English and Americans, officers, merchants and sailors, are all intermingled in the motley mass, each engaged in his own business, and each adding his part to the confused and Babel-like clamor of tongues. High on the walls the sentinels, with their arms glistening in the sun, are seen walking to and fro on their posts, and looking down with indifference or abstraction on the scene of hurry and turmoil beneath them.

Among the various striking features that attracted my attention from time to time as I reclined in the stern-sheets of the cutter gazing on the shifting throng before me, there was one whose appearance and manners awakened peculiar interest. He was a tall, muscular, dark-looking Spaniard whose large frane and strong and well-proportioned limbs were set off to good advantage by the national dress of the peasantry of his country. His sombrero, slouched in a studied manner over his eyes, as if to conceal their fierce rolling balls, shaded a face the dark sunburnt hue of which showed that it had not always been so carefully protected. From the crimson sash which was bound round his waist, concealing the connection of his embroidered velvet jacket with his nether garments, a long knife depended, and this, together with a sinister expression of countenance and an indescribable something in the general air and bearing of the man, created an impression which caused me to shrink involuntarily from him whenever he approached the boat. He himself seemed to be actuated by similar feelings. On first meeting my eye he drew his sombrero deeper over his brow and hastily retired to another part of the quay, but every now and then I could see his dark face above a group of the intervening throng, and his keen black eyes

seemed always directed toward me, till, perceiving that I noticed him, he would turn away and mix for a while among the remoter portion of the crowd.

My eyes were endeavoring to follow this singular figure in one of his windings through the multitude, when my attention was drawn in another direction by a loud long call from a bugle sounded within the walls, and in an instant after repeated with a clearer and louder blast from their summit. This signal seemed to give new motion and animation to the crowd. A few hurried from the quay into the garrison, but a greater number poured from the interior upon the quay, and all appeared anxious to depart. Boat after boat was drawn up, received its burden and darted off, while others took their places, and were in turn soon filled by the retiring crowd. Soldiers from the garrison appeared on the quay to urge the tardy into quicker motion, mingled shouts, calls and curses resounded on every side, and for a few minutes confusion seemed worse confounded. But in a short time the last loiterer was hurried away, the last felucca shoved off and was seen gliding on its course, the sound of its oars almost drowned in the noisy gabble of its Andalusian crew. As soon as the quay became entirely deserted the military returned within the walls, and a pause of silence ensued; then pealed the sunset gun from the summit of the rock; the drawbridge by some unseen agency was rolled slowly back till it disappeared within the arched passage; the ponderous gates turned on their enormous hinges, and Gibraltar was closed for the night with a security which might defy the efforts of the combined world to invade it.

Thus shut out at the Water Port, I directed the boat's crew, in compliance with the orders

I had received, to pull round to the Ragged Staff. The wall at this place is of great height, and near its top is left a small gate at an elevation of fifty or sixty feet above the quay, which projects into the bay beneath. It is attained by a spiral staircase erected about twenty feet from the wall and communicating with it at the top by means of a drawbridge. This gate is little used except for the egress of those who are permitted to leave the garrison after nightfall. On reaching the quay I sprang ashore, and, walking to a favorable position, endeavored to amuse myself once more by contemplating the hills and distant mountains of Spain. But the charm was now fled. now fled. Night was fast stealing over the landscape and rendering its features misty and indistinct; a change, too, had taken place in my own feelings since, a few hours before, I had found, so much pleasure in dwelling on the scene around me. I was now cold, fatigued and hungry my eyes had been fed with novelties until they were weary with gazing, and my mind crowded with a succession of new images until its vigor was exhausted. I cast my eyes up to the rock, but it appeared cold and desolate in the deepening twilight, and I turned from its steep, flinty sides and dreadful precipices with a shudder. The waves and ripples of the bay, which the increasing wind had roughened, broke against the quay where I was standing with a sound that created a chilly sensation at my heart, and even the watch-dog's bark from on board some vessel in the bay gave me no pleasure as it was borne faintly to my ear by the eastern breeze, for it was associated with sounds of home and awakened me to a painful consciousness of the distance I had wan

