end to the other wounded men, who lay all about the deck
and crowded cock-pit, 'for,' said he, 'you can do nothing for me.'

The life-blood was in fact fast ebbing away, and all that could be done
for the dying hero was to fan him with paper, and to give him lemonade
to alleviate the great thirst that always follows gun-shot wounds.

Meanwhile, the battle raged fiercely, and even in his dying agonies
Nelson's eyes would gleam with joy when he heard the cheers of his men
as often as an enemy's ship struck.

He now became very anxious to see Captain Hardy, but it was an hour or
more before Hardy was able to leave the quarter-deck, and hasten to
Nelson's side. He was so affected that he could only silently shake the
Admiral's hand.

'Hardy,' said Nelson, 'how goes the day?'

'Very well,' replied Hardy. 'Ten ships have struck, and I have no doubt
of giving them a drubbing.'

'I hope,' said Nelson, 'none of our ships have struck?'

'No fear of that,' answered Hardy. He had now to go again on deck, but
in an hour's time returned to the cock-pit, and congratulated the dying
commander on having gained a complete victory, fourteen or fifteen of
the enemy being taken, perhaps more, but in the confusion of the battle
it was impossible to be quite accurate.

'That's well!' said Nelson, 'but I bargained for twenty!'

Then a few minutes later he said in a low voice, 'Don't throw me
overboard,' and then feeling life to be all but gone, he said, 'Kiss me,
Hardy.'

Hardy knelt down and kissed his cheek, and Nelson said, 'Now I am
satisfied! Thank God I have done my duty.' These words he kept faintly
repeating again and again until he died--just four hours and
three-quarters after he had received his wound.

The victory of Trafalgar was complete. The fleets of France and Spain
were not merely defeated, but completely shattered, and England had no
longer any cause to dread a foreign invasion.

But great as were the rejoicings over this victory, the death of Nelson
cast such gloom over the whole country that the rejoicings were said to
be 'without joy.'

A fitting monument to Britain's greatest Admiral was erected some years
later in Trafalgar Square, London. A statue of Nelson, in cocked hat and
with empty right sleeve, stands towering aloft at a height of one
hundred and forty-five feet; at the base crouch Landseer's four majestic
lions, watchful as he who for so many years maintained for Britain the
supremacy of the sea.