During this time Capt. Streeter had been remarkably pleasant. He spun long twisters to the second mate and myself, chiefly about his experiences in fighting sailors, and even made advances towards favoring Mr. Morrison in the same way; but was not very successful in this attempt, for whenever the mate detected a lie or misstatement in the captain's narrations, and this was not seldom, he always felt it his duty to contradict it, whereas we appeared to accept everything as gospel. Nothing provoked the captain so much as to have his veracity or knowledge questioned, and this course of the mate's threatened to bring on a relapse of the captain's "tantrums."
Toward the close of the day on which we had sighted Gibraltar, a breeze set in from the westward, dead ahead. By nightfall we got abreast of the harbor, and all through the night we made short tacks across the Straits, only to find ourselves in the same place in the morning; and in the next few hours we rather lost ground, as the current gained strength with the increasing breeze. So the captain abandoned the useless attempt, and came into the harbor of Gibraltar and anchored.
The harbor is on the west side of the rock, and is protected by a sea-wall. On all other sides the rock ascends bare and steep from the sea-level, but to the westward it presents a pleasant slope, and on this is the town of Gibraltar with 16,000 inhabitants, besides a garrison of soldiers; a narrow sandy isthmus connects the rock with the continent.
The next day I had to go ashore with the captain to get some blacksmith's work done for the ship, and found a chance to take a hasty glance at the place, and was surprised to find so much verdure, upon what I had imagined was wholly a barren rock; but to the south of the town is a very attractive esplanade. On the north side I stood within a stone's throw of the base of the rock, and looking aloft, saw it towering above me in almost a straight wall of 1400 feet. Through port-holes near the top, the black muzzles of cannon pointed to seaward from the excavated galleries in the rock.
Capt. Streeter was told there was no chance for an easterly wind for the next fortnight, and he must make up his mind to stop contentedly until he saw the rock "put on it's night-cap," as they style the cloud that hangs over it, as the certain precursor of a "Levanter."
The prophets and signs failed this time, and the next morning a strong easterly breeze was blowing, and getting under way, the ship passed through the Straits under reefed topsails, and was once more in the Atlantic.
The ship was bound to Baltimore, and the direct course would have been nearly west, but as westerly winds prevail in that latitude, the longest way around was the shortest way home, and the ship was headed to the S.W. in order to take advantage of the N.E. trades.
We passed between the Canary Islands, enjoying their verdure and bold mountain scenery, and saw the volcanic Peak of Teneriffe lifting its head above the clouds, 12,000 feet from the ocean. Then with moderate trades we ran down to lat. 22° N., and kept along to the westward, having beautiful weather, but rather lighter winds than the captain expected.
The short detention at Gibraltar seemed to break up the captain's good mood, and Mr. Morrison's provocation soon brought him back to his former role of "sea-devil."