In the evening the wind died away, and the three vessels were
becalmed. Captain Lockett rowed to the polacre, and examined his
prize; and then, taking Bob in his boat, rowed to the barque.
"Well, Joe, have you made out what you have got on board?" the
captain said, when he reached the deck.
"No, sir. Neither of the officers can speak a word of English. I
have opened the hatches, and she is chock-full of hides; but what
there is, underneath, I don't know."
"Come along, Bob, we will overhaul the papers," the captain said
and, going to the cabin, they examined the bill of lading.
"Here it is, sir," Bob said, triumphantly. "Two hundred tons of
lead."
"Splendid!" the captain exclaimed. "That is a prize worth having.
Of course, that is stowed away at the bottom; and then she is
filled up with hides, and they are worth a lot of money--but the
lead, alone, is worth six thousand pounds, at twenty pounds per
ton.
"Is there anything else, Bob?"
"Yes, sir. There are fifty boxes. It doesn't say what is in them."
"You don't say so, Bob! Perhaps it is silver. Let us ask the
officers."
The Spanish first mate was called down.
"Where are these boxes?" Bob asked, "and what do they contain?"
"They are full of silver," the man said, sullenly. "They are stowed
in the lazaretto, under this cabin."
"We will have one of them up, and look into it," the captain said.
"Joe, call a couple of hands down."
The trapdoor of the lazaretto was lifted. Joe and the two sailors
descended the ladder and, with some difficulty, one of the boxes
was hoisted up.
"That weighs over two hundredweight, I'm sure," Joe said.
Illustration: They find Boxes of Silver in the Lazaretto.
The box was broken open, and it was found to be filled with small
bars of silver.
"Are they all the same size, Joe?" the captain asked.
"Yes, as far as I can see."
The captain took out his pocketbook, and made a rapid calculation.
"Then they are worth between thirty-two and thirty-three thousand
pounds, Joe.
"Why, lad, she is worth forty thousand pounds, without the hides or
the hull. That is something like a capture," and the two men shook
hands, warmly.
"The best thing to do, Joe, will be to divide these boxes between
the three ships; then, even if one of them gets picked up by the
Spaniards or French, we shall still be in clover."
"I think that would be a good plan," Joe agreed.
"We will do it at once. There is nothing like making matters safe.
Just get into the boat alongside, and row to the brig; and tell
them to lower the jolly boat and send it alongside. We will get
some of the boxes up, by the time you are back."
In an hour the silver was divided between the three ships; and the
delight of the sailors was great, when they heard how valuable had
been the capture.
"How do you divide?" Bob asked Captain Lockett, as they were
watching the boxes lowered into the boat.
"The ship takes half," he said. "Of the other half I take twelve
shares, Joe eight, the second mate six, the boatswain three, and
the fifty hands one share each. So you may say there are eighty
shares and, if the half of the prize is worth twenty thousand
pounds, each man's share will be two hundred and fifty.
"It will be worth having, Bob; though it is a great shame you
should not rate as an officer."
"I don't want the money," Bob laughed. "I should have no use for
it, if I had it. My uncle has taken me in hand, and I am provided
for."
"Yes, I understand that," the captain said. "If it were not so, I
should have proposed to the crew that they should agree to your
sharing the same as the second officer. I am sure they would have
agreed, willingly; seeing that it is due to you that we were not
captured, ourselves, in the first place; and entirely to your
suggestion, that we should keep the Spanish flag flying and run
into Cartagena, that we owe the capture of the prizes."
"Oh, I would much rather not, captain. I only came for a cruise,
and it has been a splendid one; and it seems to be quite absurd
that I should be getting anything at all. Still, it will be jolly,
because I shall be able to make Carrie and Gerald nice presents,
with my own money; and to send some home to Mr. Medlin and his
family, and something to uncle, too, if I can think of anything he
would like."
"Yes, it is all very well, Bob, for you; but I feel that it is not
fair. However, as you really don't want the money, and are well
satisfied, we will say nothing more about it, now."
The ships lay becalmed all night, but a brisk breeze from the east
sprang up in the morning and, at noon, the Rock was visible in the
distance. They held on for four hours; and then lay to, till after
midnight. After that sail was again made and, soon after daybreak,
they passed Europa Point, without having been seen by any of the
Spanish cruisers. They were greeted by a hearty cheer from the
vessels anchored near the new Mole, as they brought up amongst them
with the British flags flying, above the Spanish, on board the
prizes.
