# X explained — The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen > Chapter companion for The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe. ## What happens During the siege of Gibraltar, the Baron visits his friend General Elliot, uses a cannonball duel to sink a Spanish ship, disables the enemy's artillery by night, and saves two English spies using David's sling to throw a shell, ultimately raising the siege. ## Themes in this chapter ### Self-Aggrandizement and Heroism The Baron boasts of single-handedly saving Gibraltar through incredible feats. ### The Marvelous and the Absurd Cannonballs colliding mid-air, a ball lodging in an old woman's throat, and using David's sling in the 18th century. ### Satire of Politics and Society Satirizes military heroics and the glorification of war through exaggerated exploits. ## Character check-ins ### Baron Munchausen Narrator and protagonist, performs extraordinary feats during the siege. ### General Elliot The Baron's old friend and commander of the garrison at Gibraltar. ### Baron de Tott Referenced in connection with a Turkish piece of ordnance. ### David Biblical figure; his sling is used by the Baron to throw a shell. ## Key lines > About midway between the two pieces of cannon the balls struck each other with amazing force, and the effect was astonishing! The enemy’s ball recoiled back with such violence as to kill the man who had discharged it, by carrying his head fairly off, with sixteen others which it met with in its progress to the Barbary coast, where its force, after passing through three masts of vessels that then lay in a line behind each other in the harbour, was so much spent, that it only broke its way through the roof of a poor labourer’s hut, about two hundred yards inland, and destroyed a few teeth an old woman had left, who lay asleep upon her back with her mouth open. The two cannonballs collided mid-air; the enemy's ball rebounded, killing the gunner and sixteen others, then traveled to the Barbary coast, passed through three ship masts, and finally lodged in an old woman's throat after breaking through a hut roof. _Exaggerated description of the cannonball duel's effects._ > I then piled all the carriages together in the centre of the camp, which, to prevent the noise of the wheels being heard, I carried in pairs under my arms; and a noble appearance they made, as high at least as the rock of Gibraltar. He silently carried the gun carriages under his arms and stacked them as high as the Rock of Gibraltar. _Hyperbolic account of dismounting and piling enemy artillery._ > I placed the shell in it, and immediately threw it in 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 were just turned off. He used David's sling to throw a shell that exploded, killing everyone except the two hanged spies, who were saved by their height. _Use of biblical relic to rescue the spies._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_surprising_adventures_of_baron_munchausen_se/chapters/volume-i-x - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_surprising_adventures_of_baron_munchausen_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_surprising_adventures_of_baron_munchausen_se/chapters