E-text prepared by Martin Robb

Held Fast for England:

A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83)





By G. A. Henty.

Preface.

The Siege of Gibraltar stands almost alone in the annals of
warfare, alike in its duration and in the immense preparations
made, by the united powers of France and Spain, for the capture of
the fortress. A greater number of guns were employed than in any
operation up to that time; although in number, and still more in
calibre, the artillery then used have in, modern times, been thrown
into the shade by the sieges of Sebastopol and Paris. Gibraltar
differs, however, from these sieges, inasmuch as the defence was a
successful one and, indeed, at no period of the investment was the
fortress in any danger of capture, save by hunger.

At that period England was not, as she afterwards became,
invincible by sea; and as we were engaged at the same time in war
with France, Spain, Holland, and the United States, it was only
occasionally that a fleet could be spared to bring succour and
provisions to the beleaguered garrison. Scurvy was the direst enemy
of the defenders. The art of preserving meat in tins had not been
discovered, and they were forced to subsist almost entirely upon
salt meat. During the first year of the siege the supply of fresh
vegetables was scanty, in the extreme, and the garrison
consequently suffered so severely, from scurvy, that at one time
scarcely half of the men of the garrison were strong enough to
carry a firelock, and perform their duty. The providential capture
of a vessel laden with oranges and lemons checked the ravages of
the scourge; and the successful efforts of the garrison to raise
vegetables prevented it from ever, afterwards, getting a firm hold
upon them.

In such a siege there was but little scope for deeds of
individual gallantry. It was a long monotony of hardship and
suffering, nobly endured, and terminating in one of the greatest
triumphs ever recorded in the long roll of British victories.

G. A. Henty.

Chapter 1: "Something Like An
Adventure."

Had Mr. Tulloch, the headmaster and proprietor of a large school
at Putney, been asked which was the most troublesome boy in his
school, he would probably have replied, without hesitation, "Bob
Repton."

But, being a just and fair-minded man, he would have hastened to
qualify this remark, by adding:

"Most troublesome, but by no means the worst boy. You must
understand that. He is always in scrapes, always in mischief. In
all my experience I have never before come across a boy who had
such an aptitude for getting into trouble; but I have nothing else
to say against him. He is straightforward and manly. I have never
known him to tell a lie, to screen himself. He is an example to
many others in that way. I like the boy, in spite of the endless
trouble he gives, and yet there is scarcely a day passes that I am
not obliged to cane him; and even that does him no good, as far as
I can see, for he seems to forget it, five minutes after it is
over. I wonder, sometimes, if he has really got hardened, and
doesn't feel it.

"He is sharp, and does his lessons well. I have no difficulty
with him, on that score; but he is a perfect imp of mischief."

With such characteristics, it need hardly be said that Bob
Repton was one of the most popular boys at Tulloch's school.

School life was, in those days--for it was in August, 1778, that
Bob was at Tulloch's--a very different thing to what it is, at
present. Learning was thrashed into boys. It was supposed that it
could only be instilled in this manner; and although some masters
were, of course, more tyrannical and brutal than others, the cane
was everywhere in use, and that frequently. Lads, then, had far
less liberty and fewer sports than at present; but as boys' spirits
cannot be altogether suppressed, even by the use of the cane, they
found vent in other ways, and there was much more mischief, and
more breaking out of bounds, than now take place. Boys were less
trusted, and more harshly treated; in consequence of which there
was a kind of warfare between the masters and the boys, in which
the masters, in spite of their canes, did not always get the best
of it.

Bob Repton was nearly fifteen. He was short, rather than tall
for his age, but squarely built and strong. His hair could never be
got to lie down, but bristled aggressively over his head. His nose
was inclined to turn up, his gray eyes had a merry, mischievous
expression, and his lips were generally parted in a smile. A casual
observer would have said that he was a happy-go-lucky, merry,
impudent-looking lad; but he was more than this. He was shrewd,
intelligent, and exceptionally plucky; always ready to do a good
turn to others, and to take more than his fair share of blame, for
every scrape he got into. He had fought many battles, and that with
boys older than himself, but he had never been beaten. The opinion,
generally, among the boys was that he did not feel pain and, being
caned so frequently, such punishment as he got in a fight was a
mere trifle to him.

He was a thorn in the side of Mr. Purfleet, the usher who was
generally in charge of the playground; who had learned by long
experience that, whenever Bob Repton was quiet, he was certain to
be planning some special piece of mischief. The usher was sitting
now on a bench, with a book in his hand; but his attention was, at
present, directed to a group of four boys who had drawn together in
a corner of the playground.

"There is Repton, again," he said to himself. "I wonder what he
is plotting, now. That boy will be the death of me. I am quite sure
it was he who put that eel in my bed, last week; though of course,
I could not prove it."

Mr. Purfleet prided himself on his nerve. He had been telling
the boys some stories he had read of snakes, in India; among them,
one of an officer who, when seated at table, had felt a snake
winding itself round his leg, and who sat for several minutes
without moving, until some friends brought a saucer of milk and
placed it near, when the snake uncurled itself and went to
drink.

"It must have required a lot of nerve, Mr. Purfleet," Bob Repton
had said, "to sit as quiet as that."

"Not at all, not at all," the usher replied, confidently. "It
was the natural thing to do. A man should always be calm, in case
of sudden danger, Bob. The first thought in his mind should be,
'What is this?' the second, 'What had best be done, under the
circumstances?' and, these two things being decided, a man of
courage will deal coolly with the danger. I should despise myself,
if I were to act otherwise."

It was two nights later that the usher, having walked down
between the two rows of beds in the dormitory, and seeing that all
the boys were quiet, and apparently asleep, proceeded to his own
bed, which was at the end of the room, and partly screened off from
the rest by a curtain. No sooner did he disappear behind this than
half a dozen heads were raised. An oil lamp burned at the end of
the room, affording light for the usher to undress; and enabling
him, as he lay in bed, to command a general, if somewhat faint view
of the dormitory. Five minutes after Mr. Purfleet had disappeared
behind the curtain, the watching eyes saw the clothes at the end of
the bed pulled down, and caught a partial view of Mr. Purfleet as
he climbed in. A second later there was a yell of terror, and the
usher leapt from the bed. Instantly, the dormitory was in an
uproar.

"What is it, Mr. Purfleet--what is the matter, sir?" and several
of the boys sprang from their beds, and ran towards him; the only
exceptions to the general excitement being the four or five who
were in the secret. These lay shaking with suppressed laughter,
with the bedclothes or the corner of a pillow thrust into their
mouths, to prevent them from breaking out into screams of
delight.

"What is it, sir?"

It was some time before the usher could recover himself
sufficiently to explain.

"There is a snake in my bed," he said.

"A snake!" the boys repeated, in astonishment, several of the
more timid at once making off to their beds.

"Certainly, a snake," Mr. Purfleet panted. "I put my legs down,
and they came against something cold, and it began to twist about.
In a moment, if I had not leapt out, I should no doubt have
received a fatal wound."

"Where did it come from?"

"What is to be done?"

And a variety of other questions burst from the boys.

"I will run down and get three or four hockey sticks, Mr.
Purfleet," one of the elder boys said.

"That will be the best plan, Mason. Quick, quick! There, do you
see it moving, under the clothes?"

There was certainly something wriggling, so there was a general
movement back from the bed.

"We had better hold the clothes down, Mr. Purfleet," Bob Repton
said, pushing himself forward. "If it were to crawl out at the top,
and get on to the floor, it might bite a dozen of us. I will hold
the clothes down tight, on one side, if someone will hold them on
the other."

One of the other boys came forward, and the clothes were
stretched tightly across the bed, by the pillow. In a minute or
two, Mason ran up with four hockey sticks.

"Now, you must be careful," Mr. Purfleet said, "because if it
should get out, the consequences might be terrible. Now, then, four
of you take the sticks, and all hit together, as hard as you
can--now."

The sticks descended together. There was a violent writhing and
contortion beneath the clothes, but the blows rained down fast and,
in a very short time, all movement ceased.

"It must be dead, now," Bob Repton said. "I think we can look at
it now, sir."

"Well, draw the clothes down very gently; boys, and be ready to
strike again, if you see the least movement."

The clothes were drawn down, till the creature was visible.

"It must be a cobra," the usher said, looking at it from a
distance. "It is thick and short. It must have escaped from
somewhere. Be very careful, all of you."

Mason approached cautiously, to get a nearer view; and then
exclaimed:

"Why, sir, it is an eel!"

There was a moment's silence, and then a perfect yell of
laughter from the boys. For a moment the usher was dumbfounded,
then he rallied.

"You will all go to your beds, at once," he said. "I shall
report the matter to Mr. Tulloch, in the morning."

The boys retired, laughing, to their beds; but above the din the
usher heard the words, in a muffled voice:

"A man should always be calm, in sudden danger."

Another voice, equally disguised, said:

"Yes, he should first ask himself 'What is this?' then 'What had
best be done, under the circumstances?'"

A third voice then took it up:

"It follows that a man of courage will deal coolly with the
danger."

Then there was a chorus of half a dozen voices:

"I should despise myself, if I were to act otherwise."

"Silence!" the usher shouted, rushing down the line between the
beds. "I will thrash the first boy who speaks."

As Mr. Purfleet had one of the hockey sticks in his hand, the
threat was sufficient to ensure silence.

To the relief of the two or three boys engaged in the affair,
Mr. Purfleet made no report in the morning. Mr. Tulloch by no means
spared the cane, but he always inquired before he flogged and, as
the usher felt sure that the snake story would be brought forward,
by way of excuse for the trick played upon him, he thought it
better to drop it; making a mental note, however, that he would get
even with Bob Repton, another time--for he made sure that he was at
the bottom of the matter, especially as he had been one of those
who had listened to the snake story.

Mr. Purfleet was held in but light respect by the boys. He was a
pale young man, and looked as if he had been poorly fed, as a boy.
He took the junior classes, and the belief was that he knew nothing
of Latin.

Moffat, who took the upper classes, was much more severe, and
sent up many more boys to be caned than did the junior usher; but
the boys did not dislike him. Caning they considered their natural
portion, and felt no ill will on that account; while they knew that
Mr. Moffat was a capital scholar and, though strict, was always
scrupulously just. Above all, he was not a sneak. If he reported
them, he reported them openly, but brought no accusation against
them behind their back; while Mr. Purfleet was always carrying
tittle tattle to the headmaster. There was, therefore, little
gratitude towards him for holding his tongue as to the eel; for the
boys guessed the real reason of his silence, and put it down to
dread of ridicule, and not to any kindliness of feeling.

"Purfleet would give sixpence to know what we are talking about,
Bob," one of the group talking in the corner of the playground
said.

"It is worth more than that, Jim; still, we shall have to be
extra careful. He suspects it was our lot who played him the trick
about the eel, and he will do his best to catch us out, in
something.

"Well, as I was saying, Johnny Gibson has got a first-rate dog
for rabbits, and he says there are lots of them up on the Common. I
told him that I would come, and I expected two or three more; and
we would meet him at the top of the hill, at four o'clock tomorrow
morning. It will be getting light by that time. Of course, we shall
get out in the usual way, and we can be back by half past six, and
no one will be any the wiser. Old Thomas never comes down till a
quarter to seven. I have heard him a dozen times. He just comes
down in time to ring the bell for us to get up."

"Oh, I ain't afraid of Thomas," one of the others said, "but I
am afraid of Purfleet."

"There need be no fear about him. He never wakes till the bell
rings, and sleeps like a top. Why, he didn't wake, the other
morning, when we had a scrimmage and you tumbled out of bed.
Besides, we all sleep at the other end of the room and, even if he
did wake up in the night, he wouldn't notice that we had gone;
especially if we shoved something in the bed, to make a lump.

"My only fear is that we shan't wake. We ought to keep watch
till it's time to get up, but I am sure we shouldn't keep awake. We
must all make up our minds to wake at three, then one of us will be
sure to do it. And mind, if one wakes, he must promise not to go to
sleep again before he hears the hall clock strike, and knows what
time it is. If it is before three, he can go off to sleep again.
That way, one of us is sure to be awake, when it strikes
three."

"I say, shan't we just be licked, if we are found out, Bob?"

"Of course we shall; but as we get licked pretty well every day,
that won't make much difference, and we shall have had awful fun.
Still, if any of you fellows don't like it, don't you go. I am
going, but I don't want to persuade any of you."

"Of course we are going, if you are going, Bob. What are we
going to do with the rabbits?"

"Oh, I settled Johnny Gibson should keep them. He is going to
bring his dog, you know; besides, what could we do with them? We
can't cook them, can we?"

As it was clear to all the party that this could not be managed,
no objection was raised to this disposal of their game.

Bob Repton slept but little that night. They went to bed at
eight, and he heard every hour strike after nine; dozing off
occasionally, and waking up, each time, convinced that the clock
would strike three next time. At last he heard the three welcome
strokes, and at once got up and went to the beds of the other three
boys.

They were all sound asleep, and required some shaking before
they could be convinced that it was time to get up. Then each boy
put his bolster in his bed, rolled up his night shirt into a ball
and laid it on the pillow, and then partly covered it up with the
clothes. Then they slipped on their shirts, breeches, and stockings
and, taking their jackets and shoes in their hand, stole out of the
door at their end of the room, and closed it behind them. They then
crept downstairs to the room where their caps were kept, put on
these and their jackets, and each boy got a hockey stick out of the
cupboard in the corner in which they were kept. Then they very
cautiously unfastened the shutter, raised the window, and slipped
out. They pulled the shutter to behind them, closed the window, and
then put on their shoes.

"That is managed first rate," Bob said. "There wasn't the least
noise. I made sure Wharton would have dropped his shoes."

"Why should I drop them, more than anyone else?" Wharton asked
in an aggrieved voice.

"I don't know, Billy. The idea occurred to me. I didn't think
anyone else would do it, but I quite made up my mind that you
would."

"Well, I wish you wouldn't be so fast about making up your mind,
then," Wharton grumbled. "I ain't more clumsy than other
people."

"You are all right," Jim Sankey put in. "Bob's only joking."

"Well, he might as well joke with somebody else, Jim. I don't
see any joke in it."

"No, that is where the joke is, Billy," Bob said. "If you did
see the joke, there wouldn't be any joke in it.

"Well, never mind, here is the walnut tree. Now, who will get
over first?"

The walnut tree stood in the playground near the wall, and had
often proved useful as a ladder to boys at Tulloch's. One of its
branches extended over the wall and, from this, it was easy to drop
down beyond it. The return was more difficult, and was only to be
accomplished by means of an old ivy, which grew against the wall at
some distance off. By its aid the wall could be scaled without much
difficulty, and there was then the choice of dropping twelve feet
into the playground, or of walking on the top of the wall until the
walnut tree was reached.

Tulloch's stood some little distance along the Lower Richmond
Road. There were but one or two houses, standing back from the road
between it and the main road up the hill, and there was little fear
of anyone being abroad at that time in the morning. There was, as
yet, but a faint gleam of daylight in the sky; and it was dark in
the road up the hill, as the trees growing in the grounds of the
houses, on either side, stretched far over it.

"I say," Jim Sankey said, "won't it be a go, if Johnny Gibson
isn't there, after all?"

"He will be up there by four," Bob said, confidently. "He said
his father would be going out in his boat to fish, as soon as it
began to be daylight--because the tide served at that hour--and
that he would start, as soon as his father shoved off the boat.

"My eye, Jim, what is that ahead of us? It looks to me like a
coach."

"It is a coach, or a carriage, or something of that sort."

"No, it isn't, it is a light cart. What can it be doing here, at
this hour? Let us walk the other side of the road."

They crossed to the left, as they got abreast of the cart. A
man, whom they had not noticed before, said sharply:

"You are about early."

"Yes, we are off to work," Bob replied, and they walked steadily
on.

"He couldn't see what we were like," Jim Sankey said, when they
had got a hundred yards further.

"Not he," Bob said. "I could not make out his figure at all, and
it is darker on this side of the road than it is on the other.

"I say, you fellows, I think he is up to no good."

"What do you mean, Bob?"

"Well, what should a cart be standing on the hill for, at this
time in the morning? That's Admiral Langton's, I know; the door is
just where the cart was stopping."

"Well, what has that got to do with it, Bob? The cart won't do
him any harm."

"No, but there may be some fellows with it, who may be breaking
into his house."

"Do you think so, Bob?"

"Well, it seems likely to me it may be his house, or one of the
others."

"Well, what are we to do, Bob?"

"I vote we see about it, Jim. We have pretty nearly half an hour
to spare, now, before Johnny Gibson will come along. We have got
our hockey sticks, you know."

"But suppose there shouldn't be any men there, Bob, and we
should be caught in the grounds; They would think we were going to
steal something."

"That would be a go," Bob said, "but there isn't likely to be
anyone about, at half past three; and if there were, I don't
suppose he would be able to catch us. But we must risk something,
anyhow. It will be a bit of fun, and it will be better than waiting
at the top of the hill, with nothing to do till, Johnny Gibson
comes."

They were now past the wall in front of Admiral Langton's, and
far out of sight of the man in the cart.

"There is some ivy on this wall," Bob said. "We can climb over
it, by that. Then we will make our way along, until we can find
some place where we can climb over into the admiral's garden."

"Perhaps there are some dogs about," Wharton objected.

"Well, if there are, they are most likely chained up. We must
risk something.

"Well, here goes. If you don't like it, Wharton, you can stay
behind."

So saying, he put his hockey stick between his teeth, and then
proceeded to climb up the wall, by means of the ivy.

The wall was but nine feet high and, as soon as he gained the
top, Bob said:

"Come on, you fellows. I am going to drop down."

In two minutes he was joined by the other three.

"There is a path, just beyond," Bob said; "let us go by that.
Don't you fellows say a word. As Wharton says, there may be some
dogs about."

Quietly they stole along the path, which ran parallel to the
road, until it turned off at right angles.

"Now, the first tree that grows against the wall we will get
over by," Bob whispered.

After going twenty yards, he stopped.

"This tree will do."

"But what are you going to do, if there should be some men?"
Wharton asked, in a tone that showed he objected, altogether, to
the proceeding.

"It depends upon how many of them there are," Bob replied. "Of
course, the admiral has got some men in the house; and they will
wake up, and help us, if we give the alarm. Anyhow, we ought to be
able to be a match for two men, with these sticks, especially if we
take them by surprise.

"What do you say, Jim?"

"I should think so," Jim replied. "Anyhow, if you are game to go
on, I am.

"What do you say, Fullarton?"

"Oh, I am ready," Fullarton, who was a boy of few words,
replied.

"Only, if there is anyone, Bob, and we get into a row with them,
of course it will all come out about us; and then shan't we get it,
just!"

"I suppose we shall," Bob admitted, "but I don't see we can help
that.

"Well, we are in for it, now," and he began to climb the tree
and, working along a limb which extended over the wall, he dropped
down into the garden.

The others soon joined, Wharton being more afraid of staying
behind, by himself, than of going with the rest.

"Now, what are we to do next?"

"I should say we ought to find out whether anyone has got into
the house. That is the first thing. Then, if they have, we have got
to try to wake up the people, and to frighten the men inside.

"Have you got some string in your pockets?"

"I have got some."

They all had string.

"What do you want string for, Bob?"

"String is always useful, Jim. We may want to tie their hands.
But what I was thinking was, we might fasten it across the stairs,
or some of the passages; and then set up a sudden shout, and they
would think the watchmen had come, and would make a bolt; and when
they got to the string over they would go, and then we would drop
on them with these hockey sticks, before they could get up.

"Well, come on. There mayn't be anyone here, after all. Now we
will go up to the house, and creep round."

The house stood thirty or forty yards away and, stepping as
noiselessly as they could, the boys crossed the lawn and moved
along the front. Suddenly, Tom Fullarton caught hold of Bob's
arm.

"Look, Bob, there is a light in that room! Do you see--through
the slit in the shutters?"

"So there is. Well, there is no mistake, now. There must be some
fellows belonging to that cart inside. That must be the drawing
room, or dining room, and they would never have lights there at
this time of night.

"Now, let us find out where they got in. This is something like
fun. It beats rabbit hunting all to nothing.

"Now mind, you fellows, if we do come upon them, and there is a
fight, you remember the best place to hit, to begin with, is the
ankle. You have only just got to fancy that it is a bung, and swipe
at it with all your might. Anyone you hit there is sure to go down
and, if he wants it, you can hit him over the head, afterwards.

"Now, come along. I expect they got in at the back of the
house."

They soon came upon a door at the side of the house. It was
open.

"That looks as if they had been let in," Bob whispered. "See,
there is a light in there, somewhere! Come on.

"Now, let us take our shoes off."

The others were thoroughly excited now, and followed Bob without
hesitation.

"Bob, is the key in the door?" Jim whispered.

"Yes, on the inside. They have been let in. I wish I dare lock
it, and take the key away. Let me see if it turns easy."

Very gently he turned the key, and found the bolt shot
noiselessly. It had doubtless been carefully oiled. He turned it
again, shut the door, locked it, and put the key in his pocket.

Then they crept on tiptoe along the passage. At the end were two
large chests, strengthened with iron bands. A lighted lantern stood
upon them. Bob peered round the corner into the hall. No one was to
be seen, but he heard a noise through an open door, from which came
a stream of light.

Motioning the others to stand still, he crept forward
noiselessly till he could look into the room. A man was occupied in
packing some articles of massive plate, clocks, and other valuables
into a sack. He was alone.

Bob made his way back to the others.

"There's only one fellow there," he said. "If there are any
more, they are upstairs. Let us have this one first--his back is to
the door.

"Now, Wharton, you hold our handkerchiefs and the string. If he
don't look round, I will jump on his back and have him down.

"The moment he is down, you two throw yourselves on him, and you
shove the handkerchiefs into his mouth, Wharton. In the surprise,
he won't know that we are only boys; and we will tie his hands
before he has time to resist.

"Now, come on."

They were all plucky boys--for Wharton, although less morally
courageous than the others, was no coward, physically. Their
stockinged feet made no sound, and the man heard nothing until Bob
sprang on to his back, the force sending him down on to his face.
Bob's arm was tightly round his throat; and the other two threw
themselves upon him, each seizing an arm, while Wharton crammed two
handkerchiefs into his mouth. The man's hands were dragged behind
his back, as he lay on his face, and his wrists tied firmly
together. He was rendered utterly helpless before he had recovered
from the first shock of surprise.

"Tie his ankles together with the other two handkerchiefs," Bob
said, still lying across him.

"That is right. You are sure they are tight? There, he will do,
now. I must lock him in."

This was done.

"Now, then, let's go upstairs.

"Now, fasten this last piece of string across between the
banisters, six or eight steps up.

"Make haste," he added, as a faint cry was heard, above.

It did not take a second to fasten the string at each end; and
then, grasping their sticks, the boys sprang upstairs. On gaining
the landing, they heard voices proceeding from a room along a
corridor and, as they crept up to it, they heard a man's voice say,
angrily:

"Now we ain't going to waste any more time. If you don't tell us
where your money is, we will knock you and the girl on the
head.

"No, you can't talk, but you can point out where it is. We know
that you have got it.

"Very well, Bill, hit that young woman over the head with the
butt of your pistol. Don't be afraid of hurting her.

"Ah! I thought you would change your mind. So it is under the
bed.

"Look under, Dick. What is there?"

"A square box," another voice said.

"Well, haul it out."

"Come on," Bob Repton whispered to the others; "the moment we
are in, shout."

He stood for a moment in the doorway. A man was standing, with
his back to him, holding a pistol in his hand. Another, similarly
armed, stood by the side of a young woman who, in a loose dressing
gown, sat shrinking in an armchair, into which she had evidently
been thrust. A third was in the act of crawling under the bed. An
elderly man, in his nightshirt, was standing up. A gag had been
thrust into his mouth; and he was tightly bound, by a cord round
his waist, to one of the bedposts.

Bob sprang forward, whirling his hockey stick round his head,
and giving a loud shout of "Down with the villains!" the others
joining, at the top of their voices.

Before the man had time to turn round, Bob's stick fell, with
all the boy's strength, upon his ankle; and he went down as if he
had been shot, his pistol exploding as he fell. Bob raised his
stick again and brought it down, with a swinging blow, on the
robber's head.

The others had made a rush, together, towards the man standing
by the lady. Taken utterly by surprise, he discharged his pistol at
random, and then sprang towards the door. Two blows fell on him,
and Sankey and Fullarton tried to grapple with him; but he burst
through them, and rushed out.

Bob and Wharton sprang on the kneeling man, before he could gain
his feet; and rolled him over, throwing themselves upon him. He was
struggling furiously, and would soon have shaken them off, when the
other boys sprang to their assistance.

"You help them, Jim. I will get this cord off!" Fullarton said
and, running to the bed, began to unknot the cord that bound the
admiral.

The ruffian on the ground was a very powerful man, and the three
boys had the greatest difficulty in holding him down; till
Fullarton slipped a noose round one of his ankles and then, jumping
on the bed, hauled upon it with all his strength--the admiral
giving his assistance.

"Get off him, he is safe!" he shouted; but the others had the
greatest difficulty in shaking themselves free from the man--who
had, fortunately, laid his pistol on the bed, before he crawled
under it to get at the box.

Jim Sankey was the first to shake himself free from him and,
seeing what Fullarton was doing, he jumped on to the bed and gave
him his assistance and, in half a minute, the ruffian's leg was
lashed to the bedpost, at a height of five feet from the
ground.

Just as this was done there was a rush of feet outside; and
three men, one holding a cutlass and the other two armed with
pokers, ran into the room. It was fortunate they did so, for the
man whom Bob had first felled was just rising to his feet; but he
was at once struck down again, by a heavy blow over the head with
the cutlass. By this time the admiral had torn off the bandage
across his mouth.

"Another of them ran downstairs, Jackson. Give chase. We can
deal with these fellows."

The three men rushed off.

"Well, I don't know who you are," the admiral went on, turning
to the boys, "but you turned up at the nick of time; and I am
deeply indebted to you, not only for saving my money--although I
should not have liked to lose that--but for having captured these
pirates.

"That villain has not hurt you much, I hope?" for both Bob and
Jim Sankey were bleeding freely, from the face, from the heavy
blows the robber had dealt them.

"No, sir, we are not hurt to speak of," Bob said. "We belong to
Tulloch's school."

"To the school!" the admiral exclaimed. "What on earth are you
doing here, at four o'clock in the morning?

"But never mind that now. What is it, Jackson, has he got
away?"

"No, sir; he was lying in a heap, at the bottom of the stairs.
There was a lanyard fastened across."

"We tied a string across, sir, as we came up," Bob
explained.

"Well done, lads!

"Are there any more of them, Jackson?"

"Don't see any signs of any more, admiral. There are the two
plate chests in the passage, as if they had been brought out from
the butler's strong room, in readiness to take away."

"Where is the butler? He must have heard the pistol shots!" the
admiral exclaimed angrily.

"He is not in his room, admiral. We looked in to bring him with
us. The door was open, but he isn't there."

"There is another man in the drawing room, tied." Bob said. "He
was putting a lot of things into a sack."

"The scoundrel! Perhaps that is the butler," the admiral
said.

"Well, Emma, you had better go back to bed again.

"Jackson, you stand guard over these two villains here, and
split their heads open, if they venture to move.

"Now, let us go and see to this other fellow."

The admiral proceeded downstairs, followed by the boys. The
other two servants were standing beside the third robber, who was
still insensible.

"You keep watch over him, John," the admiral said.

"William, you come with us. There is another man in the drawing
room, but he is tied."

"There is the key, sir," Bob said, producing it. "We thought it
safest to lock him up."

"Upon my word, young gentlemen, you seem to have thought of
everything. If I were in command of a ship, I should like to have
you all as midshipmen."

The door was opened. The man was still lying on the ground, but
had rolled some distance from where they had left him. He had
succeeded in getting his feet loosened from the handkerchief, but
the whipcord round his wrists had resisted all his efforts to break
or slacken it. He was panting heavily from the exertions he had
made.

