menu_book Chapter 16

Chapter 15B Bob's Mission Continued As soon as breakfast was over, Bob changed his things and went down to the quay. He stopped at the vessel taking cattle on board. She was a pull acre brig of about 150 tons. The captain was smoking a cigar aft while the mate was seen to the storing of the cattle.

Bob went on board and told his story to the captain. I was left behind in charge of a cabin boy from the Esmeralda a fortnight ago. The boy had fever and the captain thought it might be infectious and put him ashore. But he soon got well. We want to be taken across, as our friends live not many miles from Tarifa.

We will pay a dollar apiece for our passage. The captain nodded. Be on board by noon. We shall not be a minute later. Bob went ashore and told Amy that everything was arranged without the slightest difficulty. He then went down to inspect the clothes.

They will do very well, he said, except that they are a great deal cleaner than anything ever seen on a Spanish sailor. Those canvas trousers will never do as they are. He accordingly took some ashes and rubbed them well into the canvas, got some grease from the kitchen, and poured two or three large patches over the trousers. That is more like it, he said. The shirt will do well enough, but there must be a patch or two of grease upon the jacket and some smears of dirt of some kind. When he had done them to his satisfaction, he took them upstairs.

What horrid, dirty-looking things, Amy exclaimed in disgust. They are clean enough inside, child. They are quite new, but I have been dirtying them outside to make them look natural. You must be dressed by half past eleven, and you can tuck your hair up under that red nightcap, but you must manage to dirty your face, neck, and hands.

You really ought to have some brown stain, but I don't suppose it is to be got. I will speak to Mr. Parrott. There is no stain that I know of, Mr. Parrott said, but I know Mr. Logie paints a little. I think you will find a box of colors upstairs. If you mix some Van Dyke brown and water and paint her with it and let it dry on,

I should think it would do very well, though of course it wouldn't stand washing. Bob found the paint box and soon mixed some paint. At half past eleven, Amy came into the room, laughing a little shyly. That will do very well, Bob said encouragingly, except that you are a great deal too fair and clean.

Look here, I have been mixing some paint. I think a wash of that will make all the difference. Now sit down while I color you. That will do capitally, he said when he finished. I think when it dries, it will be just about the right shade for a Spanish sailor boy.

Have you got your bundle? That is right. Now here is my bag and a couple of black Moorish blankets. I will bring Mr. Parrot up to say goodbye. Have you told your servant?

No, I said nothing to her about it. She would make such a terrible fuss. There would be no getting away from her. We must ask Mr. Parrott to tell her after the vessel has set sail. Mr. Parrott pronounced the disguise excellent and said that he should not have the slightest suspicion that she was anything but what she seemed to be.

Amy felt very shy as she sallied out with Bob, but she gained courage as she saw that no one noticed her. When they arrived at the brig, the cattle were nearly all on board. Bob led the way across the gangway and went up on to the full castle. There he laid one of the blankets down against a stanchion, wrapped Amy in the other so that her face was almost hidden,

and told her to sit down and close her eyes, as if weak or asleep. Then he took up his post beside her. In a quarter of an hour the last bullock was on board. The gangway was at once hauled in, the hawsers thrown off, and the sails let drop, and, in another minute,

the vessel was gliding away from the wharf. The wind was nearly due west, and the sheets were hauled in as she was headed across the straits. It was half an hour before the sailors' work was all done. Several of them came up onto the fo' castle and began twisting cigarettes,

and one at once entered into conversation with Bob. Is the boy ill? he said. Yes, he has been ill, but is better now. It would have been better if he could have stopped a few days longer, but he was pining to get home.

He won't have far to go when we get to Algeciras, and, no doubt, I shall be able to get him a lift in some cart that will be bringing provision to the camp. The talk at once turned on the siege, the sailors expressing their certainty that the rock would soon be taken. Bob had moved away from Amy as if to allow her to sleep, undisturbed by the conversation. There is a brig running down the straits at a good speed, one of the sailors said, when they were halfway across.

