n adrift, and
although he did not dare to climb into her, he held on by her, on the
further side from them. She was drifting away with the tide, and at last
he ventured to get on board of her, and found a pair of oars, and was
picked up at daylight by a smuggling boat running for Newhaven. He was
landed last night, and he heard the dreadful news, and having plenty
of money, he hired a post-chaise, and never stopped until he reached
Springhaven. He looks worn out now; but if his mind was easier, he would
soon be as strong as ever."

"It is a strange story, my dear," said Nelson; "but I see that it has
done you good to tell it, and I have known many still stranger. But how
could he have money, after such a hard escape?"

"That shows as much as anything how brave he is. He had made up his mind
that if he succeeded in knocking down both those sentinels, he would
have the bag of gold which was put for his reward in case of his
steering them successfully. And before he jumped overboard he snatched
it up, and it helped him to dive and to swim under water. He put it
in his flannel shirt by way of ballast, and he sticks to it up to the
present moment."

"My dear," replied Lord Nelson, much impressed, "such a man deserves to
be in my own crew. If he can show me that bag, and stand questions, I
will send him to Portsmouth at my own expense, with a letter to my dear
friend Captain Hardy."

CHAPTER LXV

TRAFALGAR

Lord Nelson sailed from Portsmouth on the 15th of September, in his
favourite ship the Victory, to take his last command. He knew that he
never should come home, except as a corpse for burial, but he fastened
his mind on the work before him, and neglected nothing. "A fair fight,
and no favour," was the only thing he longed for.

And this he did obtain at last. The French commander-in-chief came
forth, with all his mighty armament, not of his own desire, but goaded
by imperious sneers, and stings that made his manhood tingle. He spread
the sea-power of two nations in a stately crescent, double-lined (as the
moon is doubled when beheld through fine plate-glass)--a noble sight, a
paramount temptation for the British tow-rope.

"What a lot for we to take to Spithead!" was the British tar's remark,
as forty ships of the line and frigates showed their glossy sides, and
canvas bosomed with the gentle air and veined with gliding sunlight. A
grander spectacle never was of laborious man's creation; and the work
of t