About  two  months  after  I  had  done  the  besieged  this service,  one  morning,  as  I  sat  at  breakfast  with  General  Elliot, a  shell  (for  I  had  not  time  to  destroy  their  mortars  as  well  as their  cannon)  entered  the  apartment  we  were  sitting  in,  and lodged  on  our  table.  The  General,  as  most  men  would  do, quitted  the  room  directly ;  but  I  took  up  the  shell  before  it burst,  and  carried  it  to  the  top  of  the  rock.  There,  looking over  the  enemy's  camp,  on  an  eminence  near  the  sea-coast,  I observed  a  considerable  number  of  people,  but  could  not,  with my  naked  eye,  discover  how  they  were  employed.  I  had  recourse to  my  telescope,  when  I  found  that  two  of  our  officers,  one  a general,  the  other  a  colonel,  with  whom  I  had  spent  the  pre- ceding evening,  and  who  went  out  into  the  enemy's  camp  about midnight,  as  spies,  were  taken,  and  they  were  actually  going  to be  executed  on  a  gibbet.  The  distance  was  too  great  to  throw the  shell  with  my  hand  successfully,  but  most  fortunately  recollecting that  I  had  the  very  sling  in  my  pocket  which  assisted David  in  slaying  Goliath,  I  placed  the  shell  in  it,  and  immediately threw  it  into  the  midst  of  them. It  burst  as  it  fell,  and destroyed  all  present  except  the  two  culprits,  who  were  saved  by being  suspended  so  high,  for  they  had  just  been  turned  off.

- Chapter 12