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CHAPTER 6

Priority Queues (Heaps)

6.1 Yes. When an element is inserted, we compare it to the current minimum and change the minimum if the new

element is smaller. deleteMin operations are expensive in this scheme.

6.2

6.3 The result of three deleteMins, starting with both of the heaps in Exercise 6.2, is as follows:

6.4 (a) 4N

(b) O(N2)

(c) O(N4.1)

(d) O(2N)

6.5
/**
* Insert item x, allowing duplicates.
*/
 void insert( const Comparable & x )
{
if( currentSize == array.size( ) - 1 )
array.resize( array.size( ) * 2 );
// Percolate up
int hole = ++currentSize;
for( ; hole > 1 && x < array[ hole / 2 ]; hole /= 2 )
array[ hole ] = array[ hole / 2 ];
array[0] = array[ hole ] = x;
}

6.6 225. To see this, start with i = 1 and position at the root. Follow the path toward the last node, doubling i

when taking a left child, and doubling i and adding one when taking a right child.

6.7 (a) We show that H(N), which is the sum of the heights of nodes in a complete binary tree of N nodes, is

N − b(N), where b(N) is the number of ones in the binary representation of N. Observe that for N = 0 and

N = 1, the claim is true. Assume that it is true for values of k up to and including N − 1. Suppose the left and

right subtrees have L and R nodes, respectively. Since the root has height  log N  , we have

H (N ) = log N  + H (L) + H (R )
= log N  + L − b(L) + R − b(R)
= N − 1 + (  Log N  − b(L) − b(R) )

The second line follows from the inductive hypothesis, and the third follows because L + R = N − 1. Now the

last node in the tree is in either the left subtree or the right subtree. If it is in the left subtree, then the right

subtree is a perfect tree, and b(R) = log N  − 1 . Further, the binary representation of N and L are identical,

with the exception that the leading 10 in N becomes 1 in L. (For instance, if N = 37 = 100101, L = 10101.) It

is clear that the second digit of N must be zero if the last node is in the left subtree. Thus in this case,

b(L) = b(N), and

H(N) = N − b(N)

If the last node is in the right subtree, then b(L) =  log N  . The binary representation of R is identical to

N, except that the leading 1 is not present. (For instance, if N = 27 = 101011, L = 01011.) Thus

b(R) = b(N) − 1, and again

H(N) = N − b(N)
 (b) Run a single-elimination tournament among eight elements. This requires seven comparisons and

generates ordering information indicated by the binomial tree shown here.

The eighth comparison is between b and c. If c is less than b, then b is made a child of c. Otherwise, both

c and d are made children of b.

(c) A recursive strategy is used. Assume that N = 2k. A binomial tree is built for the N elements as in part (b).

The largest subtree of the root is then recursively converted into a binary heap of 2 k − 1 elements. The last

element in the heap (which is the only one on an extra level) is then inserted into the binomial queue

consisting of the remaining binomial trees, thus forming another binomial tree of 2 k − 1 elements. At that

point, the root has a subtree that is a heap of 2 k − 1 − 1 elements and another subtree that is a binomial tree of

2k−1 elements. Recursively convert that subtree into a heap; now the whole structure is a binary heap. The

running time for N = 2k satisfies T(N) = 2T(N/2) + log N. The base case is T(8) = 8.

6.8 a) Since each element in a min heap has children whose elements are greater than the value in the
element itself, the maximum element has no children and is a leaf.

c) Since the maximum element can be any leaf (the position of a node is determined entirely by the
value of its parent and children), all leaves must be examined to find the maximum value in a min
heap.

6.9 Let D1, D2, . . . ,Dk be random variables representing the depth of the smallest, second smallest, and kth

smallest elements, respectively. We are interested in calculating E(Dk). In what follows, we assume that the

heap size N is one less than a power of two (that is, the bottom level is completely filled) but sufficiently

large so that terms bounded by O(1/N) are negligible. Without loss of generality, we may assume that the kth

smallest element is in the left subheap of the root. Let pj, k be the probability that this element is the jth

smallest element in the subheap.

Lemma.
 k −1
For k > 1, E (Dk ) =  p j ,k (E (D j ) + 1) .
j =1

Proof.

An element that is at depth d in the left subheap is at depth d + 1 in the entire subheap. Since

E(Dj + 1) = E(Dj) + 1, the theorem follows.

Since by assumption, the bottom level of the heap is full, each of second, third, . . . , k − 1th smallest

elements are in the left subheap with probability of 0.5. (Technically, the probability should be half − 1/(N −

1) of being in the right subheap and half + 1/(N − 1) of being in the left, since we have already placed the kth

smallest in the right. Recall that we have assumed that terms of size O(1/N) can be ignored.) Thus

1  k − 2
p j ,k = pk − j ,k = k −2  
2  j −1 

Theorem.

E(Dk)  log k.

Proof.

The proof is by induction. The theorem clearly holds for k = 1 and k = 2. We then show that it holds for

arbitrary k > 2 on the assumption that it holds for all smaller k. Now, by the inductive hypothesis, for any

1  j  k − 1,

E (D j ) + E (Dk − j )  log j + log k − j

Since f(x) = log x is convex for x > 0,

log j + log k − j  2 log ( k 2 )

Thus

E (D j ) + E (Dk − j )  log( k 2 ) + log ( k 2 )

Furthermore, since pj, k = pk − j, k,

p j ,k E (D j ) + pk − j ,k E (Dk − j )  p j ,k log ( k 2 ) + pk − j ,k log ( k 2 )

From the lemma,

 k −1
E (Dk ) =  p j , k (E (D j ) + 1)
j =1
k −1
=1+  p j, k E(D j )
j =1

Thus

k −1
E ( Dk )  1 +  p j , k log ( k 2)
j =1
k −1
 1 + log ( k 2)  p j , k
j =1

 1 + log ( k 2)
 log k

completing the proof.

It can also be shown that asymptotically, E(Dk)  log(k − 1) − 0.273548.

6.10 (a) Perform a preorder traversal of the heap.

(b) Works for leftist and skew heaps. The running time is O(Kd) for d-heaps.

6.12 Simulations show that the linear time algorithm is the faster, not only on worst-case inputs, but also on

random data.

6.13 (a) If the heap is organized as a (min) heap, then starting at the hole at the root, find a path down to a leaf by

taking the minimum child. The requires roughly log N comparisons. To find the correct place where to move

the hole, perform a binary search on the log N elements. This takes O(log log N) comparisons.

(b) Find a path of minimum children, stopping after log N − log log N levels. At this point, it is easy to

determine if the hole should be placed above or below the stopping point. If it goes below, then continue

finding the path, but perform the binary search on only the last log log N elements on the path, for a total of

log N + log log log N comparisons. Otherwise, perform a binary search on the first log N − log log N

elements. The binary search takes at most log log N comparisons, and the path finding took only log N − log

log N, so the total in this case is log N. So the worst case is the first case.

