that he ought to obey it. He had already been badly wounded in
the head by a splinter. `What will Nelson think of us?' he exclaimed,
mournfully, as the frigate wore round. Just then his clerk was killed
by his side, and directly afterwards shot struck down some marines who
were hauling in the main-brace. It seemed as if not a man on board
could escape. `Come, then, my boys,' exclaimed their brave Captain
Riou, `let us all die together!' They were the last words he ever
spoke. The next moment a shot cut him in two. There was not a more
gallant officer, or one the men loved better, in the service.

"Well, as I was saying, on we went at it for four long hours. In spite
of the shot, and bullets, and splinters flying about on every side, I
had not had a scratch. Several poor fellows had been struck down close
to me. I cannot say that I thought that I should not be hit, because
the truth is I did not think about the matter. I went on working at my
gun like the rest, only just trying how fast we could fire, and how we
could do most damage to the enemy. That's the way to gain the victory;
it does not do to think of anything else. At last I felt a blow as if
some one had struck me on the side, and down I went. My trousers and
belt were singed and torn, and the blood started from my side; but I
bound my handkerchief over the wound, and in a little time got up and
went back to my gun, and there I stayed till the fighting was done, and
then I let them carry me below to the cockpit, for walk by myself I
could not.

"Some of our ships suffered dreadfully. The `Monarch' lost two hundred
and ten men, the `Isis' a hundred and ten, and the `Bellona'
seventy-five, and all the other ships great numbers. At last, however,
the Danes could stand it no longer, and ship after ship struck; but
still the shore batteries kept firing on, and killed great numbers of
men on board the prizes. One of their ships, the `Danbrog,' after she
had struck and was in flames, fired on our boats. Notwithstanding this,
when she was seen drifting away before the wind, the fire gaining on
her, Captain Bertie, of the `Ardent,' sent his boats to the assistance
of the poor fellows as they leaped out of the ports to escape the
flames. At last Lord Nelson, wishing to put a stop to the carnage,
wrote to the Crown Prince, the Danish commander, saying if he did not
cease firing he must burn the prizes. A wafer was brought him. `That
will not do,' sa