As soon as the morning gun was fired, and the gates opened, Bob
landed and hurried up to his sister's. She and her husband were
just partaking of their early coffee.
"Hallo, Bob!" Captain O'Halloran exclaimed. "What, back again? Why,
I didn't expect you for another fortnight. You must have managed
very badly, to have brought your cruise to an end, so soon."
"Well, I am very glad you are back, Bob," his sister said. "I have
been fidgetting about you, ever since you were away."
"I am as glad to see you as your sister can be," Gerald put in. "If
she has fidgetted, when you had only gone a week; you can imagine
what I should have to bear, before the end of a month. I should
have had to move into barracks. Life would have been insupportable,
here."
"I am sure I have said very little about it, Gerald," his wife
said, indignantly.
"No, Carrie, you have not said much, but your aspect has been
generally tragic. You have taken but slight interest in your fowls,
and there has been a marked deterioration in the meals. My remarks
have been frequently unanswered; and you have got into a Sister
Anne sort of way of going upon the roof, and staring out to sea.
"Your sister is a most estimable woman, Bob--I am the last person
who would deny it--but I must admit that she has been a little
trying, during the last week."
Carrie laughed.
"Well, it is only paying you back a little, in your own coin,
Gerald.
"But what has brought you back so soon, Bob? We heard of you, three
days ago; for Gerald went on board a brig that was brought in, as
he heard that it was a prize of the Antelope's; and the officer
told him about your cruise, up to when he had left you."
"Well, there wasn't much to tell, up till then," Bob said, "except
that I was well, and my appetite was good. But there has been a
good lot, since. We have come in with two more good prizes, this
morning, and the brig is going to convoy them back to England."
"Oh, that is all right," Carrie said in a tone of pleasure.
So far, she had been afraid that Bob's return was only a temporary
one; and that he might be setting out again, in a day or two.
"Well, let us hear all about it, Bob," her husband said. "I could
see Carrie was on thorns, lest you were going off again. Now that
she is satisfied, she may be able to listen to you, comfortably."
"Well, we really had some adventures, Gerald. We had a narrow
escape from being captured by a Spanish ship of war, ever so much
stronger than we were. She was got up as a merchantman, and
regularly took us in. We anchored close to her, intending to board
her in the dark. I thought I would swim off and reconnoitre a bit,
before we attacked her; and, of course, I saw at once what she was,
and we cut our cable, and were towed out in the dark. She fired
away at us, but didn't do us any damage.
"The next day, late in the afternoon, we came upon the Brilliant
chasing some Spanish craft into Cartagena and, as we had Spanish
colours up, she took us for one of them, and blazed away at us."
"But why didn't you pull down the Spanish colours, at once, Bob? I
never heard of anything so silly," Carrie said, indignantly.
"Well, you see, Carrie, they were some distance off, and weren't
likely to damage us much; and we ran straight in, and anchored with
the rest under the guns of the battery, outside Cartagena. Seeing
us fired at, of course, they never suspected we were English. Then,
at night, we captured the two vessels lying next to us, and put out
to sea. The batteries blazed away at us, and it was not very
pleasant till we got outside their range. They did not do us very
much damage. Two gunboats came out after us, but the brig beat them
back, and we helped."
"Who were we?" Captain O'Halloran asked.
"We were the prizes, of course. I was in command of one."
"Hooray, Bob!" Gerald exclaimed, with a great laugh, while Carrie
uttered an exclamation of horror.
"Well, you see, the second mate had been sent off in the first
prize, and there was only Joe Lockett and me; so he took the
biggest of the two ships we cut out, and the captain put me in
command of the men that took the other. I had the boatswain with me
and, of course, he was the man who really commanded, in getting up
the sails and all that sort of thing. He was killed by a shot from
the battery, and was the only man hit on our vessel; but there were
five killed, on board the brig, in the fight with the gunboats.
"We fell in with the Brilliant, on the way back, and I went on
board; and you should have seen how Jim Sankey opened his eyes,
when I said that I was in command of the prize. They are awfully
good prizes, too, I can tell you. The one I got is laden with wine;
and the big one was a barque from Lima, with hides, and two hundred
tons of lead, and fifty boxes of silver--about thirty-three
thousand pounds' worth.
"Just think of that! The captain said she was worth, altogether, at
least forty thousand pounds. That is something like a prize, isn't
it?"
"Yes, that is.