(c) The bound can be improved to log N + log*N + O(1), where log*N is the inverse Ackerman function (see

Chapter 8). This bound can be found in reference [17].

6.14 The parent is at position (i + d − 2) d  . The children are in positions (i − 1)d + 2, . . . , id + 1.

6.15 (a) O((M + d N) logd N).

 (b) O((M + N) log N).

(c) O(M + N2).

(d) d = max(2, M/N). (See the related discussion at the end of Section 11.4.)

6.16 Starting from the second most signficant digit in i, and going toward the least significant digit, branch left for

0s, and right for 1s.

6.17 (a) Place negative infinity as a root with the two heaps as subtrees. Then do a deleteMin.

(b) Place negative infinity as a root with the larger heap as the left subheap, and the smaller heap as the right

subheap. Then do a deleteMin.

(c) SKETCH: Split the larger subheap into smaller heaps as follows: on the left-most path, remove two

subheaps of height r − 1, then one of height r, r + 1, and so one, until l − 2. Then merge the trees, going

smaller to higher, using the results of parts (a) and (b), with the extra nodes on the left path substituting for

the insertion of infinity, and subsequent deleteMin.

6.18 a. The minimum element will be the root. The maximum element will be one of the two children of the root.

b. Place the new element in the last open position (as in a regular heap). Now compare it to its parent. Now if
the new element was inserted into a max(min) row and was less (greater) than its parent. Then swap it with
its parent and now it need only be compared to other min elements and bubbled up min elements. If it is
greater (less) than its parent it need only be compared to other max elements bubbled up using the max
elements.

c) For a min deletion, remove the root . Let the last element in the heap be x . If the root has no children, then
x becomes the root. If find m the minimum child or grandchild of the root. If k Y m, then x becomes the
root. Other wise if m is the child of the root the m becomes the root and x is inserted in place of m. Finally if
m is the grandchild of the root, then m is moved to the root and if p is the parent of m, then if x > is p, then p
and x are interchanged.

d) yes. (see Atkinson et al., Min-Max Heaps and Generalized Priority Queues, Programming Techniques
and Data Structures, Vol 29, No. 10, pp. 996 - 1000, 1986.)
6.20

6.21 This theorem is true, and the proof is very much along the same lines as Exercise 4.20.

6.22 If elements are inserted in decreasing order, a leftist heap consisting of a chain of left children is formed. This

is the best because the right path length is minimized.

6.23 (a) If a decreaseKey is performed on a node that is very deep (very left), the time to percolate up would be

prohibitive. Thus the obvious solution doesn’t work. However, we can still do the operation efficiently by a

combination of remove and insert. To remove an arbitrary node x in the heap, replace x by the merge of its

left and right subheaps. This might create an imbalance for nodes on the path from x’s parent to the root that

would need to be fixed by a child swap. However, it is easy to show that at most logN nodes can be affected,

preserving the time bound.

This is discussed in Chapter 11.

6.24 Lazy deletion in leftist heaps is discussed in the paper by Cheriton and Tarjan [10]. The general idea is that if

the root is marked deleted, then a preorder traversal of the heap is formed, and the frontier of marked nodes is

removed, leaving a collection of heaps. These can be merged two at a time by placing all the heaps on a

queue, removing two, merging them, and placing the result at the end of the queue, terminating when only

one heap remains.

6.25 (a) The standard way to do this is to divide the work into passes. A new pass begins when the first element

reappears in a heap that is dequeued. The first pass takes roughly 2*1*(N/2) time units because there are N/2

merges of trees with one node each on the right path. The next pass takes 2*2*(N/4) time units because of the

roughly N/4 merges of trees with no more than two nodes on the right path. The third pass takes 2*3*(N/8)

time units, and so on. The sum converges to 4N.

(b) It generates heaps that are more leftist.

6.26

6.27

6.28 This claim is also true, and the proof is similar in spirit to Exercise 4.20 or 6.21.

6.29 Yes. All the single operation estimates in Exercise 6.25 become amortized instead of worst-case, but by the

definition of amortized analysis, the sum of these estimates is a worst-case bound for the sequence.

6.30 Clearly the claim is true for k = 1. Suppose it is true for all values i = 1, 2, . . . , k. A Bk + 1 tree is formed by

attaching a Bk tree to the root of a Bk tree. Thus by induction, it contains a B0 through Bk − 1 tree, as well as the

newly attached Bk tree, proving the claim.

6.31 Proof is by induction. Clearly the claim is true for k = 1. Assume true for all values i = 1, 2, . . . ,k. A Bk + 1

k 
tree is formed by attaching a Bk tree to the original Bk tree. The original thus had   nodes at depth d. The
d 

 k 
attached tree had   nodes at depth d−1, which are now at depth d. Adding these two terms and using a
 d − 1

well-known formula establishes the theorem.

6.32

6.33 This is established in Chapter 11.

6.34

template<typename Comparable>
struct BiQueNode
{
Comparable item;
vector<BiQueNode *> pointers;
BiQueNode<Comparable> (Comparable e) : item(e) {}
};
template <typename Comparable>
class BinomalQue
{
private:
vector<BiQueNode<Comparable>> biQue;
};

template <typename Comparable>

BiQueNode<Comparable> * combine(BiQueNode<Comparable> * p, BiQueNode<Comparable> * q)
{
if (p->item < q->item)
{
p->pointers.push_back(q);
return p;
}
else
{
q->pointers.push_back(p);
return q;
}
}

template <typename Comparable>

BiQueNode<Comparable> * insert(Comparable v)
{
 BiQueNode<Comparable> * t = new BiQueNode<Comparable> v;
BiQueNode<Comparable> * c = t;
for (int i = 0; i <= biQue.size(); i++)
{
if (c == nullptr) break;
if (i == biQue.size() -1)
biQue.push_back(nullptr);
if (biQue[i] == nullptr)
{ biQue[i] = c; break;}
c = combine(c, bq[i]);
bique[i] = null;
}
return t;
}

6.37

/*
Bin packing
*/
#include <vector>
#include <queue>
using namespace std;
const double Cap = 1.0;
class Bins
{
private:
vector<double> bins;
priority_queue<double> heapBins;
public:
Bins(int size = 0)
{bins.resize(size);
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
bins[i] = 0;
}
void clear() {bins.clear();}
int size(){ return bins.size();}
void insertFirstFit(double item) // a.
{
for (int i = 0; i < bins.size(); i++)
if (bins[i] + item < Cap)
{
bins[i] += item;
return;
}
bins.push_back(item);
}
int insertWorstFit(double item) // b
{
static int size = 0;
double maxRoom;
if (heapBins.empty())
heapBins.push(Cap - item);
else
{
maxRoom = heapBins.top();
if (maxRoom > item) // there is room
{
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 heapBins.pop();
heapBins.push(maxRoom - item);
}
else
{heapBins.push(Cap - item);
size++;
}
}
return size;
}
void insertBestFit(double item) // c
{
double gap =Cap;
int gapIndex = -1;
if (bins.size() == 0)
bins.push_back(item);
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < bins.size(); i++)
if (bins[i]+item < Cap && bins[i]+item < gap)
{
gap = Cap - bins[i] - item;
gapIndex = i;
}
if (gapIndex < 0)
bins.push_back(item);
else
bins[gapIndex] += item;
}
}
};

d. yes

6.38 Don’t keep the key values in the heap, but keep only the difference between the value of the key in a node

and the value of the parent’s key.

