ld become of my poor Lady Hamilton if she knew my situation?"

Fifteen minutes elapsed before Captain Hardy returned. On doing so, he
warmly grasped Nelson's hand, and in tones of joy congratulated him on
the victory which he had come to announce.

"How many of the enemy are taken, I cannot say," he remarked; "the
smoke hides them; but we have not less than fourteen or fifteen."

"That's well," cried Nelson, "but I bargained for twenty. Anchor, Hardy,
anchor!" he commanded, in a stronger voice.

"Will not Admiral Collingwood take charge of the fleet?" hinted Hardy.

"Not while I live, Hardy," answered Nelson, with an effort to lift
himself in his bed. "Do you anchor."

Hardy started to obey this last order of his beloved commander. In a low
tone Nelson called him back.

"Don't throw me overboard, Hardy," he pleaded. "Take me home that I may
be buried by my parents, unless the king shall order otherwise. And take
care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy; take care of poor Lady Hamilton.
Kiss me, Hardy."

The weeping captain knelt and kissed him.

"Now I am satisfied," said the dying hero. "Thank God, I have done my
duty."

Hardy stood and looked down, in sad silence upon him, then again knelt
and kissed him on the forehead.

"Who is that?" asked Nelson.

"It is I, Hardy," was the reply.

"God bless you, Hardy," came in tones just above a whisper.

Hardy turned and left. He could bear no more. He had looked his last on
his old commander.

"I wish I had not left the deck," said Nelson; "for I see I shall soon
be gone."

It was true; life was fast ebbing.

"Doctor," he said to the chaplain, "I have not been a _great_ sinner."
He was silent a moment, and then continued, "Remember that I leave Lady
Hamilton and my daughter Horatia as a legacy to my country."

Words now came with difficulty.

"Thank God, I have done my duty," he said, repeating these words again
and again. They were his last words. He died at half-past four, three
and a quarter hours after he had been wounded.

Meanwhile, Nelson's prediction had been realized: twenty French ships
had struck their flags. The victory of Trafalgar was complete;
Napoleon's hope of invading England was at an end. Nelson, dying, had
saved his country by destroying the fleet of her foes. Never had a sun
set in greater glory than did the life of this hero of the navy of Great
Britain, the ruler of the waves.

_THE MASSACRE OF AN ARMY._

The sentinels o