in the pan,
and their ammunition was expended. 'Never mind,' exclaimed
Horatio, 'do but let me get a blow at this devil with the
but-end of my musket, and we shall have him.' His companion,
finding that entreaty was in vain, regained the ship. The
captain, seeing the young man's danger, ordered a gun to be
fired to terrify the enraged animal. This had the desired
effect; but Nelson was obliged to return without his bear,
somewhat agitated with the apprehension of the consequence of
this adventure. Captain Lutwidge, though he could not but admire
so daring a disposition, reprimanded him rather sternly for such
rashness, and for conduct so unworthy of the situation he
occupied; and desired to know what motive he could have for
hunting a bear? Being thought by his captain to have acted in a
manner unworthy of his situation, made a deep impression on the
high-minded cockswain; who, pouting his lip, as he was wont to
do when agitated, replied, 'Sir, I wished to kill the bear, that
I might carry its skin to my father.'"

Upon his return to England from the Arctic Seas, Nelson again by his
own choice determined his immediate future. Within a fortnight of
leaving the "Carcass," he was, through his uncle's influence, received
on board by the captain of the "Seahorse," of twenty guns, one of the
ships composing a squadron that was just then fitting out for the East
Indies. To quote himself, "Nothing less than such a distant voyage
could in the least satisfy my desire of maritime knowledge." During an
absence of three years he for much of the time, as formerly in his
West India cruise, did the duty of a seaman aloft, from which he was
afterwards rated midshipman, and placed, this time finally, upon the
quarter-deck as an officer. In the ordinary course of cruising in
peace times, he visited every part of the station from Bengal to
Bussorah; but the climate, trying even to vigorous Europeans, proved
too much for his frail health. After a couple of years he broke down
and was invalided home, reaching England in September, 1776. His
escape from death was attributed by himself to the kind care of
Captain Pigot of the "Dolphin," in which ship he came back. At this
period we are told that, when well, he was of florid countenance,
rather stout and athletic; but, as the result of his illness, he was
reduced to a mere skeleton, and for some time entirely lost the use of