t the subaltern at genial hours, after luncheon
or after mess, pester him with vamped-up knick-knacks for sale, appeal
to him to patronize a poor man by buying articles he does not and never
by any means can want--"pay me when you likes, Cap'n, one yearsh, two
yearsh." The "cap'n," who may have left Sandhurst but six months, may be
weakly good-natured, and ignore the fact that his income is not elastic;
some day that he thinks of taking a run to England Ben Solomon, who
seems to be able to read the books in the Adjutant-General's Office
through the walls, pounces upon him with his little bill, and he is
arrested if he cannot satisfy his Jewish benefactor. Loans are advanced
at a high rate "per shent" by the harpies, and enable him to stave off
the temporary embarrassment; the "cap'n" is happy for the moment, but
the reckoning is only deferred that it may grow. The arrival of Black
Care is adjourned, not averted. The plain truth of it is, Gibraltar is a
den of thieves, and has been the burial-pit of many a promising young
fellow's hopes. There are two tariffs for everything--one for natives,
the other for the British subaltern and the British tourist; and the
British subaltern and the British tourist are foolish enough to submit
to the extortion in most cases. With some half-dozen honourable
exceptions, the traders are what is popularly known as "Jews" in their
mode of dealing. They cozen on principle, sell articles that will not
last, and charge preposterous prices for them; they impose upon the
young officer's softness or delicate gentlemanly feeling, and consider
themselves smart for so doing. In this manner Gibraltar, with all its
discomforts, is dearer than the most expensive and luxurious quarter in
the British Isles.

But we have other specimens of the genus officer in the lounging
slaughterers by profession, who are so busy killing time. The lean
bronzed aristocratic major, whose temper long years in India have not
soured; the squat pursy paymaster (why are paymasters so fearfully
inclined to fat?); the raw-boned young surgeon with the Aberdeen accent;
"the ranker," erect and grizzled, and looking ever so little not quite
at his ease, you know, for the languid lad with fawn-coloured moustache
straddling on the chair beside him is an Honourable; the jovial portly
Yorkshireman, who is in the Highland Light Infantry, naturally; and the
lively loud-voiced Irishman, laughing consumedly at his own jokes--all
are here,