Yr Ynys Unyg | Page 7

character of each of those
who were now on their way towards adventures strange as unexpected.
The letters of the elder portion of our party contained but a description
of Gibraltar, which is well known to most people. Sybil's letter was as
follows:--
"Gibraltar, May 16, 18--
"MY DEAREST MAMMA AND SISTERS,
"Here we are safe on dry land again, and who would have believed a
fortnight ago that we should have been so glad to get out of our dear La

Luna. But we don't make half such good sailors as we expected; and
how Em would have laughed could she have seen all the queer looks
and sad faces which possessed the merry party she had so lately seen.
But here we are really on dry land, and at Gibraltar, at the summit of all
our present hopes, and charmed enough to make us forget all the
horrors of the sea, and even think we could undergo them twenty times
for such a sight. We came into the harbour last night, and landed as
soon as we could collect our wits, and mother collect us; Madame has
been at Gibraltar before, and so ought to have had the use of hers, but
knowing her propensity to lose her way, we made Hargrave look after
her, while we three elder girls each took a little child. Both the mothers
looked after our things. The boys and Jenny were left behind. So we
landed just before gun fire, passing through the long rows of houses,
which looked so strange to our wondering eyes, piled one above the
other, and as we were passed and stared at by numbers of odd
queer-looking people, we quite fancied ourselves in a dream, or
realizing the Arabian Nights. At last we halted at our hotel. Our sailors
deposited our boxes, and seemed to wish us good night with sorrow.
We had a famous tea, if I may so call such an odd mixture of eatables,
and went to bed, hardly believing we could be in Gibraltar. This
morning we were awoke by some little voices round our beds--'Oh,
auntie, dear auntie, do get up; this is such a lovely place, and so odd.
There are such rocks, and oh, auntie, such queer people. I saw a man in
a turban, and there is a black man in the house, and----' 'Hush, little
nieces, how are aunties to get up, if you chatter so? rather help us to
dress, that we may see the wonderful things too.' We found our two
mothers in the pretty drawing room. Three large windows looked out
upon the busy town and blue sea below. The little mother was out in
the balcony, in a perfect ecstasy of delight. A call to breakfast was
obeyed, though we could hardly eat, the chicks jumping up every
minute to look at something new and strange going on below, and the
aunties quite wishing that they might commit such a breach of decorum.
We were startled out of all propriety at last by a well-known voice
sounding under the windows, and a remonstrance which drew us all
there. Looking down, we beheld Felix seated on the top of a most
extraordinary vehicle, the driver of which he had superseded, and was
trying to persuade the lumbering old horse to get on. Smart was behind

vainly endeavouring to persuade his young master to come down. A
glance at the drawing-room windows effected what Smart's entreaties
had failed to do, and the young pickle was soon at high breakfast, and
had demolished a pretty considerable quantity ere his steady elder
brother appeared.
"We have just returned from our first expedition so charmed, even our
excited imaginations came not up to the beautiful reality. The town is a
very curious one. A long street composes the principal part. Almost all
the houses are painted black, with flat roofs. The shops open to the
street. But the rock itself! My dearest sisters, you cannot imagine
anything so exquisite as the tiers upon tiers, the masses of granite or
marble rising one above another until one's eyes ached in counting
them. I think if our party are always as wild as the fresh air, the
beautiful scenery, and the new sensations caused to day, our mother
will repent her responsibility. Even the quiet Zoë was roused, and her
exclamations were as rapturous as Winny's. Felix's feats of climbing
were frightful; we were never quite sure where to look for him. If
Smart had not kept his eye on him, and threatened him with sundry
punishments, I don't know in what mischief he would not have been.
He is much more afraid of Smart than he is of his mother. Lilly's head
was full of some classic stories which she had