d out Robin Lyth, and tell him all
about the conviction of John Cadman; and knowing his name in the navy
and that of his ship, he had done so after in-and-out chase. But there
for the time he had rested from his labors, and left "Davy Jones" to
send back word about it; which that Pelagian Davy fails to do, unless
the message is enshrined in a bottle, for which he seems to cherish true
naval regard.

In this state of things the two brothers-in-law--as they fully intended
to be by-and-by--were going into this tremendous battle: Jack as a petty
officer, and Robin as a junior lieutenant of Lord Nelson's ship. Already
had Jack Anerley begun to feel for Robin--or Lieutenant Blyth, as he now
was called--that liking of admiration which his clear free manner, and
quickness of resource, and agreeable smile in the teeth of peril, had
won for him before he had the legal right to fight much. And
Robin--as he shall still be called while the memory of Flamborough
endures--regarded Jack Anerley with fatherly affection, and hoped to put
strength into his character.

However, one necessary step toward that is to keep the character
surviving; and in the world's pell-mell now beginning, the uproar alone
was enough to kill some, and the smoke sufficient to choke the rest.
Many a British sailor who, by the mercy of Providence, survived that
day, never could hear a word concerning any other battle (even though
a son of his own delivered it down a trumpet), so furious was the
concussion of the air, the din of roaring metal, and the clash of
cannon-balls which met in the air, and split up into founts of iron.

No less than seven French and Spanish ships agreed with one accord to
fall upon and destroy Lord Nelson's ship. And if they had only adopted
a rational mode of doing it, and shot straight, they could hardly have
helped succeeding. Even as it was, they succeeded far too well; for they
managed to make England rue the tidings of her greatest victory.

In the storm and whirl and flame of battle, when shot flew as close as
the teeth of a hay-rake, and fire blazed into furious eyes, and then
with a blow was quenched forever, and raging men flew into pieces--some
of which killed their dearest friends--who was he that could do more
than attend to his own business? Nelson had known that it would be so,
and had twice enjoined it in his orders; and when he was carried down to
die, his dying mind was still on this. Robin Lyth was close to him when