It is a nice breeze for her. Bob looked at the craft. She was about a mile away, and by the course they were steering, almost at right angles, would come very near to them. There was something familiar in her appearance,

and he looked at her intently, examining every sail and shroud. Then doubt became certainty, as his eye fell upon a small patch in one of the cloths of the top-gallant sail. It was the antelope. One of the Spanish shot had passed through the top-gallant sail,

and, as that was the only injury that sail had received, the bid had been cut out and a freshman put in before she sailed again from Gibraltar. She was flying Spanish colors. His heart beat fast.

Would she overhaul them or pass without taking notice of them, seeing that the pull acre was a small one and not likely to be a valuable price? The vessels approached each other quickly. The course the antelope was taking

would carry her some length or two behind the Spaniard. Bob hesitated whether to hail her as she came along. If his hail was not heard, he would, of course, be detected, and his plans entirely spoiled. And with the wind blowing straight across, and he in the bow, it would be by no means certain that his hail would be distinguished. Suddenly, to his delight, when the brig was within a hundred yards of the pull acre, he saw her head come up while the crew began to haul upon the sheets.

An exclamation of surprise and alarm broke from the Spaniards as, in another minute, the antelope was running parallel with them, a cable's link to windward. Then the port holes were open, and eight guns ran out. The Spanish flag was run down, and the British hoisted to the peak. And a summons to strike their flag shouted to the Spaniards.

As the latter carried only four small guns, resistance was out of the question. The Spanish flag was lowered, and, in obedience to the gesticulations, rather than the words, of an officer on board the English brig, the halyards were thrown off and the sails came down with a run. The Spanish sailors were frantic with rage, swearing by all the saints in the calendar. Bob had moved at once across to Amy. Lie still, Amy. We are going to be captured by an English ship. It is the same privateer that I was in before.

Don't make any sign until they come on board. In the fury that these Spaniards are in, they might stake their knives into us if they knew we were English. The brig had been thrown up into the wind as soon as the Pelacris sails had been lowered, and in three minutes a boat came alongside. Then Joe Lockett, followed by a half a dozen sailors armed with pistols and cutlass, scrambled on board. Now follow me, Amy, and descending the ladder, Bob made his way along the narrow gangway between the lines of cattle and then mounted to the poop.

Well, Joe, how are you? The first mate of the antelope started back in astonishment. Why, Bob Repton, he exclaimed. What on earth are you doing here, masquerading as a Spanish sailor? I am trying to get across to Gibraltar, he said.

Why, is this fellow bound for Gibraltar? In that case, we have not got a prize as we fancied. She's a fair prize, Joe. She's bound for a Jezreus. I was going to make my way in from there as best I could. That is all right, then. What has she got on board?

Nothing beyond these cattle and some vegetables, I expect, but they are worth a lot of money on the rock. Well, you will be able to tell us all about things, Bob. I will hail the captain to send Crofts on board with a dozen men to take charge here, and then I will take you on board.

I have a friend here, Bob said, turning to Amy, who was standing timidly behind him, so you must take him with me. All right, Jo said carelessly. In five minutes, Bob stood again on the deck of the antelope, and a hearty greeting was exchanged between him and Captain Lockett. Before I tell you anything, Captain, which cabin am I to have?

I will tell you why afterwards. I suppose it will be my old one? Yes, that is our one spare cabin, Bob, but I don't know why you are in such a hurry about it. I will tell you presently, Bob laughed and led the way below. There, Amy, he said. You can go in there and put on your own things again.

I thought it would be more comfortable for you for them not to know it until you are properly dressed in your own clothes. You have brought a frock, of course. Yes, I thought I had better bring one in case we should be made prisoners. That is all right. When you are dressed, come upon deck.

I will explain all about it before you appear. Bob, as briefly as possible, told his story to Captain Lockett and Joe, who were much amused to find that Bob's friend was a young lady. You are coming out in quite a new light, Bob, as a squire of dames, but I won't laugh at you.

Now, I want to hear the last news. I overhauled that craft not so much to capture as to get the last news. There were reports before I started that the Moors were joining the Spaniards and that their ports were closed to us, and what you say confirms that.

