Held Fast For England: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83), G. A. Henty [suggested reading txt] 📗

a chance against Englishmen's fists, and they very soon whip out their swords. In the second place, you would have to pass the night in a crowded lockup, where you would be half smothered before morning. And lastly, if you were lucky enough not to get a week's confinement in jail, you would have a smart fine to pay.

"There is plenty of fighting to be done, in days like these; but people should see that they fight on the right side, and not be taking the part of every drunken scamp who gets into trouble, simply because he happens to be an Englishman.

"You showed plenty of pluck, lad, when the balls were flying about the other day; and when I see your uncle, I am sure he will be pleased when I tell him how well you behaved, under fire; but I am equally certain he would not have been, by any means, gratified at hearing that I had had to leave you behind at Lisbon, either with a broken head or in prison, through getting into a street row, in which you had no possible concern, between drunken sailors and the Portuguese civil guards."

Bob saw that the captain was perfectly right, and said so, frankly.

"I see I should have been a fool, indeed, if I had got into the row, captain; and I shall remember what you say, in future. Still, you know, I didn't get into it."

"No, I give you credit for that, lad; but you acknowledge your strong impulse to do so. Now, in future you had better have an impulse just the other way and, when you find yourself in the midst of a row in which you have no personal concern, let your first thought be how to get out of it, as quickly as you can. I got into more than one scrape, myself, when I was a young fellow, from the conduct of messmates who had got too much liquor in them; but it did them no good, and did me harm.

"So, take my advice: fight your own battles, but never interfere to fight other people's, unless you are absolutely convinced that they are in the right. If you are, stick by them as long as you have a leg to stand upon."

Chapter 6: The Rock Fortress.

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.

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."

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