I'm the Father o this fleet, and all for the Service, as the sayin
is. And I can't stand by and see the first officer in the British Navy
lowerin himself in the eyes of Europe without a word.'"
The darkness hushed; the moon stared; the stars crept closer.
"He struck me. Nelson struck me in the mug. I wiped the blood away
with my cuff. 'That's not the Nelson I know, my lord,' says I, and
stumps out. And I never seen him from that day to this."
The boy could hear the old man's breath fluttering in the darkness.
"He was mad, ye see. She'd gone to his head; and she's stayed there
ever since. Mad--as a man. As a sailor he's still Nelson--the first
seaman afloat, ever was, or will be."
There was a thrill in the fading voice; a thrill of devotion
to the man who had destroyed him.
"So he broke me, Nelson did, and I don't blame him: discipline is
discipline, all said. Told the Admiralty they could choose between
him and me--between Lord Nelson of the Nile, that is, and old
Ding-dong, who'd climbed to the quarter-deck through the
hawse-holes.... So they chose."
The sea rustled; the night was sprinkled with stars.
"But I've paid him now," ended the old man comfortably. "Reck'n I've
paid him now.
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