wer part of the state,
more particularly those on Long Island.

"I have some recollection of him, Cuffe. That was a brilliant day, and
all its events should be impressed on my mind. You tell me Mr. Griffin
fairly grappled the lugger's cable?"

"Of that there can be no manner of doubt. I saw the two vessels foul of
each other with my night-glass--and seemingly both were on fire--as
plainly as I ever saw Vesuvius in a dark night."

"And yet this Few-Folly has escaped! Poor Griffin has run a desperate
risk for little purpose."

"He has, indeed, my lord."

Here, Nelson, who had been pacing the cabin with quick steps, while
Cuffe stood, respectfully declining the gesture to be seated at the
table in its centre, suddenly stopped and looked the Captain steadily in
the face. The expression of his countenance was now mild and earnest,
and the pause which preceded his words gave the latter solemnity
and weight.

"The day will come, Cuffe," he said, "when this young man will rejoice
that his design on these picaroons, Frenchmen as they are, failed. Yes,
from the bottom of his heart will he be glad."

"My lord!"

"I know you think this strange, Captain Cuffe; but no man sleeps the
sounder for having burnt or blown up a hundred of his fellow-creatures
like so many widows at a suttee. But we are not the less to commend
those who did what was certainly their duty."

"Am I to understand, Lord Nelson, that the Proserpine is _not_ to
destroy the Few-Folly at every hazard, should we again have the luck to
fall in with her?"

"By no means, sir. Our orders are to burn, sink, and destroy. Such is
England's policy in this desperate war; and it must be carried out. You
know what we are contending for as well as I do; and it is a struggle
that is not to be carried on with courtesies; still, one would not wish
to see a glorious and sacred cause tarnished by inhumanity. Men that
fall in fair, manly combat are to be envied rather than pitied, since it
is only paying the great debt of nature a little sooner than might
otherwise have happened; but there is something revolting to humanity in
burning up our fellow-creatures as one would burn rags after the plague.
Nevertheless, this lugger must be had at any price; for English commerce
and English power are not to be cut up and braved in this audacious
manner with impunity. The career of these French tigers must be stopped
at every sacrifice, Captain Cuffe."

"I know that, my lord, and