mpared with which that of the Spaniards was mere distracted
spluttering.

Meanwhile the dramatic crisis of the battle came swiftly on. The
Spanish admiral was resolute to join the severed fragments of his
fleet. The _Culloden_, the _Blenheim_, the _Prince George_, and the
_Orion_ were thundering amongst his rearmost ships, and as the British
line swept up, each ship tacked as it crossed the gap in the Spanish
line, bore up to windward and added the thunder of its guns to the
storm of battle raging amongst the hindmost Spaniards. But naturally
the section of the British line that had not yet passed the gap
shortened with every minute, and the leading Spanish ships at last saw
the sea to their leeward clear of the enemy, and the track open to
their own lee squadron. Instantly they swung round to leeward, the
great four-decker, the flagship, with a company of sister giants, the
_San Josef_ and the _Salvador del Mundo_, of 112 guns each, the _San
Nicolas_, and three other great ships of 80 guns. It was a bold and
clever stroke. This great squadron, with the breeze behind it, had but
to sweep past the rear of the British line, join the lee squadron, and
bear up, and the Spanish fleet in one unbroken mass would confront the
enemy. The rear of the British line was held by Collingwood in the
_Excellent_; next to him came the _Diadem_; the third ship was the
_Captain_, under Nelson. We may imagine how Nelson's solitary eye was
fixed on the great Spanish three-deckers that formed the Spanish van as
they suddenly swung round and came sweeping down to cross his stern.
Not Napoleon himself had a vision more swift and keen for the changing
physiognomy of a great battle than Nelson, and he met the Spanish
admiral with a counter-stroke as brilliant and daring as can be found
in the whole history of naval warfare. The British fleet saw the
_Captain_ suddenly swing out of line to leeward--in the direction from
the Spanish line, that is--but with swift curve the _Captain_ doubled
back, shot between the two English ships that formed the rear of the
line, and bore up straight in the path of the Spanish flagship, with
its four decks, and the huge battleships on either side of it.

The _Captain_, it should be remembered, was the smallest 74 in the
British fleet, and as the great Spanish ships closed round her and
broke into flame it seemed as if each one of them was big enough to
hoist the _Captain_ on board like a jolly-boat. Nels