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СКАЧАТЬ I do assure you—not a trice to spare,

       As you well will see.

       [A few minutes later SCOTT falls dead, a bullet having pierced

       his skull. Immediately after a shot passes between the Admiral

       and the Captain, tearing the instep of Hardy's shoe, and striking

       away the buckle. They shake off the dust and splinters it has

       scattered over them. NELSON glances round, and perceives what

       has happened to his secretary.]

      NELSON

       Poor Scott, too, carried off! Warm work this, Hardy;

       Too warm to go on long.

      HARDY

       I think so, too;

       Their lower ports are blocked against our hull,

       And our charge now is less. Each knock so near

       Sets their old wood on fire.

      NELSON

       Ay, rotten as peat.

       What's that? I think she has struck, or pretty nigh!

       [A cracking of musketry.]

      HARDY

       Not yet.—Those small-arm men there, in her tops,

       Thin our crew fearfully. Now, too, our guns

       Have dipped full down, or they would rake

       The “Temeraire” there on the other side.

      NELSON

       True.—While you deal good measure out to these,

       Keep slapping at those giants over here—

       The “Trinidad,” I mean, and the “Bucentaure,”

       To win'ard—swelling up so pompously.

      HARDY

       I'll see no slackness shall be shown that way.

       [They part and go in their respective directions. Gunners, naked

       to the waist and reeking with sweat, are now in swift action on

       the several decks, and firemen carry buckets of water hither and

       thither. The killed and wounded thicken around, and are being

       lifted and examined by the surgeons. NELSON and HARDY meet again.]

      NELSON

       Bid still the firemen bring more bucketfuls,

       And dash the water into each new hole

       Our guns have gouged in the “Redoubtable,”

       Or we shall all be set ablaze together.

      HARDY

       Let me once more advise, entreat, my lord,

       That you do not expose yourself so clearly.

       Those fellows in the mizzen-top up there

       Are peppering round you quite perceptibly.

      NELSON

       Now, Hardy, don't offend me. They can't aim;

       They only set their own rent sails on fire.—

       But if they could, I would not hide a button

       To save ten lives like mine. I have no cause

       To prize it, I assure 'ee.—Ah, look there,

       One of the women hit,—and badly, too.

       Poor wench! Let some one shift her quickly down.

      HARDY

       My lord, each humblest sojourner on the seas,

       Dock-labourer, lame longshore-man, bowed bargee,

       Sees it as policy to shield his life

       For those dependent on him. Much more, then,

       Should one upon whose priceless presence here

       Such issues hang, so many strivers lean,

       Use average circumspection at an hour

       So critical for us all.

      NELSON

       Ay, ay. Yes, yes;

       I know your meaning, Hardy,; and I know

       That you disguise as frigid policy

       What really is your honest love of me.

       But, faith, I have had my day. My work's nigh done;

       I serve all interests best by chancing it

       Here with the commonest.—Ah, their heavy guns

       Are silenced every one! Thank God for that.

      HARDY

       'Tis so. They only use their small arms now.

       [He goes to larboard to see what is progressing on that side

       between his ship and the “Santisima Trinidad.”]

      OFFICER [to seaman]

       Swab down these stairs. The mess of blood about

       Makes 'em so slippery that one's like to fall

       In carrying the wounded men below.

       [While CAPTAIN HARDY is still a little way off, LORD NELSON turns

       to walk aft, when a ball from one of the muskets in the mizzen-

       top of the “Redoubtable” enters his left shoulder. He falls upon

       his face on the deck. HARDY looks round, and sees what has

       happened.]

      HARDY [hastily]

       Ah—what I feared, and strove to hide I feared!...

       [He goes towards NELSON, who in the meantime has been lifted by

       SERGEANT-MAJOR SECKER and two seamen.]

      NELSON

       Hardy, I think they've done for СКАЧАТЬ