"It is Harper," the admiral said, in a tone of indignation and
disgust.

"So, you treacherous scoundrel, it was you who let these men in,
was it? Well, it is a hanging matter, my lad; and if any fellow
deserves the rope, you do.

"You had better go and get some more cord, Williams, and tie all
these four fellows up, securely. Let Jackson see to the knots.

"Where did the scoundrels get in?" he asked, turning to the
boys.

"At the door at the end of the passage, sir, where the plate
chests are standing. We found it open--here is the key of it. We
locked it, after we came in, so as to prevent anyone from getting
away.

"There is another man, with a cart, in the road."

"We will see to him, directly we have got the others all tied up
safely," the admiral said. "That is the first thing to see to."

In five minutes, the four men were laid side by side in the
hall, securely bound hand and foot.

"Now, Williams, you keep guard over them.

"Jackson, do you and John sally out. There is a cart standing
outside the gate, and a fellow in it. Bring him in, and lay him
alongside the others."

The boys followed the two men, to see the capture. The light had
broadened out over the sky, and it was almost sunrise as they
sallied out. They went quietly along, until they reached the
gate--which stood ajar--then they flung it open and rushed out. To
their disappointment, the cart was standing about fifty yards lower
down the hill. The man was in it, with his whip in one hand and the
reins in another, and was looking back; and the moment he saw them,
he struck the horse and drove off at the top of his speed. The pace
was such that it was hopeless for them to think of following
him.

"I expect he heard the pistol shots," Jackson said, "and sheered
off a bit, so as to be able to cut and run if he found his consorts
were in trouble. Well, we cannot help it; we have taken four prizes
out of the five, and I call that pretty fair."

"I think we had better go, now," Bob said. "We have got a friend
waiting for us."

"Then he must wait a bit longer," Jackson said. "The admiral
will want to ask you some more questions. But if your friend is
anywhere near, one of you might run and tell him to back and fill a
bit, till you come to him."

"Tell him to do what?" Jim Sankey asked.

"Tell him to wait a bit, lad."

"I will run up," Wharton said.

"Shall I tell him we shan't want him at all, today, Bob?"

"I think so, Wharton. You see it is four o'clock, now; and we
mayn't be able to get away for half an hour, and it will be too
late, then. Besides, Jim and I have been knocked about too much to
care for rabbit hunting, now. You tell him we will go some other
day."

"You needn't tell him that, Wharton," Fullarton put in. "It will
be some time before we get a chance, you may be sure."

"All right! Tell him to go home then, Wharton. Tell him I will
make it all right with him, for losing his morning's work. Of
course, you will come in here, when you come down the hill
again."

Wharton nodded, and started at a run up the hill; while his
companions accompanied the two men into the house. The admiral was
down in the hall again. He had now had time to add to his former,
scanty costume.

"Get the shutters of the drawing room open, Jackson," he said,
after hearing the report of the man's escape, "and tell the
maids--I suppose they are all up--to light a fire and get some
coffee ready, at once, and something to eat.

"Now, young gentlemen, sit down and tell me all about this
business. Now, which of you will be spokesman?"

Jim nodded to Bob.

"It's his doing, sir. I mean about our coming in here. We should
never have thought anything about the cart, if it hadn't been for
Bob; and we didn't much like coming, only he pretty well made us,
and he arranged it all."

"That's all rot," Bob said. "We were just all in it together,
sir, and this is how it was."

And he told the whole story of what had taken place.

"Well, you couldn't have done better, if you had been officers
in His Majesty's service," the admiral said. "You have saved me the
loss of my two plate chests, of all the plate in this room--and
that couldn't be counted in money, for they were most of the things
given me, at different times, on service--and of 500 pounds I had
in that box upstairs--altogether, at least 2000 pounds in money
value. More than that, you prevented my being captured; and it
would have been a sorer blow, to me, than the loss of the money, if
those scoundrels had had their way, and had got off scot free.

"But you haven't told me, yet, how you happened to be going up
the hill, at half past three o'clock in the morning. What on earth
were you doing there? Surely your master does not allow you to
ramble about, in the middle of the night."

"Well, no, sir, that is the worst of it," Bob said. "You see, I
had arranged with one of the fishermen's boys, who has got a
first-rate dog, that we could meet him upon the Common, and do some
rabbit hunting. We slipped out from Tulloch's, and meant to have
been back before anyone was up. And now I expect we shall get it
nicely, because I suppose it must all come out."

The admiral laughed.

"You are four nice young scamps!" he said--for Wharton had
rejoined them, before Bob had finished the story--"but it is not
for me to blame you. It will certainly have to be told, lads,
because you will have to appear as witnesses at the trial of these
fellows; but I will go down myself, the first thing in the morning,
and speak to your master."

"Thank you, sir," Bob said. "It won't make any difference about
the thrashing; we are bound to get that. But we shan't mind that,
we are pretty well accustomed to it. Still, if you speak for us, I
expect we shall get off with that; otherwise I don't know what
Tulloch would have done, when he found out that we had been
slipping out at night."

"I expect it is not the first time you have done it?"

"Well, no, it is not, sir. We have been out two or three times,
with one of the fishermen, in his boat."

"I expect you are nice young pickles," the admiral said. "Well,
what time does school begin?"

"Half past seven, sir."

"Very well, then. I will be there at that hour, lads, and do my
best for you. You see, with those faces of yours, you would be sure
to be noticed, anyhow; and I hope you wouldn't, in any case, have
been mean enough to screen yourselves by lying."

"That we shouldn't," Bob said. "I don't think there is a boy in
the school who would tell a lie to Tulloch."

"That is right, lads. A gentleman will never tell a lie to
screen himself, when he has got into a scrape. I wouldn't keep the
smartest young officer in the service on board a ship of mine, if I
caught him telling a lie; for I should know that he would not only
be a blackguard, but a coward. Cowardice is at the bottom of half
the lying of the world. I would overlook anything, except lying.
Upon my word, I would rather that a boy were a thief than a
liar.

"Well, here is breakfast. Now sit down and make yourselves at
home, while I go up and see how my daughter is, after the fright
she has had."

Half an hour later, after eating a hearty breakfast, the four
boys started for school.

Chapter 2: A Great Change.

It was just striking six when they again climbed over the wall,
and descended by the tree. They had had a discussion whether they
should wait until the doors were opened, and walk quietly in, or
return as they left. They adopted the latter plan, because they
thought that, if the matter was reported to Mr. Tulloch, he might
proceed to administer punishment before the admiral arrived to give
his version of the affair.

The door was still ajar. As they opened it, they gave an
exclamation of surprise--for there, sitting on a chair in the
passage, was Mr. Purfleet. He smiled unpleasantly.

"So here you are. You have had a pleasant ramble, no doubt; but
I don't quite know what view Mr. Tulloch may take of it."

"It was very good of you to sit up for us, Mr. Purfleet," Bob
said, quietly; "but you see, we had left the door open, and could
have got in by ourselves. I hope you will not have caught cold,
sitting there only in a dressing gown."

"You are an impudent young scamp!" Mr. Purfleet said, in a rage.
"You will laugh with the other side of your mouth, presently. You
and Sankey are nice-looking figures, ain't you, with your faces all
cut and swollen?"

"We have been a little in the wars," Bob replied.

"I don't want to hear anything about it," the usher replied.
"You will have to explain matters to Mr. Tulloch."

"So I suppose, Mr. Purfleet.

"Well, Jim, we'll go and have a good wash. The bell will be
ringing, in half an hour."

So saying, Bob went into the lavatory, followed by his
companions; while the usher returned upstairs. He was certainly
disappointed. Quietly as the boys had dressed, the slight noise
they had made in closing the door had woke him. He thought little
of it but, just as he was going off to sleep again, he heard the
bolts of the door below withdrawn. He at once got up and walked to
the other end of the dormitory, and discovered that the four boys
were missing.

Chuckling to himself that he should now be able to repay the
grudge he owed to Bob, he put on his dressing gown and went
downstairs; and had sat there for three hours, momentarily
expecting their return. He had certainly felt chilly, but had borne
it patiently; comforted by the joyful expectation of the utter
dismay that would be felt, by the culprits, when they saw him. The
meeting had not passed off at all as he had anticipated, and he
could only console himself by thinking that his turn would come
when he made his report to Mr. Tulloch.

The four boys did not return to the dormitory but, after they
had washed, strolled about in the playground. There was quite a
ferment, in the dormitory, when their absence was perceived, and
the others noticed the four made-up figures in their place. The
operation of dressing was got through with much greater alacrity
than usual and, when they went downstairs and saw the four missing
boys in the playground, these were at once surrounded by an excited
throng. They refused, however, to answer any questions.

"You will hear it all, in good time," Bob said. "We have been
out, and we have been caught. That is all I am going to tell
you."

At the usual hour the bell rang, and the boys assembled in the
schoolroom. The two ushers were in their places. They waited three
or four minutes for Mr. Tulloch to appear; then the door opened,
and the manservant entered and, walking up to Mr. Moffat, said a
word or two. The latter nodded.

"Lessons will begin at once," he said, in a loud voice. "The
first class will come up to me."

The boys of this class, who occupied the senior dormitory, at
once began their lessons; while Mr. Purfleet took the lower class.
The second class, including Bob and his friends, remained in their
places. In a quarter of an hour the door opened, and Mr. Tulloch
entered, accompanied by Admiral Langton. Mr. Tulloch was looking
very serious, while the admiral looked hot and angry.

"We are going to catch it," Bob whispered, to Jim Sankey. "I
knew the admiral wouldn't be able to get us off."

"I wish all the boys to return to their places, Mr. Moffat. I
have something to say," Mr. Tulloch said, in a loud voice.

When the boys were all seated, he went on:

"Admiral Langton has been telling me that four of my boys were
out and about, soon after three o'clock this morning. The four boys
in question will stand up.

"I do not say that this is the first time that such a serious
infraction of the rules of the school has taken place. It has
happened before. It may, for aught I know, have happened many
times, without my knowledge; but upon the occasions when it has
come to my knowledge, the offenders have been most severely
punished. They must be punished, now.

"Admiral Langton has been telling me that the boys in question
have behaved with very great courage, and have been the means of
saving him from the loss of a large sum of money and plate, and of
capturing four burglars."

A buzz of surprise passed round the school.

"That this conduct does them great credit I am fully prepared to
admit. Had they been aware that this burglary was about to be
committed, and had they broken out of the house in the middle of
the night for the purpose of preventing it, I allow that it might
have been pleaded as an excuse for their offence; but this was not
so. It was an accident, that occurred to them when they were
engaged in breaking the rules, and cannot be pleaded as a set-off
against punishment.

"Admiral Langton has pleaded with me, very strongly, for a
pardon for them; but I regret that I am unable to comply with his
request. The admiral, as a sailor, is well aware that discipline
must be maintained; and I am quite sure that, when he was in
command of a ship, he would not have permitted his judgment to be
biased, by anyone. I have put it to him in that way, and he
acknowledges that to be so. The two matters stand distinct. The
boys must be punished for this gross breach of the rules. They may
be thanked, and applauded, for the courage they have shown, and the
valuable service they have rendered to Admiral Langton.

"I have, however, so far yielded to his entreaties that, while I
must administer a severe caning for the gross breach of the rules,
I shall abstain from taking any further steps in the matter; and
from writing to the boys' parents and guardians, requesting them to
remove their sons from the school, at once, as I certainly
otherwise would have done. At the same time, I am willing to hear
anything that these boys may have to urge, in explanation or
defence of their conduct. I have already been informed, by Admiral
Langton, that their object, in so breaking out, was to hunt rabbits
up on the Common."

"I wish to say, sir," Bob said, in a steady voice, "that it was
entirely my doing. I made the arrangements, and persuaded the
others to go; and I think it is only right that they should not be
punished as severely as I am."

"We were all in it together, sir," Jim Sankey broke in. "I was
just as keen on it as Bob was."

"So was I," Fullarton and Wharton said, together.

"Well, lads," Admiral Langton said, taking a step forward, and
addressing the boys, in general, "as your master says, discipline
is discipline; this is his ship, and he is on his own
quarterdeck--but I wish to tell you all that, in my opinion, you
have every reason to be proud of your schoolfellows. They behaved
with the greatest pluck and gallantry and, were I again in command
of a ship, I should be glad to have them serving me. I am only
sorry that I cannot persuade Mr. Tulloch to see the matter in the
same light as I do.

"Goodbye, lads!" and he walked across, and shook hands with the
four boys. "I shall see you again, soon," and the admiral turned
abruptly, and walked out of the schoolroom.

Mr. Tulloch at once proceeded to carry his sentence into effect,
and the four boys received as severe a caning as ever they had had
in their lives; and even Bob, case hardened as he was, had as much
as he could do to prevent himself from uttering a sound, while it
was being inflicted. Lessons were then continued, as usual, until
eight o'clock, when the boys went in to breakfast. After that was
over, they went into the playground, until nine; and the four
culprits gave the rest a full account of the events of the
night.

"I don't mind the thrashing," Bob said, "although Tulloch did
lay it on hot. It was well worth it, if it had only been to see
that sneak Purfleet's face, when the admiral told the story. I was
watching him, when Tulloch came in; and saw how delighted he was,
at the tale he was going to tell; and how satisfied he was that he
should get no end of credit, for sitting three hours in his
dressing gown, in order to catch us when we came in. It was an
awful sell for him, when he saw that the admiral had come out with
the whole story, and there was nothing, whatever, for him to
tell."

When they went into school again, Mr. Tulloch said:

"Boys, I hear that four of your number have behaved with great
gallantry. They have prevented a serious robbery, and arrested the
men engaged in it. I shall therefore give you a holiday, for the
remainder of the day. The four boys in question will proceed, at
once, to Admiral Langton's, as they will be required to accompany
him to Kingston, where the prisoners will be brought up before the
magistrates."

There was a general cheer from the boys, and then Bob and his
companions hurried upstairs to put on their best clothes, and ran
off to the admiral's.

"Well, boys, is it all over?" he asked, as they entered.

"All over, sir," they replied together.

"Well, boys, I think it was a shame; but I suppose discipline
must be maintained in school, as well as on board a ship; but it
vexes me, amazingly, to think that I have been the means of
bringing you into it."

"It is just the other way, sir," Bob said, "and it is very lucky
for us that we came in here, sir, instead of going up to the
Common, as we intended. One of the ushers found out that we had
gone, and sat up until we came back and, if it had not been for
you, we should not only have got a thrashing, but should all have
been expelled; so it is the luckiest thing possible that we came in
here."

"Well, I am very glad to hear that, boys. It has taken a load
off my mind, for I have been thinking that, if you had not come in
to help me, you would have got back without being noticed.

"Emma, these are the four lads who did us such good service,
last night. They caught sight of you, before, but you were hardly
in a state to receive them formally."

The young lady laughed, as she came forward and shook hands with
them.

"You need not have mentioned that, papa.

"Well, I am very much obliged to you all; for I have no doubt
they meant to have my watch and jewels, as well as papa's
money."

"Now, it is time for us to be off," the admiral said. "My
carriage is at the door, and a fly. You two, who have been knocked
about, had better come with my daughter and myself. The others can
either ride inside the fly, or one can go on the box of each
vehicle, as you like."

Wharton and Fullarton both said that they should prefer going
outside; and in a few minutes they were on their way, the three
menservants riding inside the fly. The prisoners had been sent off,
two hours before, in a cart; under the charge of the two local
constables.

The case lasted but an hour, the four men being all committed
for trial. The party then returned to Putney, the admiral insisting
upon the boys stopping to lunch with him. After the meal was over,
he inquired what they were going to do, on leaving school, and what
profession they intended to adopt.

Bob was the first questioned.

"I am going to be a wine merchant, sir," he said. "I have got no
choice about it. I lost my father and mother, years ago; and my
guardian, who is an uncle of mine, is in the wine trade, and he
says I have got to go in, too. I think it is horrid, but there is
no good talking to him. He is an awfully crusty old chap. I should
like to be a soldier, or a sailor; but of course it is of no use
thinking of it. My guardian has been very kind to me, even though
he is so crusty, and it wouldn't be right not to do as he tells me;
and I don't suppose the wine business is so very bad, when one is
accustomed to it."

"Has your uncle any sons, lad?"

"No, sir, he is an old bachelor; and he says that, some day, I
am to have his business."

"Then you can't do better than stick to it, lad," the admiral
said. "A boy who has before him the prospect of a solid,
substantial living, on shore, is simply a fool if he goes to sea.
It is a rough life, and a hard one; and if you don't get shot, or
drowned, you may get laid on the shelf with the loss of a limb, and
a pension that won't find you in grog and tobacco.

"It is a pity, for you would have made a good officer, but you
will be vastly better off, in all respects, at home; and I can tell
you there is not one sailor out of five who would not jump at a
berth on shore, if he could get the chance."

Sankey's father was a country clergyman and, at present, Jim had
no particular prospect.

"Would you like to go to sea, boy?"

"Yes, sir, I should like it of all things."

"Very well; give me your father's name and address, and I will
write to him about it."

Fullarton's father was a landed proprietor in Somersetshire, and
he was the eldest son. Wharton was to be a lawyer, and was to begin
in his father's office, in a year or two. Admiral Langton took
notes of the addresses of the boys' relatives.

When he had done that, he said to them:

"Now, lads, I know you would rather be off. I remember, when I
was a midshipman, I was always glad enough to escape, when I had to
dine with the captain."

A week later, a young man came down from a city watchmaker's,
with four handsome gold watches and chains for the boys; with an
inscription stating that they had been presented to them by Admiral
Langton, in remembrance of their gallant conduct on the night of
August 6th, 1778. They were immensely delighted with the gift; for
watches were, in those days, far more expensive luxuries than at
present, and their use was comparatively rare. With the watches
were four short notes from the admiral, inviting them to come up on
the following Saturday afternoon.

They had, by this time, received letters from their families,
who had each received a communication from the admiral, expressing
his warm commendation of their conduct, and his thanks for the
services that the boys had rendered.

Jim Sankey's father wrote saying that the admiral had offered to
procure him a berth as a midshipman, at once; and that he had
written, thankfully accepting the offer, as he knew that it was
what Jim had been most earnestly wishing--though, as he had no
interest, whatever, among naval men, he had hitherto seen no chance
of his being able to obtain such an appointment. This communication
put Jim into a state of the wildest delight, and rendered him an
object of envy to his schoolfellows.

Fullarton's father wrote his son a hearty letter, congratulating
him on what he had done, and saying that he felt proud of the
letter he had received from the admiral.

Wharton's father wrote to him sharply, saying that thief-taking
was a business that had better be left to constables, and that he
did not approve of freaks of that kind.

Mr. Bale wrote an irascible letter to Bob.

"My dear nephew," he began, "I am astonished, and most seriously
displeased, at contents of communication I have received from a
person signing himself J. Langton, admiral. I gather from it that,
instead of pursuing your studies, you are wandering about at night,
engaged in pursuits akin to poaching. I say akin, because I am not
aware whether the wild animals upon the common are the property of
the lord of the manor, or whether they are at the mercy of
vagabonds. It appears to me that there can be no proper supervision
exercised by your masters.

"I spoke to you when you were here, six weeks ago, as to your
school reports which, although fairly satisfactory as to your
abilities, said there was a great want of steadiness in your
general conduct. I am convinced that you are doing no good for
yourself, and that the sooner you settle down to a desk, in my
office, the better. I have therefore written this morning,
informing Mr. Tulloch that I shall remove you, at Michaelmas.

"Your sister has been here, with her husband, today. I am sorry
to say that they do not view your wild and lawless conduct in the
same light that I do, and that they are unable to see there is
anything positively disreputable in your being mixed up in midnight
adventures with burglars. I am glad to gather, from Admiral
Langton's letter, that Mr. Tulloch has seen your conduct in the
proper light, and has inflicted a well-merited punishment upon
you.

"All this is a very bad preparation for your future career as a
respectable trader, and I am most annoyed to hear that you will be
called on to appear as a witness against the men who have been
captured. I have written to Admiral Langton, acknowledging his
letter, and expressing my surprise that a gentleman in his position
should give any countenance, whatever, to a lad who has been
engaged in breaking the rules of his school; and in wandering at
night, like a vagabond, through the country."

Bob looked rather serious as he read through the letter for the
first time but, after going through it again, he burst into a shout
of laughter.

"What is it, Bob?" Tom Fullarton asked.

"Read this letter, Tom. I should like to have seen the admiral's
face, as he read my uncle's letter. But it is too bad. You see, I
have regularly done for myself. I was to have stopped here till a
year come Christmas, and now I have to leave at Michaelmas. I call
it a beastly shame."

It was some consolation to Bob to receive, next morning, a
letter from his sister, saying she was delighted to hear how he had
distinguished himself in the capture of the burglars.

"Of course, it was very wrong of you to get out at night; but
Gerald says that boys are always up to tricks of that sort, and so
I suppose that it wasn't so bad as it seems to me. Uncle John
pretends to be in a terrible rage about it, but I don't think he is
really as angry as he makes himself out to be. He blew me up, and
said that I had always encouraged you--which of course I
haven't--and when Gerald tried to say a good word for you, he
turned upon him, and said something about fellow-feeling making men
wondrous kind. Gerald only laughed, and said he was glad my uncle
had such a good opinion of him, and that he should have liked to
have been there, to lend a hand in the fight; and then uncle said
something disagreeable, and we came away.

"But I feel almost sure that Uncle John is not really so angry
as he seems; and I believe that, if Gerald and I had taken the
other side, and had said that your conduct had been very wicked, he
would have defended you. It was stupid of us not to think of it,
for you know uncle always likes to disagree with other
people--there is nothing he hates more than their agreeing with
him. His bark is much worse than his bite, and you must not forget
how good and kind he has been to us all.

"You know how angry he was with my marriage, and he said I had
better have drowned myself, than have married a soldier; and I had
better have hung myself, than have married an Irishman--specially
when he had intended, all along, that I should marry the son of an
old friend of his, a most excellent and well-conducted young man,
with admirable prospects. But he came round in a month or two, and
the first notice of it was a letter from his lawyer, saying that,
in accordance with the instruction of his client, Mr. John Bale, he
had drawn up and now enclosed a post-nuptial settlement, settling
on me the sum of 5000 pounds consols; and that his client wished
him to say that, had I married the person he had intended for me,
that sum would have been doubled.

"The idea, when I never even saw the man! And when I wrote,
thanking him, he made no allusion to what he had said before; but
wrote that he should be glad, at all times, to see my husband and
myself, whenever we came to town; but that, as I knew, his hours
were regular, and the door always locked at ten o'clock--just as if
Gerald was in the habit of coming in, drunk, in the middle of the
night! Fortunately nothing puts Gerald out, and he screamed over
it; and we went and stopped a week with uncle, a month afterwards,
and he and Gerald got on capitally together, considering. Gerald
said it was like a bear and a monkey in one cage, but it was really
very funny.

"So I have no doubt he will come round, with you. Do try and not
vex him more than you can help, Bob. You know how much we all owe
him."

This was true. Bob's father had died when he was only three
years old--he being a lawyer, with a good business, at
Plymouth--but he had made no provision for his early death, and had
left his wife and two children almost penniless. Mr. Bale had at
once taken charge of them, and had made his sister an allowance
that enabled her to live very comfortably. She had remained in
Plymouth, as she had many friends there.

Her daughter Carrie--who was six years older than Bob--had, four
years before, married Gerald O'Halloran, who was then a lieutenant
in the 58th Regiment, which was in garrison there. He had a small
income, derived from an estate in Ireland, besides his pay; but the
young couple would have been obliged to live very economically, had
it not been for the addition of the money settled on her by her
uncle.

Her mother had died, a few months after the marriage; and Mr.
Bale had at once placed Bob at the school, at Putney; and had
announced his intention of taking him, in due time, into his
business. The boy always spent one half of his holidays with his
uncle, the other with his sister. The former had been a trial, both
to him and to Mr. Bale. They saw but little of each other; for Mr.
Bale, who, like most business men of the time, lived over his
offices, went downstairs directly he had finished his breakfast,
and did not come up again until his work was over when, at five
o'clock, he dined. The meal over, he sometimes went out to the
houses of friends, or to the halls of one or other of the city
companies to which he belonged.

While Bob was with him, he told off one of the foremen in his
business to go about with the boy. The days, therefore, passed
pleasantly, as they generally went on excursions by water up or
down the river or, sometimes, when it was not otherwise required,
in a light cart used in the business, to Epping or Hainault Forest.
Bob was expected to be back to dinner and, thanks to the
foreman--who knew that his employer would not tolerate the smallest
unpunctuality--he always succeeded in getting back in time to wash
and change his clothes for dinner.

The meal was a very solemn one, Mr. Bale asking occasional
questions, to which Bob returned brief answers. Once or twice the
boy ventured upon some lively remark, but the surprise and
displeasure expressed in his uncle's face, at this breach of the
respectful silence then generally enforced upon the young, in the
presence of their elders, deterred him from often trying the
experiment.

Mr. Bale was as much bored as was Bob by these meals, and the
evenings that sometimes followed them. He would have been glad to
have chatted more freely with his nephew, but he was as ill at ease
with him, as he would have been with a young monkey. There was
nothing in common between them, and the few questions he asked were
the result of severe cogitation. He used to glance at the boy from
under his eyebrows, wonder what he was smiling to himself about,
and wish that he understood him better. It did not occur to him
that if he had drawn him out, and encouraged him to chatter as he
liked, he should get underneath the surface, and might learn
something of the nature hidden there. It was in sheer desperation,
at finding nothing to say, that he would often seize his hat and go
out, when he had quite made up his mind to stay indoors for the
evening.

Bob put up, as well as he could, with his meals and the dull
evenings, for the sake of the pleasant time he had during the day;
but he eagerly counted the hours until the time when he was to take
his place on the coach for Canterbury, where the 58th were now
quartered. He looked forward with absolute dread to the time when
he would have to enter his uncle's office.

"What is the use of being rich, Carrie," he would say to his
sister, "if one lives as uncle does? I would rather work in the
fields."

"Yes, Bob; but you see, when you get to be rich you needn't live
in the same way, at all. You could live as some traders do, in the
country at Hampstead, Dulwich, or Chelsea, and ride in to business;
and you can, of course, marry and enjoy life. One needn't live like
a hermit, all alone, because one is a trader in the city."

The one consolation Bob had was that his uncle had once said
that he considered it was a great advantage, to any young man going
into the wine trade, to go over to Spain or Portugal for two or
three years; to learn the whole routine of business there, to study
the different growths and know their values, and to form a
connection among the growers and shippers. Bob had replied gravely
that he thought this would certainly be a great advantage, and that
he hoped his uncle would send him over there.

"I shall see, when the time comes, Robert. It will, of course,
depend much upon the relations between this country and Spain and
Portugal; and also upon yourself. I could not, of course, let you
go out there until I was quite assured of your steadiness of
conduct. So far, although I have nothing to complain of, myself,
your schoolmaster's reports are by no means hopeful, on that head.
Still, we must hope that you will improve."

It was terrible to Bob to learn that he was to go, fifteen
months sooner than he had expected, to his uncle's; but he was
somewhat relieved when, upon his arrival at the house at Philpot
Lane, his uncle, after a very grave lecture on the enormity of his
conduct at school, said:

"I have been thinking, Robert, that it will be more pleasant,
both for you and for me, that you should not, at present, take up
your abode here. I am not accustomed to young people. It would
worry me having you here and, after your companionship with boys of
your own age, you might find it somewhat dull.

"I have therefore arranged with Mr. Medlin, my principal clerk,
for you to board with him. He has, I believe, some boys and girls
of about your own age. You will, I hope, be able to make yourself
comfortable there."

"Thank you, uncle," Bob said, suppressing his impulse to give a
shout of satisfaction, and looking as grave as possible. "I think
that would be a very nice arrangement."

"Mr. Medlin is a very trustworthy person," Mr. Bale went on. "He
has been with me for upwards of twenty years, and I have the
greatest confidence in him.