6.39 O(N + k log N) is a better bound than O(N log k). The first bound is O(N) if k = O(N/log N). The second

bound is more than this as soon as k grows faster than a constant. For the other values (N/log N) = k = (N),

the first bound is better. When k = (N), the bounds are identical.
Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Phantom
Regiment; or, Stories of "Ours"
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The Phantom Regiment; or, Stories of "Ours"

Author: James Grant

Release date: May 20, 2021 [eBook #65393]

Most recently updated: October 16, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Al Haines

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM

REGIMENT; OR, STORIES OF "OURS" ***
 THE
PHANTOM REGIMENT

OR

STORIES OF "OURS"

BY

JAMES GRANT
AUTHOR OF
"THE ROMANCE OF WAR"

LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
NEW YORK: 9 LAFAYETTE PLACE
JAMES GRANT'S NOVELS,

Two Shillings each, Fancy Boards.

THE ROMANCE OF WAR

THE AIDE-DE-CAMP
THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER
BOTHWELL
JANE SETON; OR, THE QUEEN'S ADVOCATE
PHILIP ROLLO
THE BLACK WATCH
MARY OF LORRAINE
OLIVER ELLIS; OR, THE FUSILIERS
LUCY ARDEN; OR, HOLLYWOOD HALL
FRANK HILTON; OR, THE QUEEN'S OWN
THE YELLOW FRIGATE
HARRY OGILVIE; OR, THE BLACK DRAGOONS
ARTHUR BLANE
LAURA EVERINGHAM; OR, THE HIGHLANDERS OF GLENORA
THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD
LETTY HYDE'S LOVERS
CAVALIERS OF FORTUNE
SECOND TO NONE
THE CONSTABLE OF FRANCE
VIOLET JERMYN
THE PHANTOM REGIMENT
THE KING'S OWN BORDERERS
THE WHITE COCKADE
FIRST LOVE AND LAST LOVE
DICK RODNEY
THE GIRL HE MARRIED
LADY WEDDERBURN'S WISH
JACK MANLY
ONLY AN ENSIGN
THE ADVENTURES OF ROB ROY
UNDER THE RED DRAGON
THE QUEEN'S CADET
SHALL I WIN HER?
FAIRER THAN A FAIRY
ONE OF THE SIX HUNDRED
MORLEY ASTON
DID SHE LOVE HIM?
THE ROSS-SHIRE BUFFS
SIX YEARS AGO
VERE OF OURS
THE LORD HERMITAGE
THE ROYAL REGIMENT
THE DUKE OF ALBANY'S HIGHLANDERS
THE CAMERONIANS
THE SCOTS BRIGADE

CONTENTS

I. The Romance of a Month

II. The Guarda Costa
III. Jack Slingsby
IV. The Venta
V. The Regiment of San Antonio
VI. La Posada del Cavallo
VII. The Halt in a Cork Wood
VIII. The Alcalde
IX. The Tertulia
X. Don Fabrique
XI. The Raterillo
XII. La Rio de Muerte
XIII. Pedro the Contrabandista
XIV. The Spanish Steamer
XV. The Circassian Captain
XVI. Osman Rioni
XVII. The Hussars of Tenginski
XVIII. Zupi
XIX. We Reach Head-Quarters
XX. St. Floridan; or, the Adventures of a Night
XXI. The Widow; or, the Adventures of a Night
XXII. Perez, the Potter; or, the Adventures of a Night
XXIII. The Major's Story
XXIV. "Estella"
XXV. A Legend of Fife
XXVI. The Phantom Regiment—The Quartermaster's Story
XXVII. The Phantom Regiment—The Unco' Quest
XXVIII. The Phantom Regiment—The Midnight March
XXIX. The Last of Don Fabrique

THE PHANTOM REGIMENT;

OR,

STORIES OF "OURS."

CHAPTER I.

THE ROMANCE OF A MONTH.

 "Adios, Señora Paulina—adios, mi Señora Dominga."

"Adios, Señor Don Ricardo," replied a sweet voice from the depths of
the old Spanish coach.

"Vaya usted con Dios, y que no haya novedad Señoras," said I, making a
vigorous effort with my best Castilian; and with these words, and one bright
parting glance from two black Andalusian eyes, so ended my little romance
of a month, as the old-fashioned coach, which was doubtless the production
of some cunning workman of Seville or Jaen, rolled slowly, pompously, and
heavily away towards the Spanish lines, from the north gate of Gibraltar.

And this farewell took place exactly this day twelve months ago.

The coach which bore away the old lady who rejoiced in the euphonious
cognomen of Donna Dominga de Lucena y Colmenar de Orieja, and her
daughter the pretty Paulina, was a genuine old Castilian contrivance of the
true caravan species; and, though still in use, in this our age of luxury and
invention, had been constructed, perhaps, before folding steps were
conceived; for a three-legged stool, to facilitate ingress and egress, hung
near the door. The roof was shaped like the crust of an apple-pie, and the
lower carriage, like that portion of a triumphal car. It was drawn by a pair of
fat sleek mules, which seemed to have grown old with the vehicle, and with
Pedrillo, the little postilion, who floundered away on a demi-pique saddle,
with a gigantic cocked hat surmounting his dark visage; and his lean spindle
legs lost in two gigantic jack-boots, which belonged to the beforesaid
saddle rather than to his own person.

Such was the antediluvian vehicle which bore away the pompous old
Donna and her daughter the charming Paulina, who, for the past month
(during which she had resided in Gibraltar), had turned all the heads of
"Ours;" and was boasted by the Spaniards as the fairest belle in las Cuatros
Reinos—yes in the three mighty little kingdoms of Seville, Cordova, Jaen,
and Granada, which are now conglomerated into the beautiful province of
Andalusia.

And so, without other escort than the redoubtable Pedrillo, who wore a
trabujo or blunderbuss slung across his back, and strong in their belief in
the virtues of the Santa Faz of Jaen, a picture of which was hung in the back
of their coach, these two Spanish ladies, on the conclusion of their visit,
departed on their return to Seville, their native city; and from the British
fortifications, which frown in solid tiers towards the Spanish lines, I
watched the venerable carrozzo as it rolled across the low sandy Isthmus,
which is known as the neutral ground; and it disappeared just as the sun
began to fade upon the beautiful masses of the Serrania de Rondo, which
rose in piles against the golden clouds, and as the evening gun pealed like
thunder among the Moorish peaks of Jebel Tarik; and then I turned away
with a sigh as I thought of the winning smile I should never see again.

