tain Freemantle, though badly
wounded, had got off in safety to his ship. You may be sure that both
he and all of us were very anxious to know what was going forward on
shore. At length we heard that Captain Troubridge had managed to
collect two or three hundred men--all who were not drowned or killed by
shot--and having marched into the square, had taken the town. Of
course, he could do nothing against the citadel. Some eight thousand
Spanish troops were collecting about the place, but he was not a man to
be daunted; telling them that he would burn the town if they molested
him, he was able to draw off all his men in safety. During that
business we lost two hundred and fifty men and officers. It was a sad
affair, but though it was a failure every man engaged in it did his duty
bravely, and no one could blame the admiral for what had happened. We
heard that the Spaniards treated our wounded men who were left on shore
with the greatest kindness and care. No one among the wounded suffered
more than the admiral, and it was some months, I've heard say, before
the pain left his arm.

"Once more we returned to old England, and the admiral went up to London
to try and get cured of his wound. Since he left home he had lost an
eye and an arm, and had been terribly knocked about besides; but people
thought of what he had done, not of how he looked, and he was received
with honour wherever he went.

"I and a few others of his old hands lived on shore, keeping a look-out
for when he should get another command. We were afraid of being
pressed, and made to serve somewhere away from him. One and all of us
were ready enough to fight for our king and our country, provided we
could fight under him. We had not long to wait. We soon got news that
the `Vanguard' was to be commissioned to carry Sir Horatio Nelson's flag
to join the Mediterranean fleet under Earl Saint Vincent. That was in
the year 1798.

"We sailed from Gibraltar on the 9th of May with three line-of-battle
ships, four frigates, and a sloop of war, to look after the French
fleet, which consisted of thirteen ships of the line, seven frigates,
twenty-four smaller ships of war, and a fleet of transports, bound, as
we afterwards learned, for Egypt. If the French had conquered that
country, they would have gone on, there is no doubt of it, to attack our
possessions in India. The admiral, I dare say, knew the importance of
stopping that French fleet. In spite of