than in any
operation up to that time; although in number, and still more in
calibre, the artillery then used have in, modern times, been thrown
into the shade by the sieges of Sebastopol and Paris. Gibraltar
differs, however, from these sieges, inasmuch as the defence was a
successful one and, indeed, at no period of the investment was the
fortress in any danger of capture, save by hunger.

At that period England was not, as she afterwards became,
invincible by sea; and as we were engaged at the same time in war
with France, Spain, Holland, and the United States, it was only
occasionally that a fleet could be spared to bring succour and
provisions to the beleaguered garrison. Scurvy was the direst enemy
of the defenders. The art of preserving meat in tins had not been
discovered, and they were forced to subsist almost entirely upon
salt meat. During the first year of the siege the supply of fresh
vegetables was scanty, in the extreme, and the garrison
consequently suffered so severely, from scurvy, that at one time
scarcely half of the men of the garrison were strong enough to
carry a firelock, and perform their duty. The providential capture
of a vessel laden with oranges and lemons checked the ravages of
the scourge; and the successful efforts of the garrison to raise
vegetables prevented it from ever, afterwards, getting a firm hold
upon them.

In such a siege there was but little scope for deeds of individual
gallantry. It was a long monotony of hardship and suffering, nobly
endured, and terminating in one of the greatest triumphs ever
recorded in the long roll of British victories.

G. A. Henty.

Chapter 1: "Something Like An Adventure."

Had Mr. Tulloch, the headmaster and proprietor of a large school at
Putney, been asked which was the most troublesome boy in his
school, he would probably have replied, without hesitation, "Bob
Repton."

But, being a just and fair-minded man, he would have hastened to
qualify this remark, by adding:

"Most troublesome, but by no means the worst boy. You must
understand that. He is always in scrapes, always in mischief. In
all my experience I have never before come across a boy who had
such an aptitude for getting into trouble; but I have nothing else
to say against him. He is straightforward and manly. I have never
known him to tell a lie, to screen himself. He is an example to
many others in that way. I like the boy, in spite of the endless
trouble he gives, an