That was one of the points I wanted to know, as I could not tell whether I could run in there safely where I chased. Now, as to getting into the rock, are their cruisers active at present? Well, there are lots of them about. I think your best plan will be to run in close to the point

and hold on as if you were going into Algeciras. In that way, they won't suspect you. Then, we get right up the bay, haul across to the town. The wind is in your favor because you will have to attack to work up the bay and if you make pretty long tacks they won't suspect you when you start across until you have

got pretty well away and with this breeze there will be no chance of their catching you before you are under our guts that seems hopeful enough at any rate we will try it i will send six more men on board the poliger they will want to be handy with her sails i will go myself and give crofts orders he had better keep ahead of us four if we are chased by their gunboats we can protect him. Just as sail was again caught up and the two vessels were underway, Amy Harcourt came on deck

and was soon laughing and chatting merrily with the captain. At four in the afternoon, they rounded the point, the Polaker a few hundred yards ahead, and both flying Spanish colors. There were several Spanish cruisers and some gunboats outside them, but these paid no attention to their movements and both beat up the bay, keeping close into the Spanish shore, but holding somewhat farther out at each tack. Now, Captain Lockett said, when they were within half a mile of adjusters,

we will run out this tack. There are two gunboats in our way, I see, but we must take our chances of them. Go and wave a handkerchief on the bow, Joe. Mr. Crofts will be on the lookout for the signal. The two vessels held away on the port tack. As the Polaker approached the gunboats, a sudden bustle was observed on board them. They began to smell a rat, Captain Lockett said. Hoist the top-gallant sails, for the brig had been under easy sail,

to enable her to hold her place with the Polaker. The men were already at quarters, and the ports were open and the guns run out. Just as the gunboat nears the Polaker, finding the hail for her to bring to when heeded, fired a shot into her, the brig's head paid off and she poured a broadside into the two gunboats. One of them was struck amid ships.

For a moment there was great confusion aboard, and then she made for her companion, evidently in a sinking condition. Several shots were now fired from the forts, but though they fell near, the brig was uninjured. The second gunboat did not venture to attack so formidable an opponent, and half an hour later, the antelope and her prize dropped anchor off the mole. Bob had already run down and put on his usual clothes, and he and Amy once rode a short and made their way to major hard quarters. The delight of Amy's father and mother as she rushed into the room was extreme.

Bob did not enter with her, but left her to tell her own story, and proceeded straight to the governor's, to whom he reported the state of affairs at Tangier. It is bad news, the governor said. However, I am extremely obliged to you for the valuable service that you have rendered, and, as I had the pleasure of before doing, when you brought in the orders, I shall place your name in the orders of the day for having, as a volunteer, rendered signal service by carrying dispatches at great risk across to the Barbary coast. Bob then returned home. Captain Lockett had already been to the house and informed the O'Hourhands of his arrival. There you see, Carrie, Bob said after his sister's first greetings were over. There was nothing to have been so terribly alarmed about.

It isn't because you got there safely, Bob, that there was no danger, his sister replied. It was a very foolish thing to do and nothing will change my opinion as to that. Captain Lockett tells me you brought Amy Harcourt back with you, dressed up as a boy. I never heard of such a thing, Bob. The idea of a boy like you, not eating yet, taking charge in that way of a young girl.

Well, there was nothing else to do, Carrie, that I could see. I went to Mrs. Hamber, who was Mrs. Colum's most intimate friend, and asked her opinion as to what I had better do, and she advised me to get Amy away if I possibly could do so. I can't see what difference it makes, whether it is a boy or a girl.

It seems to me that people are always so stupid about that sort of thing. Carrie laughed. Well, never mind, Bob. Amy Harcourt is a very nice girl. A little too boys, perhaps, but I suppose that it's natural, being brought up in the regiment. I am very glad that you have brought her back again,

and it will be an immense relief to her father and mother. Her mother has been here three or four times during these two days you have been away, and I am in no way surprised at her anxiety. They will be in here this evening, certainly, to thank you. Very well, then I shall be around smoking a cigar with the doctor, Bob said. I am very glad to have been of use to them, and to have got Amy back again.

But I don't want to be thanked, and you tell them so. I hate being made a fuss about. And so, beyond a warm grasp of the hand on the part of Major Harcourt, and two or three words of hearty thanks on that of his wife the next time they met, Bob escaped any expression of gratitude.