"You had better sit down here, and take a book. At five o'clock
come down into the counting house. Mr. Medlin will leave at that
hour."

Bob had hitherto avoided the counting house. He had
occasionally, on previous visits, slipped down to his friend the
foreman; and had wandered through the great cellars, and watched
the men at work bottling, and gazed in surprise at the long tiers
of casks stacked up to the roof of the cellar, and the countless
bottles stowed away in the bins. Once or twice he had gone down
into the counting house, with his uncle; and waited there a few
minutes, until the foreman was disengaged. He had noticed Mr.
Medlin at work at his high desk, in one corner--keeping, as it
seemed to him, his eye upon two young clerks, who sat on high
stools at opposite sides of the desk, on the other side of the
office.

Mr. Medlin had a little rail round the top of his desk, and
curtains on rods that could be drawn round it. He was a man of six
or seven and thirty; with a long face, smooth shaven. He always
seemed absorbed in his work and, when spoken to by Mr. Bale,
answered in the fewest possible words, in an even, mechanical
voice. It had seemed to Bob that he had been entirely oblivious to
his presence; and it did not appear to him now, as he sat with a
book before him, waiting for the clock on the mantel to strike
five, that existence at Mr. Medlin's promised to be a lively one.
Still, as there were boys and girls, it must be more amusing than
it would be at his uncle's and, at any rate, the clerk would not be
so formidable a personage to deal with as Mr. Bale.

At one minute to five he went down, so as to open the counting
house door as the clock struck. As he went in through the outer
door, his uncle came out from the inner office.

"Ah! There you are, Robert.

"Mr. Medlin, this is my nephew who, as we have arranged, will
take up his residence with you. I am afraid you will find him
somewhat headstrong and troublesome. I have already informed you
why it has been necessary to remove him from school. However, I
trust that there will be no repetition of such follies; and that he
will see the necessity of abandoning schoolboy pranks, and settling
down to business."

"Yes, sir," Mr. Medlin replied, seeing that his employer
expected an answer.

Bob had noticed that, although the clerk's eyes were directed
upon him, there appeared to be no expression of interest or
curiosity in them; but that they might as well have been fixed upon
a blank wall.

"Your boxes have already been sent round in the cart to Mr.
Medlin's, Robert. I don't know that there is anything else to say.
Mr. Medlin will, of course, put you in the way of your duties here;
but if you have anything to say to me--any questions to ask, or any
remarks, connected with the business, or otherwise, you wish to
make--I shall always be ready to listen to you, if you will come
into the counting house at half past four."

So saying, Mr. Bale retired into his private room again. Mr.
Medlin placed his papers inside his desk, locked it, took off his
coat and hung it on a peg, put on another coat and his hat, and
then turned to Bob.

"Ready?"

"Quite ready."

Mr. Medlin led the way out of the counting house, and Bob
followed. Mr. Medlin walked fast, and Bob had to step out to keep
up with him. The clerk appeared scarcely conscious of his presence,
until they were beyond the more crowded thoroughfare, then he
said:

"Two miles, out Hackney way. Not too far!"

"Not at all," Bob replied. "The farther the better."

"No burglars there. Wouldn't pay."

And Bob thought that the shadow of a smile passed across his
face.

"We can do without them," Bob said.

"Hate coming here, I suppose?"

"That I do," Bob said, cordially.

Mr. Medlin nodded.

"Not so bad as it looks," he said, and then walked on again, in
silence.

Presently there was a break in the houses. They were getting
beyond the confines of business London.

"Do you see this little garden?" Mr. Medlin asked, suddenly, in
a tone so unlike that in which he had before spoken that Bob quite
started.

The lad looked at the little patch of ground, with some stunted
shrubs, but could see nothing remarkable in it.

"Yes, I see it, sir," he said.

"That, Bob," Mr. Medlin went on, "--for I suppose you are called
Bob--marks the end of all things."

Bob opened his eyes in astonishment, and again examined the
little garden.

"It marks, Bob, the delimitation between London and country,
between slavery and freedom. Here, every morning, I leave myself
behind; here, every evening, I recover myself--or, at least, a
considerable portion of myself--at a further mark, half a mile on,
I am completely restored.

"I suppose you used to find just the same thing, at the door of
the schoolroom?"

"A good deal, sir," Bob said, in a much brighter tone than he
had used, since he said goodbye to the fellows at Tulloch's.

"I am glad you feel like that. I expect you will get like that,
as to the city, in time; but mind, lad, you must always find
yourself again. You stick to that. You make a mark somewhere, leave
yourself behind in the morning, and pick yourself up again when you
come back. It is a bad thing for those who forget to do that. They
might as well hang themselves--better.

"In there," and he jerked his thumb back over his shoulder, "we
are all machines, you know. It isn't us, not a bit of it. There is
just the flesh, the muscle, the bones, and a frozen bit of our
brains. The rest of us is left behind. If, as we come out, we
forget to pick it up, we lose ourselves altogether, before long;
and then there we are, machines to the end of our lives. You
remember that, Bob. Keep it always in mind."

"It is a pity that my uncle didn't get the same advice, forty
years ago, Mr. Medlin."

"It is a pity my employer did not marry. It is a pity my
employer lives in that dull house, in that dull lane, all by
himself," Mr. Medlin said, angrily.

"But he has not got rid of himself, altogether. He is a good
deal frozen up; but he thaws out, sometimes. What a man he would
be, if he would but live out somewhere, and pick himself up
regularly, as I do, every day!

"This is my second mark, Bob, this tree growing out in the road.
Now, you see, we are pretty well in the country.

"Can you run?"

"Yes, I can run pretty well, Mr. Medlin."

"Very well, Bob. You see that tree growing out beyond that
garden wall, about four hundred yards on. It is four hundred and
twenty, for I have measured it. Now then, you walk on fifty yards,
and then run for your life. See if I don't catch you, before you
are there."

Bob, wondering as he went along at the astounding change that
had come over his companion, took fifty long steps; then he heard a
shout of "Now!" and went off at the top of his speed. He was still
a hundred yards from the mark, when he heard steps coming rapidly
up behind him; and then the clerk dashed past him, and came in
fully twenty yards ahead.

"You don't run badly," he said, as Bob stopped, panting. "My
Jack generally comes to meet me, and I always give him seventy
yards, and only beat him by about as much as I do you. He couldn't
come, this afternoon. He is busy helping his mother to get things
straight. I expect we shall meet him, presently.

"Well, what are you laughing at?"

"I was just thinking how astonished my uncle would be, if he
were to see us."

Mr. Medlin gave a hearty laugh.

"Not so much as you would think, Bob. Five years ago, my
employer suddenly asked me, just as we were shutting up one
afternoon, if I was fond of fishing. I said that I used to be.

"He said, 'I am going down, for a fortnight, into Hampshire. I
have no one to go with--suppose you come with me.'

"I said, 'I will.'

"He said, 'Coach tomorrow morning, eight o'clock, Black Horse
Yard.'

"I was there. As we went over London Bridge I found myself, as
usual; and he found himself. I explained to him that I could not
help it. He said he didn't want me to help it. We had a glorious
fortnight together, and we have been out every year, since. He
never alludes to it, between times. No more do I. He is stiffer
than usual for a bit. So am I. But we both know each other.

"You do not suppose that he would have sent you to me, if he
hadn't known that I have got another side to me?"

"Well, I should not have thought," Bob said, "from the way he
talked, when he introduced me to you, that he ever had such an idea
in his mind."

"He was obliged to talk so," Mr. Medlin said, laughing. "We were
just machines at the time, both of us. But he talked in quite a
different way when we were down fishing together, three weeks ago.
He said then you were rather a pickle, and that he didn't think you
would do yourself any good where you were, so that he was going to
bring you up to business.

"'I don't want him to turn out a dull blockhead,' he said, 'and
so I propose that you should take charge of him, and teach him to
keep himself young. I wish I had done it, myself.'

"And so it was settled.

"There is no better employer in the city than your uncle. There
is not a man or boy about the place who isn't well paid, and
contented. I used to think myself a lucky man, before we went out
fishing together for the first time but, six months after that, he
gave me a rise that pretty well took my breath away.

"Ah! Here come the young uns."

A couple of minutes later, four young people ran up. There was a
boy about Bob's age, a girl a year younger, a boy, and another
girl, in regular steps. They greeted their father with a joyous
shout of welcome.

"So you have got everything done," he said. "I thought you would
meet me somewhere here.

"This is Bob Repton, my employer's nephew, and future member of
the firm. Treat him with all respect, and handle him gently. He is
a desperate fellow, though he doesn't look it. This is the young
gentleman I told you of, who made a night expedition and captured
four burglars."

After this introduction, Bob was heartily shaken by the hand,
all round; and the party proceeded on their way, the two girls
holding their father's hand, the boys walking behind, with Bob, who
was so surprised at the unexpected turn affairs had taken that, for
a time, he almost lost his usual readiness of speech.

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Journey.

Hawthorne Cottage, Mr. Medlin's abode, was a pretty little
house, standing detached in a good-sized garden, surrounded by a
high wall.

"Here we are, mother," the clerk said, as he led the way into a
cozy room, where tea was laid upon the table, while a bright fire
blazed in the grate.

A very pleasant-faced lady, who did not look to Bob more than
thirty--although she must have been four or five years
older--greeted her husband affectionately.

"My dear," he said, "in the exuberance of your feelings, you
forget that I have brought you home a visitor. This is Mr. Robert
Repton. While he is resident in the house, he may be greeted as
Bob. We had a race, and he runs faster than Jack; fifty yards, in
four hundred and twenty, is the utmost I can give him."

"What nonsense you do talk, Will!" his wife said, laughing. "I
am sure Master Repton must think you out of your mind."

"It is a very jolly way of being out of his mind, Mrs. Medlin.
You don't know how pleased I am."

"He thought I was an ogre, my dear, and that you were an
ogress.

"Now let the banquet be served; for I am hungry, and I expect
Bob is, too. As for the children, they are always hungry--at least,
it seems so."

It was a merry meal, and Bob thought he had never enjoyed one as
much, except at his sister's. After tea they had music; and he
found that Mr. Medlin performed admirably on the violin, his wife
played the spinet, Jack the clarionet, and Sophy--the eldest
girl--the piccolo.

"She is going to learn the harp, presently," Mr. Medlin
explained; "but for the present, when we have no visitors--and I
don't count you one, after this evening--she plays the piccolo. She
is a little shy about it, but shyness is the failing of my
family."

"It is very jolly," Bob said. "I wish I could play an
instrument."

"We will see about it, in time, Bob. We want a French horn; but
I don't see, at present, where you are to practise."

"Has uncle ever been here?" Bob asked, late in the evening.

"Yes, he came here the evening we got back from our fishing
expedition. He wanted to see the place, before he finally settled
about you coming here. My wife was a little afraid of him; but
there was no occasion, and everything went off capitally--except
that Sophy would not produce her piccolo. I walked back with him,
till he came upon a hackney coach.

"He said as he got in, 'I have spent a most pleasant evening,
Medlin. You are a very lucky fellow.'

"I went back to work the next morning, and we both dropt into
the old groove; and nothing more was said until yesterday, when he
informed me that you would come, today."

"Oh, dear!" Bob said, as he started with the clerk, at eight
o'clock on the following morning. "Now I am going to begin at that
wretched counting house."

"No, you are not, Bob. You are not coming in there, at present.
When your uncle and I were talking--when we were fishing, you
know--he said that he saw no use in your going in there, at
present; and thought it would be quite time for you to learn how
the books are kept, in another three or four years; and that, till
then, you could go into the cellar. You will learn bottling, and
packing, and blending, and something about the quality and value of
wines. You will find it much more pleasant than being shut up in a
counting house, making out bills and keeping ledgers."

"A great deal," Bob said, joyfully. "I sha'n't mind that at
all."

Bob observed a noticeable change in his companion's demeanour,
when he arrived at the tree and, on passing the last garden, his
face assumed a stolid expression; his brisk, springy walk settled
down into a business pace; his words became few; and he was again a
steady, and mechanical, clerk.

A fortnight later, Bob was summoned to the counting house.

"Mr. Bale wishes to see you," Mr. Medlin said.

Bob entered, wondering what he was wanted for.

"I received a subpoena, a week ago, Robert, for you to attend as
a witness at Kingston tomorrow. These interruptions to business are
very annoying. I did not mention it to you before for, if I had
done so, you would be thinking of nothing else.

"This morning I have received a letter from Admiral Langton,
requesting me to allow you to go down by the stage, this afternoon,
and to sleep at his house. He will take you over, in the morning;
and you will sleep there again, tomorrow night, and come back by
the early stage.

"I trust that you will endeavour to curb your exuberance of
spirits. This is a very grave matter, and anything like levity
would be altogether out of place.

"The letter says that the stage leaves the Bell Tavern at four
o'clock."

Bob replied, gravely, that he would be there in time; and went
off to his work again, until twelve o'clock.

When he arrived at the admiral's, at a quarter to six, a lad in
midshipman's uniform came rushing out into the hall.

"Hulloa, Bob!"

"Why, Jim!--but no, I suppose I ought to say Mr. James Sankey,
to an officer of your importance. How comes it, sir, that you are
so soon attired in His Majesty's uniform?"

"I will punch your head, Bob, if you go on with that
nonsense.

"But I say, isn't it jolly? The very afternoon after you left
came down a big letter, with a tremendous seal; and therein I was
informed that I was appointed to His Majesty's ship Brilliant, and
was ordered to join immediately. Of course, I did not know what to
do, so I came up here; and who do you think I found here? Captain
Langton, the admiral's son, who is in command of the Brilliant.

"Of course, it was he who had got me the appointment. He was
very kind, and told me that I could not join until after this
trial; so that I could go down home, and stop there, till today;
and the admiral sent me straight off, to be measured for my
uniform. When I started, next day, he gave me a letter to my
father--an awfully nice letter it was, saying that he intended to
present me with my first outfit. I got here about an hour ago, and
have been putting on my uniform, to see how it fitted."

"You mean to see how you looked in it, Jim? It looks first rate.
I wish I was in one too, and was going with you, instead of
sticking in Philpot Lane."

"I am awfully sorry for you, Bob. It must be beastly."

"Well, it is not so bad as I expected, Jim, and uncle is turning
out much better; and I don't live there, but with the head clerk,
out at Hackney. He is an awfully jolly sort of fellow--you never
saw such a rum chap. I will tell you all about it, afterwards.

"I suppose I ought to go in, and see the admiral."

"He is out, at present, Bob. He will be back at eight o'clock to
supper, so you can come up and tell me all about it. Captain
Langton is here, too."

Captain Langton spoke very kindly to Bob, when the two boys came
down to supper; and told him that if, at any time, he changed his
mind, and there was a vacancy for a midshipman on board his ship,
he would give him the berth.

"I should be very glad to have you with me," he said, "after the
service you rendered my father and sister."

On the following morning, Fullarton and Wharton came up from the
school, and two carriages conveyed the witnesses over to Kingston.
The prisoners, Bob heard, were notorious and desperate criminals,
whom the authorities had long been anxious to lay hands on. The
butler was one of the gang, and had obtained his post by means of a
forged character. The trial only occupied two hours for, taken in
the act as the men were, there was no defence whatever. All four
were sentenced to be hung, and the judge warmly complimented the
four boys upon their conduct in the matter.

The next morning, Bob returned to his work in the city.

For the next three months, his existence was a regular one. On
arriving in the cellar, he took off his jacket and put on a large
apron, that completely covered him; and from that time until five
o'clock he worked with the other boys: bottling, packing, storing
the bottles away in the bins, or taking them down as required. He
learned, from the foreman, something of the localities from which
the wine came, their value and prices; but had not begun to
distinguish them by taste, or bouquet. Mr. Bale, the foreman said,
had given strict orders that he was not to begin tasting, at
present.

Three days before Christmas, one of the clerks brought him down
word that Mr. Bale wished to see him in the office, at five
o'clock.

During the three, months he had scarcely spoken to his uncle.
The latter had nodded to him, whenever he came into the cellar; and
had regularly said, "Well, Robert, how are you getting on?"

To which he had, as regularly, replied, "Very well, uncle."

He supposed that the present meeting was for the purpose of
inviting him to dine at Philpot Lane, on Christmas Day; and
although he knew that he should enjoy the festivity more, at
Hackney, he was prepared to accept it very willingly.

"I have sent for you, Robert," Mr. Bale said, when he entered
his office, "to say that your sister has written to ask me to go
down to spend Christmas with her, at Portsmouth. As her husband's
regiment is on the point of going abroad, I have decided on
accepting her invitation and, for the same reason, I shall take you
down with me. You will therefore have your box packed, tonight. I
shall send down a cart to fetch it, tomorrow. You will sleep here
tomorrow night, and we start the next morning."

"Thank you very much, uncle," Bob said, in delight; and then,
seeing that nothing further was expected of him, he ran off to join
Mr. Medlin, who was waiting for him outside.

"What do you think, Mr. Medlin? I am going down to spend
Christmas at my sister's."

"Ah!" the clerk said, in a dull unsympathetic voice. "Well, mind
how you walk, Mr. Robert. It does not look well, coming out from a
place of business as if you were rushing out of school."

Bob knew well enough that it was no use, whatever, trying to get
his companion to take any interest in matters unconnected with
business, at present; so he dropped into his regular pace, and did
not open his lips again, until they had passed the usual
boundary.

Then Mr. Medlin said, briskly, "So you are going down to your
sister's, Bob!"

"Yes, that will be first rate, won't it? Of course, I went down
in the summer to Canterbury, and hardly expected to go again this
year. As I have only been three months here, I did not even think
of going.

"It will be the last holiday I shall have, for some time. You
know Carrie said, when she wrote to me a month ago, that the
regiment expected to be ordered abroad soon; and uncle said it is
on the point of going, now.

"He is coming down with me."

His voice fell a little, at this part of the announcement.

"He is, eh? You think you will have to be on your best
behaviour, Bob?"

"Before you told me about him, Mr. Medlin, I should have thought
it would quite spoil the holiday. But I do not feel it so bad,
now."

"He will be all right, Bob. You have never seen him outside the
city, yet. Still, I shouldn't be up to any tricks with him, you
know, if I were you--shouldn't put cobbler's wax on his pigtail, or
anything of that sort."

"As if I should think of such a thing, Mr. Medlin!"

"Well, I don't know, Bob. You have made Jack pretty nearly as
wild as you are, yourself. You are quite a scandal to the
neighbourhood, you two. You nearly frightened those two ladies next
door into fits, last week, by carrying in that snowman, and
sticking it up in their garden, when you knew they were out. I
thought they were both going to have fits, when they rushed in to
tell me there was a ghost in their garden."

"I believe you suggested it yourself, Mr. Medlin," Bob said,
indignantly. "Besides, it served them right, for coming in to
complain that we had thrown stones and broken their window, when we
had done nothing of the sort."

"It was rather lucky for you that they did so, Bob; for you see,
we were all so indignant, then, that they didn't venture to accuse
you of the snowman business--though I have no doubt they were
convinced, in their own minds, that it was you. But that is only
one out of twenty pranks that you and Jack have been up to."

"Jack and I and someone else, Mr Medlin. We carry them out, but
I think someone else always suggests them."

"Not suggest, Bob--far from it. If I happen to say that it would
be a most reprehensible thing if anyone were to do something,
somehow or other that is the very thing that Jack and you do. It
was only last week I said that it would be a very objectionable
trick if anyone was to tie paper bands round the neck of the
clergyman's black cat--who is always stealing our chickens--and to
my surprise, the next morning, when we started for business, there
was quite a crowd outside his house, watching the cat calmly
sitting over the porch, with white bands round its neck. Now, that
is an example of what I mean."

"Quite so, Mr. Medlin, that is just what I meant, too; and it
was much better than throwing stones at him. It is a savage beast,
though it does look so demure; and scratched Jack's hand and mine,
horribly, when we were tying on the bands."

At the tree the others met them, and they laughed and chatted
all the way back; the young ones expressing much regret, however,
that Bob was to be away at Christmas.

At the appointed time, Mr. Bale and Bob took their places on the
coach. The latter felt a little oppressed; for his uncle had, the
evening before, been putting him through a sort of examination as
to the value of wines; and had been exceedingly severe when Bob had
not acquitted himself to his satisfaction, but had mixed up Malaga
with Madeira, and had stated that a French wine was grown near
Cadiz.

"I expect I shall know them better when I get to taste them,"
Bob had urged, in excuse. "When you don't know anything about the
wines, it is very difficult to take an interest in them. It is like
learning that a town in India is on the Ganges. You don't care
anything about the town, and you don't care anything about the
Ganges; and you are sure to mix it up, next time, with some other
town on some other river."

"If those are your ideas, Robert, I think you had better go to
bed," Mr. Bale had said, sternly; and Bob had gone to bed, and had
thought what a nuisance it was that his uncle was going down to
Portsmouth, just when he wanted to be jolly with Carrie and her
husband for the last time.

Little had been said at breakfast, and it was not until the
coach was rattling along the high road, and the last house had been
left behind him, that Bob's spirits began to rise. There had been a
thaw, a few days before, and the snow had disappeared; but it was
now freezing sharply again.

"The air is brisk. Do you feel it cold, Robert?" Mr. Bale said,
breaking silence for the first time.

"I feel cold about the toes, and about the ears and nose,
uncle," Bob said, "but I am not very likely to feel cold, anywhere
else."

His uncle looked down at the boy, who was wedged in between him
and a stout woman.

"Well, no," he agreed; "you are pretty closely packed. You had
better pull that muffler over your ears more. It was rather
different weather when you went down to Canterbury in the
summer."

"That it was," Bob replied, heartily. "It was hot and dusty,
just; and there were a man and woman, sitting opposite, who kept on
drinking out of a bottle, every five minutes. She had a baby with
her, too, who screamed almost all the way. I consider I saved that
baby's life."

"How was that, Robert?"

"Well you see, uncle, they had finished their bottle by the time
we got to Sevenoaks; and we all got down for dinner there and,
before we sat down, the man went to the bar and got it filled up
again. A pint of gin, filled up with water--I heard him order it.
He put it in the pocket of his coat, and hung the coat up on a peg
when he sat down to dinner.

"I was not long over my dinner, and finished before they did;
and I took the bottle out, and ran out to the yard and emptied it,
and filled it up with water, and put it back in the pocket again,
without his noticing it.

"You should have seen what a rage he was in, when he took his
first sip from the bottle, after we had started. He thought the man
at the inn had played him a trick, and he stood up and shouted to
the coachman to turn back again; but of course he wasn't going to
do that, and every one laughed--except the woman. I think she had
had more than was good for her, already, and she cried for about an
hour.

"The next two places where we changed horses, we did it so quick
that the man hadn't time to get down. The third place he did and,
though the guard said we shouldn't stop a minute, he went into the
public house. The guard shouted, but he didn't come out, and off we
went without him. Then he came out running, and waving his arms,
but the coachman wouldn't stop. The woman got down, with the child,
at the next place we changed horses; and I suppose they went on
next day and, if they started sober, they did perhaps get to Dover
all right."

"That was a very nasty trick," the woman, who was sitting next
to Bob, said sharply.

Bob had noticed that she had already opened a basket on her lap,
and had partaken of liquid refreshment.

"But you see, I saved the baby, ma'am," Bob said, humbly. "The
woman was sitting at the end and, if she had taken her share of the
second bottle, the chances are she would have dropped the baby. It
was a question of saving life, you see."

Bob felt a sudden convulsion in his uncle's figure.

"It is all very well to talk in that way," the woman said,
angrily. "It was just a piece of impudence, and you ought to have
been flogged for it. I have no patience with such impudent doings.
A wasting of good liquor, too."

"I don't think, madam," Mr. Bale said, "it was as much wasted as
it would have been, had they swallowed it; for at least it did no
harm. I cannot see myself why, because people get outside a coach,
they should consider it necessary to turn themselves into
hogs."

"I will trouble you to keep your insinuations to yourself," the
woman said, in great indignation. "You ought to be ashamed of
yourself, at your age, encouraging a boy in such ways. There is
them as can stand the cold, and there's them as can't; and a little
good liquor helps them, wonderful. I am sich, myself."

And she defiantly took out her bottle from her basket, and
applied it to her lips.

"I was not speaking personally, my good woman," Mr. Bale
said.

"I would have you to know," the woman snapped, "that I ain't
your good woman. I wouldn't demean myself to the like. I will ask
this company if it is right as a unprotected female should be
insulted, on the outside of one of His Majesty's mails?"

The other passengers, who had been struggling with their
laughter, endeavoured to pacify her with the assurance that no
insult had been meant; and as Mr. Bale made no reply, she subsided
into silence, grumbling occasionally to herself.

"I am a-going down," she broke out, presently, "to meet my
husband, and I don't mind who knows it. He is a warrant officer, he
is, on board the Latona, as came in last week with two prizes.
There ain't nothing to be ashamed of, in that.

"And I will thank you, boy," she said, turning sharply upon Bob,
"not to be a-scrouging me so. I pay for my place, I do."

"I think you ought to pay for two places," Bob said. "I am sure
you have got twice as much room as I have. And if there is any
scrouging, it isn't me."

"Would you have any objection, sir," the woman said
majestically, to a man sitting on the other side of her, "to change
places with me? I ain't a-going to bear no longer with the insults
of this boy, and of the person as calls himself a man, a-sitting
next to him."

The change was effected, to Bob's great satisfaction.

"You see, Robert, what you have brought down upon me," Mr. Bale
said. "This comes of your telling stories about bottles, when there
is a woman with one in her basket next to you."

"I really was not thinking of her when I spoke, uncle. But I am
glad, now, for I really could hardly breathe, before.

"Why, uncle, I had no idea you smoked!" he added, as Mr. Bale
took a cigar case from his pocket.

"I do not smoke, when I am in the city, Robert; but I see no
harm in a cigar--in fact I like one--at other times. I observed a
long pipe on the mantelpiece, at Mr. Medlin's; and indeed, I have
seen that gentleman smoke, when we have been out together, but I
have never observed him indulging in that habit, in the city."

"Oh, yes! He smokes at home," Bob said.

"I have great confidence in Mr. Medlin, Robert. You have been
comfortable with him, I hope?"

"Could not be more comfortable, sir."

"An excellent man of business, Robert, and most trustworthy. A
serious-minded man."

Bob was looking up, and saw a little twinkle in Mr. Bale's
eye.

"You don't find it dull, I hope?"

"Not at all dull, sir. Mr. Medlin and his family are very
musical."

"Musical, are they, Robert?" Mr. Bale said, in a tone of
surprise. "As far as I have seen in the counting house, I should
not have taken him to be musical."

"No, I don't think you would, uncle. Just the same way as one
wouldn't think it likely that you would smoke a cigar."

"Well, no, Robert. You see, one must not always go by
appearances."

"No, sir; that is just what Mr. Medlin says," Bob replied,
smiling.

"Oh, he says that, does he? I suppose he has been telling you
that we go out fishing together?"

"He did mention that, sir."

"You must not always believe what Medlin says, Robert."

"No, sir? I thought you told me he was perfectly
trustworthy?"

"In some points, boy; but it is notorious that, from all times,
the narratives of fishermen must be received with a large amount of
caution. The man who can be trusted with untold gold cannot be
relied upon to give, with even an approach to accuracy, the weights
of the fish he has caught; and indeed, all his statements with
reference to the pursuit must be taken with a large discount.

"You were surprised, when you heard that I went fishing,
Robert?"

"Not more surprised than I was when you lit your cigar,
sir."

"Well, you know what Horace said, Robert. I forget what it was
in the Latin, but it meant:

"'He is a poor soul, who never rejoices.'

"The bow must be relaxed, Robert, or it loses its stiffness and
spring. I, myself, always bear this in mind; and endeavour to
forget that there is such a place as the city of London, or a place
of business called Philpot Lane, directly I get away from it."

"Don't you think that you could forget, too, uncle, that the
name I am known by in the city is Robert; and that my name, at all
other times, is Bob?"

