ed in her throat.
Her husband soon after came home, and endeavoured to extract it; but
finding that impracticable, by the assistance of a rammer he forced
it into her stomach. Our ball did excellent service; for it not only
repelled the other in the manner just described, but, proceeding as I
intended it should, it dismounted the very piece of cannon that had just
been employed against us, and forced it into the hold of the ship, where
it fell with so much force as to break its way through the bottom. The
ship immediately filled and sank, with above a thousand Spanish sailors
on board, besides a considerable number of soldiers. This, to be sure,
was a most extraordinary exploit; I will not, however, take the whole
merit to myself; my judgment was the principal engine, but chance
assisted me a little; for I afterwards found, that the man who charged
our forty-eight pounder put in, by mistake, a double quantity of powder,
else we could never have succeeded so much beyond all expectation,
especially in repelling the enemy's ball.

General Elliot would have given me a commission for this singular
piece of service; but I declined everything, except his thanks, which I
received at a crowded table of officers at supper on the evening of that
very day.

As I am very partial to the English, who are beyond all doubt a brave
people, I determined not to take my leave of the garrison till I had
rendered them another piece of service, and in about three weeks an
opportunity presented itself. I dressed myself in the habit of a _Popish
priest_, and at about one o'clock in the morning stole out of the
garrison, passed the enemy's lines, and arrived in the middle of their
camp, where I entered the tent in which the Prince d'Artois was, with
the commander-in-chief, and several other officers, in deep council,
concerting a plan to storm the garrison next morning. My disguise was my
protection; they suffered me to continue there, hearing everything that
passed, till they went to their several beds. When I found the whole
camp, and even the sentinels, were wrapped up in the arms of Morpheus,
I began my work, which was that of dismounting all their cannon (above
three hundred pieces), from forty-eight to twenty-four pounders, and
throwing them three leagues into the sea. Having no assistance, I found
this the hardest task I ever undertook, except swimming to the opposite
shore with the famous Turkish piece of ordnance, described by Baron de