CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. XXXiii 
directing his heaviest shot ; and he helped to serve 
the guns till all was over. 
" On the boy's safe return home," said the 
colonel, " though 1 admired his bravery, I was 
obliged to whip him for his rashness in having ex- 
posed himself to almost inevitable death." 
I thought 1 could perceive a mark in the colonel's 
face, as he said this, which led me to understand 
that there was something more than paternal anx- 
iety for the boy's welfare which had caused him to 
apply the rod ; and, when I called to mind the affair 
of the telescope, I concluded that, had a French 
squadron, in lieu of anlEnglish one, been bombarding 
Algesiras, young Lyon would have escaped even 
without a reprimand. 
1 left my travelling friend in Cadiz, and returned 
to Malaga on board a Spaniard, who kept close under 
Ceuta, as we passed up the Straits of Gibraltar. It 
grieves me to add that, many years after this^ on my 
return to England from the West Indies, in passing 
through my former companion's native town, I made 
inquiries after him, and I was informed by a gentle.- 
man who had sat upon the inquest, that my compa- 
nion had fallen in love, had wooed in vain, and 
hanged himself in despair. 
More than a year of my life had now passed 
away in Malaga and its vicinity, without misfor- 
tune, without care, and without annoyance of any 
kind. The climate was delicious ; and I felt regret 
in making preparations to leave this old Moorish 
town on a trip to Malta. But the Spanish proverb 
informs us, that man proposes, and God disposes : 
b 
