"He wore his medals because, ma'am, in the first place, he wasn't a bit ashamed of them; and, secondly, to encourage his men--there, ma'am!" "That's a settler for you, Polly!" said her brother quizzingly; but, he didn't laugh, the Captain appeared so very much in earnest in speaking of Nelson, whom he regarded with the deepest veneration.

"I don't think, my dear, though, it's a subject for joking!" "I'm very sorry I spoke, sure," pleaded she in extenuation of her offence, "I didn't mean any harm!" "Well, well, let it pass," replied the Captain, dismissing the painful point in dispute with a wave of his arm and continuing his description of the tragic end of the conqueror of Trafalgar, which Mrs Gilmour's interruption had somewhat confused in his mind.

"We were just where he was shot, eh ?" "Yes," replied Bob, who had been hanging on his words and was all attention and had not lost a word of the narrative.

"The French marksman saw his medals." "Humph!" ejaculated the old sailor, "making sail again with a fair wind," as he expressed it in his nautical way.

"Well, then, the fellow who shot him was potted immediately afterwards, you'll be glad to hear, by one of our `jollies'-- marines, you know--on the poop, who saw the chap aiming at Nelson, but fired too late to prevent the fatal leaden messenger doing its deadly work! The poor Admiral sank down here, just by that hatchway, and there used to be the stain of his blood, as they said, on the old timbers of the deck; but those have been removed, and, indeed, they've restored the ship so often that there's hardly one of her old planks left in her save this with the memorial plate here." "But, what was done after Nelson was wounded ?" inquired Nellie, who had been listening as intently as Bob.