In 1462 the
greater part of the garrison of Gibraltar was withdrawn to take
part in some civil shindy, that was going on at Grenada; and in
their absence the place was taken by John de Guzman, duke of
Medina-Sidonia, and son of the Henry that was killed. In 1540
Gibraltar was surprised and pillaged by one of Barossa's captains;
but as he was leaving some Christian galleys met him, and the
corsairs were all killed or taken.
"This was really the only affair worth speaking of between 1462,
when it fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and 1704, when it was
captured by us. Sir George Rooke, who had gone out with a force to
attack Cadiz--finding that there was not much chance of success in
that direction--resolved, with Prince George of Hesse and
Darmstadt--who commanded the troops on board the fleet--to make an
attack on Gibraltar.
"On the 21st of July, 1704, the English and Dutch landed on the
neutral ground and, at daybreak on the 23rd, the fleet opened fire.
The Spaniards were driven from their guns on the Molehead Battery.
The boats landed, and seized the battery, and held it in spite of
the Spaniards springing a mine, which killed two lieutenants and
about forty men. The Marquis de Salines, the governor, was then
summoned, and capitulated. So you see, we made only a day's work of
taking a place which the Spaniards thought that they had made
impregnable. The professor made a strong point of it that the
garrison consisted only of a hundred and fifty men; which certainly
accounts for our success, for it is no use having guns and walls,
if you haven't got soldiers to man them.
"The Prince of Hesse was left as governor; and it was not long
before his mettle was tried for, in October, the Spanish army, with
six battalions of Frenchmen, opened trenches against the town.
Admiral Sir John Leake threw in reinforcements, and six months'
provisions. At the end of the month, a forlorn hope of five hundred
Spanish volunteers managed to climb up the Rock, by ropes and
ladders, and surprised a battery; but were so furiously attacked
that they were all killed, or taken prisoners. A heavy cannonade
was kept up for another week, when a large number of transports
with reinforcements and supplies arrived and, the garrison being
now considered strong enough to resist any attack, the fleet sailed
away.
"The siege went on till the middle of March, when Sir John Leake
again arrived, drove away the French fleet, and captured or burnt
five of them; and the siege was then discontinued, having cost the
enemy ten thousand men. So, you see, there was some pretty hard
fighting over it.
"The place was threatened in 1720 and, in the beginning of 1727,
twenty thousand Spaniards again sat down before it. The
fortifications had been made a good deal stronger, after the first
siege; and the garrison was commanded by Lieutenant Governor
Clayton. The siege lasted till May, when news arrived that the
preliminaries of a general peace had been signed. There was a lot
of firing; but the Spaniards must have shot mighty badly, for we
had only three hundred killed and wounded. You would think that
that was enough; but when I tell you that the cannon were so old
and rotten that seventy cannon, and thirty mortars, burst during
the siege, it seems to me that every one of those three hundred
must have been damaged by our own cannon, and that the Spaniards
did not succeed in hitting a single man.
"That is mighty encouraging for you, Mrs. O'Halloran; for I don't
think that our cannon will burst this time and, if the Spaniards do
not shoot better than they did before, it is little work, enough,
that is likely to fall to the share of the surgeons."
"Thank you," Mrs. O'Halloran said. "You have told that very nicely,
Teddy Burke. I did not know anything about it, before; and I had
some idea that it was when the English were besieged here that the
Queen of Spain sat on that rock which is called after her; but I
see now that it was Ferdinand's Isabella, and that it was when the
Moors were besieged here, hundreds of years before.
"Well, I am glad I know something about it. It is stupid to be in a
place, and know nothing of its history. You are rising in my
estimation fast, Dr. Burke."
"Mistress O'Halloran," the doctor said, rising and making a deep
bow, "you overwhelm me, entirely; and now I must say goodnight, for
I must look in at the hospital, before I turn in to my quarters."