"A mine!" rose from a hundred throats, as the _Dorsetshire_ men
watched with straining eyes. It was true; two score gallant fellows
were afterwards found lying on the fatal ground.

With a determined rush the _Dorsetshire_ men fell upon the defenders,
and George found himself engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter. It was
all over in a few minutes; the handful of Spaniards could not stand
against so powerful a force, and the New Mole was taken. Hot and
exited, the men were carried against Jumper's Bastion, a strong work a
little to the north of the New Mole, and that place, too, was rushed
in an incredibly short space of time, and with scarcely any loss worth
the naming. From this time George Fairburn kept no count of the long
series of exciting incidents that followed each other, the assault
having been carried to the Line Wall that stretched away northwards to
the Old Mole.

The attack when at its height was a terrible affair. Sixteen English
ships under the immediate command of Byng, and six Dutch men-of-war
under Admiral Vanderdusen, faced the Line Wall, while three more
English vessels were off the New Mole.

[Illustration: George found himself engaged in a hand-to-hand
encounter.]

No place so meagrely manned with defenders as was Gibraltar could long
stand such an attack, and at length the two Moles, and the long Line
Wall between them, were in the hands of the Allies. Of all the
attacking party none showed more vigorous and fearless dash than a
certain lad of sturdy build, and Hicks himself perceived the fact.