. The rulers of the Mediterranean. oking cigarettes. And so thetwo great powers watch each other unceasinglyacross the half-mile of turf, and say, So far shallyou go, and no farther; this belongs to is nothing more significant than these tworows of sentries; you notice it whenever youcross the Neutral Ground for a ride in you see the English sentry, rather shortand very young, but very clean and rigid, andscowling fiercely over the chin strap of his bigwhite helmet. His shoulder-straps shine withpipe-clay and his boots with blacking, and hisarms are burnished and oily. Tak
. The rulers of the Mediterranean. oking cigarettes. And so thetwo great powers watch each other unceasinglyacross the half-mile of turf, and say, So far shallyou go, and no farther; this belongs to is nothing more significant than these tworows of sentries; you notice it whenever youcross the Neutral Ground for a ride in you see the English sentry, rather shortand very young, but very clean and rigid, andscowling fiercely over the chin strap of his bigwhite helmet. His shoulder-straps shine withpipe-clay and his boots with blacking, and hisarms are burnished and oily. Taken alone, he isa little atom, a molecule ; but he is^ complete inhimself, with his food and lodging on his back, andhis arms ready to hishand. He is one ofagreat system that ob-tains from India toNova Scotia, and fromBermuda to Africaand Australia; and heshows that he knowsthis in the way inwhich he holds up hischin and kicks out hislegs as he tramps backand forward guardingthe big rock at hisback. And facing him, a Spanish sentry. 2 2 THE RULERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN half a mile away, you will see a tall handsome manseated on a stone, with the tails of his long coatwrapped warmly around his legs, and with hisgun leaning against another rock while he rolls acigarette ; and then, with his hands in his pock-ets, he gazes through the smoke at the sky aboveand the sea on either side, and wonders when hewill be paid his peseta a day for fighting andbleeding for his country. This helps to makeyou understand how six thousand half-starvedEnglishmen held Gibraltar for four years againstthe army of Spain. This is about all that you can see of Gibraltaras a fortress. You hear, of course, of much more,and you can guess at a great deal. Up above,where the Signal Station is, and where no one,not even an officer in uniform not engaged on theworks, is allowed to go, are the real looks like a rock is a monster gun paintedgray, or a tree hides the mouth of another. Andin this
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherharper, bookyear189