"What do you think, Carrie? I propose that I sell my commission,
raise as much as I can on the old place in Ireland, and fit out a
privateer. Bob will, of course, be captain; you shall be first
mate; and I will be content with second mate's berth; and we will
sail the salt ocean, and pick up our forty-thousand-pound prizes."
"Oh, what nonsense you do talk, to be sure, Gerald! Just when Bob's
news is so interesting, too."
"I have told all my news, Carrie. Now I want to hear yours. The
Spaniards haven't began to batter down the Rock, yet?"
"We have been very quiet, Bob. On the 11th a great convoy, of about
sixty sail--protected by five xebecs, of from twenty to thirty guns
each--came along. They must have come out from Malaga, the very
night you passed there. They were taking supplies, for the use of
the Spanish fleet; and the privateers captured three or four small
craft; and the Panther, the Enterprise, and the Childers were kept
at their anchor, all day. Why, no one but the admiral could say. We
were all very much disappointed, for everyone expected to see
pretty nearly all the Spanish vessels brought in."
"Yes," Captain O'Halloran said, "it has caused a deal of talk, I
can tell you. The navy were furious. There they were, sixty
vessels, all laden with the very things we wanted; pretty well
becalmed, not more than a mile off Europa Point, with our batteries
banging away at them; and nothing in the world to hinder the
Panther, and the frigates, from fetching them all in. Half the town
were out on the hill, and every soul who could get off duty at the
Point; and there was the admiral, wasting the whole mortal day in
trying to make up his mind. If you had heard the bad language that
was used in relation to that old gentleman, it would have made your
hair stand on end.
"Of course, just as it got dark the ships of war started; and
equally, of course, the convoy all got away in the dark, except six
bits of prizes, which were brought in in the morning. We have
heard, since, that it was on purpose to protect this valuable fleet
that the Spanish squadron arrived, before you went away; but as it
didn't turn up, the squadron went off again, and we had nothing to
do but just to pick it up."
After breakfast, Captain O'Halloran went off with Bob to the
Antelope. He found all hands busy, bending on sails in place of
those that had been damaged, taking those of the brig first
captured for the purpose.
"They fit very well," Joe Lockett said, "and we have not time to
lose. We sail again, this afternoon. The captain says there is
nothing to prevent our going out, now; and as the Spanish squadron
may be back any day, we might have to run the gauntlet to get out,
if we lost the present chance. So he is not going to waste an hour.
"Crofts has already sold the grain, and discharged it. The hull is
worth but little; and the captain has sold her, as she stands, to a
trader for two hundred pounds. I expect he has bought her to break
up for firewood, if the siege goes on. If it doesn't, he will sell
her again, afterwards, at a good profit. Of course, it is a
ridiculous price; but the captain wanted to get her off his hands,
and would have taken a ten pound note, rather than be bothered with
her.
"So by tonight we shall be across at Ceuta and, if the wind holds
east but another day, we shall be through the Straits on our way
home.
"They are going to shift two of our 18 pounders on board the
barque, and I am going to command her, and to have fifteen men on
board. Crofts commands the poleacre, with ten men. The rest, of
course, go in the brig. We shall keep together, and steer well out
west into the Atlantic, so as to give as wide a berth as possible
to Spaniards and Frenchmen. If we meet with a privateer, we ought
to be able to give a good account of him; if we run across a
frigate, we shall scatter; and it will be hard luck if we don't
manage to get two out of the three craft into port.
"We have been shifting some more of the silver again, this morning,
from the barque into the other two vessels; otherwise, as she has
the lead on board, she would be the most valuable prize. As it is
now, the three are of about equal value."
"Well, we wish you a pleasant voyage," Captain O'Halloran said. "I
suppose we shall see you back here again, before long."
"Yes, I should think so; but I don't know what the captain means to
do. We have had no time to talk, this morning. I daresay you will
meet him, on shore; he has gone to the post office, to get his
papers signed. We have been quite pestered, this morning, by men
coming on board to buy wine out of the polacre; but the captain
wouldn't have the hatches taken off. The Spaniards may turn up, at
any moment; and it is of the greatest importance our getting off,
while the coast is clear. It is most unfortunate, now, that we did
not run straight in, yesterday; instead of laying to, to wait for
night."
They did not meet the captain in the town and, from the roof, Bob
saw the three vessels get up sail, early in the afternoon, and make
across for the African coast.
The doctor came in, in the evening.
