NELSON
I’ll wait, I’ll wait. I should have thought of it.
[Presently HARDY comes down. NELSON and he grasp hands.]
Hardy, how goes the day with us and England?
HARDY
Well; very well, thank God for’t, my dear lord.
Villeneuve their Admiral has this moment struck,
And put himself aboard the “Conqueror.”
Some fourteen of their first-rates, or about,
Thus far we’ve got. The said “Bucentaure” chief:
The “Santa Ana,” the “Redoubtable,”
The “Fougueux,” the “Santisima Trinidad,”
“San Augustino, “San Francisco,” “Aigle”;
And our old “Swiftsure,” too, we’ve grappled back,
To every seaman’s joy. But now their van
Has tacked to bear round on the “Victory”
And crush her by sheer weight of wood and brass:
Three of our best I am therefore calling up,
And make no doubt of worsting theirs, and France.
NELSON
That’s well. I swore for twenty.—But it’s well.
HARDY
We’ll have ’em yet! But without you, my lord,
We have to make slow plodding do the deeds
That sprung by inspiration ere you fell;
And on this ship the more particularly.
NELSON
No, Hardy.—Ever ’twas your settled fault
So modestly to whittle down your worth.
But I saw stuff in you which admirals need
When, taking thought, I chose the “Victory’s” keel
To do my business with these braggarts in.
A business finished now, for me!—Good friend,
Slow shades are creeping me... I scarce see you.
HARDY
The smoke from ships upon our win’ard side,
And the dust raised by their worm-eaten hulks,
When our balls touch ’em, blind the eyes, in truth.
NELSON
No; it is not that dust; ’tis dust of death
That darkens me.
[A shock overhead. HARDY goes up. On or two other officers go up,
and by and by return.]
What was that extra noise?
OFFICER
The “Formidable’ passed us by, my lord,
And thumped a stunning broadside into us.—
But, on their side, the “Hero’s” captain’s fallen;
The “Algeciras” has been boarded, too,
By Captain Tyler, and the captain shot:
Admiral Gravina desperately holds out;
They say he’s lost an arm.
NELSON
And we, ourselves—
Who have we lost on board here? Nay, but tell me!
BEATTY
Besides poor Scott, my lord, and Charles Adair,
Lieutenant Ram, and Whipple, captain’s clerk,
There’s Smith, and Palmer, midshipmen, just killed.
And fifty odd of seamen and marines.