hunger and fear did not drive you home.'
`Fear, grandmamma!' answered the boy, `I never saw fear! What is it?'"

"True, true!" exclaimed the old man. "Fear! I don't think he ever felt
it either. Well, as I was going to tell you, my father followed Captain
Suckling into the `Triumph,' and young Nelson went with him; but as she
was merely to do duty as guard-ship in the Thames, the captain sent his
nephew out in a merchant-vessel to the West Indies, to pick up some
knowledge of seamanship. When he came back he soon showed that he had
not lost his time, and that he was already a good practical seaman.
Soon after this an expedition was fitted out for a voyage of discovery
towards the North Pole, under Captain Phipps and Captain Lutwidge, in
the `Racehorse' and `Carcass.' My father volunteered, and so did Mr
Nelson, who got a berth as captain's coxswain with Captain Lutwidge.
The ships, after entering the polar seas, were quickly beset with ice.
Mr Nelson, who had command of a boat, soon showed what he was made of.
My father was in another boat, and as they were exploring a channel to
try and find a passage for the ships into the open sea, one of the
officers fired at a walrus. `Ah, I've hit him!' he exclaimed, `not a
bad shot!' and he thought no more about the matter. But the brute gave
a look up with a race like a human being, as much as to say, `We'll see
more than one can play at that game,' and down he dived. Presently up
again he came, with some twenty or more companions, and with the
greatest fury they set on the boat with their tusks, and tried to
capsize her. My father and the rest of the crew fought desperately with
boat-hook and axes, but they were getting the worst of it, and well-nigh
gave themselves up as lost, when another boat was seen coming along the
channel towards them. On she dashed; a young officer, a very little
fellow, with an axe in his hand, sprang to the bows, and began dealing
his blows right and left at the heads of the walruses till several were
killed, when the rest dived down and took to flight. That young lad was
Nelson. Soon after this, one morning he and another boy were missed
from the ship. It was reported that they had gone away in pursuit of a
bear which had been seen prowling about. A thick fog had come on, and
they did not return. The captain began to think that they were lost,
and a party was sent out to look for them. After wandering about for
some time, the fog clea