"It's all over now, Ramble," said my friend Jack Slingsby, who was the
subaltern of my company, and who had been my chum at Sandhurst; "it is
all over, Dick," he continued, with a laugh and one of those rough slaps on
the shoulder, which no one ventures to give but an Englishman; "and so,
instead of airing your sorrows here, 'sighing to the evening breeze' and all
that sort of thing, you may as well come with me and knock the balls about
a little—or join Shafton, the colonel, and some of "Ours" who have
proposed a pool to-night—and meanwhile solace yourself with another of
my 'very superior' cabanas."

"Perhaps it is as well she is gone, Jack," said I, endeavouring to imitate

his light-hearted indifference; "had she remained among us another week, I
would certainly have booked for her, and so have bedevilled myself, as you
said yesterday."

"For Donna Paulina?"

"Of course—had you any doubts as to which?"

"Why—no. I certainly did not think that you were in love with the
mother."

"Well," said I, impatiently.

"Paulina is very beautiful, no doubt; she has those Andalusian eyes and
ancles which all the world talk about, but which all the world must see to
feel the full effect of either. She has a charming manner—a glorious
'espiêglerie'—yes, that's the word! full of pretty repartee, and all that sort of
thing—you understand me, Dick, or Don Ricardo, as she called you; but
withal, I assure you, I should not like to enter for a Spanish wife, of all
women in the world; no, no—what does the song say?" and as we
reascended to the higher parts of the fortress, this careless fellow sang aloud
a scrap of a popular mess-table song, somewhat to this purpose:—

"No fair fräulein or demoiselle, nor donna with her smile,

Shall ever teach me to forget the dear ones of our isle;
And when I seek a heart and hand among the fair and free,
Still constant in my faith, I'll say an English girl for me."

"That is the mark, Dick,—

"——an English girl for me!"

Besides, half of the young fellows in garrison here ran after Paulina; and at
every mess-table she was as well known as the big drum, or the regimental
snuff-box, or that great ram's head with its devilish horns, with which those
highland fellows of the 92nd decorate their table, after the cloth is removed.
At every jail, field-day, and tertulia—at church, and on the promenade, a
crowd of admirers surrounded her, like flies round honey, and she seemed
to be equally delighted with all."

"That was one of the peculiar charms of her manner, Jack," said I.

"Peculiar, indeed!" said he, letting out a cloud of smoke from his well-
mustachioed lip.

"In public, she distinguished none in particular, but was alike gay with
all."

"And in private, who was said generally to be the happy Lothario?"

I made no reply, but knocked the ashes away from the 'very superior'
cabana, with which he had just favoured me.
 "It was said to be a certain person known as Dick Ramble of 'Ours',"
continued Slingsby, in his bantering way; "but I am deuced glad it is all
over, like any other flirtation, and you are 'free to win and free to wed
another;' I don't like Spaniards—and never shall. In fact, I have hated them
ever since that unpleasant adventure I had at Malaga last year, and about
which I shall tell you some other time; but here come Shafton, Morton, and
some more of 'Ours,' and as soon as we leave the mess, we shall adjourn to
the billiard table."

What this 'unpleasant adventure,' to which Slingsby referred—and to

which I had often heard him refer before—might have been I cared not then
to inquire; but walked on, more chilled than consoled by his rattling manner
and by that mess-room raillery, which I have known to laugh many a wiser
man than your humble servant, out of an honest and sincere passion; while
it has also been the saving of many an inflammable "Newcome," or
unfledged, but amatory ensign, from the lures of those passé garrison belles,
whose feathers are beginning to moult, and whose brilliance is beginning to
fade, after a long career of close flirtation, round-dancing, supper-crushes,
cold fowl, ices, pink champagne, affectionate farewells in the grey morning,
when the drowsy drum-boys beat reveillie, or when the route arrived, and
each lover—a lover alas! but for the time—departed with his regiment to
return no more.

Of Paulina de Lucena (such a pretty name it is!) I had seen much during
her short residence in Gibraltar, and had become—what shall I term it, for
'Ours' were not marrying men—charmed by her sweetness of temper and
piquant manner, as well as by her acknowledged beauty.

Jack Slingsby stigmatised this under the denomination of "being

spooney;" but as I have a proper abhorrence of all that slang phraseology
which is peculiar to the university, the barrack, the clubhouse, and the turf, I
believe I shall quote honest Jack no more, but proceed in my own fashion.

She was the only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Don Ignacio de

Lucena, a Knight of San Ferdinando, an officer of Lancers in the service of
the Queen of Spain, in one of whose battles he was taken prisoner by
Cabrera, and shot in cold blood with fifty of his soldiers: for this ferocious
Carlist behaved with such barbarity to the Constitutional Army that one of
its officers, who had been a prisoner, assured me that at Valencia he and his
comrades were subjected to such cruelty by their captors, that after a
thousand sufferings, on being denied food, they were driven to the dreadful
necessity of devouring the body of a fellow captive.*

* A work published in Valencia positively asserts this.

The profession of her father, together with the circumstance of one of her
brothers being in the Spanish sea service, and another in the army of
Portugal, caused her to view with a favourable eye all who have the honour
to live by the sword; and my small smattering of Spanish, which I picked up
in those idle hours of a garrison life that otherwise must have hung heavily
over me, gave me every facility for cultivating a friendship which had in it
everything that might serve to dazzle and charm a young man; for with the
idea of Andalusia and Spanish beauty we are apt to conjure up so much of
love and of romance that the imagination gets the better of the senses;
besides, those rogues of travellers and romancers have always given us such
exaggerated pictures of Spanish loveliness.

In regularity of feature and fairness of complexion, Donna Paulina was

inferior to many a pretty girl I have seen at home. Her most glorious
attractions were her dark glossy tresses and her black eloquent eyes—
brilliant, sad, subduing, ever varying, but ever black, and under their long,
long fringes, ever melting. In beauty of form and grace of movement she
was unmatched out of her own province, and I can assure the reader that the
first time her very striking figure appeared among the promenaders in the
Alameda of Gibraltar with her drapery of black lace falling from a high
pearl comb, her mantilla, her close-fitting dress, her pretty feet in their
Cordovan slippers, and her large fan, the unhappy bones of which were ever
in a state of flutter and excitement, and between which she shot her most
dangerous glances, it occasioned much marvel, curiosity, and speculation at
all the mess-tables of Her Majesty's forces stationed on the rock.
 To such a companion imagine the charm of acting cicerone about the
fortifications of old Gibraltar; imagine our evening rambles round Rosia
Bay and along the new mole, where the ships of the British and Yankees,
the French, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Turks, Greeks, Moors, Arabs,
and Jews, with all their varieties of ensigns, costume and rig, are riding at
anchor, and where many a grim mortar and cannon gun frown over the new
bastion; imagine the transition from the sunny Alameda to the deep cool
galleries which are hewn in the heart of the living rock, and which are now
turned to such war-like purposes as old Pomponius Mela, who first wrote of
them, could never have conceived, and where we wandered for many an
hour, the pretty donna forgetting the starched customs of her country so far
as to grasp my arm with both her hands at times, for the aspect of these
places filled her with timidity and awe.