"Well, Bob, so I hear you have been fighting, and commanding ships,
and doing all sorts of things. I saw Captain Lockett in the town
and, faith, if you had been a dozen admirals, rolled into one, he
couldn't have spoken more highly of you.
"It seems, Mrs. O'Halloran, that Bob has been the special angel who
has looked after poor Jack, on board the Antelope."
"What ridiculous nonsense, doctor!" Bob exclaimed, hotly.
"Not at all, Bob; it is too modest you are, entirely. It is
yourself is the boy who has done the business, this time; and it is
a silver tay service, or some such trifle as that, that the owners
will be sending you, and small blame to them. Captain Lockett tells
me he owns a third of the ship; and he reckons the ship's share of
what they have taken, this little cruise, won't be less than
five-and-twenty thousand.
"Think of that, Mrs. O'Halloran, five-and-twenty thousand pounds!
And here is Edward Burke, M.D., working his sowl out, for a
miserable eight or ten shillings a day."
"But what has Bob done?"
"I hadn't time to learn it all, Mrs. O'Halloran, for the captain
was in a hurry. It seems to me that the question ought to be, what
is it that he hasn't done?
"It all came in a heap, together, and I am not sure of the exact
particulars; but it seems to me that he swam out and cut the cable
of a Spanish sloop of war, and took the end in his mouth and towed
her out to sea, while the guns were blazing in all directions at
him. Never was such an affair!
"Then he humbugged the captain of an English frigate, and the
commander of the Spanish forts, and stole a vessel chock full of
silver; and did I don't know what, besides."
Bob went off into a shout of laughter, in which the others joined.
"But what is the meaning of all this nonsense, Teddy?" Carrie
asked, as soon as she recovered her composure. "Is there anything
in it, or is it all pure invention?"
"Is there anything in it? Haven't I been telling you that there is
twenty-five thousand pounds in it, to the owners, and as much more
to the crew; and didn't the captain vow and declare that, if it
hadn't been for Bob, instead of going home to divide all this
treasure up between them, every man Jack of them would be, at this
moment, chained by the leg in a dirty Spanish prison, at Malaga!"
"Well, what does it all mean, Bob? There is no getting any sense
out of Dr. Burke."
"It is exactly what I told you, Carrie. We anchored close to a
craft that we thought was a merchantman, and that we meant to
attack in our boats. I swam on board her in the dark--to see if
they were keeping a good watch, and that sort of thing--and when I
got on board, I found she was a ship of war, with a lot of heavy
guns, and prepared to take us by surprise when we attacked her; so
of course, when I swam back again with the news, Captain Lockett
cut his cable and towed the brig out in the dark.
"As to the other affair that the doctor is talking about, I told
you that, too; and it is exactly as I said it was. The only thing I
had to do with it was that it happened to be my idea to keep the
Spanish colours flying, and let the frigate keep on firing at us.
The idea turned out well; but of course, if I had not thought of it
somebody else would, so there was nothing in it, at all."
"Well, Bob, you may say what you like," Doctor Burke said, "but it
is quite evident that the captain thought there was a good deal in
it.
"And I think really, Gerald, that you and Mrs. O'Halloran have good
reason to feel quite proud of him. I am not joking at all, when I
say that Captain Lockett really spoke as if he considered that the
good fortune they had had is very largely due to him. He said he
hoped he should have Bob on board for another cruise."
"I certainly shall not go any more with him," Bob said,
indignantly, "if he talks such nonsense about me, afterwards. As if
there was anything in swimming two or three hundred yards, on a
dark night; or in suggesting the keeping a flag up, instead of
pulling it down."
When the Brilliant, however, came in two days later, Captain
Langton called upon Mrs. O'Halloran; and told her that he did so in
order to acquaint her with the extremely favourable report Captain
Lockett had made, to him, of Bob's conduct; and that, from what he
had said, it was evident that the lad had shown great courage in
undertaking the swim to the Spanish vessel, and much promptness and
ready wit in suggesting the device that had deceived him, as well
as the Spaniards.
Captain Langton told the story, that evening, at General Eliott's
dinner table; and said that although it was certainly a good joke,
against himself, that he should have thus assisted a privateer to
carry off two valuable prizes that had slipped through the
frigate's hands, the story was too good not to be told. Thus, Bob's
exploit became generally known among the officers of the garrison;
and Captain O'Halloran was warmly congratulated upon the sharpness,
and pluck, of his young brother-in-law.