dered and the fatigues and perils to which I was exposed. A train of sombre thoughts, despite my efforts to drive them away, took possession of my mind. At length, yielding to their influence, I climbed to the top of a rude heap of stones which had been piled on the end of the quay, and, seating myself where my eye could embrace every portion of the shadowy landscape, I yielded the full rein to melancholy fancies. My wandering thoughts roamed over a thousand topics, but one topic predominated over all the rest. My memory recalled many images, but one image it presented with the vividness of life and dwelt upon with the partiality of love. It was the image of one who had been the object of my childhood's love, whom I had loved in my boyhood, and whom now in opening manhood I still loved with a passionate and daily-increasing affection. Linked with the memory of that sweet being came thoughts of one who had sought to rival me in her affection, and who, foiled in his purposes, had conceived and avowed the bitterest enmity against me; and from him my mind reverted, by some strange association, to the tall and singular-looking Spaniard whom I had seen at the Water Port. In this way my vagrant thoughts ranged about from topic to topic with all that wildness of transition which is sometimes produced by the excitement of opium.

While thus engaged in these desultory meditations I know not how long a time slipped by, but at length my thoughts began to grow less distinct and my eyes to feel heavy; and had I not been restrained by a sense of shame and duty as an officer, I should have been glad to resign myself to

sleep.

My eyelids, in despite of me, did once or twice close for an instant or two, and it was in an effort to arouse myself from one of these little attacks of somnolency that I saw an object before me the appearance of whom in that place struck me with surprise. The moon had risen and was just shedding a thin and feeble glimmer over the top of the rock the broad deep shadow of which extended almost to the spot where I was sitting. Emerging from this shadow with his long peculiar step, I saw approaching me the identical Spaniard whose malign expression of countenance and general appearance had so strongly attracted my attention at the Water Port. That it was the same I could not doubt, for his height, his dress, his air, all corresponded exactly. He still wore the same large sombrero, which, as before, was drawn deep over his brows; the same long and glistening knife was thrust through his sash, and the same fantastically-stamped leather gaiters covered his legs. He approached close to me and in a voice which, though hardly above a whisper, thrilled me to the bone, informed me that the commodore had sent for me; on delivering which laconic message, he turned away and walked toward the garrison. Shall I own it, gentle reader? I felt a sensation. of fear at the idea that I was to follow this herculean and sinister-looking Spaniard, and I had some faint misgivings whether I ought to obey his summons. But I reflected that he was probably a servant or messenger of some officer or family where the commodore was visiting, that he could have no motive to mislead me, and that were I to neglect obeying the order through fear of its bearer because he was tall, had whiskers and wore

a sombrero I should deservedly bring down upon myself the ridicule of every midshipman in the Mediterranean. Besides, thought I, how foolish I should feel if it should turn out, as is very likely, that this is some ball or party to which the commodore has been urged to stay, and, unwilling to keep me waiting for him so long in this dreary place, he has sent to invite me to join him! This last reflection turned the scale; so, slipping down from my perch, I followed toward the gate. The tall, dark form of the stranger had already disappeared in the shadow of the rock, but on reaching the foot of the spiral staircase I could hear his heavy foot ascending the steps. Directly after, the gate was unbarred, the drawbridge lowered, and a footstep crossing it announced that the Spaniard was within the walls. I followed as rapidly as I could, and got within the gate just in time to see the form of my conductor disappear round one of the angles of the fortifications; but, accelerating my pace, I overtook him as he reached the foot of the path, which seemed to ascend toward the southern end of the rock.

"This way lies the town," said I, pointing in the opposite direction; "you surely have mistaken the route."

The Spaniard made no answer, but, pointing with his hand up the difficult and narrow path and beckoning me to follow him, he began the ascent. began the ascent. The moon shone on his countenance for a moment as he turned toward me, and I thought I could perceive the same sinister expression upon it which had been one of the first things that drew my attention to him. I continued to follow, however, and struggled hard to overtake him, but without much effect. I became