"I will try to do so, if you make a point of it," Mr. Bale said,
gravely; "but at the same time, it appears to me that Bob is a name
for a short-tailed sheepdog, rather than for a boy."

"I don't mind who else is called by it, uncle. Besides,
sheepdogs are very useful animals."

"They differ from boys in one marked respect, Bob."

"What is that, uncle?"

"They always attend strictly to business, lad. They are most
conscientious workers. Now, this is more than can be said for
boys."

"But I don't suppose the sheepdogs do much, while they are
puppies, uncle."

"Humph! I think you have me there, Bob. I suppose we must make
allowances for them both.

"Well, we shall be at Guildford in half an hour, and will stop
there for dinner. I shall not be sorry to get down to stamp my feet
a bit. It is very cold here, in spite of these rugs."

It was seven o'clock in the evening when the coach drew up at
the George Hotel, in Portsmouth. Captain O'Halloran was at the door
to meet them.

"Well, Mr. Bale, you have had a coldish drive down, today.

"How are you, Bob?"

"At present, I am cold," Bob said. "The last two hours have been
bitter."

"I have taken bedrooms here for you, Mr. Bale. There is no
barrack accommodation, at present, for everyone is back from leave.
Any other time, we could have put you up.

"Now, if you will point out your baggage, my man will see it
taken up to your rooms; and you can come straight on to me. Carrie
has got supper ready, and a big fire blazing. It is not three
minutes' walk from here."

They were soon seated at table and, after the meal was over,
they drew round the fire.

"So you have really become a man of business, Bob," his sister
said. "I was very glad to hear, from your letter, that you liked it
better than you expected."

"But it will be a long while, yet, before he is a man of
business, niece. It is like having a monkey in a china shop. The
other day I went down to the cellar, just in time to see him put
down a bottle so carelessly that it tumbled over. Unfortunately
there was a row of them he had just filled; and a dozen went down,
like ninepins. The corks had not been put in, and half the contents
were lost before they could be righted. And the wine was worth
eighty shillings a dozen."

"And what can you expect of him, Mr. Bale?" Gerald O'Halloran
said. "Is it a spalpeen like that you would trust with the handling
of good wine? I would as soon set a cat to bottle milk."

"He is young for it, yet," Mr. Bale agreed. "But when a boy
amuses himself by breaking out of school at three o'clock in the
morning, and fighting burglars, what are you to do with him?"

"I should give him a medal, for his pluck, Mr. Bale; and let him
do something where he would have a chance of showing his
spirit."

"And make him as wild and harum-scarum as you are, yourself,
O'Halloran; and then expect him to turn out a respectable merchant,
afterwards? I am sure I don't wish to be troubled with him, till he
has got rid of what you call his spirits; but what are you to do
with such a pickle as this? There have been more bottles broken,
since he came, than there ordinarily are in the course of a year;
and I suspect him of corrupting my chief clerk, and am in mortal
apprehension that he will be getting into some scrape, at Hackney,
and make the place too hot for him.

"I never gave you credit for much brains, Carrie, but how it was
you let your brother grow up like this is more than I can
tell."

Although this all sounded serious, Bob did not feel at all
alarmed. Carrie, however, thought that her uncle was greatly vexed,
and tried to take up the cudgels in his defence.

"I am sure Bob does not mean any harm, uncle."

"I did not say that he did, niece; but if he does harm, it comes
to the same thing.

"Well, we need not talk about that now. So I hear that you are
going out to the Mediterranean?"

"Yes, uncle, to Gibraltar. It is a nice station, everyone says,
and I am very pleased. There are so many places where there is
fighting going on, now, that I think we are most fortunate in going
there. I was so afraid the regiment might be sent either to
America, or India."

"And I suppose you would rather have gone where there was
fighting, O'Halloran?"

"I would," the officer said, promptly. "What is the use of your
going into the army, if you don't fight?"

"I should say, what is the use of going into the army, at all?"
Mr. Bale said, testily. "Still, I suppose someone must go."

"I suppose so, sir," Captain O'Halloran said, laughing. "If it
were not for the army and navy, I fancy you trading gentlemen would
very soon find the difference. Besides, there are some of us born
to it. I should never have made a figure in the city, for
instance."

"I fancy not," Mr. Bale said, dryly. "You will understand,
O'Halloran, that I am not objecting in the slightest to your being
in the army. My objection solely lies in the fact that you, being
in the army, should have married my niece; and that, instead of
coming to keep house for me, comfortably, she is going to wander
about, with you, to the ends of the earth."

Carrie laughed.

"How do you know someone else would not have snapped me up, if
he hadn't, uncle?"

"That is right, Carrie.

"You would have found her twice as difficult to manage as Bob,
Mr. Bale. You would never have kept her in Philpot Lane, if I
hadn't taken her. There are some people can be tamed down, and
there are some who can't; and Carrie is one of the latter.

"I should pity you, from my heart, if you had her on your hands,
Mr. Bale. If ever I get to be a colonel, it is she will command the
regiment."

"Well, it is good that one of us should have sense, Gerald," his
wife said, laughing. "And now, you had better put the whisky on the
table, unless uncle would prefer some mulled port wine."

"Neither one nor the other, my dear. Your brother is half
asleep, now, and it is as much as I can do to keep my eyes open.
After the cold ride we have had, the sooner we get back to the
George, the better.

"We will breakfast there, Carrie. I don't know what your hours
are but, when I am away on a holiday, I always give myself a little
extra sleep. Besides, your husband will, I suppose, have to be on
duty; and I have no doubt it will suit you, as well as me, for us
to breakfast at the George."

"Perhaps it will be better, uncle, if you don't mind. Gerald
happens to be orderly officer for the day, and will have to get his
breakfast as he can, and will be busy all the morning; but I shall
be ready for you by ten."

At that hour Bob appeared, alone.

"Uncle won't come round till one o'clock, Carrie. He said he
should take a quiet stroll round, by himself, and look at the
ships; and that, no doubt, we should like to have a talk
together."

"Is he very cross with you, Bob?" she asked, anxiously. "You
know he really is kind at heart, very kind; but I am afraid he must
be very hard, as a master."

"Not a bit, Carrie. I expected he was going to be so, but he
isn't the least like that. He is very much liked by everyone there.
He doesn't say much, and he certainly looks stiff and grim enough
for anything; but he isn't so, really, not a bit."

"Didn't he scold you dreadfully about your upsetting those
twelve bottles of wine?"

"He never said a word about it, and I did not know at the time
he had seen me. John, the foreman--the one who used to take me out
in the holidays--would not have said anything about it. He said, of
course accidents did happen, sometimes, with the boys; and when
they did, he himself blew them up, and there was no occasion to
mention it to Mr. Bale, when it wasn't anything very serious. But
of course, I could not have that; and said that either he must tell
uncle, or I should.

"It really happened because my fingers were so cold I could not
feel the bottle. Of course the cellar is not cold, but I had been
outside, taking in a waggon load of bottles that had just arrived,
and counting them, and my fingers got regularly numbed.

"So John went to the counting house, and told him about the wine
being spilt. He said I wished him to tell him, and how it had
happened."

"What did uncle say, Bob?"

"He said he was glad to hear that I told John to tell him; but
that he knew it already, for he had just come down to the cellar
when the bottles went over and, as he didn't wish to interfere with
the foreman's work, had come back to the counting house without
anyone noticing he had been there. He said, of course boys could
not be trusted like men; and that, as he had chosen to put me
there, he must put up with accidents. He never spoke about it to
me, till last night."

"Well, he seemed very vexed about it, Bob, and made a great deal
of it."

"He didn't mean it, Carrie; and he knew I knew he didn't mean
it. He knows I am beginning to understand him."

That evening, Mr. Bale sent Bob back to the hotel by
himself.

"I thought I would get him out of the way," he said, when Bob
had left. "I wanted to have a chat with you about him.

"You see, Carrie, I acted hastily in taking him away from
school; but it seemed to me that he must be getting into a very bad
groove, to be playing such pranks as breaking out in the middle of
the night. I was sorry, afterwards; partly because it had upset all
my plans, partly because I was not sure that I had done the best
thing by him.

"I had intended that he should have stopped for another year, at
school; by that time he would be between sixteen and seventeen, and
I thought of taking him into the office for six months or so, to
begin with, for him to learn a little of the routine. Then I had
intended to send him out to Oporto, for two years, and then to
Cadiz for two years; so that he would have learnt Portuguese and
Spanish well, got up all there was to learn about the different
growths, and established friendly relations with my agents.

"Now, as it happens, all these plans have been upset. My agent
at Oporto died, a month ago. His son succeeds him. He is a young
man, and not yet married. In the first place, I don't suppose he
would care about being bothered with Bob; and in the second place,
boys of Bob's age are not likely to submit very quietly to the
authority of a foreigner. Then, too, your brother is full of
mischief and fun; and I don't suppose foreigners would understand
him, in the least, and he would get into all manner of scrapes.

"My correspondent at Cadiz is an elderly man, without a family,
and the same objection would arise in his case; and moreover, from
what I hear from him and from other Spanish sources, there is a
strong feeling against England in Spain and, now that we are at war
with France, and have troubles in America, I think it likely enough
they will join in against us. Of course my correspondent writes
cautiously, but in his last letter he strongly advises me to buy
largely, at once, as there is no saying about the future; and
several of my friends in the trade have received similar
advice.

"I have put the boy into the cellar for, at the moment, I could
see nothing else to do with him. But really, the routine he is
learning is of little importance, and there is no occasion for him
to learn to do these things himself. He would pick up all he wants
to know there, when he came back, in a very short time."

"Then what are you thinking of doing, uncle?" Carrie asked,
after a pause, as she saw that Mr. Bale expected her to say
something.

"It seems to me that a way has opened out of the difficulty. I
don't want him to go back to school again. He knows quite as much
Latin as is required, in an importer of wines. I want him to learn
Spanish and Portuguese, and to become a gentleman, and a man of the
world. I have stuck to Philpot Lane, all my life; but there is no
reason why he should do so, after me. Things are changing in the
city, and many of our merchants no longer live there, but have
houses in the country, and drive or ride to them. Some people shake
their heads over what they call newfangled notions. I think it is
good for a man to get right away from his business, when he has
done work.

"But this is not the point. Bob is too young to begin to learn
the business abroad. Two years too young, at least. But there is no
reason why he should not begin to learn Spanish. Now, I thought if
I could find someone I could intrust him to, where his home would
be bright and pleasant, he might go there for a couple of years.
Naturally I should be prepared to pay a fair sum--say 200 pounds a
year--for him, for of course no one is going to be bothered with a
boy, without being paid for it."

Carrie listened for something further to come. Then her husband
broke in:

"I see what you are driving at, Mr. Bale, and Carrie and myself
would be delighted to have him.

"Don't you see, Carrie? Your uncle means that Bob shall stop
with us, and learn the language there."

"That would be delightful!" Carrie exclaimed, enthusiastically.
"Do you really mean that, uncle?"

"That is really what I do mean, niece. It seems to me that that
is the very best thing we could do with the young scamp."

"It would be capital!" Carrie went on. "It is what I should like
above everything."

"A nicer arrangement couldn't be, Mr. Bale. It will suit us all.
Bob will learn the language, he will be a companion to Carrie when
I am on duty, and we will make a man of him. But he won't be able
to go out with us, I am afraid. Officers' wives and families get
their passages in the transports, but I am afraid it would be no
use to ask for one for Bob. Besides, we sail in four days."

"No, I will arrange about his passage, and so on.

"Well, I am glad that my proposal suits you both. The matter has
been worrying me for the last three months, and it is a comfort
that it is off my mind.

"I will go back to my hotel now. I will send Bob round in the
morning, and you can tell him about it."

Chapter 4: Preparations For A
Voyage.

Bob went round to the barracks at half past nine.

"Uncle says you have a piece of news to tell me, Carrie."

"My dear Bob," Captain O'Halloran said, "your uncle is a broth
of a boy. He would do credit to Galway; and if anyone says anything
to the contrary, I will have him out tomorrow morning."

"What has he been doing?" Bob asked.

"I told you, Carrie, yesterday, he wasn't a bit like what he
seemed."

"Well, Bob, you are not going to stay at his place of business
any longer."

"No! Where is he going to send me--to school again? I am not
sure I should like that, Carrie. I didn't want to leave, but I
don't think I should like to go back to Caesar, and Euclid, and all
those wretched old books again."

"Well, you are not going, Bob."

"Hurry up, Carrie!" her husband said. "Don't you see that you
are keeping the boy on thorns? Tell him the news, without beating
about the bush."

"Well, it is just this, Bob. You are to come out for two years
to live with us, at Gibraltar, and learn Spanish."

Bob threw his cap up to the ceiling, with a shout of delight;
executed a wild dance, rushed at his sister and kissed her
violently, and shook hands with her husband.

"That is glorious!" he said, when he had sufficiently recovered
himself for speech. "I said uncle was a brick, didn't I? But I
never dreamt of such a thing as this."

"He is going to pay, very handsomely, while you are with us,
Bob, so it will be really a great help to us. Besides, we will like
to have you with us. But you will have to work hard at Spanish, you
know."

"Oh, I will work hard," Bob said, confidently.

"And be very steady," Captain O'Halloran said, gravely.

"Of course," Bob replied. "But who are you going to hire to
teach me that?"

"You are an impudent boy, Bob," his sister said, while Captain
O'Halloran burst out laughing.

"Sure, he has us both there, Carrie. I wonder your uncle did not
make a proviso that we were to get one of the padres to look after
him."

"As if I would let a Spanish priest look after me!" Bob
said.

"I didn't mean a Spanish priest, Bob. I meant one of the army
chaplains. We always call them padres.

"That would be worth thinking about, Carrie."

"Oh, I say," Bob exclaimed in alarm, "that would spoil it,
altogether!"

"Well, we will see how you go on, Bob. We may not find it
necessary, you know; but you will find you have to mind your P's
and Q's, at Gib. It is a garrison place, you know, and they won't
stand nonsense there. If you played any tricks, they would turn you
outside the lines, or send you up to one of the caverns to live
with the apes."

"Are there apes?" Bob asked, eagerly. "They would be awful fun,
I should think. I have seen them at Exeter 'Change."

"There are apes, Bob; but if you think you are going to get near
enough to put salt on their tails, you are mistaken."

"But am I going out with you?" Bob asked. "Why, tomorrow is
Christmas Day, and you sail two days after, don't you? And I
shouldn't have time even to go up to town, and down to Putney, to
say goodbye to the fellows. I should like to do that, and tell them
that I am going abroad."

"You are not going with us, Bob, and you will have time for all
that. We could not take you in the transport, and uncle will
arrange for a passage for you, in some ship going out. Of course,
he knows all about vessels trading with Spain."

"Well, we sha'n't have to say goodbye, now," Bob said. "I
haven't said much about it, but I have been thinking a lot about
how horrid it would be, after being so jolly here, to have to say
goodbye; knowing that I shouldn't see you again, for years and
years. Now that is all over."

A few minutes later, Mr. Bale came in. He had assumed his most
businesslike expression, but Bob rushed up to him.

"Oh, uncle, I am so obliged to you! It is awfully kind."

"I thought the arrangement would be a suitable one," Mr. Bale
began.

"No, no, uncle," Bob broke in. "You would say that, if you were
in Philpot Lane. Now you know you can say that you thought it would
be the very jolliest thing that was ever heard of."

"I am afraid, niece, that the sentiment of respect for his
elders is not strongly developed in Bob."

"I am afraid not, uncle; but you see, if elders set an example
of being double-faced to their nephews, they must expect to forfeit
their respect."

"And it is a lot better being liked than being respected, isn't
it, uncle?"

"Perhaps it is, Bob, but the two things may go together."

"So they do, uncle. Only I keep my respect for Philpot Lane, and
it is all liking, here."

They spent two more delightful days at Portsmouth; visited some
of the ships of war, and the transport in which the 58th was to
sail, and went over the dockyard. The next morning, Mr. Bale and
Bob returned by the early coach to London, as the boxes and trunks
and the portable furniture had to be sent off, early, on board.

Mr. Medlin was less surprised, at hearing that Bob was going to
leave, than the latter had expected.

"You know, Bob, I was away one day last week. Well, I didn't
tell you at the time where I was, because I was ordered not to; but
your uncle said to me, the evening before:

"'I am going to drive down by coach to Windsor, Mr. Medlin, and
shall be glad if you will accompany me.'

"I guessed he wanted to talk about things outside the business,
and so it was. We had a capital dinner down there, and then we had
a long talk about you. I told him frankly that, though I was very
glad to have you with me, I really did not see that it was of any
use your being kept at that work. He said that he thought so, too,
and had an idea on which he wanted my opinion. He was thinking of
accepting your sister's invitation to go down and spend Christmas
with her; and intended to ask her if they would take charge of you,
for a couple of years, in order that you might learn Spanish. Of
course, I said that it was the very best thing in the world for
you; and would not be any loss of time because, if you could speak
Spanish well, you would learn the business much more quickly when
you went to Cadiz; and need not be so long abroad, then."

"I shall be awfully sorry to go away from you, Mr. Medlin, and
from Mrs. Medlin and the others. It has been so jolly with you, and
you have all been so kind."

"Yes, it has been very comfortable all round, Bob, and we shall
all be sorry that you are going; but I did not expect we should
have you long with us. I felt sure your uncle would see he had made
a mistake, in taking you into the place so young; and when he finds
out he has made a mistake, he says so. Some people won't; but I
have known him own up he has been wrong, after blowing up one of
the boys in the cellar for something he hadn't done. Now, there is
not one employer in a hundred who would do that.

"Yes, I felt sure that he would change his mind about you, and
either send you back to school again or make some other
arrangement; so I wasn't a bit surprised when he spoke to me, last
week. Still, we shall all be sorry, Bob."

Another fortnight, passed without Bob hearing more; except that
he was taken by Mr. Medlin to various shops, and a large outfit was
ordered.

"You will bear in mind two things, Mr. Medlin," his employer had
said. "In the first place, that my nephew will grow, in the next
two years. Therefore order some of his things to fit him, now, and
some to be made larger and in more manly fashion. Give instructions
that, when these are finished, they are to be put in tin cases and
soldered down, so as to be kept distinct from the others.

"In the second place, you will bear in mind that clothes which
would be perfectly right and suitable for him, here, will not be at
all suitable for him, there. He will be living with an officer, and
associating entirely with military men; and there must therefore be
a certain cut and fashion about his things. Of course, I don't want
him to look like a young fop; but you understand what I want. There
will be no boys out there, it is therefore better that he should
look a little older than he is. Besides, I think that boys--and
men, too--to some extent live up to their clothes.

"I do not think that I have anything else to say, Mr. Medlin;
except that, as he will not be able to replace any clothes he may
destroy out there, and as he is sure to be climbing about and
destroying them, in one way or another, it is necessary that an
ample supply should be laid in."

Mr. Medlin had scrupulously carried out all these instructions,
and Bob was almost alarmed at the extent of the wardrobe
ordered.

"I know what I am doing, Mr. Robert,"--for they were in the city
when Bob made his protest--"I am quite sure that my employer will
make no objection to my ordering largely; but he would certainly be
much displeased, if I did not order what he conceived to be
sufficient."

At the end of the fortnight, Mr. Bale informed Bob that he had
arranged for his passage to Gibraltar in the brig Antelope.

"She is bound to Valencia for fruit. She is a fast sailer, and
is well armed. There will be no other passengers on board but, as I
am acquainted with the captain--who has several times brought over
cargoes for me, from Cadiz and Oporto--he has agreed to take you. I
would rather you had gone in a ship sailing with a convoy but, as
there was a very strong one went, at the time the transports
sailed, there may not be another for some time. These small vessels
do not wait for convoys, but trust to their speed.

"You can now discontinue your work here, as you will probably
wish to go down to Putney, to say goodbye to your friends there.
The brig will sail next Monday; but you will go down on Saturday,
by coach, to Southampton, where she now is. I shall request Mr.
Medlin to see you on board. He tells me that your outfit is
completed; and your trunks, with the exception of what will be
required upon the voyage, will be sent off by the carrier waggon,
on Wednesday.

"On Thursday afternoon you will leave Mr. Medlin's, and stay
here till you start."

The week passed quickly. Bob enjoyed his day at Putney where,
after saying goodbye to his old schoolfellows, he called upon
Admiral Langton, who was very glad to hear of the change in his
prospects.

"It will do you good," he said, "to go out into the world, and
see a little of life. It was a dull thing, for a lad of your age
and spirits, to be cooped up in a counting house in the city; but
now that you are going to Gibraltar, and afterwards to Cadiz and
Oporto, and will not return to settle down to business until you
are one-and-twenty or so, I think that the prospect before you is a
very pleasant one; and I am glad that your uncle has proved
altogether different to your anticipations of him.

"Well, you are sure to see my son at Gibraltar, sometimes. I
shall write to him, and tell him that you are there; and as your
friend Sankey is on board the Brilliant, it will be pleasant for
both of you.

"Only don't lead him into scrapes, Bob. Midshipmen are up to
mischief enough, on their own account."

"Everyone always seems to think I am getting into scrapes,
admiral. I don't think I get into more than other fellows."

"I rather think you do, Bob. Mr. Tulloch certainly intimated, to
me, that you had a remarkable talent that way, if in no other.
Besides, your face tells its own story. Pickle is marked upon it,
as plainly as if it were printed.

"Now you must have supper with us, at seven o'clock, and catch
the eight o'clock stage. You can stay until then, I hope?"

"Yes, sir. I told Mr. Medlin that I might not come back until
the last stage."

At parting, the admiral placed a case in Bob's hands.

"There, my lad, are a brace of pistols. You won't have any use
for them for some years to come, I hope; but if you stay out in
Spain and Portugal, they may prove useful. Those fellows are very
handy with their knives; and it is always well to be armed if you
go about, at night, among them. I should advise you to practise
shooting, whenever you get an opportunity. A pistol is an excellent
weapon, if you really know how to use it; but is of no use at all,
if you don't.

"Another thing is, you may get involved in affairs of honour. I
consider duelling to be a foolish practice, but it is no use one
person standing up against a crowd. It is the fashion, in our days,
to fight duels and, therefore, it is almost a necessity for a
gentleman to be able to shoot straight; besides, although you might
be able to avoid fighting a duel with any of your countrymen, there
is no possibility of getting out of it, if you become involved in a
quarrel with a foreigner. In that case, an Englishman who showed
the white feather would be a disgrace to his country.

"Another advantage of being a good shot--I mean a really good
shot--is that, if you get forced into an affair, and are desirous
of giving a lesson, but no more, to an opponent, you have it in
your power to wing him; whereas, if you are only a tolerably good
shot, you can't pick your spot, and may--to your lasting
regret--kill him.

"But all this is in the future, Bob. I have fought several
duels, myself, with those very pistols, and I am happy to say I
have never killed my man; and shall be glad to believe, Bob, that
they will always be used in the same spirit."

Bob's last two evenings before sailing were more pleasant than
he had expected. Mr. Bale seemed to forget that he was still in
Philpot Lane, and chatted with him freely and confidentially.

"I hope that I am doing the best for you, Bob. I know this is an
experiment, and I can only trust that it will turn out well. I
believe you have plenty of sound sense, somewhere in your head; and
that this association with a number of young military men will not
have any bad effect upon you; but that, after four or five years
abroad, you will not be less, but rather more inclined to settle
down to business. I regard you as my son, and have indeed no
relations whom I care for in any way, except you and your sister. I
trust that, when you come back, you will apply yourself to
business; without becoming, as I have done, a slave to it.

"I might, if I chose, make you altogether independent of it; but
I am sure that would not be for your good. There is nothing more
unfortunate for a young man, belonging to the middle classes, than
to have no fixed occupation. The heir to large estates is in a
different position. He has all sorts of responsibilities. He has
the pursuits of a country gentleman, and the duties of a large
landowner. But the young man of our class, who does not take to
business, is almost certain to go in for reckless dissipation, or
gambling. I have seen numbers of young men, sons of old friends of
my own, who have been absolutely ruined by being left the fortunes
their fathers had made, simply because they had nothing with which
to occupy their minds.

"It is for this reason, Bob, that I chiefly wish you to succeed
me in my business. It is a very good one. I doubt whether any other
merchant imports such large quantities of wines as I do. During the
next few years I shall endeavour to give up, as far as I can, what
I may call private business, and deal entirely with the trade. I
have been doing so for some time, but it is very difficult to give
up customers who have dealt with me, and my father before me.
However, I shall curtail the business in that direction, as much as
I can; and you will then find it much more easily managed. Small
orders require just as much trouble in their execution as large
ones; and a wholesale business is, in all respects, more
satisfactory than one in which private customers are supplied, as
well as the trade.

"I am entering into arrangements, now, with several travellers,
for the purpose of extending my dealings with the trade in the
provinces; so that when it comes into your hands you will find it
more compact, and at the same time more extensive, than it is
now.

"I am glad that I have had you here, for the past four months. I
have had my eye upon you, more closely than you suppose; and I am
pleased to see that you have worked well and willingly--far more so
than I expected from you. This has much encouraged me in the hope
that you will, in time, settle down to business here; and not be
contented to lead a purposeless and idle life. The happiest man, in
my opinion, is he who has something to do--and yet, not too much;
who can, by being free from anxieties regarding it, view his
business as an occupation, and a pleasure; and who is its master,
and not its slave.

"I am thinking of giving Mr. Medlin a small interest in the
business. I mean to make a real effort to break a little loose from
it, and I have seen enough of him to know that he will make a very
valuable junior. He is a little eccentric, perhaps--a sort of
exaggeration of myself--but I shall signify to him that, when he
comes into the firm, I consider that it will be to its advantage
that he should import a little of what we may call his
'extra-official' manner into it.

"In our business, as I am well aware--although I do not possess
it, myself--a certain cheerfulness of disposition, and a generally
pleasing manner, are of advantage. Buyers are apt to give larger
orders than they otherwise would do, under the influence of
pleasant and genial relations; and Mr. Medlin can, if he chooses,
make up for my deficiencies in that way.

"But I am taking the step rather in your interest than in my
own. It will relieve you of a considerable portion of the burden of
the business, and will enable you to relax somewhat, when you are
disposed, if you have a partner in whom you can place thorough
confidence.

"I do not wish you to mention this matter to him. I would rather
open it to him, myself. We will go on another fishing expedition
together, and I think we can approach it, then, on a more pleasant
footing than we could here. He has modelled himself so thoroughly
upon me that the matter could only be approached in so intensely a
businesslike way, here, that I feel sure we should not arrive at
anything like such a satisfactory arrangement as we might do,
elsewhere."

In the course of the week, Captain Lockett of the Antelope had
called at the office, and Bob had been introduced to him by Mr.
Bale. He was a hearty and energetic looking man, of some
five-and-thirty years of age.

"I shall want you to go to Cadiz for me, next trip, Captain
Lockett," Mr. Bale said. "I am having an unusually large cargo
prepared for me--enough, I fancy, to fill up your brig."

"All the better, sir," the sailor said. "There is nothing like
having only one shipper--it saves time and trouble; but I should
advise you to insure it for its full value, for the channel swarms
with French privateers, at present; and the fellows are building
them bigger, and mounting heavier guns than they used to do.

"I am mounting a long eighteen as a swivel gun, this voyage, in
addition to those I carried before. But even with that, there are
some of these French craft might prove very awkward customers, if
they fell in with us. You see, their craft are crowded with men,
and generally carry at least twice as many hands as ours. It is
just the same with their fishing boats. It takes about three
Frenchmen to do the work of an Englishman."

"Well, don't get caught, this time, Captain Lockett. I don't
want my nephew to learn to speak French, instead of Spanish, for
there is very little trade to be done in that quarter, at present;
and what there is is all carried on by what I may call 'irregular'
channels."

"I fancy there is a great deal of French wine comes into this
country still, sir, in spite of the two nations being at war. It
suits both governments to wink at the trade. We want French wine,
and they want English money."

"That's so, Captain Lockett; but at any rate, we can't send
English buyers out there, and must take what they choose to
send."

