The Rulers of the MediterraneanDavis, Richard Harding
History
The Rulers of the Mediterranean
Davis, Richard Harding
Mediterranean Region -- Description and travel
Even if you have an order from a D. A. A. G. named
Jones, it is very difficult to explain about it when you don't know
whether to speak of him as the D. A. A. G. or as General Jones, and
especially when a young and inexperienced shadow is twisting his gun
about so that the moonlight plays up and down the very longest bayonet
ever issued by a civilized nation. They were not nice sentries, either,
like those on the Rock, who stand where you can see them, and who
challenge you drowsily, like cabmen, and make the empty streets less
lonely than otherwise.
They were, on the contrary, fierce and in a terrible hurry, and had a
way of jumping out of the shadow with a rattle of the gun and a shout
that brought nerve-storms in successive shocks. To make it worse, I had
gone over the post, while waiting for word from the D. A. A. G., to hear
the sentries recite their instructions to the entertaining officer. They
did this rather badly, I thought, the only portion of the rules, indeed,
which they seemed to have by heart being those which bade them not to
allow cows to trespass "without a permit," which must have impressed
them by its humor, and the fact that when approached within fifty yards
they were "to fire low." I found when challenged that night that this
was the only part of their instructions that I also could remember.
This was the only trying experience of my stay in Gibraltar, and it is
brought in here as a compliment to the force that guards the North
Front. For of them, and the rest of the inhabitants and officers of the
garrison, any one who visits there can only think well; and I hope when
the Rock is attacked, as it never will be, that they will all cover
themselves with glory. It never will be attacked, for the reason that
the American people are the only people clever enough to invent a way of
taking it, and they are far too clever to attempt an impossible thing.
II
TANGIER
A great many thousand years ago Hercules built the mountain of Abyla and
its twin mountain which we call Gibraltar. It was supposed to mark the
limits of the unknown world, and it would seem from casual inspection,
as I suggested in the last chapter, that it serves the same purpose to
this day. Men have crept into Africa and crept out again, like flies
over a ceiling, and they have gained much renown at Africa's expense for
having done so. They have built little towns along its coasts, and run
little rocking, bumping railroads into its forests, and dragged launches
over its cataracts, and partitioned it off among emperors and powers and
trading companies, without having ventured into the countries they
pretend to have subdued. But from Paul du Chaillu to W. A. Chanler, "the
Last Explorer," as he has been called, just how much more do we know of
Africa than did the Romans whose bridges still stand in Tangier?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account