Captain Lockett's decision, to be off without any delay, was fully
justified by the appearance of a Spanish squadron in the bay, three
days after his departure. It consisted of two seventy-fours, two
frigates, five xebecs, and a number of galleys and small armed
vessels. The men-of-war anchored off Algeciras; while the rest of
the squadron kept a vigilant patrol at the mouth of the bay, and
formed a complete blockade.
Towards the end of the month, the troops were delighted by the
issue of an order that the use of powder for the hair was,
henceforth, to be abandoned.
Vessels were now continually arriving from Algeciras, with troops
and stores; and on the 26th the Spaniards began to form a camp, on
the plain below San Roque, three miles from the garrison. This
increased in size, daily, as fresh regiments arrived by land.
Orders were now issued that all horses in the garrison, except
those whose owners had a store of at least one thousand pounds of
grain, were either to be shot or turned out through the gates.
There was much excitement when two Dutch vessels, laden with rice
and dried fruit, made their way in at night through the enemy's
cruisers. Their cargoes were purchased for the troops; and these
vessels, and a Venetian that had also got through, carried off with
them a large number of Jewish, Genoese, and other traders, with
their families, to ports in Barbary or Portugal. Indeed, from this
time every vessel that went out carried away some of the
inhabitants.
The position of these poor people was indeed serious. The standing
order on the Rock was that every inhabitant, even in time of peace,
should have in store six months' provisions; but the order had
never been enforced, and few of them had any supplies of
consequence. As they could not expect to be supplied from the
garrison stores, the greater number had no resource but to leave
the place. Some, however, who were better provided, obtained leave
to erect wooden huts at the southern end of the Rock, so as to have
a place of shelter to remove to, in case the enemy bombarded the
town.
The Spaniards had, by this time, mounted their cannon in forts St.
Philip and St. Barbara. Vast quantities of stores were landed at
Point Mala, at the end of the bay. Some fifteen thousand men were
under canvas, in their camp; and strong parties were constantly
employed in erecting works near their forts. The garrison on their
side were continually strengthening and adding to their batteries,
erecting palisades and traverses, filling the magazines in the
works, and preparing for an attack; and on the 11th of September
some of the guns were opened upon the enemy's working parties and,
for a time, compelled them to desist.
From the upper batteries on the Rock, a complete view was
obtainable of all the enemy's operations and, as they were seen to
be raising mortar batteries, preparations were made to diminish the
effects of a bombardment of the town. For this purpose the pavement
of the streets was removed, and the ground ploughed up; the towers
and most conspicuous buildings taken down; and traverses carried
across the streets, to permit communications to be carried on.
Early in October the Engineers and Artillery managed, with immense
labour, to mount a gun on the summit of the Rock; and as, from this
point, an almost bird's-eye view was obtained of the Spanish works,
the fire of the gun annoyed them greatly at their work. This was
maintained, however, steadily but, in spite of this interference
with their operations, the Spaniards on the 20th of October opened
thirty-five embrasures, in three batteries, in a line between their
two forts.
Provisions of every kind were now becoming very dear. Fresh meat
was from three to four shillings a pound, chickens twelve shillings
a couple, ducks from fourteen to eighteen. Fish was equally dear;
and vegetables hardly to be bought, at any price. Flour was running
very short, and rice was served out instead of it.
On the 14th of November the privateer Buck, armed with twenty-four
9 pounders, was seen making into the bay. Two Spanish ships of the
line, a frigate, two xebecs, and twenty-one small craft set out to
intercept her. The cutter--seeing a whole Spanish squadron coming
out--tacked and stood across towards the Barbary shore, pursued by
the Spaniards. The wind was from the west; but the cutter, lying
close hauled, was able just to stem the current, and hold her
position; while the Spaniards, being square rigged and so unable to
stand near the wind, drifted bodily away to leeward with the
current; but the two men-of-war, perceiving what was happening,
managed to make back into the bay.
As soon as the privateer saw the rest of the squadron drift away to
leeward, she again headed for the Rock. The Spanish admiral,
Barcelo, in a seventy-four gun ship, endeavoured to cut her
off--firing two broadsides of grape and round shot at her--but,
with the other man-of-war, was compelled to retire by the batteries
at Europa; and the cutter made her way in triumphantly, insultingly
returning the Spanish admiral's fire with her two little stern
guns. The Spanish men-of-war drifted away after their small craft;
and thus for the time the port was open again, thanks to the pluck
of the little privateer--which had, it was found on her arrival,
been some time at sea, and simply came in to get provisions.