On Saturday morning Bob said goodbye to his uncle, with an
amount of feeling and regret he would have considered impossible,
four months previously. Mr. Medlin accompanied him to Southampton,
and the journey was a very lively one.

"Goodbye, Bob," the clerk said, as they shook hands on the deck
of the Antelope. "You will be a man, when I see you again--that is,
if you don't come home, for a bit, before going to the people at
Cadiz and Oporto. You will be coming into the firm, then; and will
be Mr. Robert, always."

"Not if we go out fishing expeditions together," Bob said, and
laughed.

"Ah! Well, perhaps that will be an exception.

"Well, goodbye; a pleasant voyage to you, and don't get into
more scrapes than you can help."

"Oh, I am growing out of that, Mr. Medlin!"

"Not you, Bob. They may be different sorts of scrapes, in the
future; but scrapes there will be, or I am a Dutchman."

"Well, youngster, are you a good sailor?" the captain asked; as
the Antelope, with all sail set, ran down Southampton water.

"I hope I am, captain, but I don't know, yet. I have gone out
sailing in boats at Plymouth several times, in rough weather, and
have never felt a bit ill; but I don't know how it will be, in a
ship like this."

"If you can sail in rough water in a boat, without feeling ill,
you ought to be all right here, lad. She is an easy craft, as well
as a fast one; and makes good weather of it, in anything short of a
gale.

"There is eight bells striking--that means eight o'clock, and
breakfast. You had better lay in as good a store as you can. We
shall be outside the Needles, if the wind holds, by dinnertime; and
you may not feel so ready for it, then."

The second mate breakfasted in the cabin with the captain and
Bob, the first mate remaining on deck. The second mate was a young
man of three or four and twenty, a cousin of the captain. He was a
frank, pleasant-faced young sailor, and Bob felt that he should
like him.

"How many days do you expect to be in getting to Gibraltar,
captain?"

"About ten, if we have luck; twenty if we haven't. There is
never any saying."

"How many men do you carry?"

"Twenty-eight seamen, the cook, the steward, two mates, and
myself; and there are three boys. Thirty-six all told."

"I see you have eight guns, besides the pivot gun."

"Yes. We have plenty of hands for working them, if we only have
to fight one side at once; but we shouldn't be very strong handed,
if we had to work both broadsides. There are four sixteen pounders,
four twelves, and the pivot; so that gives three men to a gun,
besides officers and idlers. Three men is enough for the twelves,
but it makes rather slow work with the sixteens. However, we may
hope that we sha'n't have to work both broadsides at once.

"We carry a letter of marque so that, in case of our having the
luck to fall in with a French trader, we can bring her in. But that
is not our business. We are peaceful traders, and don't want to
show our teeth, unless we are interfered with."

To Bob's great satisfaction, he found that he was able to eat
his dinner with unimpaired appetite; although the Antelope was
clear of the island, and was bowing deeply to a lively sea. The
first mate--a powerful looking man of forty, who had lost one eye,
and whose face was deeply seamed by an explosion of powder in an
engagement with a French privateer--came down to the meal, while
the second mate took the duty on deck. Bob found some difficulty in
keeping his dish before him, for the Antelope was lying well over,
with a northerly wind abeam.

"She is travelling well, Probert," the captain said. "We have
got her in capital trim, this time. Last time we were too light,
and could not stand up to our sails.

"If this wind holds, we shall make a fast run of it. We will
keep her well inshore, until we get down to the Scillys; and then
stretch across the bay. The nearer we keep to the coast, the less
fear there is of our running against one of those French
privateers."

The wind held steady, and Bob enjoyed the voyage immensely, as
the brig sailed along the coast. After passing Portland Bill they
lost sight of land until, after eight hours' run, a bold headland
appeared on the weather beam.

"That is the Start," the captain said. "When I get abeam of it
we shall take our bearings, and then shape our course across the
bay. If this wind does but hold, we shall make quick work of
it."

Presently the tiller was put up and, as the brig's head paid
off, the yards were braced square; and she ran rapidly along
towards the southwest, with the wind nearly dead aft. The next
morning when Bob went on deck he found that the wind had dropped,
and the brig was scarcely moving through the water.

"This is a change, Mr. Probert," he said to the first mate, who
was in charge of the deck.

"Yes, and not a pleasant one," the officer replied. "I don't
like the look of the sky, either. I have just sent down to the
captain, to ask him to step on deck."

Bob looked round. The sky was no longer bright and clear. There
was a dull, heavy look overhead; and a smoky haze seemed to hang
over the horizon, all round. Bob thought it looked dull, but
wondered why the mate should send for the captain.

The latter came up on deck, in a minute or two.

"I don't much like the look of the sky, sir," the mate said.
"The wind has died suddenly out, this last half hour; and the swell
has got more kick in it than it had. I fancy the wind is going
round to the southwest; and that, when it does come, it will come
hard."

"I think you are right, Mr. Probert. I glanced at the glass, as
I came up, and it has fallen half an inch since I was up on deck in
the middle watch. I think you had better begin to take in sail, at
once. Call the watch up from below. It is not coming yet; but we
may as well strip her, at once."

The mate gave the order to the boatswain, whose shrill whistle
sounded out, followed by the shout of "All hands to take in
sail!"

The watch below tumbled up.

"Take the royals and topgallant sails off her, Mr. Probert.
Double reef the topsails, and get in the courses."

Bob watched the men as they worked aloft, and marvelled at the
seeming carelessness with which they hung on, where the slip of a
foot or hand would mean sudden death; and wondered whether he could
ever attain such steadiness of head. Three quarters of an hour's
hard work and the mast was stripped, save for the reduced
topsails.

"Get in two of the jibs, and brail up the spanker."

This was short work. When it was done the second mate, who had
been working forward, looked to the captain for further orders. The
latter had again gone below, but was now standing on the poop,
talking earnestly with the first mate.

"Yes, I think you are right," Bob heard the captain say. "The
glass is still falling and, very likely, it will be some time
before we want these light spars again. There is nothing like being
snug."

"Aloft again, lads!" the mate sung out, "and send down the yards
and topgallant masts."

"Now she is ready for anything," the captain said, when the men
again descended to the deck.

Bob, who had been so intently watching the men that he had not
looked round at the sky, since they first went aloft, now had time
to do so; and was startled with the change that had come over the
sea, and sky. There was not a breath of wind. There was a dull,
oily look on the water, as it heaved in long, regular waves,
unbroken by the slightest ripple. Black clouds had banked up from
the southwest, and extended in a heavy arch across the sky, but
little ahead of the brig. From its edge ragged, fragments seemed to
break off suddenly, and fly out ahead.

"It is going to blow, and no mistake," the captain said. "It is
lucky that we have had plenty of time to get her into fighting
trim.

"You had better get hold of something, lad, and clutch it tight.
It will begin with a heavy squall and, like enough, lay her pretty
well over on her beam ends, when it strikes her."

Higher and higher the threatening arch rose, till its edge stood
over the mainmast. Then the captain cried:

"Here it comes, lads. Hold on, every one!"

Looking ahead, Bob saw a white line. It approached with
wonderful rapidity, and with a confused, rushing sound. Then in a
moment he felt himself clinging, as if for life, to the stanchion
of which he had taken hold. The wind almost wrenched him from his
feet while, at the same moment, a perfect deluge of water came down
upon him.

He felt the brig going further and further over, till the deck
beneath his feet seemed almost perpendicular. The captain and first
mate had both grasped the spokes of the wheel, and were aiding the
helmsman in jamming it down. Bob had no longer a hold for his feet,
and was hanging by his arms. Looking down, the sea seemed almost
beneath him but, with a desperate effort, he got hold of the rail
with one hand, and then hauled himself up under it, clinging tight
to the main shrouds. Then he saw the second mate loose the jib
halliards, while one of the sailors threw off the fore-staysail
sheet, and the spanker slowly brought the brig's head up into the
wind.

As it did so she righted, gradually, and Bob regained his place
on deck; which was still, however, lying over at a very
considerable angle. The captain raised his hand, and pointed to the
main topsail; and the second mate at once made his way aft with
some of the men and, laying out on the weather rigging, made his
way aloft. The danger seemed, to Bob, so frightful that he dared
not look up. He could hear, through the pauses of the blast, the
mate shout to the men above him and, in a few minutes, they again
descended to the deck.

Even Bob could feel how much the brig was relieved, when the
pressure of the topsail was taken off. The lower planks of the deck
rose from the water and, although this still rushed in and out
through the scupper holes, and rose at times to the level of the
bulwark rail, he felt that the worst was over.

One of the men was called to assist at the helm, and the captain
and mate came forward to the poop rail.

"That was touch and go, youngster!" the former shouted to
Bob.

"It was," Bob said. "More go than touch, I should say; for I
thought she had gone, altogether."

"You had better go below, and change your things. Tell the
steward to bring me my oilskins, out of my cabin. You had better
keep below, until this rain has stopped."

Bob thought the advice was good; so he went down and got into
dry clothes, and then lay down on the cabin sofa, to leeward--he
could not have kept his place, on the other side. The rain was
still falling so heavily, on deck, that it sounded like a waggon
passing overhead; and mingled with this noise was the howl of the
wind, and the swashing of the water against the ship's side.
Gradually the motion of the vessel became more violent, and she
quivered from bow to stern, as the waves struck her.

Although it was early in the afternoon, it became almost as dark
as night in the cabin. The steward had brought him a glass of hot
grog, as soon as he had changed his clothes and, in spite of the
din, he presently fell off to sleep. When he woke the rain had
ceased; but the uproar caused by the howling of the wind, the
creaking of the spars, and the dashing of the waves was as loud as
before.

He soon made his way up on deck, and found that a tremendous sea
was running. The fore-topsail had been got off the ship, the
weather sheets of the jib and fore-staysail hauled across, and the
vessel was making comparatively little way through the water. She
was, in fact--although Bob did not know it--lying to, under these
sails and the spanker.

It all looked so terrible, to him, that he kept his place but a
few minutes; and was then glad to return to the sofa, below. In a
short time, the captain came down.

"How are you getting on, lad? All in the dark, eh?

"Steward, light the lamp, and bring me a tumbler of hot grog.
Keep the water boiling; the other officers will be down,
directly.

"Well, what do you think of it, young gentleman?"

"I don't like it, at all," Bob said. "I thought I should like to
see a storm, but I never want to see one, again."

"I am not surprised at that," the captain said, with a laugh.
"It is all very well to read about storms, but it is a very
different thing to be caught in one."

"Is there any danger, sir?"

"There is always more or less danger, in a storm, lad; but I
hope, and think, the worst is over. We are in for a heavy gale but,
now that the brig has got through the first burst, there is not
much fear of her weathering it. She is a capital sea boat, well
found and in good trim; and we were fortunate enough in having
sufficient warning to get her snug, before the first burst
came.

"That is always the most dangerous point. When a ship has way on
her, she can stand almost any gale; but when she is caught by a
heavy squall, when she is lying becalmed, you have to look out.
However, she got through that without losing anything; and she is
lying to, now, under the smallest possible canvas and, if all goes
well, there is no reason, whatever, for anxiety."

"What do you mean by 'if all goes well,' captain?"

"I mean as long as one of her masts isn't carried away, or
anything of that sort. I daresay you think it rough, now, but it is
nothing to what it will be by tomorrow morning. I should advise you
to turn in, at once. You could see nothing, if you went up; and
would run the risk of being washed overboard, or of getting a limb
broken."

Bob's recollections of his position, as the ship heeled over
when the storm struck her, were still far too vivid for him to have
any desire for a repetition of it; and he accordingly took the
captain's advice, and turned in at once.

When he got up in the morning and, with some difficulty, made
his way on deck he found that, as the captain predicted, the sea
was far heavier than the night before. Great ridges of water bore
down upon the ship, each seeming as if it would overwhelm her; and
for the first few minutes Bob expected to see the brig go, head
foremost, and sink under his feet. It was not till he reflected
that she had lived through it for hours that he began to view the
scene with composure. Although the waves were much higher than when
he had left the deck on the previous afternoon, the scene was
really less terrifying.

The sky was covered with masses of gray cloud, ragged and torn,
hurrying along with great velocity, apparently but a short distance
above the masthead. When the vessel rose on a wave, it seemed to
him that the clouds, in places, almost touched the water, and
mingled with the masses of spray caught up by the waves. The scud,
borne along by the wind, struck his face with a force that caused
it to smart and, for a time, he was unable to face the gale even
for a minute.

The decks were streaming with water. The boats had disappeared
from the davits, and a clean sweep seemed to have been made of
everything movable. Forward was a big gap in the bulwark and, as
the brig met the great waves, masses of green water poured in
through this, and swept along the deck waist deep. The brig was
under the same sail as before, except that she now showed a
closely-reefed fore-topsail.

When he became a little accustomed to the sea, and to the
motion, he watched his time; and then made a rush across from the
companion to the weather bulwark, and got a firm hold of one of the
shrouds. The captain and the second mate were on the poop, near the
wheel. The former made his way to him.

"Good morning, Master Repton! Managed to get some sleep?"

"Yes, I have slept all night, captain. I say, isn't this
tremendous? I did not think anything could be like this. It is
splendid, you know, but it takes one's breath away.

"I don't think it is blowing quite so hard, is it?"

"Every bit as hard, but it is more regular, and you are
accustomed to it."

"But I see you have got up some more sail."

"Yes, that's to steady her. You see, when she gets into the
trough between these great waves, the lower sails are almost
becalmed; and we are obliged to show something above them, to keep
a little way on her. We are still lying to, you see, and meet the
waves head on. If her head was to fall off a few points, and one of
these waves took her on the beam, she would go down like a
stone.

"Yes, the brig is doing very handsomely. She has a fine run,
more like a schooner than a brig; and she meets the waves easily,
and rises to them as lightly as a feather. She is a beauty!

"If you are going to stay here, lad, you had better lash
yourself; for it is not safe, standing as you are."

Chapter 5: A French Privateer.

As he became more accustomed to the scene around him, and found
that the waves were more terrible in appearance than reality, Bob
began to enjoy it, and to take in its grandeur and wildness. The
bareness of the deck had struck him, at once; and he now saw that
four of the cannon were gone--the two forward guns, on each
side--and he rightly supposed that these must have been run out,
and tumbled overboard, to lighten the ship forward, and enable her
to rise more easily to the waves.

An hour later, the second mate came along.

"You had better come down and get some breakfast," he said. "I
am going down first."

Bob threw off the rope, and followed the mate down into the
cabin. Mr. Probert had just turned out. He had been lying down for
two or three hours, having gone down as daylight broke.

"The captain says you had better take something before you go on
deck, Mr. Probert," the second mate said. "He will come down,
afterwards, and turn in for an hour or two."

"No change, I suppose?"

"No. She goes over it like a duck. The seas are more regular,
now, and she is making good weather of it."

Bob wondered, in his own mind, what she would do if she was
making bad weather.

The meal was an irregular one. The steward brought in three
large mugs, half filled with coffee; a basket of biscuits, and a
ham. From this he cut off some slices, which he laid on biscuits;
and each of them ate their breakfast, holding their mugs in one
hand, and their biscuits and ham in the other.

As soon as they had finished, the two officers went on deck and,
directly afterwards, the captain came down. Bob chatted with him
until he had finished his breakfast, and then went up on deck
again, for two or three hours. At the end of that time he felt so
completely exhausted, from the force of the wind and the constant
change of the angle at which he was standing, that he was glad to
go below and lie down again.

There was no regular dinner, the officers coming below by turns,
and taking a biscuit and a chunk of cold meat, standing. But at
teatime the captain and second mate came down together; and Bob,
who had again been up on deck for a bit, joined them in taking a
large bowl of coffee.

"I think the wind is blowing harder than ever," he said to the
captain.

"Yes, the glass has begun to rise a little, and that is
generally a sign you are getting to the worst of it. I expect it is
a three days' gale, and we shall have it at its worst, tonight. I
hope by this time, tomorrow, we shall be beginning to shake out our
reefs.

"You had better not go up, any more. It will be dark in half an
hour, and your bunk is the best place for you."

Bob was not sorry to obey the order, for he felt that the scene
would be a very terrible one, after dark. The night, however,
seemed to him to be a miserably long one; for he was only able to
doze off occasionally, the motion being so violent that he had to
jam himself in his berth, to prevent himself from being thrown out.
The blows with which the waves struck the ship were tremendous; and
so deeply did she pitch that, more than once, he thought that she
would never come up again; but go down, head foremost. Once he
thought he heard a crash, and there were orders shouted, on the
deck above him; but he resisted the desire to go up and see what it
was, for he knew that he could do nothing; and that, in the
darkness, he could see but little of what was going on.

With the first gleam of daylight, however, he got out of the
bunk. He had not attempted to undress, having taken off his shoes,
only, when he lay down. Having put these on again, he went up.
There was but little change since the previous morning but, looking
forward, he saw that the bowsprit was gone, and the fore-topmast
had been carried away. The sea was as high as ever, but patches of
blue sky showed overhead between the clouds, and the wind was
blowing somewhat less violently.

"We have been in the wars, you see, youngster," the captain
said, when Bob made his way aft; "but we may thank God it was no
worse. We have had a pretty close squeak of it, but the worst is
over, now. The wind is going down, and the gale will have blown
itself out by this evening. It was touch-and-go several times
during the night and, if she had had a few more tons of cargo in
her, she would never have risen from some of those waves; but I
think, now, we shall see Oporto safely--which was more than I
expected, about midnight."

For some hours Bob, himself, had considerable doubts as to this,
so deeply did the brig bury herself in the waves; but after twelve
o'clock the wind fell rapidly and, although the waves showed no
signs of decreasing in height, their surface was smoother, and they
seemed to strike the vessel with less force and violence.

"Now, Mr. Probert," said the captain, "do you and Joe turn in,
till first watch. I will take charge of the deck. After that, you
can set regular watches again."

The main-topsail was already on her and, at six o'clock, the
captain had two of its reefs shaken out; and the other reef was
also loosed, when Mr. Probert came up and took charge of the first
watch, at eight bells. That night Bob lay on the floor, for the
motion was more violent than before--the vessel rolling, gunwale
under--for the wind no longer pressed upon her sails, and kept her
steady, and he would have found it impossible to maintain his
position in his berth.

In the morning, he went up. The sun was rising in an unclouded
sky. There was scarce a breath of wind. The waves came along in
high, glassy rollers--smooth mounds of water which extended, right
and left, in deep valleys and high ridges. The vessel was rolling
tremendously, the lower yards sometimes touching the water. Bob had
to wait some time before he could make a rush across to the bulwark
and, when he did so, found it almost impossible to keep his feet.
He could see that the men forward were no longer crouching for
shelter under the break of the fo'castle, but were holding on by
the shrouds or stays, smoking their pipes, and laughing and joking
together. Until the motion abated somewhat, it was clearly
impossible to commence the work of getting things in order.

"Did the bowsprit and mast both go, together?" Bob asked Joe
Lockett, who was holding on to the bulwark, near him.

"Yes, the bowsprit went with the strain when she rose, having
buried herself halfway up the waist; and the topmast snapped like a
carrot, a moment later. That was the worst dive we made. There is
no doubt that getting rid of the leverage of the bowsprit, right up
in her eyes, eased her a good bit; and as the topmast was a pretty
heavy spar, too, that also helped."

"How long will it be before the sea goes down?"

"If you mean goes down enough for us to get to work--a few
hours. If you mean goes down altogether, it will be five or six
days before this swell has quite flattened down, unless a wind
springs up from some other quarter."

"I meant till the mast can be got up again."

"Well, this afternoon the captain may set the men at work; but I
don't think they would do much good, and there would be a good
chance of getting a limb broken. As long as this calm holds there
is no hurry, one way or the other."

"You mean, because we couldn't be sailing, even if we had
everything set?"

"Well, yes, that is something, but I didn't mean that. I am not
thinking so much of our sailing, as of other people's. We are not
very fit, as we are now, either for fighting or running, and I
should be sorry to see a French privateer coming along; but as long
as the calm continues, there is no fear of that; and I expect there
have been few ships out, in this gale, who have not got repairs to
do as well as we have."

After dinner, an effort was made to begin the work; but the
captain soon ordered the men to desist.

"It is of no use, Mr. Probert. We shall only be getting some of
the men killed. It wouldn't be possible to get half done before
dark and, if the sea goes down a bit, tonight, they will get as
much done in an hour's work, in the morning, as they would if they
were to work from now to sunset.

"The carpenter might get some canvas, and nail it so as to hide
those gaps in the bulwark. That will be something done. The boys
can give it a coat of paint, in the morning. But as for the spar,
we must leave it."

All hands were at work, next morning, with the first gleam of
daylight. The rollers were still almost as high as the day before;
but there was now a slight breath of wind, which sufficed to give
the vessel steerage way. She was put head to the rollers, changing
the motion from the tremendous rolling, when she was lying
broadside to them, for a regular rise and fall that interfered but
little with the work. A spare spar was fitted in the place of the
bowsprit, the stump of the topmast was sent down, and the
topgallant mast fitted in its place and, by midday, the light spars
were all in their places again, and the brig was showing a fair
spread of canvas; and a casual observer would, at a distance, have
noticed but slight change in her appearance.

"That has been a good morning's work," the captain said, as they
sat down to dinner. "We are a little short of head-sail, but that
will make no great difference in our rate of sailing, especially if
the wind is aft. We are ready to meet with another storm again, if
it should come--which is not likely.

"We are ready for anything, in fact, except a heavily-armed
privateer. The loss of four of our guns has crippled us. But there
was no choice about the matter; it went against my heart to see
them go overboard, but it was better to lose four guns than to lose
the ship.

"I hope we shall meet with nothing till we get through the
Straits. I may be able to pick up some guns, at Gibraltar. Prizes
are often brought in there, and condemned, and there are sales of
stores; so I hope to be able to get her into regular fighting trim,
again, before I clear out from there.

"I should think you won't be sorry when we drop anchor off the
Mole, youngster?"

"I am in no hurry, now," Bob said. "I would have given a good
deal--if I had had it--two days ago, to have been on dry land but,
now that we are all right again, I don't care how long we are,
before we get there. It is very warm and pleasant, a wonderful
change after what it was when we sailed.

"Whereabouts are we, captain?"

"We are a good bit farther to the east than I like," the captain
replied. "We have been blown a long way into the bay. There is a
great set of current, in here. We have drifted nearly fifty miles
in, since noon yesterday. We are in 4 degrees 50 minutes west
longitude, and 45 degrees latitude."

"I don't think that means anything to me."

"No, I suppose not," the captain laughed. "Well, it means we are
nearly due west of Bordeaux, and about one hundred miles from the
French coast, and a little more than eighty north of Santander, on
the Spanish coast. As the wind is sou'-sou'west we can lay our
course for Cape Ortegal and, once round there, we shall feel more
comfortable."

"But don't you feel comfortable at present, captain?"

"Well, not altogether. We are a good deal too close in to the
French coast; and we are just on the track of any privateer that
may be making for Bordeaux, from the west or south, or going out in
those directions. So, although I can't say I am absolutely
uncomfortable, I shall be certainly glad when we are back again on
the regular track of our own line of traffic for the Straits or
Portugal. There are English cruisers on that line, and privateers
on the lookout for the French, so that the sound of guns might
bring something up to our assistance; but there is not much chance
of meeting with a friendly craft, here--unless it has, like
ourselves, been blown out of its course."

A lookout had already been placed aloft. Several sails were seen
in the distance, in the course of the afternoon, but nothing that
excited suspicion. The wind continued light and, although the brig
had every sail set, she was not making more than five and a half
knots an hour through the water. In the evening the wind dropped
still more and, by nine o'clock, the brig had scarcely steerage
way.

"It is enough to put a saint out of temper," the captain said,
as he came down into the cabin, and mixed himself a glass of grog
before turning in. "If the wind had held, we should have been
pretty nearly off Finisterre, by morning. As it is, we haven't made
more than forty knots since we took the observation, at noon."

Bob woke once in the night; and knew, by the rippling sound of
water, and by the slight inclination of his berth, that the breeze
had sprung up again. When he woke again the sun was shining
brightly, and he got up and dressed leisurely; but as he went into
the cabin he heard some orders given, in a sharp tone, by the
captain on deck, and quickened his pace up the companion, to see
what was going on.

"Good morning, Mr. Lockett!" he said to the second mate, who was
standing close by, looking up at the sails.

"Good morning, Master Repton!" he replied, somewhat more shortly
than usual.

"There is a nice breeze this morning," Bob went on. "We seem
going on at a good rate."

"I wish she were going twice as fast," the mate said. "There is
a gentleman over there who seems anxious to have a talk with us,
and we don't want to make his acquaintance."

Bob looked round and saw, over the quarter, a large lugger some
three miles away.

"What vessel is that?" he asked.

"That is a French privateer--at least, there is very little
doubt about it. We must have passed each other in the dark for,
when we first made him out, he was about four miles away, sailing
northeast. He apparently sighted us, just as we made him out; and
hauled his wind, at once. He has gained about a mile on us, in the
last two hours. We have changed our course; and are sailing, as you
see, northwest, so as to bring the wind on our quarter; and I don't
think that fellow has come up much, since. Still, he does come up.
We feel the loss of our sail, now."

It seemed to Bob, looking up, that there was already an immense
amount of canvas on the brig. Stunsails had been set on her, and
she was running very fast through the water.

"We seem to have more canvas set than that vessel behind us," he
said.

"Yes, we have more, but those luggers sail like witches. They
are splendid boats, but they want very big crews to work them. That
is the reason why you scarcely ever see them, with us, except as
fishing craft, or something of that sort. I daresay that lugger has
a hundred men on board--eighty, anyhow--so it is no wonder we
sometimes get the worst of it. They always carry three hands to our
two and, very often, two to our one. Of course we are really a
trader, though we do carry a letter of marque. If we were a regular
privateer, we should carry twice as many hands as we do."

Walking to the poop rail, Bob saw that the men were bringing up
shot, and putting them in the racks by the guns. The breech covers
had been taken off. The first officer was overlooking the work.

"Well, lad," Captain Lockett said, coming up to him, "you see
that unlucky calm has got us into a mess, after all and, unless the
wind drops again, we are going to have to fight for it."

"Would the wind dropping help us, sir?"

"Yes, we have more canvas on her than the lugger carries and, if
the breeze were lighter, should steal away from her. As it is, she
doesn't gain much; but she does gain and, in another two or three
hours, she will be sending a messenger to ask us to stop."

"And what will you do, captain?"

"We shall send another messenger back, to tell her to mind her
own business. Then it will be a question of good shooting. If we
can knock out one of her masts, we shall get off; if we can't, the
chances are we shall see the inside of a French prison.

"If she once gets alongside, it is all up with us. She can carry
us, by boarding; for she can throw three times our strength of men
on to our deck."

There was but little talking on board the brig. When the men had
finished their preparations, they stood waiting by the bulwarks;
watching the vessel in chase of them, and occasionally speaking
together in low tones.

"You may as well pipe the hands to breakfast, Mr. Probert. I
have told the cook to give them an extra good meal. After that, I
will say a few words to them.

"Now, Master Repton, we may as well have our meal. We mayn't get
another good one, for some time; but I still hope that we shall be
able to cripple that fellow. I have great faith in that long
eighteen. The boatswain is an old man-o'-war's-man, and is a
capital shot. I am a pretty good one, myself and, as the sea is
smooth, and we have a good steady platform to fire from, I have
good hope we shall cripple that fellow before he comes up to
us."

There was more talking than usual, at breakfast. Captain Lockett
and the second mate both laughed, and joked, over the approaching
fight. Mr. Probert was always a man of few words, and he said but
little, now.

"The sooner they come up, the better," he growled. "I hate this
running away, especially when you can't run fastest."

"The men will all do their best, I suppose, Probert? You have
been down among them."

The first mate nodded.

"They don't want to see the inside of a prison, captain, no more
than I do. They will stick to the guns; but I fancy they know, well
enough, it will be no use if it comes to boarding."

