ositions of the two vessels, the shot ranged from end to
end of the "Bucentaure," and the injury was tremendous. Twenty guns
were at once dismounted, and the loss by that single discharge was
estimated, by the French, at four hundred men. Leaving the further
care of the enemy's flagship to her followers, secure that they would
give due heed to the admiral's order, that "every effort must be made
to capture the hostile commander-in-chief," the "Victory" put her helm
up, inclining to the right, and ran on board a French seventy-four,
the "Redoutable," whose guns, as well as those of the French
"Neptune," had been busily playing upon her hitherto. At 1.10 she lay
along the port side of the "Redoutable," the two ships falling off
with their heads to the eastward, and moving slowly before the wind to
the east-southeast.

In the duel which ensued between these two, in which Nelson fell, the
disparity, so far as weight of battery was concerned, was all against
the French ship; but the latter, while greatly overmatched at the
guns, much the greater part of which were below deck, was markedly
superior to her antagonist in small-arm fire on the upper deck, and
especially aloft, where she had many musketeers stationed. Nelson
himself was averse to the employment of men in that position, thinking
the danger of fire greater than the gain, but the result on this day
was fatal to very many of the "Victory's" men as well as to himself.
As the ship's place in the battle was fixed for the moment, nothing
now remained to be done, except for the crews to ply their weapons
till the end was reached. The admiral and the captain, their parts of
direction and guidance being finished, walked back and forth together
on the quarter-deck, on the side farthest from the "Redoutable," where
there was a clear space of a little over twenty feet in length, fore
and aft, from the wheel to the hatch ladder leading down to the cabin.
The mizzen-top of the "Redoutable," garnished with sharpshooters, was
about fifty feet above them. Fifteen minutes after the vessels came
together, as the two officers were walking forward, and had nearly
reached the usual place of turning, Nelson, who was on Hardy's left,
suddenly faced left about. Hardy, after taking a step farther, turned
also, and saw the admiral in the act of falling--on his knees, with
his left hand touching the deck; then, the arm giving way, he fell on
his left side. It was in the exact spot where Scott