To these subterranean batteries there is admitted but a dim and dubious

light that steals through their embrasures, glinting on the damp slime of
their walls and roof of rock; and on the heavy ordnance—sixty-eight
pounders some of them—which stand on frames of metal, on piles of balls
and bombs, and on doors studded with iron, that lead to other and inner
vaults full of missiles and unknown terrors.

On, on would we wander, through grim batteries, gloomy magazines,

and far-stretching galleries, that seemed to be without end, obtaining at
times through the vaulted embrasures a glimpse of the town, then basking in
the glare of the noonday sun, or of the sea, shining under a brilliance in
which the vessels on its bosom became lost, while we heard only the sound
of our own voices, the twang of a bugle, or the sharp rat-tat of a drum in the
barracks, the faint boom of a breaker on the cliffs, or the fainter sound of
voices in the town, far, far down below, where all the races of the world
were mingling; for there, in its streets, might be seen the smart Greek in his
scarlet fez and ample kilt; the hideous Afric Jew in his black and white
striped cowl; the slow and solemn Turk; the bare-kneed Scottish soldier; the
lively Italian sailor, and the puffing, perspiring, and grumbling John Bull.

I saw Paulina daily, and garrison life became one long and enchanting
dream!
 In the batteries of the rock we promenaded often when the heat became
too great in the sunny Alameda, and with such a companion, while
wandering through the subterranean and twilight shades of Saint George's
Hall, or the Windsor Gallery, how was it possible to escape from loving her.
—A coquettish Andalusian, who, whenever I ventured to become a little
more tender than usual, would tap me over the fingers with her fan, or give
me one brilliant, flashing and fascinating glance, as she closed her screen of
black lace, and threatened to leave me, while she sang, with the most
charming grace in the world, "Pues por besarte Minguillo," the English of
which is somewhat to the following purpose:—

"Give me swiftly back, thou dear one,

Give the kiss I gave to you;
Give me back the kiss, for mother
Is impatient—prithee do!
Give me that, and take another,
For that one, thou shalt have two."

And where, the while, the reader may naturally enquire, was the cautious,
suspicious, and lynx-eyed Spanish mother therein referred to?

Now old Donna Dominga had conceived a vehement friendship for me

since the first evening on which I had the pleasure of meeting her at the
residence of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief; and where I supplied
her with ices when she was warm, adjusted her mantilla when she was cool,
held her fan, snuff-box, and poodle, and brought her a cigarillo and orange-
water dashed with the smallest taste of brandy; and, discovering her
sympathies and antipathies, soon learned to anathematise Cabrera and the
Conde de Montmolin, to express a vague belief in miracles in general, and
the verity of the Holy Face of Jaen in particular. I "turned" the old lady's
flank, and established myself safely under the wing of her prejudices.

She always accompanied Paulina and me in our rambles; but I generally

contrived, by a little successful manoeuvring, to leave her to the care of Dr.
MacLeechy, our senior surgeon, after Jack Slingsby had very disobligingly
revolted against this duty; and as the doctor and the Donna were either
somewhat pursy, or disposed to prose and linger, we usually left them far in
the rear and lost sight of them altogether.
 Now the doctor, who quoted Kelaart as if he had been his own father,
and expatiated to the old lady on geology (with mineralogy, botany, and
Scottish metaphysics), was so very particular in explaining the leaves,
fibres, and various properties of the Iberus Giberaltarica, the only plant
peculiar to the rock, that the stout Donna Dominga, who deemed all this but
the language of the flowers, and viewed everything through the medium of
gallantry, became troubled in spirit, and would occasionally blush behind
the sticks of her fan, or ogle and look unutterable things at our poor
unconscious medico. She would sigh tenderly when he plucked the soft
palmetto which grows in the rocky crevices, or tremble over the white
polyanthus, and was ready to drop like a ripe pumpkin into his arms, when
he grew eloquent upon the various species of the cacti.

This was all very well while it lasted, for while the ponderous old donna
thought that our quiet, canny, and discreet Galen, who signed himself M.D.
of St. Andrews, and F.E.C.S. of Edinburgh, was a lover of her own, she
forgot to look too narrowly after us; and believed that she had found a most
agreeable mode of passing the month in Gibraltar, which, for change of air,
had been recommended by some sangrado of Seville, as her health had
become somewhat impaired by ease and good living.

I was so dazzled and delighted with the charming Paulina, and her pretty
little ways, that I had really begun to prepare my mind for repelling the
banter of the mess, and for waiting with due solemnity upon Donna
Dominga to confer with her alone, upon settlements and so forth, when a
terrible denouement took place! Having rashly boasted of her imaginary
conquest over our doctor, to a lady whom she met at the house of a rich
Spanish merchant in the Alameda, there ensued between them an immediate
scene; for this unlucky communication (given with all the coy triumph with
which the plump old lady could invest it) was made to no other than the
doctor's wife, who had just arrived from Dublin; and as it had never entered
the head of Donna Dominga to inquire whether our unsuspecting medico
was a Benedick—bond or free, as they say in Australia—a storm was the
consequence.

Now, Mrs. Leechy MacLeechy, our Scotch doctor's better half, was a
strong-minded Irish woman, who wore a species of turban, and was the
terror of the regiment; on each of her fat wrists she wore a bracelet of
blood-encrusted medals, torn, as she said, "off Rooshian breasts," and sent
to her from Sebastopol by her brother, who was "the matchor—the saynior
matchor—devil a less, or the foighting eighty-ayth;" and so this lady, in her
deep Galway patois, poured on the Spaniard a broadside that would have
sunk the Santissima Trinidad.

Finding her love affair at an end, the cruel donna resolved to cut short
mine. Within an hour after this meeting, Pedrillo was summoned; the old
Spanish coach was brought forth; the baggage packed, and her farewell
cards—P.P.C.—dispatched to the governor and his military secretary; to the
aides-de-camp and staff colonel; to the officers commanding regiments, and
all the great folks of the place. The old lady and the pretty Paulina got into
the depths of the ponderous 'carrozza;' the three-legged stool was strapped
to the door; Pedrillo clambered into his bucket-like boots, and muttered
many 'carajos!' as he applied his latigo to the sleek sides of the dapple
mules, and while their proprietrix was sulking and fuming at Gibraltar and
all the heretics who dwelt therein, the huge conveyance crawled along the
narrow causeway which forms the communication between the town and
the isthmus, and, for the present, thus ended, as I have said, my pleasant
little Spanish romance of a month.

A recollection was all that remained to me of Paulina, and of that

flirtation which was fast maturing into something of a better and more
lasting nature.

CHAPTER II.

THE GUARDA COSTA.

During the two preceding months we had been daily expecting orders to
embark for the Crimea, and this expectation formed almost our sole topic at
mess; but days became weeks, and weeks became months, yet we heard no
more of it than what passed among ourselves.

