III. The Fortifications, 18 IV. Round the Town, 29 V. Parade on the Alameda, and Presentation of Colors to the South Staffordshire Regiment, 35 VI. The Society of Gibraltar, 48 VII. A Chapter of History--The Great Siege, 63 VIII. Holding a Fortress in a Foreign Country, 110 IX. Farewell to Gibraltar--Leaving for Africa, 128 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Alameda Parade, _Frontispiece_. FACING PAGE The Lion Couchant, 4 General View of the Rock, 12 The Signal Station, 14 The New Mole and Rosia Bay, 19 The Saluting Battery, 27 Walk in the Alameda Gardens, 62 Catalan Bay, on the East Side of Gibraltar, 65 Plan of Gibraltar, 71 "Old Eliott," the Defender of Gibraltar, 108 Windmill Hill and O'Hara's Tower, 132 Europa Point, 143 CHAPTER I. ENTERING THE STRAITS. I heard the last gun of the Old Year fired from the top of the Rock, and the first gun of the New. It was the very last day of 1886 that we entered the Straits of Gibraltar. The sea was smooth, the sky was clear, and the atmosphere so warm and bright that it seemed as if winter had changed places with summer, and that in December we were breathing the air of June.