As it could be seen, from the African coast, that the port was again open,
two or three small craft came across, with bullocks and sheep. Four days
later--the wind veering round to the southward--Admiral Barcelo, with his
fleet, returned to the bay; and the blockade was renewed.
Already, Captain O'Halloran and his wife had the most ample reasons
for congratulating themselves that they had taken Dr. Burke's
advice, in the matter of vegetables and fowls. The little garden on
the roof was the envy of all Carrie's female friends--many of whom,
indeed, began imitations of it, on a small scale. Under the hot
sun, and with careful watering, everything made astonishing
progress. The cutting of the mustard and cress had, of course,
begun in little more than a week from the time when the garden had
been completed, and the seeds sown. The radishes were fit for
pulling three weeks later and, as constant successions were sown,
they had been amply supplied with an abundance of salad and, each
morning, a trader in town came up and took all that they could
spare--at prices that would, before the siege began, have appeared
fabulous.
Along the edge of the parapet, and trailing over almost to the
ground--covering the house in a bower of rich green foliage--the
melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins blossomed and fruited luxuriantly
and, for these, prices were obtained as high as those that the
fruit would fetch, in Covent Garden, when out of season. But as
melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins alike produce great quantities of
seed, by the end of the year they were being grown, on a
considerable scale, by all who possessed any facilities for
cultivating them.
Later on, indeed, the governor--hearing, from the principal medical
officer, how successful Captain O'Halloran had been--issued an
order recommending all inhabitants to grow vegetables, and granting
them every facility for so doing. All who chose to do so were
allowed to fence in any little patches of earth they could
discover, among the rocks or on unused ground; and it was not long
before the poorer inhabitants spent much of their time in
collecting earth, and establishing little garden plots, or in doing
so for persons who could afford to pay for their labour.
The poultry venture was equally satisfactory. Already a
considerable piece of rough and rocky ground, next to the garden,
had been enclosed; thereby affording a much larger run for the
fowls, and enabling a considerable portion of the garden to be
devoted to the young broods. The damaged biscuits had been sold at
a few shillings a ton and, at this price, Captain O'Halloran had
bought the whole of the condemned lot--amounting to about ten
tons--and there was, consequently, an ample supply of food for
them, for an almost indefinite time. After supplying the house
amply, there were at least a hundred eggs, a day, to sell; and
Carrie, who now took immense interest in the poultry yard,
calculated that they could dispose of ten couple a week, and still
keep up their number from the young broods.
"The only thing you have to be afraid of is disease, Mrs.
O'Halloran," said the doctor, who was her greatest adviser; "but
there is little risk of that. Besides, you have only to hire one or
two lads, of ten or twelve years old; and then you can put them
out, when you like, from the farther inclosure, and let them wander
about."
"But people don't generally watch fowls," Mrs. O'Halloran said.
"Surely they would come back, at night, to roost."
"I have no doubt they would. When chickens are well fed, they can
be trusted to find their way home at night. But you must remember
that they are worth from twelve to fourteen shillings a couple, and
what with the natives, and what with soldiers off duty, you would
find that a good many would not turn up at all, unless they were
watched. A couple of boys, at sixpence a day each, would keep them
from straying too far, and prevent their being stolen, and would
relieve you of a lot of anxiety about them."
So, after this, the fowls were turned out on to the Rock; where
they wandered about, narrowly watched by two native boys, and were
able to gather no small store of sustenance from the insects they
found among the rocks, or on the low shrubs that grew among them.
Bob had, after his return from his cruise, fallen into his former
habits; spending two hours every morning with Don Diaz, and reading
for an hour or two in the evening with the doctor. It was now cool
enough for exercise and enjoyment, in the day; and there were few
afternoons when he did not climb up to the top of the Rock, and
watch the Spanish soldiers labouring at their batteries, and
wondering when they were going to begin to do something.
Occasionally they obtained news of what was passing in the enemy's
lines, and the Spaniards were equally well informed of what was
going on in the fortress, for desertions from both sides were not
infrequent. Sometimes a soldier with the working parties, out in
the neutral ground, would steal away and make for the Spanish
lines; pursued by a musketry fire from his comrades, and saluted,
perhaps, with a round or two of shot from the batteries above. But
more frequently they made their escape from the back of the Rock,
letting themselves down by ropes; although at least half the number
who made the attempt were dashed to pieces among the precipices.
