in, you would manage to get them here. It seems all easy
enough, now you have done it; but that is all the more creditable
to you, for hitting on a plan that worked so well."

Similar praise was given to Bob when he had again to tell his
story, at the governor's.

"So you managed, you say, to slip out with the reliefs?" the
governor said.

"Yes, sir. I had got a military cloak, and hat."

"Still, it is curious that they did not notice an addition to their
party. I fancy you must have had a friend there?"

"That, general, is a point that I would rather not say anything
about. That is the way that I did go out and, when I took to the
water, I let the coat and hat float away for, had they been found,
it might have been supposed that somebody had deserted."

"I wish you could have brought in a shipload, instead of a
boatload, of fruit, Mr. Repton. They will be of immense benefit to
the sick but, unfortunately, there is scarcely a person on the Rock
that is not more or less affected and, if your thirty boxes were
multiplied by a hundred, it would be none too much for our needs."

The oranges and lemons did, however, for a time have a marked
effect in checking the progress of the scurvy--especially among the
children, who came in for a larger share than that which fell to
the sick soldiers--but in another month the condition of those in
hospital, and indeed of many who still managed to do duty, was
again pitiable.

On the 11th of October, however, some of the boats of the fleet
went out, during a fog, and boarded a Danish craft from
Malaga--laden with oranges and lemons--and brought her in. The
cargo was at once bought by the governor, and distributed.

The beneficial effects were immediate. Cases which had, but a few
days before, appeared hopeless were cured, as if by magic; and the
health of the whole garrison was reestablished. Heavy rains setting
in at the same time, the gardens--upon which, for months, great
attention had been bestowed--came rapidly into bearing and,
henceforth, throughout the siege the supply of vegetables, if not
ample for the needs of the garrison and inhabitants, was sufficient
to prevent scurvy from getting any strong hold again.

A few days after the ship with oranges was brought in, an orderly
came in to Captain O'Halloran with a message that the governor
wished to speak to Mr. Repton. Bob was out at the time, but went up
to the castle as soon as he returned, and was at once shown in