Transports laden with troops—horse, foot, and artillery—touched daily

at the Rock, and steamed on into the bright blue Mediterranean, with spirit-
stirring cheers rising from their crowded decks. Regiments junior to ours
were withdrawn from the Rock and dispatched to that scene of bravery and
bloodshed, of mismanagement and disaster, towards which all our thoughts,
our hopes, and hearts were turned; but the route never came for "Ours," and
we grew decidedly peevish, and found the dull routine of duty among the
endless batteries, bastions, curtains, magazines, and casemates of that
mighty fortress which was so long boasted (before the days of steam) as the
key of "the great French lake," sufficiently tedious; for we felt that we were
merely playing at soldiers like militiamen, while our comrades of the line
were engaged in desperate work, and played the great game of war, with the
eyes of all the world upon them.

One evening, about a week after the departure of the ladies, I was
captain of the guard at the New Mole Fort, and Jack Slingsby was my
subaltern. We had just finished the dinner which had been sent to us, hot
and smoking, from the mess-house, in a conveyance for the purpose; the
windows of the officers' guardroom were open, and with a box of
contraband cigars, a few periodicals from the garrison library, a telescope to
watch the passing ships, and a bottle or two of very choice mess claret, we
were dozing the sunny evening of Andalusia very comfortably away.

The last dispatches from the Crimea had been read and discussed by us;
the last lists of killed, wounded, frozen, or missing in the trenches had been
conned over for some familiar name, which brought vividly before us some
fine fellow we should never see again; but whose sudden fate was the more
interesting to us, because it soon might be our own.

Whether it was the result of the good dinner, the good wine, the sultry
atmosphere, or our own thoughts that oppressed us, I know not; but we sat
long silent, and gazing at the varied scenery and glittering waters of the bay.

My thoughts were still wandering after Paulina, and I was endeavouring

to imagine what she might be about at that precise moment.
 Slingsby had lost a very heavy and very absurd bet, on an interesting
race run at Grand Cairo between an Irish mare and an Arab horse belonging
to Halim Pasha, when the former beat the latter "all to nothing," as Jack
phrased it, and he had to hand over 500l. to Morton, our colonel, for
booking on a horse which neither of them had ever seen. The same race was
offered for the last two years against all England, for ten thousand
sovereigns, and, as all the sporting world know, the challenge was not
accepted. Blue-devilled by his loss, Jack Slingsby sipped his claret in
silence and made wise resolutions which he never intended to keep, with
moral reflections which he never could practise, and longed for the Crimea,
insensible to the charms of this delightful climate, where, even in January,
the narcissus-polyanthus hang in white clusters from the rocks; where the
purple lavender flowers in large beds and parterres; where the palmetto
spreads its fan-like foliage to the sun; where the gigantic aloe puts forth its
leaves, and the prickly pear expands its ponderous bunches, while the wild
tulip and the damascus-tree are in full blossom under the gloom of the
solemn pine, or the lighter foliage of the cork-tree—and where all is
verdure, fragrance, and joy! Yet, amid all this, Jack Slingsby, like the rest of
"Ours," sighed for the frozen camp, the battered trenches, and the misery of
Sebastopol.

"So you have not got the better of your Spanish fancies, eh?" said he, for
lack of something better to talk about; "the charming Paulina—that most
rotund of elderly females, her mamma, and all that sort of thing?"

"What leads you to think so?" I asked languidly, as I lay stretched at

length on the Windsor chairs, watching the smoke which ascended from my
lips to the ceiling.

"It is quite plain, dear Don Ricardo."

"You cannot mimic her, so don't attempt it, Jack; but how is it plain, eh?"

"As clear as when the right is in front, the left is the pivot."

"A technical reply."

 "Dick Ramble, my boy, you are quite sad about her, and there is no use
in attempting to conceal it," continued Slingsby.

"Not sad, exactly," said I, making an effort to look brave; "never was I
fool enough to be sad about any woman yet; there are as good fish, &c., and
as for the Spanish girl—try another Cuba, the box is beside you."

"Thanks—about this Spanish girl?"

"Fill your glass, and push across the decanter; has not that bottle been a
little corked, think you?"

"Perhaps—about this Spanish girl?" continued Jack doggedly.

"Well, what the deuce about her?"

"You were just on the point of remarking some thing."

"Only that her eyes were very fine, were they not?"

"Very, but I prefer blue—

"'No fair fräulein nor dem——-'

"For heaven's sake, Jack, don't begin that ever-lasting ditty!" said I,
pettishly; "yes, Paulina's eyes were beautiful; they seemed, as the Spaniards
say, to be in mourning for the murders they committed."

"A stale compliment," was Jack's retort to my interruption of a song with

which he had favoured the mess every night since we left Southampton, for
a small amount of vocal talent will go a long way to charm a mess-table;
"she murdered you, however, with very little compunction; but to think of
the doctor's botanising with the mother being mistaken for love-making—
was it not glorious, Dick?"

"I have sometimes thought of a month's leave, just between musters,"

said I, without joining in Jack's boisterous laugh.
 "Leave! for what purpose?"

"A ride into Spain—say, as far as Seville; what do you think of it?"

"Seventy miles or more to help you to continue a flirtation begun in the

casemates of Gibraltar. Thank you, Ramble; I would rather hold myself
excused. I had a little adventure in Spain once before, and its devilish
concomitants quite cured me of all taste for another; though if I had not lost
this unlucky 500l. perhaps—"

"Well, why the deuce did you not let Halim Pasha and his nag alone?
What did their race matter to you?"

"But lend me the telescope—what is that puff—a gun?"

"It is a smuggler running right for the harbour, pursued by a Spanish

guarda costa; bang! there goes another gun from the Don."

"And right through the felucca's sail too!"

"Hollo! they will be within gunshot of us ere long," said I, springing up:
"and this will be work for us. Sentry, call the gunner of the guard."

"Gunner of the guard!" reiterated the sentinel, who stood, bayonet in

hand, under a sunshade, at the guard-house door.

The solitary artilleryman, who was attached to my guard, appeared in an

instant with his sword by his side, and a lintstock in his hand.

"Get ready a gun," said I; "for there is a Spanish guarda costa in pursuit
of a smuggler, and we must protect our friend."

"An 18-pounder, or a 24, sir?"

"Oh, give him a twenty-four, and take a file of the guard to assist you."

While the smuggler, with her long sweeps out, and every stitch of canvas
crowded on her long and tapering masts and whip-like yards, was straining
every nerve to escape from the Spanish cruiser, which plied away with her
bow guns, and bore after her close-hauled, and rushing through the shining
waves till they seemed to smoke under her, it may be necessary to inform
the reader that the manufacture and smuggling of tobacco and cigars at
Gibraltar is a never-failing and never-ending source of angry discussion
between the Governments of Spain and Britain; for, by the former, tobacco
has long been reckoned a royal monopoly. Now, in Gibraltar, almost every
second house is a cigar-shop, and more than two thousand men are daily
employed in the manufacture of these articles of luxury, without which a
Spaniard would be, as some one says. like a steamer without a funnel.
Three-fourths of the British exports from Gibraltar to the three United
Kingdoms are also smuggled, and to such an extent is the contraband trade
carried, that the annual importation of tobacco into that fortified town, says
Mr Porter, in his "Progress of the Nation," "amounts to from six millions to
eight millions of pounds, nearly the whole of which is purchased by
smugglers."

