PETER BOTTE'S MOUNTAIN. 33 



are below; till at length ^V)l us, pleased, I suppose, with his perseverance, 

 gave us a shift of wind for about a minute, and over went the stone, and 

 was eagerly seized on the opposite side. "Hurrah, my lads! steady's the 

 word." Three lengths of the ladder were put together on the ledge, a 

 large line attached to the one which was over the head and carefully 

 drawn up, and finally, a two inch rope, to the extremity of which we lashed 

 the top of the ladder, then lowered it gently over the precipice, till it 

 hung perpendicularly, and was steadied by two negroes, on the ridge 

 below. " All right, now hoist away," and up went the ladder, till it 

 came to the edge of our ledge, when it was lashed in firmly to the rock. 

 We then hauled away on the guy to steady it, and made it fast; a line 

 was passed over by the lead line, to hold on, and up came Lloyd 

 screeching and hallooing, and we all three scrambled after him. The 

 union-jack and a boat-hook were passed up, and old England's flag waved 

 freely and gallantly on the redoubted Peter Botte. 



No sooner was it seen flying than the Undaunted frigate saluted in the 

 harbour, and the guns of our saluting battery replied ; for though our 

 expedition had been kept secret till we started, it was made known the 

 morning of our ascent, and all hands were on the look out, as we after- 

 wards learnt. We then got a bottle of wine to the top of the rock, 

 christened it " King William's Peak," and drank his Majesty's health 

 hands round the Jack, and then hip, hip, hip, hurrah ! 



'* I certainly never felt any thing like the excitement of that moment ; 

 even the negroes, down on the shoulder, took up our hurrahs, and we 

 could hear far below the faint shouts of the astonished inhabitants of the 

 plain. We were determined to do nothing by halves, and accordingly 

 we made preparations for sleeping under the rock, by hauling up blankets, 

 pea jackets, brandy, cigars, ice. Meanwhile, our dinner was preparing 

 on the shoulder below, and about 4. p. m., we descended our ticklish 

 path, to partake of the portable soup, preserved salmon, &c. Our party 

 was now increased by Daw kins and his cousin, a Lieutenant of the Talbot, 

 to whom we had written, informing them of our hopes of success ; but 

 their heads would not allow them to mount to the head or neck. After 

 dinner, as it was getting dark, I screwed up my nerves, and climbed up to 

 our queer little nest at top, followed by Keppel and a negro, who carried 

 some dry wood, and made a fire in the clift under the rock. Lloyd and 

 Phillpots soon came up, and we began t& arrange ourselves for the night, 

 each taking a glass of brandy, to begin with. I had on. two pair of 

 trousers, a shooting jacket, waistcoat, and a huge flushing jacket over 

 that, a thick woollen sailor's cap, and two blankets, and each of us 



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