mands the entrance to the Mediterranean, and is considered
impregnable. Improvements are being continually made. The galleries are
tunnelled through solid rock. The magazines, bomb-proofs, and casemates
cannot be penetrated by an enemy's shot. The upper guns can fire a
plunging shot on a ship's deck, but a ship cannot elevate its guns
enough to return the fire. The English can fire rifle bullets into
Spain. With the heavy guns they can drop shot and shell into Morocco and
into the Spanish forts, and, at the same time, throw tons of shot the
whole length of the Straits. As there are at present, in 1897, just that
number of guns in position, an enemy's fleet would receive a very warm
reception. An extra gun is mounted every year. By looking on the front
cover of an almanac, anybody can find out just how many cannon are
mounted on the Rock of Gibraltar. About the tenth day we got a fair wind
that took us through the Straits and into the Atlantic Ocean. The ship
was then headed southwest for the Gulf of Mexico. In six weeks' time we
sighted the lighthouse, and then the low sandy beach at the mouths of
the Mississippi River. A tugboat took us over the bar, and we let go the
anchor. When a tow of six vessels was obtained, a large tug towed us up
the river, each ship being fastened to the other with large hawsers,
stem and stern. It was a powerful boat to tow so many ships against the
strong current of the Mississippi. One man was at the wheel to keep the
ship straight after the tug, and all the rest of the crew were hard at
work unbending the sails and lowering them on deck. The third night,
about ten o'clock, we arrived at New Orleans. The ship was secured to
the levee, and the voyage on the C. C. Duncan was ended.

A number of boarding-house runners came on board. Each one, of course,
was working for the "best house." It was two o'clock in the morning when
our work was finished. Then all the crew went ashore to enjoy a sleep
on dry land. Captain Otis tried to induce us four Americans to remain on
the ship for another voyage. I gave him my reasons for leaving, as it
was my intention to return to my home from which I had been absent so
long. I received eighty-five dollars pay that was due me, and went by
steamboat to Mobile, Ala.

CHAPTER XII

IN AMERICAN WATERS

On my arrival in Mobile, I went to work on a barge and received
forty-five dollars a month. We would be towed down the bay with a load
of cotton and back