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Fandango, v. 2, issue 3, whole no. 7, Winter 1944
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FANDANGO Vol. II, No. 3 Winter--1944 Whole No. 7 The Legend of Gibraltar by C S Youd (Note: I am very much pleased to be enabled to present an original article by one of the old-time British fans, formerly editor of Fantast, who has been on active overseas duty for over two years. I am sure that the members of FAPA will be very glad to have Sam Youd with us once more. The columns of Fan-Dango are always open to any service members of FAPA who lack any other medium of maintaining their activity. --FTL) ----ooOoo---- Gibraltar is an old jewel in the British crown, and a brilliant one. It has a notable military history, and more than once the hopes of a Spanish rules have broken against its sheer escarpments. But it holds a legend that sounds strange against the pageant of military glory--the legend of the apes. They are Barbary apes, similar to those that haunt the rocks of the African coast, seven miles away. They are protected, and fed from Army rations. There is even an officer in command of apes. As long as the apes stay on Gibraltar, the story goes, so will the British. That is nothing but common superstition, but here enters mystery. How did the apes first get on the rock? In all the history of Gibraltar, there is no record of their arrival. Some believe the Queen of Spain imported them, but do not venture to explain why the apes settled in that spot alone, with all the hills of Spain to hide in. These are your facts. The apes cannot swim. Gibraltar is surrounded by water, except for a narrow neck of land that leads to Spain. Apes of the same tribe abound in the African hills across the Straits. So, in explanation of these facts, the story grew up. There must, it said, be a tunnel under the Straits. The Rock is honeycombed with tunnels. Only last year, the investigation of one led to the finding of a strange primitive altar by an underground lake. But investigators are cautious. (Here the story becomes wild rumour.) There is a reason. Twenty, or thirty, or fifty years ago, they began to search for the tunnel to Africa. Engineer units tunneled new passages, opened old ones. Once they broke into a chamber and found it full of ape bones. There was no other entrance to the chamber. And then they found the passage. It was barely more than an easier path through the rock, a loose rubble that moved easier than the limestone about it. But in places they found stretches where a man could crouch, when an ape could have walked. And one Saturday they came to an opening and a ledge that led down into a blackness their torches could not pierce. And, as it was Saturday, work ceased for the week-end. But three officers heard of the find, and were interested. So on Sunday they took sandwiches and torches and a length of rope, and went into the tunnel. Only one came out, and he a mad-man. From his ravings they pieced together a narrative. The men had found their way to the ledge. One officer had gone down, the rope around his middle. They had waited. From the bottom--a long way down --1--
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FANDANGO Vol. II, No. 3 Winter--1944 Whole No. 7 The Legend of Gibraltar by C S Youd (Note: I am very much pleased to be enabled to present an original article by one of the old-time British fans, formerly editor of Fantast, who has been on active overseas duty for over two years. I am sure that the members of FAPA will be very glad to have Sam Youd with us once more. The columns of Fan-Dango are always open to any service members of FAPA who lack any other medium of maintaining their activity. --FTL) ----ooOoo---- Gibraltar is an old jewel in the British crown, and a brilliant one. It has a notable military history, and more than once the hopes of a Spanish rules have broken against its sheer escarpments. But it holds a legend that sounds strange against the pageant of military glory--the legend of the apes. They are Barbary apes, similar to those that haunt the rocks of the African coast, seven miles away. They are protected, and fed from Army rations. There is even an officer in command of apes. As long as the apes stay on Gibraltar, the story goes, so will the British. That is nothing but common superstition, but here enters mystery. How did the apes first get on the rock? In all the history of Gibraltar, there is no record of their arrival. Some believe the Queen of Spain imported them, but do not venture to explain why the apes settled in that spot alone, with all the hills of Spain to hide in. These are your facts. The apes cannot swim. Gibraltar is surrounded by water, except for a narrow neck of land that leads to Spain. Apes of the same tribe abound in the African hills across the Straits. So, in explanation of these facts, the story grew up. There must, it said, be a tunnel under the Straits. The Rock is honeycombed with tunnels. Only last year, the investigation of one led to the finding of a strange primitive altar by an underground lake. But investigators are cautious. (Here the story becomes wild rumour.) There is a reason. Twenty, or thirty, or fifty years ago, they began to search for the tunnel to Africa. Engineer units tunneled new passages, opened old ones. Once they broke into a chamber and found it full of ape bones. There was no other entrance to the chamber. And then they found the passage. It was barely more than an easier path through the rock, a loose rubble that moved easier than the limestone about it. But in places they found stretches where a man could crouch, when an ape could have walked. And one Saturday they came to an opening and a ledge that led down into a blackness their torches could not pierce. And, as it was Saturday, work ceased for the week-end. But three officers heard of the find, and were interested. So on Sunday they took sandwiches and torches and a length of rope, and went into the tunnel. Only one came out, and he a mad-man. From his ravings they pieced together a narrative. The men had found their way to the ledge. One officer had gone down, the rope around his middle. They had waited. From the bottom--a long way down --1--
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