have therefore called two or three of our fresh ships round us, and have no doubt of giving them a drubbing." "I hope none of our ships have struck, Hardy?" "No, my lord. There is small fear of that." "Well, I am a dead man, Hardy, but I am glad of what you say. Oh, whip them now you've got 'em; whip them as they've never been whipped before." Another fifty minutes passed before the flagcaptain could come below again, but this time he was able to report that the number of captures was fourteen or fifteen. "That's better," replied the dying man, "though I bargained for twenty. And now, anchor, Hardy -anchor." "I suppose, my lord, that Admiral Collingwood will now take upon himself the direction of affairs?" "Not while I live," said Nelson, raising himself on his elbow and then falling back. "No; I command here- yet. No. Do you anchor, Hardy." "Then shall we make the signal, my lord? "Yes," said Nelson, "for, if I live, I'll anchor." There was a silence of a minute, broken only by the dull booming of guns, and then, in a faint voice, "I say, Hardy," whispered the admiral. "Yes." Don't have my poor carcase hove overboard. Get what's left of me sent to England, if you can manage it. Good-by, Hardy. I've done my duty, and I thank God for it." He The flag-captain could not speak. squeezed his chieftain's hand, and left the cockpit; and ten minutes later Horatio, Viscount Nelson, stepped in rank with the world's greatest warriors who are dead. The news was taken to the Royal Sovereign, and Vice-Admiral Collingwood assumed the command. Hardy carried it himself, and at the same time delivered Lord Nelson's dying request that both the fleet and prizes should come to an anchor as soon as practicable. An on-shore gale was imminent, the shoals of Cape Trafalgar were under their lee, and scarcely a ship was left fully rigged. Many, indeed, were entirely dismasted, and in tow either of the frigates or of their lessmauled fellows. But, bosom friends though they had always been, Nelson and Collingwood were diametrically opposed in their plans of proceeding. "What!" the new admiral exclaimed when he heard the message, "anchor the fleet? Why, it is the last thing I should have thought of." The fleet was not anchored, and the British ships and their prizes were ordered to stand out to sea. But the rising gale moaned round them as though singing a dirge for the dead, and the power of the elements was more than a match for the most superb seamanship on all the oceans. Out of eighteen prizes captured, four were retaken by the allied ships, which swooped down on their worn-out prize crews; some were driven ashore and wrecked; some foundered at sea with all hands; one was scuttled; and of the total only four were brought safely to the British naval station in Gibraltar Bay. But the sea power of France and her ally was broken for good, and with it was made the first real move towards the overthrow of Napoleon. The victory was due to the prestige and genius of one man, and he died in the moment of his triumph. He was accorded a magnificent national funeral, a niche in Westminster Abbey, and statues all over the Islands whose safety he so gallantly preserved. His failings are forgotten; his name is a household word-sans peur, et sans reproche. VI Napoleon at Iéna - 1806 T By D. H. PARRY HE October of 1806 was a splendid month -a slight frost during the nights, but the days magnificent, with white cumuli rolling across the blue, when the blue was not entirely unclouded; and on the 8th day of that eventful month the French advanced in three great columns into the rocky valleys that led from Franconia to Saxony: an armywhen the cavalry and artillery of the Guard joined it of 186,000 men, led by masters in the art of war. The Emperor accompanied the centre column, composed of the infantry of the Guard, under Lefebvre, husband of the well-known "Madame Sans-Gêne," Bernadotte's 1st Corps, Davout's 3d Corps, and Murat's Cavalry Reserve; the whole marching by Kronach on the road to Schleitz and Iéna. The right column, consisting of Soult's 4th and Ney's 6th Corps, with a Bavarian division, set out for Hoff by forced marches, and the left, made up of Lannes with the 5th Corps and |