The boats of the contrabandistas are generally rigged as feluccas, and

painted black; they are built sharp as a pike-head, and carry a heavy brass
gun, which, in harbour, is usually concealed under a pile of old boxes and
casks, with a tarpaulin thrown over it, while in cases of emergency, various
pistols, pikes, and cutlasses, make their appearance in the hands of the
brown-visaged, black-bearded, red-sashed, and rather pictorial-looking
ruffians, whose chief occupation is to sleep and lounge about their decks by
day.

To look out for these lads of the knife and pistol, the Government of Her
Most Catholic Majesty maintains a number of fast-sailing revenue craft,
called guarda costas, commanded by brave and vigilant officers. These are
the abhorrence of the contrabandistas, whose operations are greatly
facilitated on land by the concurrence of the corrupt Spanish officials; and
those guarda costas, in their zeal, had, of late, been rash enough to pursue
their prey into those waters which are under the jurisdiction of the Governor
and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar; and in three instances had boarded
them with pistol and cutlass, shot the crews, or driven them overboard, and
thereafter cut the feluccas out from under the very guns of Her Britannic
Majesty's fortress.
 This, however, was not to be tolerated again, and strict orders had been
issued that every guarda costa who ventured into troubled waters should be
fired on. John Bull is consistently absurd and unjust in all things, and, with
all his boasted justice, is the most veritable bully in the world—except,
perhaps, his thriving son Jonathan; he would no doubt cut his own
smugglers out of any port in the world, and in the same moment would
deny the poor Spaniards the right to do the same; for John is a man full of
honour and liberality, or a man of neither, just as may suit his own
particular purpose for the time; but to return,—

On came the felucca in question, running straight for the anchorage,

which was protected by the heavy guns of the New Mole Fort where we
were on guard. and the parapet of which was lined by the soldiers, all eager
to witness the result of that most exciting of all things, a chase—a struggle
between a strong party and a weak one. On came the guarda costa in
pursuit, plying her bow-chaser, cleaving asunder the clouds of white smoke
which ever and anon it rolled ahead of her, and riding over the waves, then
shining in all the rosy brilliance of a Spanish sunset, while astern waved the
large ensign with the red and yellow horizontal bars of Castile and Leon.

Suddenly the little felucca ran up British colours; a sharp patter rang
over the water, and a wreath of smoke rose from her stern as the devil-may-
care contrabandistas gave the cruiser a dose of small arms.

Boom again! The don gave another shot from his brass gun, and this
time an angry shout arose from our own vessels in the roadstead, for the
ball had crossed the forefoot of a Newcastle collier.

"Ramble, this will never do," said Slingsby; "that Spanish craft is too
near by half—much nearer than our standing orders permit."

"Now, gunner, is that 24-pounder ready?" said I.

"All ready, sir."

"Then bang at her."

 We all watched the shot with breathless interest, for to us, the whole
affair was merely a race, a game of hazard, like any other. The sullen roar of
the 24-pounder shook the solid parapet of the New Mole Fort, and pealed in
repeated echoes round all the shore to the extremity of Rosia Bay; and as
the cloud of light smoke curled away from before us, we saw the shot
whipping the water far astern of the guarda costa, and a flush of annoyance
spread over the honest face of the artilleryman; for, as all our eyes were
bent upon his performance, he had been most anxious to excel, and this
very anxiety had probably defeated its object.

A muttered exclamation of impatience escaped him.

"Run back the gun," said he to the guard.

Back went the carronade, and home went the sponge, as he set his teeth,
and, with hasty determination, proceeded to reload.

"Quick, quick," said I; "for if she hauls her wind, gunner, there will
barely be time to give another shot."

"I'll toss you for it, Señor Capitano," said Slingsby; "bet you a bottle of
champagne that I will hit the guarda costa."

"Done," said I; "toss for the first fire."

We tossed, and it fell to Jack.

"Take care that you don't hit the felucca."

"Miss the pigeon and hit the crow—eh, Dick?" he said, while, laughing,
he applied his eye to the sites on the breech, and proceeded to adjust the
screw, to the evident annoyance of the gunner, who, while he could not
decline to relinquish his place to an officer, was piqued on being deprived
of a chance of retrieving his name as a professional marksman; and now he
stood by, with his match lighted, in the earnest hope, doubtless, that Jack
Slingsby would send his shot as wide of the mark as possible. Cigar in
mouth, Jack glanced coolly—almost carelessly—along the gun, and on
covering his object, cried—"fire!"
 Again the lintstock fell on the touch-hole; again the gun-shot rolled
along the echoing shore, and pealed away to seaward; a large white splinter
was seen on the gunwale of the guarda costa; her sails shivered and flapped
in the wind, as the ball struck her, and suddenly backing her mainyard, she
lay to, heaving like a wounded seabird, on the long glassy ridges of the
ground-swell, ere the burst of applause with which our soldiers greeted
Slingsby had died away—for my friend Jack was one of their most
favourite officers.

"You did for her, there, sir," said the gunner, approvingly, as he rammed
home the sponge.

"Yes, but as you fired when she was much further off, remember that I
have the less credit in hitting," replied Jack, as he gave the gunner a crown-
piece to console him.

By this time the felucca, with a shout of derision rising from her deck,
ran into the harbour, ducking her colours thrice to us in salute, as she passed
the New Mole Fort.

I had not been looking for more than a minute through the spy-glass at
the guarda costa, when I became assured that some one on board had been
wounded severely, either by the shot or its splinters. The crew—all save the
man at the wheel—were grouped amidships; many were kneeling on the
deck, and, once or twice, clenched hands were fiercely shaken in menace
towards the battery; then we saw a man borne carefully aft between several
others.

"Some one has evidently been killed or wounded desperately," said I,

handing the glass to Slingsby.

"Good Heaven! do you say so?" cried Jack; "well, it would seem so—
poor fellow—you know, Ramble, I did not exactly anticipate such a thing—
so it is—so it is! There is a man stretched on the deck!" he added, passing
the telescope to our soldiers.

"We have only obeyed a standing garrison order," said I; "and the
responsibility thereof, if any, does not lie with us, but with those who issued
it. Come back to the guard-room, Jack, and my servant shall go to the
messman for that bottle of champagne you have won so well."

"Oh! deuce take the champagne, and all that sort of thing," said Jack,
looking still at the guarda costa.