fatigued, exhausted, almost ready to drop, but was unable to diminish the interval between us. The ascent soon became very steep-so steep, indeed, that it was with the greatest difficulty I could keep from sliding back faster than I advanced. My feet were blistered, and I toiled along on my hands and knees till my flesh was torn and penetrated with the sharp points and edges of the rock. After thus slowly and painfully groping my way for a considerable distance, we at length reached a place where the path pursued a level course. But what a path what a place! A narrow ledge scarce two feet wide had been formed, partly by nature, partly by art, at the height of a thousand feet above the water, around a sweep of the rock where it rose perpendicularly from its base to its extreme summit. This ledge was covered with loose stones, which at every footstep fell rattling and thundering down the mighty precipice till the sound died away in the immense depths below. I could not conjecture whither the Spaniard was leading me, but I had now gone too far to think of retreating. Every step I now made was at the hazard of life. The ledge on which we were walking was so narrow, the loose stones which covered it rolled so easily from under our feet, and my knees trembled so violently from fear and fatigue, that I could scarcely hope to continue much farther in safety over such a pathway. At last we reached a broader spot. I sunk down exhausted, yet with a feeling of joy that I had escaped from the perilous path I had just been treading. The Spaniard stood beside me, and I thought a malign smile played round his lips as he looked down upon me panting at his feet.

He suffered me to rest but for a moment, when he motioned me to rise. I obeyed the. signal as if it were the behest of my evil genius.

"Look round," said he, "and tell me what you behold."

I glanced my eyes round, and, shuddering, withdrew them instantly from the fearful prospect. The ledge or platform on which we were standing was but a few feet square; behind it a large and gloomy cavern opened its black jaws, and in front the rock rose from the sea with so perpendicular an ascent that a stone dropped from the edge would have fallen without interruption straight down into the waves."

"Are you ready to make the leap?" said the Spaniard, in a smooth, sneering tone, seeing and seeming to enjoy the terror depicted on my countenance.

"For Heaven's sake," cried I, "who are you, and why am I made your victim?"

"Look!" cried he, throwing the sombrero from his head and approaching close to me; "look! Know you not these features? They are those of one whose path you have crossed once, but shall never cross again."

As he spoke he seized hold of me with a fiendish grasp and strove to hurl me headlong from the rock. I struggled with all the energy of desperation, and for a moment baffled the design. He released his hold round my body, and, stepping back, stood for an instant gazing on me with the glaring eyeballs of a tiger about to spring upon his prey; then, darting toward me, he grasped me with both hands round the throat and dragged me, despite my vain struggling, to the very verge of

the precipice. With a powerful exertion of strength which I was no longer able to resist he dashed my body over the dreadful edge and held me out at arm's length above the dread abyss. The agony of years of wretchedness compressed into a single second could not have exceeded the horror of the moment I remained suspended. There was a small tree or bush which grew out of a cleft just beneath the ledge; in my frenzied struggle I caught by a branch of it just at the critical instant when the Spaniard relaxed his hold, intending to precipitate me down the fearful gulf. His purpose was again baffled for another moment of horror. He gnashed his teeth as he saw me swing off upon the fragile branch, which cracked and bent beneath my weight, and which, at most, could save me from his fury but for a fleeting moment. That moment seemed too long for his impatient hate; he sprang to the very verge of the ledge, and, placing his foot firmly on the tree, pressed it down with all his strength. In vain with chattering teeth and horror-choked voice I

implored him to desist. He answered not, but stamped furiously on the tree. The root began to give way, the loosened dirt fell from around it, the trunk snapped, cracked and separated, and the fiend set up an inhuman laugh which rang in my ears like the mocking of a demon as down, down, down, I fell through the chill, thick, pitchy air, till, striking with a mighty force on the rocks beneath I waked, and, lo! it was a dream.

It was broad daylight. In my sleep I had rolled from the heap of stones which had furnished me with my evening seat of meditation, and which during my sleep had sup

plied my imagination with an abundance of materials for horrid precipices and "deepdown gulfs." The laugh of the infernal Spaniard turned out to be only a burst of innocent merriment at my plight from little Paul Messenger, a rosy, curly-haired midshipman, and one of the finest little fellows in the world. The matter was soon explained. The commodore, returning to the boat and seeing me, as he expressed it, sleeping so comfortably on a bed of my own choosing, thought it would be a pity to disturb me; so, shoving off, he left me to my slumbers, but on reaching the ship gave the officer of the deck directions to send a boat for me at daylight. Little Paul, always ready to do a kind act, asked to go officer of her, and we returned together to the frigate laughing over my story of the imaginary adventures of the night.