"No use at all, Probert. I quite agree with you, there. If she
comes up alongside, we must haul down the flag. It is of no use
throwing away the men's lives, by fighting against such odds as
that. But we mustn't let her get up."

"That is it, sir. We have got to keep her off, if it can be
done. We shall have to haul our wind a little, when we begin, so as
to get that eighteen to bear on her."

"Yes, we must do that," the captain said. "Then we will get the
other four guns over on the same side."

After breakfast was over, the captain went up and took his
station at the poop rail. The men had finished their breakfast and,
on seeing that the captain was about to address them, moved
aft.

"My lads," he said, "that Frenchman behind will be within range,
in the course of another hour. What we have got to do is to knock
some of her spars out of her and, as she comes up slowly, we shall
have plenty of time to do it. I daresay she carries a good many
more guns than we do, but I do not suppose that they are heavier
metal. If she got alongside of us, she would be more than our
match; but I don't propose to let her get alongside and, as I don't
imagine any of you wish to see the inside of a French prison, I
know you will all do your best.

"Let there be no hurrying in your fire. Aim at her spars, and
don't throw a shot away. The chances are all in our favour; for we
can fight all our guns, while she can fight only her bow
chasers--at any rate, until she bears up. She doesn't gain on us
much now and, when she comes to get a few shot holes in her sails,
it will make the difference. I shall give ten guineas to be divided
among the men at the first gun that knocks away one of her spars;
and five guineas, besides, to the man who lays the gun."

The men gave a cheer.

"Get the guns all over to the port side. I shall haul her wind,
a little, as soon as we are within range."

By five bells, the lugger was within a mile and a half. The men
were already clustered round the pivot gun.

"Put her helm down, a little," the captain ordered. "That is
enough.

"Now, boatswain, you are well within range. Let us see what you
can do. Fire when you have got her well on your sights."

A few seconds later there was a flash, and a roar. All eyes were
directed on the lugger, which the captain was watching through his
glass. There was a shout from the men. The ball had passed through
the great foresail, a couple of feet from the mast.

"Very good," the captain said. "Give her a trifle more
elevation, next time. If you can hit the yard, it will be just as
good as hitting the mast.

"Ah! There she goes!"

Two puffs of white smoke broke out from the lugger's bow. One
shot struck the water nearly abreast of the brig, at a distance of
ten yards. The other fell short.

"Fourteens!" the captain said. "I thought she wouldn't have
eighteens, so far forward."

Shot after shot was fired but, so far, no serious damage had
been caused by them. The brig had been hulled once, and two shots
had passed through her sails.

The captain went, himself, to the pivot gun; and laid it
carefully. Bob stood watching the lugger intently, and gave a shout
as he saw the foresail run rapidly down.

"It is only the slings cut," the second mate--who was standing
by him--said. "They will have it up again, in a minute. If the shot
had been the least bit lower, it would have smashed the yard."

The lugger came into the wind and, as she did so, eight guns
flashed out from her side while, almost at the same moment, the
four broadside guns of the Antelope were, for the first time,
discharged. Bob felt horribly uncomfortable, for a moment, as the
shot hummed overhead; cutting one of the stunsail booms in two, and
making five fresh holes in the sails.

"Take the men from the small guns, Joe, and get that sail in,"
the captain said. "Its loss is of no consequence."

In half a minute, the lugger's foresail again rose; and she
continued the chase, heading straight for the brig.

"He doesn't like this game of long bowls, Probert," the captain
said. "He intends to come up to board, instead of trusting to his
guns.

"Now, boatswain, you try again."

The brig was now sailing somewhat across the lugger's bows, so
that her broadside guns--trained as far as possible aft--could all
play upon her; and a steady fire was kept up, to which she only
replied by her two bow chasers. One of the men had been knocked
down, and wounded, by a splinter from the bulwark; but no serious
damage had so far been inflicted, while the sails of the lugger
were spotted with shot holes.

Bob wished, heartily, that he had something to do; and would
have been glad to have followed the first mate's example--that
officer having thrown off his coat, and taken the place of the
wounded man in working a gun--but he felt that he would only be in
the way, did he try to assist. Steadily the lugger came up, until
she was little more than a quarter of a mile behind them.

"Now, lads," the captain shouted, "double shot the guns--this is
your last chance. Lay your guns carefully, and all fire together,
when I give the word.

"Now, are you all ready? Fire!"

The five guns flashed out together, and the ten shot sped on
their way. The splinters flew from the lugger's foremast, in two
places; but a cry of disappointment rose, as it was seen that it
was practically uninjured.

"Look, look!" the captain shouted. "Hurrah, lads!" and a cloud
of white canvas fell over, to leeward of the lugger.

Her two masts were nearly in line, and the shot that had
narrowly missed the foremast, and passed through the foresail, had
struck the mainmast and brought it, and its sail, overboard. The
crew of the brig raised a general cheer. A minute before a French
prison had stared them in the face, and now they were free. The
helm was instantly put up, and the brig bore straight away from her
pursuer.

"What do you say, Probert? Shall we turn the tables, now, and
give her a pounding?"

"I should like to, sir, nothing better; but it would be
dangerous work. Directly she gets free of that hamper, she will be
under command, and will be able to bring her broadside to play on
us; and if she had luck, and knocked away one of our spars, she
would turn the tables upon us. Besides, even if we made her strike
her colours, we could never take her into port. Strong handed as
she is, we should not dare to send a prize crew on board."

"You are right, Probert--though it does seem a pity to let her
go scot free, when we have got her almost at our mercy."

"Not quite, sir. Look there."

The lugger had managed to bring her head sufficiently up into
the wind for her broadside guns to bear, and the shot came hurtling
overhead. The yard of the main-topsail was cut in sunder, and the
peak halliard of the spanker severed, and the peak came down with a
run. They could hear a faint cheer come across the water from the
lugger.

"Leave the guns, lads, and repair damages!" the captain
shouted.

"Throw off the throat halliards of the spanker, get her down,
and send a hand up to reef a fresh rope through the blocks, Mr.
Probert.

"Joe, take eight men with you, and stow away the topsail. Send
the broken yard down.

"Carpenter, see if you have got a light spar that will do,
instead of it. If not, get two small ones, and lash them so as to
make a splice of it."

In a minute the guns of the lugger spoke out again but, although
a few ropes were cut away, and some more holes made in the sails,
no serious damage was inflicted and, before they were again loaded,
the spanker was rehoisted. The lugger continued to fire, but the
brig was now leaving her fast. As soon as the sail was up, the
pivot gun was again set to work; and the lugger was hulled several
times but, seeing that her chance of disabling the brig was small,
she was again brought before the wind.

In half an hour a new topsail yard was ready, and that sail was
again hoisted. The Antelope had now got three miles away from the
lugger. As the sail sheeted home, the second mate shouted, from
aloft:

"There is a sail on the weather bow, sir! She is close hauled,
and sailing across our head."

"I see her," the captain replied.

"We ought to have noticed her before, Mr. Probert. We have all
been so busy that we haven't been keeping a lookout.

"What do you make her to be, Joe?" he said to the second
mate.

"I should say she was a French frigate, sir."

The captain ascended the shrouds with his glass, remained there
two or three minutes watching the ship, and then returned to the
deck.

"She is a frigate, certainly, Mr. Probert, and by the cut of her
sails I should say a Frenchman. We are in an awkward fix. She has
got the weather gage of us. Do you think, if we put up helm and ran
due north, we should come out ahead of her?"

The mate shook his head.

"Not if the wind freshens, sir, as I think it will. I should say
we had best haul our wind, and make for one of the Spanish ports.
We might get into Santander."

"Yes, that would be our best chance.

"All hands 'bout ship!"

The vessel's head was brought up into the wind, and payed off on
the other tack, heading south--the frigate being, now, on her
weather quarter. This course took the brig within a mile and a half
of the lugger, which fired a few harmless shots at her. When she
had passed beyond the range of her guns, she shaped her course
southeast by east for Santander, the frigate being now dead astern.
The men were then piped to dinner.

"Is she likely to catch us, sir?" Bob asked, as they sat down to
table.

"I hope not, lad. I don't think she will, unless the wind
freshens a good deal. If it did, she would come up hand over
hand.

"I take it she is twelve miles off, now. It is four bells, and
she has only got five hours' daylight, at most. However fast she
is, she ought not to gain a knot and a half an hour, in this breeze
and, if we are five or six miles ahead when it gets dark, we can
change our course. There is no moon."

They were not long below.

"The lugger is under sail again, sir," the second mate, who was
on duty, said as they gained the deck.

"They haven't been long getting up a jury mast," Captain Lockett
said. "That is the best of a lug rig. Still, they have a smart crew
on board."

He directed his glass towards the lugger, which was some five
miles away.

"It is a good-sized spar," he said, "nearly as lofty as the
foremast. She is carrying her mainsail with two reefs in it and,
with the wind on her quarter, is travelling pretty nearly as fast
as she did before. Still, she can't catch us, and she knows it.

"Do you see, Mr. Probert, she is bearing rather more to the
north. She reckons, I fancy, that after it gets dark we may try to
throw the frigate out; and may make up that way, in which case she
would have a good chance of cutting us off. That is awkward, for
the frigate will know that; and will guess that, instead of wearing
round that way, we shall be more likely to make the other."

"That is so," the mate agreed. "Still, we shall have the choice
of either hauling our wind and making south by west, or of running
on, and she can't tell which we shall choose."

"That is right enough. It is just a toss up. If we run, and she
runs, she will overtake us; if we haul up close into the wind, and
she does the same, she will overtake us, again; but if we do one
thing, and she does the other, we are safe.

"Then again, we may give her more westing, after it gets dark,
and bear the same course the lugger is taking. She certainly won't
gain on us, and I fancy we shall gain a bit on her. Then in the
morning, if the frigate is out of sight, we can make for Santander,
which will be pretty nearly due south of us, then; or, if the
lugger is left well astern we can make a leg north, and then get on
our old course again, for Cape Ortegal. The lugger would see it was
of no use chasing us, any further."

"Yes, I think that is the best plan of the three, captain.

"I see the frigate is coming up. I can just make out the line of
her hull. She must be a fast craft."

The hours passed on slowly. Fortunately the wind did not
freshen, and the vessels maintained their respective positions
towards each other. The frigate was coming up, but, when it began
to get dusk, she was still some six miles astern. The lugger was
five miles away, on the lee quarter, and three miles northeast of
the frigate. She was still pursuing a line that would take her four
miles to the north of the brig's present position. The coast of
Spain could be seen stretching along to the southward. Another hour
and it was perfectly dark and, even with the night glasses, the
frigate could no longer be made out.

"Starboard your helm," the captain said, to the man at the
wheel. "Lay her head due east."

"I fancy the wind is dying away, sir," Mr. Probert said.

"So long as it don't come a stark calm, I don't care," the
captain replied. "That would be the worst thing that could happen,
for we should have the frigate's boats after us; but a light breeze
would suit us, admirably."

Two hours later, the wind had almost died out.

"We will take all the sails off her, Mr. Probert. If the frigate
keeps on the course she was steering when we last saw her, she will
go two miles to the south of us; and the lugger will go more than
that to the north. If they hold on all night, they will be hull
down before morning; and we shall be to windward of them and, with
the wind light, the frigate would never catch us; and we know the
lugger wouldn't, with her reduced sails."

In a few minutes all the sails were lowered, and the brig lay
motionless. For the next two hours the closest watch was kept, but
nothing was seen of the pursuing vessels.

"I fancy the frigate must have altered her course more to the
south," the captain said, "thinking that, as the lugger was up
north, we should be likely to haul our wind in that direction. We
will wait another hour, and then get up sail again, and lay her
head for Cape Ortegal."

When the morning broke, the brig was steering west. No sign of
the lugger was visible but, from the tops, the upper sails of the
frigate could be seen, close under the land, away to the
southeast.

"Just as I thought," the captain said, rubbing his hands in high
glee. "She hauled her wind, as soon as it was dark, and stood in
for the coast, thinking we should do the same.

"We are well out of that scrape."

Two days later the brig dropped her anchor in the Tagus, where
three English ships of war were lying. A part of the cargo had to
be discharged, here; and the captain at once went ashore, to get a
spar to replace the topmast carried away in the gale.

"We may fall in with another Frenchman, before we are through
the Straits," he said, "and I am not going to put to sea again like
a lame duck."

Bob went ashore with the captain, and was greatly amused at the
scenes in the streets of Lisbon.

"You had better keep with me, as I shall be going on board, in
an hour. Tomorrow you can come ashore and see the sights, and spend
the day. I would let Joe come with you, but he will be too busy to
be spared, so you will have to shift for yourself."

Before landing in the morning, the captain advised him not to go
outside the town.

"You don't know the lingo, lad, and might get into trouble. You
see, there are always sailors going ashore from our ships of war,
and they get drunk and have sprees; and I don't fancy they are
favourites with the lower class, here, although the shopkeepers, of
course, are glad enough to have their money--but I don't think it
would be safe for a lad like you, who can't speak a word of the
language, to wander about outside the regular streets. There will
be plenty for you to see, without going further."

As Bob was a good deal impressed with the narrow escape he had
had from capture, he was by no means inclined to run any risk of
getting into a scrape, and perhaps missing his passage out. He
therefore strictly obeyed the captain's instructions; and
when--just as he was going down to the landing stage, where the
boat was to come ashore for him--he came upon a party of half
drunken sailors, engaged in a vigorous fight with a number of
Portuguese civil guards, he turned down a side street to avoid
getting mixed up in the fray--repressing his strong impulse to join
in by the side of his countrymen.

On his mentioning this to the captain, when he reached the brig,
the latter said:

"It is lucky that you kept clear of the row. It is all nonsense,
talking about countrymen. It wasn't an affair of nationality, at
all. Nobody would think of interfering, if he saw a party of
drunken sailors in an English port fighting with the constables. If
he did interfere, it ought to be on the side of the law. Why, then,
should anyone take the part of drunken sailors, in a foreign port,
against the guardians of the peace? To do so is an act of the
grossest folly.

"In the first place, the chances are in favour of getting your
head laid open with a sword cut. These fellows know they don't
stand 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 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."

Chapter 7: Troubles Ahead.

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."

Chapter 8: The Siege Begins.

On the 19th of June General Eliott, accompanied by several of
his officers, paid a visit to the Spanish lines to congratulate
General Mendoza, who commanded there, on the promotion that he had
just received. The visit lasted but a short time, and it was
remarked that the Spanish officer seemed ill at ease. Scarcely had
the party returned to Gibraltar than a Swedish frigate entered the
bay, having on board Mr. Logie, H.M. Consul in Barbary, who had
come across in her from Tangier. He reported that a Swedish brig
had put in there. She reported that she had fallen in with the
French fleet, of twenty-eight sail of the line, off Cape
Finisterre; and that they were waiting there to be joined by the
Spanish fleet, from Cadiz.

The news caused great excitement; but it was scarcely believed,
for the Spanish general had given the most amicable assurances to
the governor. On the 21st, however, the Spaniards, at their lines
across the neutral ground, refused to permit the mail to pass; and
a formal notification was sent in that intercourse between
Gibraltar and Spain would no longer be permitted. This put an end
to all doubt, and discussion. War must have been declared between
Spain and England, or such a step would never have been taken.

In fact, although the garrison did not learn it until some time
later, the Spanish ambassador in London had presented what was
virtually a declaration of war, on the 16th. A messenger had been
sent off on the same day from Madrid, ordering the cessation of
intercourse with Gibraltar and, had he not been detained by
accident on the road, he might have arrived during General Eliott's
visit to the Spanish lines; a fact of which Mendoza had been
doubtless forewarned, and which would account for his embarrassment
at the governor's call.

Captain O'Halloran brought the news home, when he returned from
parade.

"Get ready your sandbags, Carrie; examine your stock of
provisions; prepare a store of lint, and plaster."

"What on earth are you talking about, Gerald?"

"It is war, Carrie. The Dons have refused to accept our mail,
and have cut off all intercourse with the mainland."

Carrie turned a little pale. She had never really thought that
the talk meant anything, or that the Spaniards could be really
intending to declare war, without having any ground for quarrel
with England.

"And does it really mean war, Gerald?"

"There is no doubt about it. The Spaniards are going to fight
and, as their army can't swim across the Bay of Biscay, I take it
it is here they mean to attack us. Faith, we are going to have some
divarshun, at last."

"Divarshun! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gerald."

"Well, my dear, what have I come into the army for? To march
about for four hours a day in a stiff stock, and powder and pigtail
and a cocked hat, and a red coat? Not a bit of it. Didn't I enter
the army to fight? And here have I been, without a chance of
smelling powder, for the last ten years. It is the best news I have
had since you told me that you were ready and willing to become
Mrs. O'Halloran."

"And to think that we have got Bob out here with us!" his wife
said, without taking any notice of the last words. "What will uncle
say?"

"Faith, and it makes mighty little difference what he says,
Carrie, seeing that he is altogether beyond shouting distance.

"As for Bob, he will be just delighted. Why, he has been working
till his brain must all be in a muddle; and it is the best thing in
the world for him, or he would be mixing up the Spaniards and the
Romans, and the x's and y's and the tangents, and all the other
things into a regular jumble--and it is a nice business that would
have been. It is the best thing in the world for him, always
supposing that he don't get his growth stopped, for want of
victuals."

"You don't mean, really and seriously, Gerald, that we are
likely to be short of food?"

"And that is exactly what I do mean. You may be sure that the
Dons know, mighty well, that they have no chance of taking the
place on the land side. They might just as well lay out their
trenches against the moon. It is just starvation that they are
going to try; and when they get the eighteen French sail of the
line that Mr. Logie brought news of, and a score or so of Spanish
men-of-war in the bay, you will see that it is likely you won't get
your mutton and your butter and vegetables very regularly across
from Tangier."

"Well, it is very serious, Gerald."

"Very serious, Carrie."

"I don't see anything to laugh at at all, Gerald."

"I didn't know that I was laughing."

"You were looking as if you wanted to laugh, which is just as
bad. I suppose there is nothing to be done, Gerald?"

"Well, yes, I should go down to the town, and lay in a store of
things that will keep. You see, if nothing comes of it we should
not be losers. The regiment is likely to be here three or four
years, so we should lose nothing by laying in a big stock of wine,
and so on; while, if there is a siege, you will see everything will
go up to ten times its ordinary price. That room through ours is
not used for anything, and we might turn that into a storeroom.

"I don't mean that there is any hurry about it, today; but we
ought certainly to lay in as large a store as we can, of things
that will keep. Some things we may get cheaper, in a short time,
than we can now. A lot of the Jew and native traders will be
leaving, if they see there is really going to be a siege; for you
see, the town is quite open to the guns of batteries, on the other
side of the neutral ground.

"It was a mighty piece of luck we got this house. You see that
rising ground behind will shelter us from shot. They may blaze away
as much as they like, as far as we are concerned.

"Ah! There is Bob, coming out of his room with the
professor."

"Well, take him out and tell him, Gerald. I want to sit down,
and think. My head feels quite in a whirl."

Bob was, of course, greatly surprised at the news; and the
professor, himself, was a good deal excited.

"We have been living here for three hundred years," he said, "my
fathers and grandfathers. When the English came and took this
place--seventy-five years ago--my grandfather became a British
subject, like all who remained here. My father, who was then but a
boy, has told me that he remembers the great siege, and how the
cannons roared night and day. It was in the year when I was born
that the Spaniards attacked the Rock again; and a shell exploded in
the house, and nearly killed us all. I was born a British subject,
and shall do my duty in what way I can, if the place is attacked.
They call us Rock scorpions. Well, they shall see we can live under
fire, and will do our best to sting, if they put their finger on
us. Ha, ha!"

"The little man is quite excited," Captain O'Halloran said, as
the professor turned away, and marched off at a brisk pace towards
his home. "It is rather hard on these Rock people. Of course, as he
says, they are British subjects, and were born so. Still, you see,
in race and language they are still Spaniards; and their sympathies
must be divided, at any rate at present. When the shot and shell
come whistling into the town, and knocking their houses about their
ears, they will become a good deal more decided in their opinions
than they can be, now.

"Come along, Bob, and let us get all the news. I came off as
soon as I heard that our communication with Spain was cut off, and
therefore it was certain war was declared. There will be lots of
orders out, soon. It is a busy time we shall have of it, for the
next month or two."

There were many officers in the anteroom when they entered.

"Any fresh news?" Captain O'Halloran asked.

"Lots of it, O'Halloran. All the Irish officers of the garrison
are to be formed into an outlying force, to occupy the neutral
ground. It is thought their appearance will be sufficient to
terrify the Spaniards."

"Get out with you, Grant! If they were to take us at all, it
would be because they knew that we were the boys to do the
fighting."

"And the drinking, O'Halloran," another young officer put
in.

"And the talking," said another.

"Now, drop it, boys, and be serious. What is the news,
really?"

"There is a council of war going on, at the governor's,
O'Halloran. Boyd, of course, and De la Motte, Colonel Green, the
admiral, Mr. Logie, and two or three others. They say the governor
has been gradually getting extra stores across from Tangier, ever
since there was first a talk about this business; and of course
that is the most important question, at present. I hear that Green
and the Engineers have been marking out places for new batteries,
for the last month; and I suppose fatigue work is going to be the
order of the day. It is too bad of them choosing this time of the
year to begin, for it will be awfully hot work.

"Everyone is wondering what will become of the officers who are
living out with their families, at San Roque and the other villages
across the Spanish lines; and besides, there are a lot of officers
away on leave, in the interior. Of course they won't take them
prisoners. That would be a dirty trick. But it is likely enough
they may ship them straight back to England, instead of letting
them return here.

"Well, it is lucky that we have got a pretty strong garrison. We
have just been adding up the last field state. These are the
figures--officers, noncommissioned officers, and men--artillery,
485; 12th Regiment, 599; 39th, 586; 56th, 587; 58th, 605; 72nd,
1046; the Hanoverian Brigade--of Hardenberg's, Reden's, and De la
Motte's regiments--1352; and 122 Engineers under Colonel Green:
which makes up, altogether, 5382 officers and men.

"That is strong enough for anything, but it would have been
better if there had been five hundred more artillerymen; but I
suppose they will be able to lend us some sailors, to help work the
heavy guns.

"They will turn you into a powder monkey, Repton."

"I don't care what they turn me into," Bob said, "so long as I
can do something."

"I think it is likely," Captain O'Halloran said gravely, "that
all women and children will be turned out of the place, before
fighting begins; except, of course, wives and children of
officers."

There was a general laugh, at Bob.

"Well," he said quietly, "it will lessen the ranks of the
subalterns, for there must be a considerable number who are not
many months older than I am. I am just sixteen, and I know there
are some not older than that."

This was a fact, for commissions were--in those days--given in
the army to mere lads, and the ensigns were often no older than
midshipmen.

Late in the afternoon, a procession of carts was seen crossing
the neutral ground, from the Spanish lines; and it was soon seen
that these were the English officers and merchants from San Roque,
and the other villages. They had, that morning, received peremptory
orders to leave before sunset. Some were fortunate enough to be
able to hire carts, to bring in their effects; but several were
compelled, from want of carriage, to leave everything behind
them.

The guards had all been reinforced, at the northern batteries;
pickets had been stationed across the neutral ground; the guard, at
the work known as the Devil's Tower, were warned to be specially on
the alert; and the artillery in the battery, on the rock above it,
were to hold themselves in readiness to open fire upon the enemy,
should they be perceived advancing towards it.

It was considered improbable, in the extreme, that the enemy
would attack until a great force had been collected; but it was
possible that a body of troops might have been collected secretly,
somewhere in the neighbourhood, and that an attempt would be made
to capture the place by surprise, before the garrison might be
supposed to be taking precautions against attack.

The next morning orders were issued, and large working parties
were told off to go on with the work of strengthening the
fortifications; and notice was issued that all empty hogsheads and
casks in the town would be bought, by the military authorities.
These were to be filled with earth, and to take the places of
fascines, for which there were no materials available on the Rock.
Parties of men rolled or carried these up to the heights. Other
parties collected earth, and piled it to be carried up in sacks on
the back of mules--there being no earth, on the rocks where the
batteries would be established--a fact which added very largely to
the difficulties of the Engineers.

On the 24th the Childers, sloop of war, brought in two prizes
from the west; one of which, an American, she had captured in the
midst of the Spanish fleet. Some of the Spanish men-of-war had made
threatening demonstrations, as if to prevent the sloop from
interfering with her; but they had not fired a gun, and it was
supposed that they had not received orders to commence hostilities.
Two English frigates had been watching the fleet; and it was
supposed to be on its way to join the French fleet, off Cape
Finisterre.

The Spaniards were seen, now, to be at work dragging down guns
from San Roque to arm their two forts--Saint Philip and Saint
Barbara--which stood at the extremities of their lines: Saint
Philip on the bay, and Saint Barbara upon the seashore, on the
eastern side of the neutral side. In time of peace, only a few guns
were mounted in these batteries.

Admiral Duff moved the men-of-war under his command, consisting
of the Panther--of sixty guns--three frigates, and a sloop, from
their usual anchorage off the Water Port--where they were exposed
to the fire of the enemy's forts--to the New Mole, more to the
southward.

Bob would have liked to be out all day, watching the busy
preparations, and listening to the talk of the natives; who were
greatly alarmed at the prospect of the siege, knowing that the guns
from the Spanish forts, and especially from Fort Saint Philip,
could throw their shot and shell into the town. But Captain
O'Halloran agreed with his wife that it was much better he should
continue his lessons with Don Diaz, of a morning; for that it would
be absurd for him to be standing about in the sun, the whole day.
The evening lessons were, however, discontinued from the first; as
Dr. Burke had his hands full in superintending the preparations
making, at the hospitals, for the reception of large numbers of
wounded.

Bob did not so much mind this, for he had ceased to regard the
time spent with the professor as lessons. After he had once
mastered the conjugation of the verbs, and had learned an extensive
vocabulary by heart, books had been laid aside, altogether; and the
three hours with the professor had, for the last two months, been
spent simply in conversation. They were no longer indoors, but sat
in the garden on the shady side of the house; or, when the sky
happened to be clouded and the morning was cool, walked together
out to Europa Point; and would sit down there, looking over the
sea, but always talking. Sometimes it was history--Roman, English,
or Spanish--sometimes Bob's schooldays and life in London,
sometimes general subjects. It mattered little what they talked
about, so that the conversation was kept up.

Sometimes, when it was found that topics failed them, the
professor would give Bob a Spanish book to glance through, and its
subject would serve as a theme for talk on, the following day; and
as it was five months since the lad had landed, he was now able to
speak in Spanish almost as fluently as in English. As he had learnt
almost entirely by ear, and any word mispronounced had had to be
gone over, again and again, until Don Diaz was perfectly satisfied,
his accent was excellent; and the professor had told him, a few
days before the breaking out of the war, that in another month or
two he should discontinue his lessons.

"It would be well for you to have one or two mornings a week, to
keep up your accent. You can find plenty of practice talking to the
people. I see you are good at making friends, and are ready to talk
to labourers at work, to boys, to the market women, and to anyone
you come across; but their accent is bad, and it would be well for
you to keep on with me. But you speak, at present, much better
Spanish than the people here and, if you were dressed up as a young
Spaniard, you might go about Spain without anyone suspecting you to
be English."

Indeed, by the professor's method of teaching--assisted by a
natural aptitude, and three hours' daily conversation, for five
months--Bob had made surprising progress, especially as he had
supplemented his lesson by continually talking Spanish with Manola,
with the Spanish woman and children living below them, and with
everyone he could get to talk to.

He had seen little of Jim, since the trouble began; as leave
was, for the most part, stopped--the ships of war being in
readiness to proceed to sea, at a moment's notice, to engage an
enemy, or to protect merchantmen coming in from the attacks of the
Spanish ships and gunboats, across at Algeciras.

