went about, reversing its order.
Villeneuve had given up the idea of reaching the Straits without a battle,
and was anxious to have the port of Cadiz under his lee when the crisis
came.

Nelson's fleet, in two columns in line ahead, was drawing nearer and nearer
to his enemy. Between the two fleets the "Euryalus" flitted like a ghost,
observing and reporting every move of the allies, and sometimes coming
quite near them. When the enemy reversed their order of sailing,
Blackwood's ship was for a short time ahead of their double line, and saw
the allied fleet looking like "a lighted street some six miles long."

After midnight the alarm in the Franco-Spanish fleet had passed off, and
all the men who could be spared had turned in. At dawn on the Monday the
French frigate "Hermione" reported the enemy in sight to windward, and at
seven Villeneuve again gave the order to clear for action.

The sight of the allied fleet had called forth a great outburst of
exultation on board of Nelson's ships. "As the day dawned," wrote one of
his officers, "the horizon appeared covered with ships. The whole force of
the enemy was discovered standing to the southward, distant about nine
miles, between us and the coast near Trafalgar. I was awakened by the
cheers of the crew and by their rushing up the hatchways to get a glimpse
of the hostile fleet. The delight they manifested exceeded anything I ever
witnessed."

Opposing fleets separated by only nine miles of sea would in our day be
exchanging long-range fire after a very few minutes of rapid approach. It
was to be nearly six hours before Nelson and Villeneuve came within
fighting distance. The wind had become so slight that the British fleet was
often moving at a speed of barely more than a knot over the grey-green
ocean swells.

Still anxious to fight, with Cadiz as a refuge for disabled ships,
Villeneuve presently signalled to his fleet to go about. After they altered
their order of sailing and began to sail to the northward, moving very
slowly with the wind abeam (close-hauled on the port tack), the course of
the "Victory" was a little north of east, directed at first to a point
about two and a half miles ahead of the leading ship of the enemy. The
"Royal Sovereign," leading the leeward line on a parallel course, was about
a mile to the southward. As the allied fleet was moving so as presently to
cross the course of the British, the result would be that at the moment of
contact t