For a time an evident confusion and indecision, seemed to reign among

her crew. She lay heaving and tossing, rising and falling on the long and
ridgy rollers, with the setting sun glaring full upon her white mainsail,
which lay flat to the mast; the light of day soon sank in the west, behind the
upper peak of the rocky mountain, from which a myriad rays shot upward
and played on the masses of floating cloud; the strait was still bathed in the
amber glory of evening, and each glassy billow of the slow ground-swell as
it rolled away from west to east, rose like a bank of gold from a plain of
brilliant blue; and all the amphitheatre of the town, which stretches along
the base of the rock, and rises gradually from the shore in the most
delightful manner—mingling in picturesque confusion, the lofty and airy
Spanish caza, with its flat roof, verandah, and sun-shaded windows, the
close, compact English house, the solid rampart, and the flimsy wooden
storehouse—all were bathed in the warmest tints, and every casement and
window flung back the gleams of radiance, as if they had been illuminated
by lamps of crimson and gold.

Soon after the departed sun had shed its last ray on the bare scalp of the
sugar-loaf, the crew of the guarda costa, as a protection probably, hoisted
British colours, and crept past us into the harbour, and immediately on
dropping her anchor, sent a boat ashore.

We supposed that this visit could only be for the purpose of lodging a
complaint against the officer in command at the New Mole Fort—to wit
myself, a complaint which we knew would be unavailing: but we were
mistaken; for my servant, on returning from the barracks with the bottle of
champagne and other &c. requisite to enable Jack and me to pass the night
on guard agreeably, brought us the unpleasant information that the shot had
carried away both legs of the unfortunate Spanish lieutenant who
commanded the guarda costa, and that doctor M'Leechy of "Ours" had at
once gone off to the vessel to succour the patient, who—poor fellow!—had
died under his hands.
 This catastrophe proved a great damper to us, and to Jack in particular,
for he was one of the best-hearted fellows in the service; so we had more
champagne brought from the mess-house, and we talked of the guarda costa
and her poor lieutenant almost till the morning gun was fired; and the affair
furnished me with a special paragraph for that "column of remarks" in the
guard report which seldom contains memoranda of greater importance than
a notice of "the cracked pane of glass, handed over by Captain O'Brien of
the 88th;" or, "the poker, handed over, broken, by the last guard under
Lieutenant Smith, of the Buffs," and so forth.

In the morning we found that the guarda costa had sailed in the night,
taking her dead commander with her; and long before the end of the week
we had ceased even to speak of the circumstance at mess, and I forgot the
affair as the image of Paulina came before me again, and thoughtless Jack
Slingsby was as gay as ever.

But I must mention, that on being relieved from guard at the New Mole
Fort, I found waiting me, at my quarters, Pedro de Urquija, a well-known
contrabandista, and king of the smugglers of Gibraltar, who gave me a
profusion of thanks "for saving his little felucca, La Buena Fortuna, from
that devil of a guarda costa," saying it was the closest run he had ever
experienced in twenty years of arduous smuggling; and he insisted upon my
acceptance of several boxes of prime Cubas and some dozen yards of
magnificent lace, worked by the nuns of Cadiz and the poor sisters of Santa
Theresa at Estrelo, and we parted the best friends in the world: but a heavy
rod was in pickle for Jack and me; and the affair was destined to cost us
more danger, trouble, and anxiety, than we could ever have calculated on
risking.

CHAPTER III.

JACK SLINGSBY.
 The killing of the Spanish lieutenant revived among our diplomatic
people the ever-rankling quarrel about the contrabandistas, and the captain-
general of Andalusia wrote an angry letter to the governor of Gibraltar,
remonstrating with him on the conduct of the officer in charge of the battery
at the Mole Fort, in daring to fire upon a Spanish government cruiser, and
requesting that the said Don Ricardo Ramble should be given up to the
Spanish authorities to be sent to the galleys at Barcelona probably, or to be
otherwise disposed of.

This absurd demand, however, the old general commanding waived

politely; but the correspondence was prolonged until the military secretary
became bored to death on the subject, and lost all patience at the very
mention of it. Now as the Queen of Spain designates herself sovereign lady
of Gibraltar, and as the alcalde of San Roque, a little town which has sprung
up within the last hundred and fifty years, still styles himself in all official
documents Alcalde of San Roque and of Gibraltar, and holder of supreme
authority therein, the tone assumed by the capitan-general, who was on a
visit to Jaen, was pompous, high, and mighty; for no explanation we could
give in writing could make the irritable old Castilian hidalgo see that the
lieutenant of the guarda costa had been in the wrong.

One evening, on entering the mess-room, I was startled by Colonel

Morton acquainting me that by directions just arrived from the Foreign
Secretary he had been requested to send the two officers who were on guard
in the new Mole Fort into Spain.

"Without hostage or guarantee—the devil!" said I, shrugging my

shoulders; "and to whom?"

"To this obstinate old bore by habit, and boar by nature, the captain-
general."

"As prisoners, colonel?" cried Slingsby, with an astounded air from the
other end of the table, and pausing with his hand on a wine decanter; "you
don't mean to say as prisoners?"

"Prisoners—not at all; how could you think of such a thing?" said the
colonel, laughing, for he was a hearty old soldier, at whose name stood P.W.
and K.H., and C.B. in Hart's Army List; "you go merely to explain the late
affair in person; and it is the more necessary for you both to go as the two
aides-de-camp of the governor are on the sick list. It is only a ride of some
seventy or eighty miles into Spain—wish 't were I who had the duty to do."

"And where does the captain-general live?"

"At Seville, to which place he is now returning from Jaen."

"Ah, indeed, Seville," said I, reviving, as I filled my glass with Moselle,

and Slingsby stuck his glass in his remarkably knowing eye.

"You'll take good horses; but be careful of rogues, raterillos, and

footpads by the way. I can lend you a pair of pistols with spring bayonets."

"Thank you, colonel, I have my revolver," said I, laughing.

"What! you smile, Ramble?" said the colonel; "and believe me to have
the bandittiphobia; but I know Spain well, having marched over every foot
of the Peninsula under Lord Lyndedoch, and fought my way from the Black
Horse Square at Lisbon to the banks of the Nive, so I know pretty well, that
in peace as in war armed desperadoes, whose hands are against all men, are,
as a certain traveller says, 'the very weeds of the Spanish soil.' Right well do
I know the land of Los Espagnols as we used to call them in the old fighting
5th Hussars. I was in the cavalry then, and had I not grown stiff in the
joints, and lost all relish for adventures by day, fleas by night, and the
resinous taste of vino out of a skin at all times, I would have saved you the
trouble of the journey and gone myself; but my instructions from home say
that Captain Ramble and Lieutenant Slingsby must go, so there is the end of
it. Major, Mr. Vice, another bottle of wine to drink 'bon voyage' to Ramble
and Slingsby."

"With all my heart; sergeant Slopper, a fresh allowance of wine," said

the major.

"Wish I were going with you," said Shafton, the captain of our light
company; "a ride to Seville! the very name of the place conjures up a sunny
vision of orange trees and glowing grapes, of black mantillas and taper
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