Bob generally got up at five o'clock, now, and went out for two
or three hours before breakfast; for the heat had become too great
for exercise, during the day. He greatly missed the market, for it
had given him much amusement to watch the groups of peasant
women--with their baskets of eggs, fowls, vegetables, oranges, and
fruit of various kinds--bargaining with the townspeople, and joking
and laughing with the soldiers. The streets were now almost
deserted, and many of the little traders in vegetables and fruit
had closed their shops. The fishermen, however, still carried on
their work, and obtained a ready sale for their catch. There had,
indeed, been a much greater demand than usual for fish, owing to
the falling off in the fruit and vegetable supplies.

The cessation of trade was already beginning to tell upon the
poorer part of the population; but employment was found for all
willing to labour either at collecting earth for the batteries, or
out on the neutral ground--where three hundred of them were
employed by the Engineers in levelling sand hummocks, and other
inequalities in the ground, that might afford any shelter to an
enemy creeping up to assault the gates by the waterside.

Dr. Burke came in with Captain O'Halloran to dinner, ten days
after the gates had been closed.

"You are quite a stranger, Teddy," Mrs. O'Halloran said.

"I am that," he replied; "but you are going to be bothered with
me again, now; we have got everything in apple pie order, and are
ready to take half the garrison under our charge. There has been
lots to do. All the medical stores have been overhauled, and lists
made out and sent home of everything that can be
required--medicines and comforts, and lint and bandages, and
splints and wooden legs; and goodness knows what, besides. We hope
they will be out in the first convoy.

"There is a privateer going to sail, tomorrow; so if you want to
send letters home, or to order anything to be sent out to you, you
had better take the opportunity. Have you got everything you want,
for the next two or three years?"

"Two or three years!" Carrie repeated, in tones of alarm. "You
mean two or three months."

"Indeed, and I don't. If the French and the Dons have made up
their mind to take this place, and once set to fairly to do it,
they are bound to stick to it for a bit. I should say you ought to
provide for three years."

"But that is downright nonsense, Teddy. Why, in three months
there ought to be a fleet here that would drive all the French and
Spaniards away."

"Well, if you say there ought to be, there ought," the doctor
said, "but where is it to come from? I was talking to some of the
naval men, yesterday; and they all say it will be a long business,
if the French and Spanish are in earnest. The French navy is as
strong as ours, and the Spaniards have got nearly as many ships as
the French. We have got to protect our coasts and our trade, to
convoy the East Indian fleets, and to be doing something all over
the world; and they doubt whether it would be possible to get
together a fleet that could hope to defeat the French and Spanish
navies, combined.

"Well, have you been laying in stores, Mrs. O'Halloran?"

"Yes, we have bought two sacks of flour, and fifty pounds of
sugar; ten pounds of tea, and a good many other things."

"If you will take my advice," the doctor said earnestly, "you
will lay in five times as much. Say ten sacks of flour, two
hundred-weight of sugar, and everything else in proportion. Those
sort of things haven't got up in price, yet; but you will see,
everything will rise as soon as the blockade begins in
earnest."

"No, the prices of those things have not gone up much; but fruit
is three times the price it was, a fortnight ago, and chickens and
eggs are double, and vegetables are hardly to be bought."

"That is the worst of it," the doctor said. "It's the vegetables
that I am thinking of."

"Well, we can do without vegetables," Mrs. O'Halloran laughed,
"as long as we have plenty of bread."

"It is just that you can't do. You see, we shall be cut off from
Tangier--maybe tomorrow, maybe a fortnight hence--but we shall be
cut off. A ship may run in sometimes, at night, but you can't count
upon that; and it is salt meat that we are going to live upon and,
if you live on salt meat, you have got to have vegetables or fruit
to keep you in health.

"Now, I tell you what I should do, Gerald, and I am not joking
with you. In the first place, I would make an arrangement with the
people downstairs, and I would hire their garden from them. I don't
suppose they would want much for it, for they make no use of it,
except to grow a few flowers. Then I would go down the town, and I
would buy up all the chickens I could get. There are plenty of them
to be picked up, if you look about for them, for most of the people
who have got a bit of ground keep a few fowls. Get a hundred of
them, if you can, and turn them into the garden. Buy up twenty
sacks, if you like, of damaged biscuits. You can get them for an
old song. The commissariat have been clearing out their stores, and
there are a lot of damaged biscuits to be sold, by auction,
tomorrow. You would get twenty sacks for a few shillings.

"That way you will get a good supply of eggs, if the siege lasts
ever so long; and you can fence off a bit of the garden, and raise
fowls there. That will give you a supply of fresh meat, and any
eggs and poultry you can't eat yourselves you can sell for big
prices. You could get a chicken, three weeks ago, at threepence.
Never mind if you have to pay a shilling for them, now; they will
be worth five shillings, before long.

"If you can rent another bit of garden, anywhere near, I would
take it. If not, I would hire three or four men to collect earth,
and bring it up here. This is a good, big place; I suppose it is
thirty feet by sixty. Well, I would just leave a path from the
door, there, up to this end; and a spare place, here, for your
chairs; and I would cover the rest of it with earth, nine inches or
a foot deep; and I would plant vegetables."

"Do you mane we are to grow cabbages here, Teddy?" Captain
O'Halloran asked, with a burst of laughter.

"No, I wouldn't grow cabbages. I would just grow mustard, and
cress, and radishes. If you eat plenty of them, they will keep off
scurvy; and all you don't want for yourselves, I will guarantee you
will be able to sell at any price you like to ask for them and, if
nobody else will buy them, the hospitals will. They would be the
saving of many a man's life."

"But they would want watering," Captain O'Halloran said, more
seriously, for he saw how much the doctor was in earnest.

"They will that. You will have no difficulty in hiring a man to
bring up water, and to tend to them and to look after the fowls.
Men will be glad enough to work for next to nothing.

"I tell you, Gerald, if I wasn't in the service, I should hire
every bit of land I could lay hands on, and employ as many
labourers as it required; and I should look to be a rich man,
before the end of the siege. I was speaking to the chief surgeon
today about it; and he is going to put the convalescents to work,
on a bit of spare ground there is at the back of the hospital, and
to plant vegetables.

"I was asking down the town yesterday and I found that, at
Blount's store, you can get as much vegetable seed as you like. You
lay in a stock, today, of mustard and cress and radish. Don't be
afraid of the expense--get twenty pounds of each of them. You will
be always able to sell what you don't want, at ten times the price
you give for it now. If you can get a piece more garden ground,
take it at any price and raise other vegetables; but keep the top
of the house here for what I tell you.

"Well, I said nine inches deep of earth; that is more than
necessary. Four and a half will do for the radishes, and two is
enough for the mustard and cress. That will grow on a blanket--it
is really only water that it wants."

"What do you think, Carrie?" Captain O'Halloran asked.

"Well, Gerald, if you really believe the siege is going to last
like that, I should think that it would be really worth while to do
what Teddy Burke advises. Of course, you will be too busy to look
after things, but Bob might do so."

"Of course I would," Bob broke in. "It will give me something to
do."

"Well, we will set about it at once, then. I will speak to the
man downstairs. You know he has got two or three horses and traps
down in the town, and lets them to people driving out across the
lines; but of course he has nothing to do, now, and I should think
that he would be glad enough to arrange to look after the fowls and
the things up here.

"The garden is a good size. I don't think anything could get out
through that prickly pear hedge but, anyhow, any gaps there are can
be stopped up with stakes. I think it is a really good idea and, if
I can get a couple of hundred fowls, I will. I should think there
was plenty of room for them, in the garden. I will set up as a
poultry merchant."

"You might do worse, Gerald. I will bet you a gallon of whisky
they will be selling at ten shillings a couple, before this
business is over; and there is no reason in the world why you
should not turn an honest penny--it will be a novelty to you."

"Well, I will go down the town, at once," Gerald said, "and get
the seeds and the extra stores you advise, Teddy; and tomorrow I
will go to the commissariat sale, and buy a ton or two of those
damaged biscuits. We will take another room from them, downstairs,
as a storeroom for that and the eggs; and I will get a carpenter to
come up and put a fence, and make some runs and a bit of a shelter
for the sitting hens, and the chickens. Bob shall do the
purchasing.

"You had better get a boy with a big basket to go with you, Bob;
and go round to the cottages, to buy up fowls. Mind, don't let them
sell you nothing but cocks--one to every seven or eight hens is
quite enough; and don't let them foist off old hens on you--the
younger they are, the better. I should say that, at first, you had
better take Manola with you, if Carrie can spare her; then you
won't get taken in, and you will soon learn to tell the difference
between an old hen and a young chicken."

"When you are buying the seed, O'Halloran," said Dr. Burke, "you
would do well to get a few cucumbers, and melons, and pumpkins.
They will grow on the roof, splendidly. And you can plant them near
the parapet, where they will grow down over the sides, so they
won't take up much room; and you can pick them with a ladder. The
pumpkin is a good vegetable, and the fowls will thank you for a bit
to pick, when you can spare one. They will all want manure, but you
get plenty of that, from the fowl yard."

"Why, Teddy, there seems no end to your knowledge," Mrs.
O'Halloran said. "First of all, you turn out to be a schoolmaster;
and now you are a gardener, and poultry raiser. And to think I
never gave you credit for knowing anything, except medicine."

"You haven't got to the bottom of it yet, Mrs. O'Halloran. My
head is just stored with knowledge, only it isn't always that I
have a chance of making it useful. I would be just the fellow to be
cast on a desert island. There is no saying what I wouldn't do
towards making myself comfortable there.

"But I do know about scurvy, for I made a voyage in a whaler,
before I got His Majesty's commission to kill and slay in the army;
and I know how necessary vegetables are. I only wish we had known
what the Spaniards were up to, a month since. We would have got a
cargo of oranges and lemons. They would have been worth their
weight in silver."

"But they wouldn't have kept, Teddy."

"No, not for long; but we would have squeezed them, and put
sugar into the juice, and bottled it off. If the general had
consulted me, that is what he would have been after, instead of
seeing about salt meat and biscuits. We shall get plenty of them,
from ships that run in--I have no fear of that--but it is the acids
will be wanting."

As soon as dinner was over, Captain O'Halloran went downstairs;
and had no difficulty in arranging, with the man below, for the
entire use of his garden. An inspection was made of the hedge, and
the man agreed to close up all gaps that fowls could possibly creep
through. He was also quite willing to let off a room for storage,
and his wife undertook to superintend the management of the young
broods, and sitting hens. Having arranged this, Captain O'Halloran
went down into the town to make his purchases.

A quarter of an hour later Bob started with Manola, carrying a
large basket, and both were much amused at their errand. Going
among the cottages scattered over the hill above the town, they had
no difficulty in obtaining chickens and fowls--the former at about
five pence apiece, the latter at seven pence--such prices being
more than double the usual rates. Manola's basket was soon full
and, while she was taking her purchases back to the house, Bob
hired two boys with baskets and, before evening, nearly a hundred
fowls were running in the garden.

The next day Bob was considered sufficiently experienced to
undertake the business alone and, in two more days, the entire
number of two hundred had been made up. Three of the natives had
been engaged in collecting baskets of earth among the rocks and, in
a week, the terrace was converted into a garden ready for the
seeds. As yet vegetables, although very dear, had not risen to
famine prices; for although the town had depended chiefly upon the
produce of the mainland, many of the natives had grown small
patches of vegetables in their gardens for their own use, and these
they now disposed of at prices that were highly satisfactory to
themselves.

O'Halloran's farm--as they called it, as soon as they heard,
from him, what he was doing--became quite a joke in the regiment;
but several of the other married officers, who had similar
facilities for keeping fowls, adopted the idea to some extent, and
started with a score or so of fowls.

"I wonder you didn't think of pigs, O'Halloran," one of the
captains said, laughing, as they were talking over the farm in the
mess anteroom; "pigs and potatoes. The idea of you and Burke, both
from the sod, starting a farm; and not thinking, first, of the two
chief national products."

"There is not room for praties, Sinclair; and as for pigs, there
are many reasons against it. In the first place, I doubt whether I
could buy any. In the second, there isn't room for them. In the
third, what should I give them to keep them alive? In the fourth,
pigs are illigant bastes but, in a hot country like this, I should
not care for a stye of them under my drawing room window. In the
fifth--"

"That will do, that will do, O'Halloran. We give way. We allow
that you could not keep pigs, but it is a pity."

"It is that, Sinclair. There is nothing would please me better
than to see a score of nice little pigs, with a nate stye, and a
magazine of food big enough to keep them, say, for a year."

"Three months, O'Halloran, would be ample."

"Well, we shall see, Sinclair. Teddy Burke says three years, but
I do hope it is not going to be as long as that."

"Begorra!" another Irish officer, Captain O'Moore, exclaimed;
"if it is three years we are going to be here, we had best be
killed and buried at once. I have been all the morning in the
Queen's Battery, where my company has been slaving like haythens,
with the sun coming down as if it would fry your brain in your
skull pan; and if that is to go on, day after day, for three years,
I should be dead in a month!"

"That is nothing, O'Moore. If the siege goes on, they say the
officers will have to help at the work."

"I shall protest against it. There is not a word in the articles
of war about officers working. I am willing enough to be shot by
the Spaniards, but not to be killed by inches. No, sir, there is
not an O'Moore ever did a stroke of work, since the flood; and I am
not going to demean myself by beginning.

"What are you laughing at, young Repton?"

"I was only wondering, Captain O'Moore, how your ancestors got
through the flood. Unless, indeed, Noah was an O'Moore."

"There is reason to believe that he was," the captain said,
seriously. "It must have been that, if he hadn't a boat of his own,
or found a mountain that the water didn't cover. I have got the
tree of the family at home; and an old gentleman who was learned in
these things came to the house, when I was a boy; and I remember
right well that he said to my father, after reckoning them up, that
the first of the house must have had a place there in Ireland
well-nigh a thousand years before Adam.

"I don't think my father quite liked it but, for the life of me,
I couldn't see why. It was just what I should expect from the
O'Moores. Didn't they give kings to Ireland, for generations? And
what should they want to be doing, out among those rivers in the
East, when there was Ireland, ready to receive them?"

Captain O'Moore spoke so seriously that Bob did not venture to
laugh, but listened with an air of gravity equal to that of the
officer.

"You will kill me altogether, Phelim!" Captain O'Halloran
exclaimed; amid a great shout of laughter, in which all the others
joined.

The O'Moore looked round, speechless with indignation.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I shall expect satisfaction for this
insult. The word of an O'Moore has never been doubted.

"Captain O'Halloran, my friend will call upon you, first."

"He may call as often as he likes, O'Moore, and I shall be happy
to converse with any friend of yours but, at present, that is all
the satisfaction you will get out of me. Duelling is strictly
forbidden on the Rock, and there is no getting across the Spanish
lines to fight--unless, indeed, you can persuade the governor to
send out a flag of truce with us. So we must let the matter rest,
till the siege is over; and then, if both of us are alive, and you
have the same mind, we will talk about it."

"I think, O'Moore," Dr. Burke, who had entered the room two or
three minutes before, said persuasively, "you will see that you are
the last man who ought to maintain that the first of your race
lived here, as far back as Adam. You see, we are all direct
descendants of Adam--I mean, all the rest of us."

"No doubt you are," Captain O'Moore said, stiffly.

"And one has just as much right as another to claim that he is
the heir, in a direct line."

"I suppose so, Burke," the officer said, "though, for the life
of me, I can't see what you are driving at."

"What I mean is this. Suppose Adam and the O'Moore started at
the same time, one in Ireland and the other in Eden; and they had
an equal number of children, as was likely enough. Half the people
in the world would be descendants of Adam, and the other half of
the O'Moore and, you see, instead of your being the O'Moore--the
genuine descendant, in the direct line, from the first of the
family--half the world would have an equal claim to the title."

Captain O'Moore reflected for a minute or two.

"You are right, Dr. Burke," he said. "I never saw it in that
light. It is clear enough that you are right, and that the less we
say about the O'Moores before the first Irish king of that name,
the better. There must have been some mistake about that tree I
spoke of.

"Captain O'Halloran, I apologize. I was wrong."

The two officers shook hands, and peace was restored; but
Captain O'Moore was evidently a good deal puzzled, and mortified,
by the problem the doctor had set before him and, after remaining
silent for some time, evidently in deep thought, he left the room.
Some of the others watched him from the window, until he had
entered the door of his own quarters; and then there was a general
shout of laughter.

"The O'Moore will be the death of me!" Teddy Burke exclaimed, as
he threw himself back in a chair, exhausted. "He is one of the best
fellows going, but you can lead him on into anything. I don't
suppose he ever gave a thought to the O'Moores, anywhere further
back than those kings. He had a vague idea that they must have been
going on, simply because it must have seemed to him that a world
without an O'Moore in it would be necessarily imperfect. It was Bob
Repton's questions, as to what they were doing at the time of the
flood, that brought him suddenly up; then he didn't hesitate for a
moment in taking them back to Adam, or before him. Just on the
ancestry of the O'Moores, Phelim has got a tile a little loose; but
on all other points, he is as sensible as anyone in the
regiment."

"I wonder you didn't add, 'and that is not saying much,'
doctor," one of the lieutenants said.

"I may have thought it, youngster; but you see, I must have made
exceptions in favour of myself and the colonel, so I held my
tongue. The fact that we are all here, under a sun hot enough to
cook a beefsteak; and that for the next two or three years we are
going to have to work like niggers, and to be shot at by the
Spaniards, and to be pretty well--if not quite--starved, speaks for
itself as to the amount of sense we have got between us.

"There go the drums! Now, gentlemen, you have got the pleasure
of a couple of hours' drill before you, and I am due at the
hospital."

Chapter 9: The Antelope.

On the 3rd of July, a hundred and eighty volunteers from the
infantry joined the artillery, who were not numerous enough to work
all the guns of the batteries; and two days later a Spanish
squadron of two men-of-war, five frigates, and eleven smaller
vessels hove in sight from the west, and lay to off the entrance to
the bay. Three privateers came in, and one of the Spanish schooners
stood across to reconnoitre them; and a shot was fired at her from
the batteries on Europa Point.

The Enterprise, frigate, had gone across to Tetuan to bring Mr.
Logie over again. On her return, she was chased by the enemy's
squadron; but succeeded in giving them the slip, in the dark. As
she neared the Rock the captain, fearing to be discovered by the
enemy, did not show the usual lights; and several shots were fired
at the ship, but fortunately without effect.

On the following day letters were received from England, with
the official news that hostilities had commenced between Great
Britain and Spain; and the same evening a proclamation was
published authorizing the capture of Spanish vessels, and letters
of marque were given to the privateers in the bay, permitting them
to capture Spanish as well as French vessels.

Among the privateers was the Antelope, which was one of those
that had come in on the previous afternoon. Bob had not heard of
her arrival, when he ran against Captain Lockett in the town, next
morning. They had not met since Bob had landed, six months
before.

"Well, Master Repton," the captain said, after they had shaken
hands, "I was coming up to see you, after I had managed my
business. I have letters, from Mr. Bale, for you and Mrs.
O'Halloran."

"You are all well on board, I hope, captain?"

"Joe is well. He is first mate, now. Poor Probert is on his back
in hospital, at Portsmouth. We had a sharp brush with a French
privateer, but we beat her off. We had five men killed, and Probert
had his leg taken off by an eighteen pound shot. We clapped on a
tourniquet, but he had a very narrow escape of bleeding to death.
Fortunately it was off Ushant and, the wind being favourable, we
got into Portsmouth on the following morning; and the doctors think
that they will pull him round.

"You have grown a good bit, since I saw you last."

"Not much, I am afraid," Bob replied dolefully, for his height
was rather a sore point with him. "I get wider, but I don't think I
have grown half an inch, since I came here."

"And how goes on the Spanish?"

"First rate. I can get on in it almost as well as in
English."

"So you are in for some more fighting!"

"So they say," Bob replied, "but I don't think I am likely to
have as close a shave, of a Spanish prison, as I had of a French
one coming out here."

"No; we had a narrow squeak of it, that time."

"Was war declared when you came away?"

"No; the negotiations were broken off, and everyone knew that
war was certain, and that the proclamation might be issued at any
hour. I have not had a very fast run, and expected to have learned
the news when I got here; but you are sure to hear it, in a day or
two. That was why I came here. Freights were short for, with the
ports of France and Spain both closed, there was little enough
doing; so the owners agreed to let me drop trading and make
straight for Gibraltar, so as to be ready to put out as soon as we
get the declaration of war.

"There ought to be some first-rate pickings, along the coast. It
isn't, here, as it is with France; where they have learned to be
precious cautious, and where one daren't risk running in close to
their coast on the chance of picking up a prize, for the waters
swarm with their privateers. The Spaniards are a very slow set, and
there is not much fear of their fitting out many privateers, for
months to come; and the coasters will be a long time before they
wake up to the fact that Spain is at war with us, and will go
lumbering along from port to port, without the least fear of being
captured. So it is a rare chance of making prize money.

"If you like a cruise, I shall be very happy to take you with
me. I have seen you under fire, you know, and know that you are to
be depended upon."

"I should like to go, above all things," Bob said; "but I don't
know what my sister would say. I must get at her husband, first. If
I can get him on my side, I think I shall be able to manage it with
her.

"Well, will you come up to dinner?"

"No, I shall be busy all day. Here are the letters I was
speaking of."

"Well, we have supper at seven. Will you come then?"

"With pleasure."

"Will Joe be able to come, too?"

"No; it wouldn't do for us both to leave the brig. The Spanish
fleet may be sending in their boats, to try and cut some of our
vessels out, and I should not feel comfortable if we were both
ashore; but he will be very glad to see you, on board. We are
anchored a cable length from the Water Port. You are pretty sure to
see one of our boats alongside.

"The steward came off with me, to buy some soft tack and fresh
meat. I saw him just before I met you. He told me he had got some
bread, but that meat was at a ruinous price. I told him that he
must get it, whatever price it was, and I expect by this time he
has done so; so if you look sharp, you will get to the boat before
it puts off with him."

The steward was in the act of getting into the boat, as Bob ran
down.

"Glad to see you, Mister Repton," the man said, touching his
hat. "Have you seen the captain, sir?"

"Yes, I have just left him. He told me I should catch you
here."

"Thinking of having another cruise with us, sir?"

"I am thinking about it, Parker, but I don't know whether I
shall be able to manage it."

They were soon alongside the Antelope.

"I thought it was you, Mister Repton, when I saw you run down to
the boat," Joe Lockett said, as he shook hands with Bob.

"I am glad to see you again, Joe, and I am glad to hear you are
first mate now; though of course, I am sorry for Mr. Probert."

"Yes, a bad job for him, a very bad job; but it won't be so bad,
in his case, as in some. He has been talking, for the last two or
three voyages, of retiring. An old uncle of his died, and left him
a few acres of land down in Essex; and he has saved a bit of money
out of his pay, and his share of the prizes we have made; and he
talked about giving up the sea, and settling down on shore. So now,
he will do it. He said as much as that, the night he was
wounded.

"'Well,' he said, 'there won't be any more trouble about making
up my mind, Joe. If I do get over this job, I have got to lay up as
a dismantled hulk, for the rest of my life. I have been talking of
it to you, but I doubt whether I should ever have brought myself to
it, if it had not been for them Frenchmen's shot.'

"Well, will you come into the cabin, and take something?"

"No, thank you, Joe."

"Have they got the news about the declaration of war yet, Mister
Repton?"

"No, it hasn't arrived yet."

"I expect we shall get some good pickings along the coast,
directly it comes. We have been trading regularly, this last year;
and we all of us want the chance of earning a bit of prize money.
So I can tell you, we were very glad when we heard that we were
going to take to that again, for a bit."

"Yes, the captain was telling me about it, and he has asked me
to go for a trip with you."

"Well, I hope that you will be able to come, Mister Repton."

"I hope so, Joe. But there is one thing--if I do come, you must
call me Bob. I hate being called Mister Repton."

"Well, it would be different if you come with us like that," the
young mate said. "You see, you were a passenger, before; but if you
came like this, you will be here as a friend, like. So it will come
natural to call you Bob.

"And how do you like the place?"

"Oh, I like it well enough! I have been working very hard--at
least, pretty hard--so I haven't had time to feel it dull; and of
course I know all the officers in my brother-in-law's regiment. But
I shall be very glad, indeed, of a cruise; especially as we are
likely presently, by all they say, to be cut off here--some say for
months, some say for years."

"But still, I expect there will be some lively work," the mate
said, "if the Spaniards really mean to try and take this
place."

"They will never take it," Bob said, "unless they are able to
starve us out; and they ought not to be able to do that. Ships
ought to be able to run in from the east, at any time; for the
Spaniards dare not come across within range of the guns and, if the
wind was strong, they could not get out from their side of the
bay."

"That is true enough, and I expect you will find fast-sailing
craft--privateers, and such like--will dodge in and out; but a
merchantman won't like to venture over this side of the Straits,
but will keep along the Moorish coasts. You see, they can't keep
along the Spanish side without the risk of being picked up, by the
gunboats and galleys with the blockading fleet. There are a dozen
small craft lying over there, now, with the men-of-war.

"Still, I don't say none of them will make their way in here,
because I daresay they will. They well know they will get big
prices for their goods, if they can manage to run the blockade. We
are safe to pick up some of the native craft, and bring them in;
and so will the other privateers. I expect there will be a good
many down here, before long. The worst of it is, there won't be any
sale for the craft we capture."

"Except for firewood, Joe. That is one of the things I have
heard we are sure to run very short of, if there is a long
siege."

"Well, that will be something and, of course, any prizes we take
laden with things likely to be useful, and sell here, we shall
bring in; but the rest we shall have to send over to the other
side, so as to be out of sight of their fleet, and then take them
straight back to England.

"You see, we have shipped twice as many hands as we had on the
voyage when you were with us. We had only a trader's crew, then;
now we have a privateer's.

"Look there! There is a craft making in from the south. It is
like enough she has got the despatches on board. There are two or
three of those small Spanish craft getting under sail, to cut her
off; but they won't do it. They could not head her, without getting
under the fire of the guns of those batteries, on the point."

"Well, I will go ashore now, Joe, if you will let me have the
boat. The captain is going to have supper with us, tonight. I
wanted you to come too, but he said you could not both come on
shore, together. I hope we shall see you tomorrow."

On landing, Bob made his way to the barrack, so as to intercept
Gerald when he came off duty.

"Look here, Gerald," he said, when Captain O'Halloran came out
of the orderly room, "I want you to back me up."

"Oh, you do? Then I am quite sure that you are up to some
mischief or other, Bob, or you wouldn't want me to help you with
Carrie."

"It is not mischief at all, Gerald. The Antelope came in last
night, and I saw Captain Lockett this morning, and I have asked him
to come to supper."

"Well, that is all right, Bob. We have plenty of food, at
present."

"Yes, but that is not it, Gerald. He has invited me to go for a
cruise with him. He is going to pick up some prizes, along the
Spanish coast."

"Oh, that is it, is it? Well, you know very well Carrie won't
let you go."

"Well, why shouldn't I, Gerald? You know that I have been
working very well, here; and I am sure I have learnt as much
Spanish, in six months, as uncle expected me to learn in two
years--besides lots of Latin, and other things, from the doctor.
Now, I do think that I have earned a holiday. A fellow at school
always has a holiday. I am sure I have worked as hard as I did at
school. I think it only fair that I should have a holiday. Besides,
you see, I am past sixteen now and, being out here, I think I ought
to have the chance of any fun there is; especially as we may be
shut up here for ever so long."

"Well, there may be something in that, Bob. You certainly have
stuck at it well; and you have not got into a single scrape since
you came out, which is a deal more than I expected of you."

"Besides, you see, Gerald, if I had not made up my mind to stick
to uncle's business, I might have been on board the Brilliant now,
with Jim Sankey; and I think, after my giving up that chance, it
would be only fair that I should be allowed to have a cruise, now
that there is such a splendid opportunity."

"Well, Bob, I will do my best to persuade Carrie to let you go;
but as far as you are concerned, you know, she is commanding
officer."

Bob laughed, for he knew well enough that, not only in that but
in all other matters, his sister generally had her own way.