The majority of the deserters belonged to the Hanoverian regiments,
but a good many British soldiers also deserted. In all cases these
were reckless men who, having been punished for some offence or
other, preferred risking death to remaining in the garrison. Some
were caught in the attempt; while several, by getting into places
where they could neither descend further nor return, were compelled
at last, by hunger and thirst, to shout for assistance--preferring
death by hanging to the slower agony of thirst.
The deserters from the Spanish lines principally belonged to the
Walloon regiments in the Spanish service, or to regiments from
Biscaya and other northern provinces. The troops were raised on the
principle of our own militia, and objected strongly to service
outside their own provinces; and it was this discontent that gave
rise to their desertions to us. Some of them made their way at
night, from the works where they were employed, through the lines
of sentries. Others took to the water, either beyond Fort Barbara
or at the head of the bay, and reached our lines by swimming.
Bob heartily congratulated himself, when he heard of the fate of
some of the deserters who tried to make their way down at the back
of the Rock, that he and Jim Sankey had not carried out their
scheme of descending there, in search of birds. By this time he had
come to know most of the young officers of the garrison and,
although the time passed without any marked events, he had plenty
of occupation and amusement. Sometimes they would get up fishing
parties and, although they could not venture very far from the
Rock, on account of the enemy's galleys and rowboats, they had a
good deal of sport; and fish were welcome additions to the food,
which consisted principally of salt rations--for Bob very soon
tired of a diet of chicken.
There were some very heavy rains, in the last week of the year.
These, they learned from deserters, greatly damaged the enemy's
lines--filling their trenches, and washing down their banks. One
advantage was that a great quantity of wood, cork, and other
floating rubbish was washed down, by the rain, into the two rivers
that fell into the bay and, as the wind was from the south, this
was all blown over towards the Rock; where it was collected by
boats, affording a most welcome supply of fuel, which had been, for
some time, extremely scarce.
On the 8th of January a Neapolitan polacre was driven in under the
guns, by the wind from the other side of the bay, and was obliged
to drop anchor. Six thousand bushels of barley were found on board
her, which was of inestimable value to the inhabitants, who were
now suffering extremely; as were also the wives and children of the
soldiers, whose rations--scanty for one--were wholly insufficient
for the wants of a family. Fowls had now risen to eighteen
shillings a couple, eggs were six pence each, and small cabbages
fetched eighteen pence.
On the 12th the enemy fired ten shots into the town from Fort Saint
Philip; causing a panic among the inhabitants, who at once began to
remove to their huts at the other end of the Rock. A woman was
wounded by a splinter of stone from one of the houses, being the
first casualty that had taken place through the siege. The next day
the admiral gave orders to the men-of-war that they should be in
readiness, in case a convoy appeared, to afford protection to any
ships that might attempt to come in. This order caused great joy
among the garrison and inhabitants, as it seemed to signify that
the governor had received information, in some manner, that a
convoy was on its way out to relieve the town.
Two days later a brig, that was seen passing through the Straits to
the east, suddenly changed her course and made for the Rock and,
although the enemy tried to cut her off, she succeeded in getting
into port. The welcome news soon spread that the brig was one of a
large convoy that had sailed, late in December, for the relief of
the town. She had parted company with the others in the Bay of
Biscay and, on her way, had seen a Spanish squadron off Cadiz,
which was supposed to be watching for the convoy. This caused much
anxiety; but on the 16th a brig laden with flour arrived, with the
news that Sir George Rodney had captured, off the coast of
Portugal, six Spanish frigates, with seventeen merchantmen on their
way from Bilbao to Cadiz; and that he had with him a fleet of
twenty-one sail of the line, and a large convoy of merchantmen and
transports.
The next day one of the prizes came in, and the midshipman in
charge of her reported that, when he had left the convoy on the
previous day, a battle was going on between the British fleet and
the Spanish squadron. Late in the evening the convoy was in sight;
and the Apollo, frigate, and one or two merchantmen got in, after
dark, with the news that the Spaniards had been completely
defeated--their admiral's flagship, with three others, captured;
one blown up in the engagement, another driven ashore, and the rest
dispersed.
The preparations for relieving the town had been so well concealed
that the Spaniards had believed that the British men-of-war were
destined for the West Indies, and had thought that the merchantmen
would have fallen easy prizes to their squadron, which consisted of
eleven men-of-war.