"And ere's the man that elped him."
He bowed with wide hands. Drunk as he was there was yet a dilapidated
splendour about the fellow as about an historic ruin. The boy felt it
through his disgust.
"I thought Nelson did a bit," he said.
"Nelson did much; I did more; _e_ did most," with a wave forward.
"Why!" shouting now. "Who was it led the line inside the shoal--creepin
it, leadsman in the chains, soundin all the way?--We _Thunderers_,
the _Goliath_ treadin mighty jealous on our heels. And who
commanded the _Thunderer_?--Old Ding-dong. And what did he get
for it?"
He smacked a hand down on the boy's shoulder.
"Broke him, sir!--broke him back to a sloop o war!--old Ding-dong,
the damdest, darndest, don't-care-a-cursest old sea-dog as ever set
his teeth in a French line o battle ship, and wouldn't let go, though
they fired double-shotted broadsides down his throat."
"But why did they break him?" gasped the boy. "It doesn't sound like
Nelson."
The other smacked his long nose with a finger mysteriously.
"I don't know what you mean," said the boy, short and sharp.
"Ah, and just as well you don't," replied the other loftily. "Some
day, Sonny, you'll know all there is to know and a leetle bit more--same
as me.
Pages:
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33