The National tribune., 1906-03-01
TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON c,

of imaginative warriors. Following
close on the trouble with Germany in
connection with the Jameson raid, the
following incident took place. 1t had
become known that a German spy
acting under orders from his Govern
ment-was bent on making plans of the
chief magazines and batteries. COM
mencing with the Ragged Staff. Eager
ly. one very bright moonlight night, the
| sentry watched for him. and then was
startled by q loud rustling In the trees
ahead. Going cautiously forward, he
suddenly observed by the moons rays
| the figure of man perched high on the
| bough of a tree-half hidden by the
leaves. The sentry's first impulse was
| to use the business end of his bayOnet;
OH second thoughts he decided to con-
strain his captive to his uncomfortable
position until dawn. The idea was thor
oughly to the taste of the relieving
sentrieS. each of whom, during his two
hours duty, stood under the three. gag
ing exultantly at the figure aloft and
| INDUCING in satirical remarks anything
but complimentary or consoling. AT
dawn triumphant guard proceeded to
| dislodge the captive. He responded not
| to their taunts and did not bulge an
inch. A private at once climbed aloft-
but, alas! only to discover lifelike
effigy. BY this ruse the clever spy had
| obtained all the information he required
during the night and had made good
/
| On the Magazine.
The lot of the sentry at night on
Sandpits Magazine is no enviable one.
Not only is he practically responsible
| for the immense masked batteries
reaching from his post to the Alameda,
and alone with enormous supplies of
shot and shell at a considerable dis
lance from his guard; he is also sep
| arated from his comrades by ceme-
| terry. Further, there is a grewsOme
Iyarn-impressively subscribed to by
| imaginative old soldiers-of murder
| ed sailor who parades nightly at the
entrance to the post. There is no SUBJ
! Stimulated record OF such an event, but
each relief will ask the happy relieved
sentry if the vision has appeared.
The Highest Post.
OF all posts however, Willis's Guard
| is the most stunned. 1t is, perhaps, the
| highest on the Rock, and the most
| isolated; the climb up usually takes
over an hour. Clusters of cacti, gum
cistus, bellasombra and pimento trees
abound-the haunt of mischievous
monkeys-and the sentry is posted
good distance from the guard house. or
| all the stories that are connected with
| the Gibraltar guards none obtains such
| implicit belief as that associated with
this. The tradition is that when the
| privates not on sentry-go and the Cor
| poral slept in the guard house one dark
night treacherous rock scorpions"
crept in and murdered them. The SEN
| try on duty waited lonely in the night
outside, his nerves agitated by stirring
| trees and frisky, though unwelcome,
| friends. Hour after hour passed, and
the relief came not. Returning at
| length to waken the Corporal he, too,
| was seized and murdered on the guard
house threshold. Bloodstains can still
l hny cd mt rrk, ck
ascribe them to bad butcherng of the
guards ration meat The story is va
riously told. BY some the acts are sup
| posed to have been prompted solely by
| vengeance against the Government,
while others declare that the murderers
| were monkeys.
| 4 Spanish Plot.
The North Flat Bastion Guard, too, Is
associated with a rather grim incident
| The sentry, locked in the magazine
yard, became apprehensive when his
two hours had long passed and no re-
| lief came. His shouts through the gate
| brought no response. Just as he had
| resigned himself to a double dose of
sentry-go, in the belief that the guards
| were all fast asleep, he heard steps at
| the gate, and, bringing his rifle to the
charge" challenged briskly. The hest
tation, and then the defiant, strange
voiced "frent!" instead Of the orthodox
"relief") put him on his guard. Wait
ing in the shadow with rife ready, he
saw two Spaniards enter. knives CLINT
ing in their hands. In moment he
had struck one to the earth with the butt
of his rifle, and then swiftly pinned the
other with his bayonet. The guards
were discovered insensible from the eff
fects of chlorOfOrm, evidently admin
| istered while they slept. Papers found
| on the Spaniards contained reference to
an elaborate scheme for blowing IN
the principal magazines, though the
Spanish Government denied all knoWl-
edge of the matter.
Locking the Gates.
It is the lot of the guard at the Con-
vent-the Governors official residence
to furnish an escort for the key Ser
| geant. when, accompanied by the drums
and flies of one OF the infantry bat
| talions. he marches through the town
at sunset to close all gates leading to
the fortress. Quite a scare was occa-
stoned about 10 years ago, when, on
being awakened one morning just be-
| fore sunrise by the Convent sentry to
open the gates and admit the stream Of
| Spaniards from Linea, the key Sergeant
found his fortress keys missing. The
garrison was alarmed and an imme-
date search made, with the result that
| the missing articles were found lying
in the roadway, just beyond the Case
mate Barracks. 1t afterWard tranSpired
that an enterprising American tourist
possibly with view to self-advertise-
ment-had succeeded in becoming pos
| sessed Of the keys during the night. but
had found the task Of getting through
| the lines into Linea quite beyond him,
and. therefore, placing the keys where
| they might be SEEM had abandoned his
| ridiculous project.
The guard houses, though originally
bare and unpicturesque enough, contain
much mural testimony to the artistic
talent Of the numberless soldiers that
have been sheltered under their roofs.
Quaint caricatures of soldiers of the
day, witty verses, satire on unpopular
comrades, mOnOgrams, and even col
Ored paintings, add human interest to
tmonot0nous surroundings. One reads
| on the walls Of the North Front Guard:
with 10 -shires charge magazines"
a satiric allusion to the diminutive regi-
| ment; (Which is the likeliest Ten bob
an gallon day; or Guards an
Canaries in Bombay" directed at the
Foot Guards and Army Pay Corps, who
do not see service in India; while carl
| catures of an unpopular Governor are
as plentiful as they are genuinely funny.
In addition to the mural decorations