"Well, I am very much obliged to you, Gerald. I am sure I should
enjoy it, awfully."

"Don't thank me too soon, Bob. You have your sister to manage
yet."

"Oh, we ought to be able to manage her, between us!" Bob said,
confidently. "Look how you managed to have Dr. Burke for me, and
you know how well that turned out."

"Yes, that was a triumph, Bob. Well, we will do our best."

"Why, Bob, where have you been all the morning?" his sister
said. "The professor came at ten o'clock. He said he had arranged
with you that he should be an hour later than usual, as he had
another engagement, early."

"I forgot all about him, Carrie. He never came into my mind
once, since breakfast. I met Captain Lockett down in the town, as
soon as I went out, and I wanted him to come here to dinner. I knew
you would be glad to see him, for you said you liked him very much;
but he said he should be too busy, but he is coming up to supper,
at seven. Then I went on board the Antelope and had a chat with his
cousin Joe, who is first mate now."

When dinner was finished, Bob said:

"Don't you think, Carrie, I am looking pale? What with the heat,
and what with my sticking in and working so many hours a day, I
begin to feel that it is too much for me."

His sister looked anxiously at him.

"Well, Bob, you are looking a little pale, but so is everybody
else; and no wonder, with this heat. But I have not been noticing
you, particularly. What do you feel, Bob?"

"I think Bob feels as if he wants a holiday," Captain O'Halloran
put in.

"Well, then, we must tell the professor that we don't want him
to come, for a bit. Of course, Teddy Burke has given up coming,
already.

"But if you have a holiday, Bob, what will you do with
yourself?"

"I don't think I shall get any better here, Carrie. I think I
want change of air."

"Nonsense, Bob! You can't be as bad as all that; and you never
said anything about it, before.

"If he is not well, you must ask Teddy Burke to come up to see
him, Gerald. Besides, how can he have change of air? The only place
he could go to would be Tetuan, and it would be hotter there than
it is here."

"I think, Carrie," Captain O'Halloran said, "I can prescribe for
him without calling Teddy Burke in. I fancy the very thing that
would get Bob set up would be a sea voyage."

"A sea voyage!" his wife repeated. "Do you mean that he should
go back to England? I don't see anything serious the matter with
him. Surely there cannot be anything serious enough for that."

"No, not so serious as that, Carrie. Just a cruise for a bit--on
board the Antelope, for example."

Mrs. O'Halloran looked from one to the other; and then, catching
a twinkle in Bob's eye, the truth flashed across her.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gerald," she said,
laughing in spite of herself. "You have quite frightened me. I see
now. Captain Locket has invited Bob to go for a cruise with him,
and all this about his being ill is nonsense, from beginning to
end. You don't mean to say that you have been encouraging Bob in
this ridiculous idea!"

"I don't know about encouraging, Carrie; but when he put it to
me that he had been working very steadily, for the last six months;
and that he had got into no scrapes; and that he had really earned
a holiday, and that this would be a very jolly one; I did not see
any particular reason why he shouldn't have it."

"No particular reason! Why, the Antelope is a privateer; and if
she is going to cruise about, that means that she is going to
fight, and he may get shot."

"So he may here, Carrie, if a ball happens to come the right
way.

"I think Bob certainly deserves a reward for the way he has
stuck to his lessons. You know you never expected he would do as he
has done; and I am sure his uncle would be delighted, if he heard
how well he speaks Spanish.

"As to his health, the boy is well enough; but there is no
denying that this hot weather we are having takes it out of us all,
and that it would be a mighty good thing if every soul on the Rock
had the chance of a month's cruise at sea, to set him up.

"But seriously, Carrie, I don't see any reason, whatever, why he
should not go. We didn't bring the boy out here to make a
mollycoddle of him. He has got to settle down, some day, in a musty
old office; and it seems to me that he ought to have his share in
any fun and diversion that he has a chance of getting at, now. As
to danger, sure you are a soldier's wife; and why shouldn't he have
a share of it, just the same as if he had gone into the navy? You
wouldn't have made any hullabaloo about it, if he had done
that.

"This is Bob's good time, let him enjoy it. You are not going to
keep a lad of his age tied to your apron strings. He has just got
the chance of having two or three years of fighting, and adventure.
It will be something for him to talk about, all his life; and my
opinion is, that you had best let him go his own way. There are
hundreds and hundreds of lads his age knocking about the world, and
running all sorts of risks, without having elder sisters worrying
over them."

"Very well, Gerald, if you and Bob have made up your minds about
it, it is no use my saying no. I am sure I don't want to make a
mollycoddle, as you call it, of him. Of course, uncle will blame
me, if any harm comes of it."

"No, he won't, Carrie. Your uncle wants the boy to be a
gentleman, and a man of the world. If you had said that a year ago,
I would have agreed with you; but we know him better, now, and I
will be bound he will like him to see as much life as he can,
during this time. He has sent him out into the world.

"I will write to your uncle, myself, and tell him it is my doing
entirely; and that I think it is a good thing Bob should take every
chance he gets, and that I will answer for it that he won't be any
the less ready, when the time comes, for buckling to at
business."

"Well, if you really think that, Gerald, I have nothing more to
say. You know I should like Bob to enjoy himself, as much as he
can; only I seem to have the responsibility of him."

"I don't see why you worry about that, Carrie. If he had gone
out to Cadiz or Oporto, as your uncle intended, you don't suppose
the people there would have troubled themselves about him. He would
just have gone his own way. You went your own way, didn't you? And
it is mighty little you troubled yourself about what your uncle was
likely to say, when you took up with an Irishman in a marching
regiment; and I don't see why you should trouble now.

"The old gentleman means well with the boy but, after all, he is
not either his father or his mother. You are his nearest relation
and, though you are a married woman, you are not old enough, yet,
to expect that a boy of Bob's age is going to treat you as if you
were his mother, instead of his sister. There is not one boy in
fifty would have minded us as he has done."

"Well, Bob, there is nothing more for me to say, after that,"
Carrie said, half laughing--though there were tears in her
eyes.

"No, no, Carrie; I won't go, if you don't like," Bob said,
impetuously.

"Yes, you shall go, Bob. Gerald is quite right. It is better you
should begin to think for yourself; and I am sure I should like you
to see things, and to enjoy yourself as much as you can. I don't
know why I should fidget about you, for you showed you had much
more good sense than I credited you with, when you gave up your
chance of going to sea and went into uncle's office.

"I am sure I am the last person who ought to lecture you, after
choosing to run about all over the world, and to take the risk of
being starved here," and she smiled at her husband.

"You do as you like, Bob," she went on. "I won't worry about
you, in future--only if you have to go back to England without a
leg, or an arm, don't blame me; and be sure you tell uncle that I
made as good a fight against it as I could."

And so it was settled.

"By the way," Bob exclaimed, presently, "I have got a letter
from uncle to you, in my pocket; and one for myself, also. Captain
Lockett gave them to me this morning, but I forgot all about
them."

"Well, you are a boy!" his sister exclaimed.

"This is a nice sample, Gerald, of Bob's thoughtfulness.

"Well, give me the letter. Perhaps he writes saying you had
better be sent home, by the first chance that offers itself."

Bob's face fell. He had, indeed, himself had some misgiving,
ever since the troubles began, that his uncle might be writing to
that effect.

"Well, look here, Carrie," he said, "here is the letter; but I
think you had better not open it, till I have started on this
cruise. Of course, if he says I must go back, I must; but I may as
well have this trip, first."

Carrie laughed.

"What do you think, Gerald, shall I leave it till Bob has
gone?"

"No, open it at once, Carrie. If he does say, 'send Bob on by
the first vessel,' there is not likely to be one before he goes in
the Antelope. Besides, that is all the more reason why he should go
for a cruise, before he starts back for that grimy old place in
Philpot Lane. We may as well see what the old gentleman says."

"I won't open mine till you have read yours, Carrie," Bob said.
"I mean to go the cruise, anyhow; but if he says I must go after
that, I will go. If he had been the old bear I used to think him, I
would not mind it a snap; but he has been so kind that I shall
certainly do what he wants."

Bob sat, with his hands deep in his pockets, watching his
sister's face with the deepest anxiety as she glanced through the
letter; Gerald standing by, and looking over her shoulder.

"The old gentleman is a brick!" Gerald, who was the first to
arrive at the end, exclaimed. "I wish I had had such a sensible old
relative, myself, but--barring an aunt who kept three parrots and a
cat, and who put more store on the smallest of them than she did on
me--never a relative did I have, in the world."

"Oh, tell me that afterwards!" Bob broke in.

"Do tell me what uncle says, Carrie."

His sister turned to the beginning again and read aloud:

"My dear niece--"

"Where does he write from?" Bob interrupted. "Is it from Philpot
Lane, or from somewhere else?"

"He writes from Matlock, Derbyshire."

"That is all right," Bob said. "I thought, by what Gerald said,
he could not have written from Philpot Lane."

"My dear niece," Carrie began again, "I duly received your
letter, saying that Bob had arrived out safely; and also his more
lengthy epistle, giving an account of the incidents of the voyage.
I should be glad if you would impress upon him the necessity of
being more particular in his punctuation, as also in the crossing
of his t's and the dotting of his i's. I have also received your
letter bearing date June 1st; and note, with great satisfaction,
your statement that he has been most assiduous in his studies, and
that he is already able to converse with some fluency in
Spanish.

"Since that time the state of affairs between the two countries
has much occupied my attention--both from its commercial aspect,
which is serious, and in connection with Bob. As the issue of a
declaration of war is hourly expected, as I write, the period of
uncertainty may be considered as over, and the two countries may be
looked upon as at war. I have reason to congratulate myself upon
having followed the advice of my correspondent, and of having laid
in a very large supply of Spanish wine; from which I shall, under
the circumstances, reap considerable profits. I have naturally been
debating, with myself, whether to send for Bob to return to
England; or to proceed to Lisbon, and thence to Oporto, to the care
of my correspondent there. I have consulted in this matter my
junior partner, Mr. Medlin, who is staying with me here for a few
days; and I am glad to say that his opinion coincides with that at
which I had finally arrived--namely, to allow him to remain with
you.

"His conduct when with me, and the perseverance with which--as
you report--he is pursuing his studies, has shown me that he will
not be found wanting in business qualities, when he enters the
firm. I am, therefore, all the more willing that he should use the
intervening time in qualifying himself, generally, for a good
position in the city of London; especially for that of the head of
a firm in the wine trade, in which an acquaintance with the world,
and the manners of a gentleman, if not of a man of fashion--a
matter in which my firm has been very deficient, heretofore--are
specially valuable. It is probable, from what I hear, that
Gibraltar will be besieged; and the event is likely to be a
memorable one. It will be of advantage to him, and give him a
certain standing, to have been present on such an occasion.

"And if he evinces any desire to place any services he is able
to render, either as a volunteer or otherwise, at the disposal of
the military authorities--and I learn, from Mr. Medlin, that it is
by no means unusual for the civil inhabitants of a besieged town to
be called upon, to aid in its defence--I should recommend that you
should place no obstacle in his way. As a lad of spirit, he would
naturally be glad of any opportunity to distinguish himself. I
gathered, from him, that one of his schoolfellows was serving as a
midshipman in a ship of war that would, not improbably, be
stationed at Gibraltar; and Bob would naturally dislike remaining
inactive, when his schoolfellow, and many other lads of the same
age, were playing men's parts in an historical event of such
importance. Therefore you will fully understand that you have my
sanction, beforehand, to agree with any desire he should express in
this direction, if it seems reasonable and proper to you and
Captain O'Halloran.

"As it is probable that the prices of food, and other articles,
will be extremely high during the siege, I have written, by this
mail, to Messieurs James and William Johnston, merchants of
Gibraltar--with whom I have had several transactions--authorizing
them to honour drafts duly drawn by Captain O'Halloran, upon me, to
the extent of 500 pounds; such sum being, of course, additional to
the allowance agreed upon between us for the maintenance and
education of your brother.

"I remain, my dear niece, your affectionate uncle, John
Bale."

"Now I call that being a jewel of an uncle," Captain O'Halloran
said, while Bob was loud in his exclamations of pleasure.

"Now you see what you brought on yourself, Bob, by your
forgetfulness. Here we have had all the trouble in life to get
Carrie to agree to your going while, had she read this letter
first, she would not have had a leg to stand upon--at least,
metaphorically speaking; practically, no one would doubt it, for a
minute."

"Practically, you are a goose, Gerald; metaphorically, uncle is
an angel. But I am very, very glad. That has relieved me from the
responsibility, altogether; and you know, at heart, I am just as
willing that Bob should enjoy himself as you are.

"Now, what does your uncle say to you, Bob?"

Bob opened and read his uncle's letter, and then handed it to
his sister.

"It is just the same sort of thing, Carrie. I can see Mr.
Medlin's hand in it, everywhere. He says that, for the time, I must
regard my connection with the firm as of secondary importance; and
take any opportunity that offers to show the spirit of an English
gentleman, by doing all in my power to uphold the dignity of the
British flag; and taking any becoming part that may offer, in the
defence of the town. Of course he says he has heard, with pleasure,
of my progress in Spanish; and that he and his junior partner look
forward, with satisfaction, to the time when I shall enter the
firm.'

"My dear Carrie," Captain O'Halloran said, "I will get a bottle
of champagne from the mess; and this evening, at supper, we will
drink your excellent uncle's health, with all the honours. I will
ask Teddy Burke to come up and join us."

"Then I think, Gerald," his wife said, smiling, "that as Captain
Lockett will be here, too, one bottle of champagne will not go very
far."

"I put it tentatively, my dear; We will say two bottles, and we
will make the first inroad on our poultry yard. We had twenty eggs,
this morning; and the woman downstairs reports that two of the hens
want to sit, though how they explained the matter to her is more
than I know; anyhow, we can afford a couple of chickens."

It was a very jovial supper, especially as it was known that the
news of the proclamation of war had been brought in, by the ship
that had arrived that morning.

"By the way, Mrs. O'Halloran," Captain Lockett said, "I have a
consignment for you. I will land it, the first thing in the
morning, for I shall sail in the evening. We are to get our letters
of marque, authorizing the capture of Spanish vessels, at ten
o'clock in the morning."

"What is the consignment, captain?"

"It is from Mr. Bale, madam. I saw him in town, a week before I
sailed, and told him I was likely to come on here, direct; and he
sent off at once three cases of champagne, and six dozen of port,
directed to you; and an eighteen gallon cask of Irish whisky, for
Captain O'Halloran."

"My dear," Captain O'Halloran said solemnly, "I believe that you
expressed, today, the opinion that your uncle was, metaphorically,
an angel. I beg that the word metaphorically be omitted. If there
was ever an angel in a pigtail, and a stiff cravat, that angel is
Mr. John Bale, of Philpot Lane."

"It is very good of him," Carrie agreed. "We could have done
very well without the whisky, but the port wine and the champagne
may be very useful, if this siege is going to be the terrible thing
you all seem to fancy."

"A drop of the craytur is not to be despised, Mrs. O'Halloran,"
Dr. Burke said; "taken with plenty of water it is a fine digestive
and, when we run short of wine and beer, you will not be despising
it, yourself."

"I did not know, Teddy Burke, that you had any experience,
whatever, of whisky mixed with plenty of water."

"You are too hard on me, altogether," the doctor laughed. "There
is no soberer man in the regiment than your humble servant."

"Well, it will do you all good, if you get on short allowance of
wine, for a time. I can't think why men want to sit, after dinner,
and drink bottle after bottle of port wine. It is all very well to
say that everyone does it, but that is a very poor excuse. Why
should they do it? Women don't do it, and I don't see why men
should. I hope the time will come when it is considered just as
disgraceful, for a man to drink, as it is for a woman.

"And now, Captain Lockett, about Bob. What time must he be on
board?"

"He must be on board before gunfire, Mrs. O'Halloran, unless you
get a special order from the town major. I was obliged to get one,
myself, for this evening. The orders are strict, now; all the gates
are closed at gunfire."

"Yes, and mighty strict they are," Captain O'Halloran said.
"There was Major Corcoran, of the 72nd, and the doctor of the
regiment were out fishing yesterday; and the wind fell, and the gun
went just as they were landing, and divil a bit could they get in.
The major is a peppery little man, and I would have given anything
to have seen him. One of the Hanoverian regiments furnished the
guard, at the water batteries; and the sentry told him, if he came
a foot nearer in the boat they would fire and, in the end, he and
the doctor had to cover themselves up with a sail, and lie there
all night. I hear the major went to lodge a complaint, when he
landed; but of course the men were only doing their duty, and I
hear Eliott gave him a wigging, for endeavouring to make them
disobey orders."

"I will be on board before gunfire, Captain Lockett. There is no
fear of my missing it."

"How long do you expect to be away, Captain Lockett?" Mrs.
O'Halloran asked.

"That depends on how we get on. If we are lucky, and pick up a
number of prizes, we may bring them in in a week; if not we may be
three weeks, especially if this calm weather lasts."

"I am sure I hope you won't be too lucky, at first, captain,"
Bob put in. "I don't want the cruise to finish in a week."

"Oh, I sha'n't consider the cruise is finished, merely because
we come in, Bob!" the captain said. "We shall be going out again,
and only put in here to bring in our prizes. The cruise will last
as long as Captain O'Halloran and your sister will allow you to
remain on board.

"I expect that I shall be able to make you very useful. I shall
put you down in the ship's books as third mate. You won't be able
to draw prize money, as an officer, because the number of officers
entitled to prize money was entered when the crew signed articles;
but if I put you down as supercargo you will share, with the men,
in any prizes we take while you are away with us."

"That will be jolly, captain; not because of the money, you
know, but because it will give one more interest in the cruise.
Besides, I shall like something to do."

"Oh, I will give you something to do! I shall put you in Joe's
watch, and then you will learn something. It is always as well to
pick up knowledge, when you get a chance; and if we do take any
prizes it will be your duty, as supercargo, to take an inventory of
what they have on board."

The next morning Bob packed his trunks, the first thing; then he
went round to the professor's, and told him that he was going away,
for a fortnight or so, for a cruise; then he went down to the port,
and met Joe Lockett when he landed, and brought him up to
breakfast, as had been arranged with the captain the night before.
After that, he went with him up the Rock to look at the
Spaniards--whose tents were a good deal more numerous than they had
been, and who were still at work, arming the forts.

"If I were the general," Joe said, "I would go out at night,
with two or three regiments, and spike all those guns, and blow up
the forts. The Dons wouldn't be expecting it; and it would be a
good beginning, and would put the men in high spirits.

"Do you see, the Spanish fleet has drifted away almost out of
sight, to the east. I thought what it would be, at sunset
yesterday, when I saw that they did not enter the bay; for the
current would be sure to drive them away, if the wind didn't spring
up.

"Well, I hope we shall get a little, this evening. And now I
must be going down, for there is a good deal to do, before we
sail."

Chapter 10: A Cruise In A
Privateer.

Bob was on board the Antelope a quarter of an hour before
gunfire. No movement was made until after sunset, for some of the
gunboats over at Algeciras might have put out, had they seen any
preparations for making sail; but as soon as it became dark the
anchor was hove, the sails dropped and sheeted home, and the brig
began to move slowly through the water. As she breasted Europa
Point, her course was altered to east by north, and the Rock faded
from sight in the darkness.

The first mate was on watch, and Bob walked up and down the deck
with him.

"There is no occasion for you to keep up," Joe Lockett said.
"You may just as well turn."

"Oh no, I mean to keep the watch with you!" Bob said. "The
captain said that I was to be in your watch, and I want you to
treat me just the same way as if I were a midshipman under
you."

"Well, if you were a midshipman, there wouldn't be anything for
you to do, now: still, if you like to keep up, of course you can do
so. I shall be glad of your company, and you will help keep a sharp
lookout for ships."

"There is no chance of our coming across any Spanish traders
tonight, I suppose, Joe?"

"Not in the least. They would keep a deal farther out than we
shall, if they were bound either for Algeciras or through the
Straits. We are not likely to meet anything, till we get near
Malaga. After that, of course, we shall be in the line of coasters.
There are Almeria, and Cartagena, and Alicante, and a score of
small ports between Alicante and Valencia."

"We don't seem to be going through the water very fast,
Joe."

"No, not more than two or two and a half knots an hour. However,
we are in no hurry. With a light wind like this, we don't want to
get too close to the shore, or we might have some of their gunboats
coming out after us. I expect that in the morning, if the wind
holds light, the captain will take in our upper sails, and just
drift along. Then, after it gets dark, he will clap on everything;
and run in so as to strike the coast a few miles above Malaga. Then
we will take in sail, and anchor as close in as we dare. Anything
coming along, then, will take us for a craft that has come out from
Malaga."

At midnight the second mate, whose name was Crofts, came up to
relieve watch; and Bob, who was beginning to feel very sleepy, was
by no means sorry to turn in. It hardly seemed to him that he had
closed an eye, when he was aroused by a knocking at the cabin
door.

"It's two bells, sir, and Mr. Lockett says you are to turn
out."

Bob hurried on his things and went up, knowing that he was an
hour late.

"I thought you wanted to keep watch, Bob. You ought to have been
on deck at eight bells."

"So I should have been, if I had been woke," Bob said,
indignantly. "I am not accustomed to wake up, just after I go to
sleep. It doesn't seem to me that I have been in bed five minutes.
If you wake me, tomorrow morning, you will see I will be up, sharp
enough.

"There is hardly any wind."

"No, we have been only crawling along all night. There is Gib,
you see, behind us."

"Why, it doesn't look ten miles off," Bob said, in surprise.

"It is twice that. It is two or three and twenty, I should
say.

"Now, the best thing you can do is to go down to the waist, slip
off your togs, and have a few buckets of water poured over you.
That will wake you up, and you will feel ever so much more
comfortable, afterwards. I have just told the steward to make us a
couple of cups of coffee. They will be ready by the time you have
had your wash."

Bob followed the advice and, after a bath, a cup of coffee, and
a biscuit, he no longer felt the effects from the shortness of the
night. The sun had already risen, and there was not a cloud upon
the sky.

"What are those, over there?" he asked, pointing to the
southeast. "They look like sails."

"They are sails. They are the upper sails of the Spanish fleet.
I expect they are trying to work back into the bay again, but they
won't do it, unless they get more wind. You see, I have taken the
topgallant sails off the brig, so as not to be seen.

"There is the Spanish coast, you see, twelve or fourteen miles
away, to port. If you like, you can take the glass and go up into
the maintop, and see if you can make anything out on shore."

Bob came down in half an hour.

"There are some fishing boats," he said, "at least, they look
like fishing boats, close inshore, just abreast of us."

"Yes, there are two or three little rivers on this side of
Malaga. There is not water in them for craft of any size, but the
fishing boats use them. There is a heavy swell sets in here, when
the wind is from the east with a bit south in it, and they run up
there for shelter."

Captain Lockett now came up on deck.

"Good morning, Bob! I did not see you here, when watch was
changed."

"No, sir, I wasn't woke; but I mean to be up another
morning."

"That is right, Bob. Joe and I agreed to give you an extra hour,
this morning. Four hours are very short measure, to one who is not
accustomed to it; but you will soon find that you can turn in and
get a sleep, when your watch is over, whatever the time of
day."

"It seems to me that this watch has the worst of it, Captain
Lockett. We had from eight to twelve, and now from four to eight;
and the other had only four hours on deck."

"Yours is considered the best watch, Bob. The middle watch, as
the one that comes on at twelve o'clock is called, is always the
most disliked. You see, at eight bells you go off and have your
breakfast comfortably, and can then turn in till twelve o'clock;
and you can get another caulk, from five or six till eight in the
evening. Of course, if there is anything to do, bad weather or
anything of that sort, both watches are on deck, all day."

"Well, I am almost sure I should like the other watch best," Bob
said.

"You are wrong, lad, especially in summer. You see, it is not
fairly dark till nine, and you wouldn't turn in till ten, anyhow;
so that, really, you are only kept two hours out of your bunk, at
that watch. It is getting light when you come up, at four; and at
five we begin to wash decks, and there is plenty to occupy you, so
that it doesn't seem long till eight bells. The others have to turn
out at twelve o'clock, just when they are most sleepy; and to be on
watch for the four dark hours, and then go down just as it is
getting light.

"On a cold night in winter, in the channel, I think perhaps the
advantage is the other way. But, in fact, men get so accustomed to
the four hours in, and the four hours out, that it makes very
little difference to them how it goes."

All day the brig kept on the same course, moving very slowly
through the water, and passing the coast as much by aid of the
current as by that of her sails.

"We are pretty well off Malaga," Captain Lockett said, in the
afternoon. "If there had been any wind, we should have had a chance
of picking up something making from there to the Straits; but there
is no chance of that, today. People like making quick voyages, when
there is a risk of falling in with an enemy; and they won't be
putting out from port until there is some change in the weather.
However, it looks to me as if there is a chance of a little breeze,
from the south, when the sun goes down. I have seen a flaw or two
on the water, that way."

"Yes, it seems to me darker over there," the mate said. "I will
go up and have a look round.

"Yes, sir, there is certainly a breeze stirring, down to the
south," he shouted, from aloft.

"That will just suit us," the captain said. "We must be twenty
miles off the coast at least and, even if they had noticed us from
above the town, we are too far off for them to make us out, at all;
so it will be safe for us to run in to the land.

"We shall rely upon you, Bob, if we are hailed."

"I will do my best to throw dust in their eyes, captain. You
must tell me, beforehand, all particulars; so that I can have the
story pat."

"We will wait till we see what sort of craft is likely to hail
us. A tale may be good enough, for the skipper of a coaster, that
might not pass muster with the captain of a gunboat."

"What are the coasters likely to be laden with?"

"There is never any saying. Mostly fruit and wine, grain and
olives. Then some of them would be taking goods, from the large
ports, to the small towns and villages along the coast. Some of the
coasters are well worth picking up; but of course, the craft we
shall be chiefly on the lookout for will be those from abroad. Some
of these have very valuable cargoes. They bring copper and lead,
and sometimes silver from the mines of Mexico and South America.
Some of them carry a good lot of silver, but it is too much to hope
that we should run across such a prize as that. They bring over
hides, too; they are worth money. Then, of course, there are ships
that have been trading up the Mediterranean with France and Italy
or the Levant.

"So, you see, there is a considerable variety in the chances of
what we may light upon. Coasters are, of course, the staple, so to
speak. If we have anything like luck, we shall not do badly, with
them. The others we must look upon as the prizes in the
lottery."

Before the sun set the breeze came up to them, and the brig was
at once headed for the land. At ten o'clock the lights of Malaga
were made out on the port beam, and the brig bore away a little to
the east. Two hours later the land was looming, not far ahead.

Sail was got off her, and a man placed in the chains, and
soundings taken. This was continued until the water shoaled to
eight fathoms, when the brig was brought up, head to wind, and the
anchor let go. Then an anchor watch of four men was set, and the
rest of the crew allowed to turn in.

At daybreak the officers were out again, and it was found that
the brig was lying within a quarter of a mile of the land, in a
slight indentation of the coast. The wind had died away, and the
sails were loosed, and suffered to fall against the masts.

"It could not be better," Captain Lockett said. "We look, now,
as if we had been trying to make up or down the coast, and had been
forced to come to anchor here. Fortunately there don't seem to be
any villages near, so we are not likely to have anyone coming out
to us."

"How far do you think we are from Malaga, captain?"

"About ten miles, I should say, Bob. Why do you ask?"

"I was only thinking whether it would be possible for me to make
my way there, and find out what vessels there are in harbour, and
whether any of them are likely to be coming this way. But if it is
ten miles, I am afraid it is too far. I should have to pass through
villages; and I might be questioned where I came from, and where I
was going. I don't know that my Spanish would pass muster, if I
were questioned like that.

"I should be all right, if I were once in a seaport. No one
would be likely to ask me any questions. Then I could stroll about,
and listen to what was said and, certainly, I could talk quite well
enough to go in and get a meal, and all that sort of thing."