they
possessed great stores of wine, flour, and other articles; which
they were hoarding to produce, and sell, when prices should rise to
even more exorbitant heights than they had already reached.

At five o'clock the enemy's batteries opened again; and the firing
continued, without intermission, all that night. As several
casualties had taken place, in the barracks and quarters; marquees
were, on the following morning, served out to all the officers
whose quarters were exposed to fire, and these were pitched near
Europa Point, as were also a large number of tents for the use of
the inhabitants.

A considerable body of troops were kept under arms, near the
northern gate, in case the Spaniards should attempt to make an
assault under cover of their fire; and five hundred officers and
men were told off, to assist in the work of getting the supplies up
from the wharves, as fast as they were landed from the transports.

The bombardment continued during the whole of the next two days.
The mortars still poured their shells upon the town; but the guns
were now directed at our batteries, and their fire was remarkably
accurate.

On the 14th the unloading parties were increased to a thousand men,
and strong detachments of troops were told off to extinguish the
fires in the town; as the enemy were now discharging shell filled
with a composition that burned with great fury, igniting everything
with which it came in contact. The troops engaged upon this duty
were not long in broaching the casks of wine found, in such
abundance, in many of the ruined houses. For two years they had
been living almost entirely on salt provisions, and wine had been
selling at prices vastly beyond their means. It was scarcely
surprising, then, that they should take advantage of this
opportunity.

The stores were practically lost, for the whole town was crumbling
to pieces beneath the fire of the enemy's mortars, and was on fire
in several places; and little, if any, of the liquor and stores
consumed could, in any case, have been saved. However, for a time
insubordination reigned. The troops carried off liquor to their
quarters, barricaded themselves there, and got drunk; and it was
two or three days before discipline was restored. Up to this time
the conduct of the soldiers had been most exemplary, and they had
borne their prolonged hardships without a murmur; and this outbreak
was due as much to a spirit of revenge against the inhabitants, for