But the occurrence drew the two families together more closely, and Amy often came round with her father and mother in the evening, and there were many little confidential talks between Carrie and Mrs. Harcourt. it was some time before the anxiety as to the fate of the english inhabitants at tangier was allayed they were at the beginning of december forced to be moved to martin a few miles from tituin abandoning their houses and all their property which was estimated at the value of sixty thousand pounds and three days afterwards were handed over as prisoners to the spaniards they were then put on board a ship and taken to algeceres where they were kept for nearly a month prisoners on board ship but were on the eleventh of january seventeen eighty one sent across to gibraltar

the next five months passed slowly and heavily occasionally privateers and other craft ran through the blockade of the spanish cruisers and succeeded in getting into port some of these brought wine and sugar of both of which the garrison were extremely short and occasionally a few head of cattle and other provisions all of these were sold by public auction the governor considering that to be the fairest way of disposing of them on the twelfth of april another great convoy under admiral darby entered the port it consisted of about a hundred merchantmen under the protection of a powerful fleet the joy of the garrison and inhabitants was intense although among the latter this was mingled with a certain feeling of uneasiness deserters had at various times brought in reports that should gibraltar be again relieved it was the purpose of the spaniards to bombard the town hopes were entertained that so wanton an act of cruelty would not be carried out for the entire destruction of the town would not advance in the smallest degree the progress of the siege

at a quarter to eleven just as the van of the convoy came to an anchor off the new mole fort san philip opened fire upon the town and at the signal the whole of the batteries in the forts and lines followed suit a hundred and fourteen guns and mortars rammed their shot and shell upon the town and the guns of the batteries of the garrison at once responded several of the officers of the fifty-eighth and their wives had come up to captain o'howahan to enjoy from the terrace the view of the great convoy entering the port all were in the highest spirits at the thought of the abundant supplies that would now be at their disposal and in the belief that the spaniards seeing that the garrison was again amply provisioned would abandon the siege which had now lasted for twenty-two months suddenly there came upon the air the deep sound of the guns of san philip followed by a prolonged roar as the whole of the spanish batteries opened fire the hum of shock could be heard followed by the explosion of shells the fall of masonry and screams and cries the bombardment has begun at last captain o'howerhand exclaimed

the greatest consternation reigned among the ladies several of them had left children in their quarters and although the barracks were so placed as to be to a great extent sheltered from the enemy's fire from the land side they were still terribly anxious as to their safety two of them had like the o'howerhands quarters in the town itself and the husbands of these ladies accompanied by captain o'howerhand and bob at once set out to bring the children up to the house which was perfectly sheltered the scene in the town was a pitiful one men women and children were flying in the wildest alarm towards the gate looking south and thence out to the huts that the more prudent ones had erected many months before near europa point shot and shale were raining down while chimneys and portions of masonry fell clattering in the streets sick people were being carried out on doors or planks and most of the inhabitants were lading with what few articles of value they could snatch up at the first alarm the children were soon brought up to the o'hower hands and then for a time there was nothing to do but to listen to the roar of artillery the officers and bob ascended the rock to a point near one of the batteries whence they could command a view of the spanish lines the flashes of smoke were bursting forth almost incessantly

but were answered shot for shot from the english batteries which had already almost silenced the san carlos battery which mounted a large number of mortars and against which the fire of the english guns was concentrated between one and two o'clock the spanish fire abated and soon ceased altogether The inhabitants took advantage of the lull to hurry back to their houses, whence they removed the lighter and more portable articles, but the heavy stores, of which it now appeared many of them had large quantities concealed, they were, of course, unable to take away. The discovery of these stores excited much indignation among the troops. The inhabitants had been constantly representing themselves as reduced to the last point of hunger, and had frequently received provisions from the scanty supplies of the garrison,

and the soldiers were exasperated on finding that, all this time, they possessed great stores of wine, flour, and other articles, which they were hoarding to produce and sell when prices should rise to even more exorbitant heights than they had already reached. At five o'clock, the enemy's batteries opened again and the firing continued without intermission all that night. As several casualties had taken place in the barracks

and quarters, marquees were, on the following morning, served out to all the officers whose quarters were exposed to fire, and these were pitched near Europa Point, as were also a large number of tents for the use of the inhabitants. A considerable body of troops were kept under arms near the northern gate in case the Spaniards should attempt to make an assault under cover of their fire, and five hundred officers and men were told off to assist in the work of getting the

