"The 'Bully-Sawyer,' Trafalgar!" murmured the Bo'sun, as they went

on side by side; "you've 'eerd o' the 'Bully-Sawyer,' Seventy-four,

o' course, young sir?"

"I'm afraid not," said Barnabas, rather apologetically.

"Not 'eerd o' the 'Bully-Sawyer,' Seventy-four, Lord, young sir!

axing your pardon, but--not 'eerd o' the--why, she were in the van

that day one o' the first to engage the enemy--but a cable's length

to wind'ard o' the 'Victory'--one o' the first to come up wi' the

Mounseers, she were. An' now you tell me as you ain't 'eerd o'

the--Lord, sir!" and the Bo'sun sighed, and shook his head till it

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was a marvel how the glazed hat kept its position.

"Won't you tell me of her, Bo'sun?"

"Tell you about the old 'Bully-Sawyer,' Seventy-four, ay surely, sir,

surely. Ah! 't were a grand day for us, a grand day for our Nelson,

and a grand day for England--that twenty-first o' October--though 't

were that day as they French and Spanishers done for the poor old

'Bully-Sawyer,' Seventy-four, and his honor's arm and my leg, d' ye

see. The wind were light that day as we bore down on their line--in

two columns, d' ye see, sir--we was in Nelson's column, the weather

line 'bout a cable's length astarn o' the 'Victory.' On we went,

creeping nearer and nearer--the 'Victory,' the old 'Bully-Sawyer,'

and the 'Temeraire'--and every now and then the Mounseers trying a

shot at us to find the range, d' ye see. Right ahead o' us lay the

'Santissima Trinidado'--a great four-decker, young sir--astarn o'

her was the 'Beaucenture,' and astarn o' her again, the 'Redoutable,'

wi' eight or nine others. On we went wi' the Admiral's favorite

signal flying, 'Engage the enemy more closely.' Ah, young sir, there

weren't no stand-offishness about our Nelson, God bless him! As we

bore closer their shot began to come aboard o' us, but the old

'Bully-Sawyer' never took no notice, no, not so much as a gun. Lord!

I can see her now as she bore down on their line; every sail drawing

aloft, the white decks below--the gleam o' her guns wi' their crews

stripped to the waist, every eye on the enemy, every man at his

post--very different she looked an hour arterwards. Well, sir, all

at once the great 'Santissima Trinidado' lets fly at us wi' her

whole four tiers o' broadside, raking us fore and aft, and that begun

it; down comes our foretopmast wi' a litter o' falling spars and

top-hamper, and the decks was all at once splashed, here and there,

wi' ugly blotches. But, Lord! the old 'Bully-Sawyer' never paid no

heed, and still the men stood to the guns, and his Honor, the Captain,

strolled up and down, chatting to his flag officer. Then the enemy's

ships opened on us one arter another, the 'Beaucenture,' the 'San

Nicholas,' and the 'Redoutable' swept and battered us wi' their

murderous broadsides; the air seemed full o' smoke and flame, and

the old 'Bully-Sawyer' in the thick o' it. But still we could see the

'Victory' through the drifting smoke ahead o' us wi' the signal

flying, 'Engage the enemy more closely,' and still we waited and

waited very patient, and crept down on the enemy nearer and nearer."




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