"All about it, John? Why, it would take me all night to tell you all
about it," (there was an audible gasp of delight among the listeners),
"and I haven't time for that; but you must know that Lord Nelson, bein'
Sir Horatio Nelson at that time, chased the French fleet, under Admiral
Brueys, into Aboukir Bay, (that's on the coast of Egypt), sailed in
after 'em, anchored alongside of 'em, opened on 'em wi' both broadsides
at once, an' blew them all to bits."
"You don't say that, Jack Brace!"
"Yes, I do, John Adams; an' nine French line-o'-battle ships was took,
two was burnt, two escaped, and the biggest o' the lot, the great
three-decker, the _Orient_, was blowed up, an' sent to the bottom. It
was a thorough-goin' piece o' business that, _I_ tell you, an' Nelson
meant it to be, for w'en he gave the signal to go into close action, he
shouted, `Victory or Westminster Abbey.'"
"What did he mean by that?" asked Adams.
"Why, don't you see, Westminster Abbey is the old church in London where
they bury the great nobs o' the nation in; there's none but _great_ nobs
there, you know--snobs not allowed on no account whatever. So he meant,
of coorse, victory or death, d'ye see? After which he'd be put into
Westminster Abbey. An' death it was to many a good man that day. Why,
if you take even the _Orient_ alone, w'en she was blowed up, Admiral
Brueys himself an' a thousand men went up along with her, an' never came
down again, so far as _we_ know."
"It must have bin bloody work," said Adams.
"I believe you, my boy," continued the sailor, "it _was_ bloody work.
There was some of our chaps that was always for reasonin' about things,
an' would never take anything on trust, 'xcept their own inventions, who
used to argufy that it was an awful waste o' human life, to say nothin'
o' treasure, (as they called it), all for _nothin'_. I used to wonder
sometimes why them _reasoners_ jined the sarvice at all, but to be sure
most of 'em had been pressed. To my thinkin', war wouldn't be worth a
brass farthin' if there wasn't a deal o' blood and thunder about it;
an', of coorse, if we're goin' to have that sort o' thing we must pay
for it. Then, we didn't do it for _nothin'_. Is it nothin' to have the
honour an' glory of lickin' the Mounseers an' bein' able to sing
`Britannia rules the waves?'"
John Adams, who was not fond of argument, and did not agree with some of
Jack's reasoning, said, "P'r'aps;" and then, drawing closer to his new
friend with deepening interest, said, "Well, Jack, what more has
happened?"
"What more? Why, I'll have to start a fresh pipe before I can answer
that."
Having started a fresh pipe he proceeded, and the group settled down
again to devour his words, and watch and smell the smoke.
"Well, then, there was--but you know I ain't a diction'ry, or a
cyclopodia, or a gazinteer--let me see. After the battle o' the Nile
there came the Irish Rebellion."
"Did that do 'em much good, Jack?"
"O yes, John; it united 'em immediately after to Old England, so that
we're now Great Britain an' Ireland. Then Sir Ralph Abercromby, he gave
the French an awful lickin' on land in Egypt at Aboukir, where Nelson
had wopped 'em on the sea, and, last of all came the glorious battle of
Trafalgar. But it wasn't all glory, for we lost Lord Nelson there. He
was killed."
"That was a bad business," said Adams, with a look of sympathy. "And
you was in that battle, was you?"
"In it! I should just think so," replied Jack Brace, looking
contemplatively at his mutilated finger. "Why, I was in Lord Nelson's
own ship, the _Victory_. Come, I'll give you an outline of it. This is
how it began."
The ex-man-of-war's-man puffed vigorously for a few seconds, to get the
pipe well alight, he remarked, and collect his thoughts.