n.

"I was telling you about the brave Captain Riou and his frigates. The
`Amazon,' his ship, had suffered much, and was so surrounded by smoke
that he could see nothing of the batteries to which he was opposed. He
ordered, therefore, his men to cease firing to let the smoke clear off,
that they might see what they were about. This allowed the Danes to
take better aim at them, and so tremendous was the fire opened on them
that there seemed every chance of the frigates being sent to the bottom.
Just then, Sir Hyde Parker's signal was seen flying. Captain Riou
judged that he ought to obey it. He had already been badly wounded in
the head by a splinter. `What will Nelson think of us?' he exclaimed,
mournfully, as the frigate wore round. Just then his clerk was killed
by his side, and directly afterwards another shot struck down some
marines who were hauling in the main-brace. It seemed as if not a man
on board could escape, `Come, then, my boys,' exclaimed their brave
Captain Riou, `let us all die together!' They were the last words he
ever spoke. The next moment a shot cut him in two. There was not a
more gallant officer, or one the men loved better, in the service.

"Well, as I was saying, on we went at it for four long hours. In spite
of the shot, and bullets, and splinters flying about on every side, I
had not had a scratch. Several poor fellows had been struck down close
to me. I cannot say that I thought that I should not be hit, because
the truth is I did not think about the matter. I went on working at my
gun like the rest, only just trying how fast we could fire, and how we
could do most damage to the enemy. That's the way to gain the victory;
it does not do to think of anything else. At last I felt a blow as if
some one had struck me on the side, and down I went. My trousers and
belt were singed and torn, and the blood started from my side; but I
bound my handkerchief over the wound, and in a little time got up and
went back to my gun, and there I stayed till the fighting was done, and
then I let them carry me below to the cockpit, for walk by myself I
could not.

"Some of our ships suffered dreadfully. The `Monarch' lost two hundred
and ten men, the `Isis' a hundred and ten, and the `Bellona'
seventy-five, and all the other ships great numbers. At last, however,
the Danes could stand it no longer, and ship after ship struck; but
still the shore batteries kept firing on, and killed great num