Whereupon He Said That He Should Make No
Difficulty In Taking Me Ashore.
We entered the boat, which was
rapidly rowed towards the land by four Genoese sailors.
My two
companions chattered in their strange Spanish, he of the fustian
occasionally turning his countenance full upon me, the last grin
appearing ever more hideous than the preceding ones. We soon
reached the quay, where my name was noted down by a person who
demanded my passport, and I was then permitted to advance.
It was now dusk, and I lost no time in crossing the drawbridge and
entering the long low archway which, passing under the rampart,
communicates with the town. Beneath this archway paced with
measured tread, tall red-coated sentinels with shouldered guns.
There was no stopping, no sauntering in these men. There was no
laughter, no exchange of light conversation with the passers by,
but their bearing was that of British soldiers, conscious of the
duties of their station. What a difference between them and the
listless loiterers who stand at guard at the gate of a Spanish
garrisoned town.
I now proceeded up the principal street, which runs with a gentle
ascent along the base of the hill. Accustomed for some months past
to the melancholy silence of Seville, I was almost deafened by the
noise and bustle which reigned around. It was Sunday night, and of
course no business was going on, but there were throngs of people
passing up and down. Here was a military guard proceeding along;
here walked a group of officers, there a knot of soldiers stood
talking and laughing. The greater part of the civilians appeared
to be Spaniards, but there was a large sprinkling of Jews in the
dress of those of Barbary, and here and there a turbaned Moor.
There were gangs of sailors likewise, Genoese, judging from the
patois which they were speaking, though I occasionally
distinguished the sound of "tou logou sas," by which I knew there
were Greeks at hand, and twice or thrice caught a glimpse of the
red cap and blue silken petticoats of the mariner from the Romaic
isles. On still I hurried, till I arrived at a well known
hostelry, close by a kind of square, in which stands the little
exchange of Gibraltar. Into this I ran and demanded lodging,
receiving a cheerful welcome from the genius of the place, who
stood behind the bar, and whom I shall perhaps have occasion
subsequently to describe. All the lower rooms were filled with men
of the rock, burly men in general, with swarthy complexions and
English features, with white hats, white jean jerkins, and white
jean pantaloons. They were smoking pipes and cigars, and drinking
porter, wine and various other fluids, and conversing in the rock
Spanish, or rock English as the fit took them. Dense was the smoke
of tobacco, and great the din of voices, and I was glad to hasten
up stairs to an unoccupied apartment, where I was served with some
refreshment, of which I stood much in need.
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