supplies up from the wharves as fast as they were landed from the transports. The bombardment continued during the whole of the next two days. The mortars still poured their shells upon the town, but the guns were now directed at our batteries, and their fire was remarkably accurate. it. On the 14th, the unloading parties were increased to a thousand men, and strong detachments of troops were told off to extinguish the fires in the town, as the enemy were now discharging

shell filled with the composition that burned with great fury, igniting everything with which it came in contact. The troops engaged upon this duty were not long in broaching the casts of wine found in such abundance in many of the ruined houses. For two reasons they had been living almost entirely on salt provisions, and wine had been selling at prices vastly beyond their means. It was scarcely surprising, then, that they should take advantage of this opportunity.

The stores were practically lost, for the whole town was crumbling to pieces beneath the fire of the enemy's mortars, and was on fire in several places, and little if any of the liquor and stores consumed could, in any case, have been saved. However, for a time insubordination reigned. The troops carried off liquor to their quarters, barricaded themselves there, and got drunk, and it was two or three days before discipline was restored. Up to this time, the conduct of

the soldiers had been most exemplary, and they had borne their prolonged hardships without a murmur, and this outbreak was due as much to a spirit of revenge against the inhabitants, for hiding away great stores of provisions and liquor, with a view to making exorbitant profits, as from a desire to indulge in a luxury of which they had been so long to practice. On the 15th, the enemy's fire was hotter than ever, and the guns were withdrawn from our batteries, as they produced but little

effect upon the Spanish batteries, and the men working them suffered a good deal from the besieger's fire. Two officers were dangerously winded, and one of the casemates of the king's bastion, and the fire was so heavy around some of the barracks that all the troops who could not be disposed of, and the casemates and bomb proofs, were sent out of the town and encamped southward, and the next day all the women and children who had gone with their husbands and fathers into the

casemates were also removed and placed under canvas. All this gave incessant work to the troops, for there was no level ground upon which the tents could be pitched, and, as it was therefore necessary to level all the ground into terraces, it was some days before the camps were arranged in anything like order. Each day the enemies sent out their gunboats to harass the merchantmen, but these were always driven back by the guns of the fleet. On the 17th the besiegers' shells

set fire to the Spanish church, which had been used as a storehouse. Strong parties were sent down to remove the provisions, which consisted largely of barrels of flour. These were carried up and piled so as to afford protection to the casemates, which had been frequently entered by the enemy's shots, several men having been killed there. They proved a valuable defense and afforded, moreover, great amusement to the soldiers who, whenever a barrel was smashed by a shell,

carried off the contents, and quickly converted them into pancakes, until so many casts had been emptied that the whole structure came toppling down. On the 18th, a shell came through the arch of one of the casemates, killing two and wounding four men, and in consequence a good many more of the troops were sent under campus.

On the 20th, the work of unloading the great portion of the transports was completed, and the admiral, who was most anxious to take advantage of the easterly wind that was blowing to sail out of the straits gave the signal for departure many of the merchantmen whose cargos were consigned to merchants and traders on the rock carried them back to england as the merchants having no place whatever in which to store goods for the town was now almost

entirely destroyed refused to accept them the transports with ordnance stores were brought in behind the new mold to be discharged at leisure, while several colliers were run close in and scuttled so that their cargoes could be removed as required. A great many of the inhabitants and of the officers' wives and families embarked on board the fleet before it left. The enemy's fires still continued very heavy, and their guns and mortar boats on the 23rd came boldly out and

opened fire upon the working parties, who were stacking the barrels and stores at the south end the rock. The wife of the soldier was killed, and several men wounded. On the twenty-sixth, the governor determined sternly to repress the drunkenness that still prevailed, owing to the soldiers going down among the ruins of the town, where they occasionally discovered uninjured casks of wine. An order was therefore issued on that day that any soldier convicted of being drunk,

asleep at his post, or marauding should be immediately shot. On the twenty-seventh, a convoy of twenty ships, in charge of the brilliant and three other frigates, came in from Menorca, where the governor had ordered provisions to be purchased in case the convoy expected from England did not arrive. The arrival of these ships largely added to the stores at the disposal of the garrison. End of chapter 15b, read by Grace Selby.