NELSON [trying to raise himself]
Not while I live, I hope! No, Hardy; no.
Give Collingwood my order. Anchor all!
HARDY [hesitating]
You mean the signal’s to be made forthwith?
NELSON
I do!—By God, if but our carpenter
Could rig me up a jury-backbone now,
To last one hour—until the battle’s done,
I’d see to it! But here I am—stove in—
Broken—all logged and done for! Done, ay done!
BEATTY [returning from the other wounded]
My lord, I must implore you to lie calm!
You shorten what at best may not be long.
NELSON [exhausted]
I know, I know, good Beatty! Thank you well
Hardy, I was impatient. Now I am still.
Sit here a moment, if you have time to spare?
[BEATTY and others retire, and the two abide in silence, except
for the trampling overhead and the moans from adjoining berths.
NELSON is apparently in less pain, seeming to doze.]
NELSON [suddenly]
What are you thinking, that you speak no word?
HARDY [waking from a short reverie]
Thoughts all confused, my lord:—their needs on deck,
Your own sad state, and your unrivalled past;
Mixed up with flashes of old things afar—
Old childish things at home, down Wessex way.
In the snug village under Blackdon Hill
Where I was born. The tumbling stream, the garden,
The placid look of the grey dial there,
Marking unconsciously this bloody hour,
And the red apples on my father’s trees,
Just now full ripe.
NELSON
Ay, thus do little things
Steal into my mind, too. But ah, my heart
Knows not your calm philosophy!—There’s one—
Come nearer to me, Hardy.—One of all,
As you well guess, pervades my memory now;
She, and my daughter—I speak freely to you.
’Twas good I made that codicil this morning
That you and Blackwood witnessed. Now she rests
Safe on the nation’s honour.... Let her have
My hair, and the small treasured things I owned,
And take care of her, as you care for me!
[HARDY promises.]
NELSON [resuming in a murmur]
Does love die with our frame’s decease, I wonder,
Or does it live on ever?...
[A silence. BEATTY approaches.]
HARDY
Now I’ll leave,
See if your order’s gone, and then return.