"There is no fear of that," answered Hardy.
Then came a moment's silence, and then Nelson spoke of himself.
"I am a dead man, Hardy," he said. "I am going fast; it will be all
over with me soon. Come nearer to me. Let my dear Lady Hamilton have my
hair and all other things belonging to me."
"I hope it is not so bad as that," said Hardy, with much emotion. "Dr.
Beatty must yet hold out some hope of life."
"Oh, no, that is impossible," said Nelson. "My back is shot through:
Beatty will tell you so."
Captain Hardy grasped his hand again, the tears standing in his eyes,
and then hurried on deck to hide the emotion he could scarcely repress.
Life slowly left the frame of the dying hero: every minute he was nearer
death. Sensation vanished below his breast. He made the surgeon test and
acknowledge this.
"You know I am gone," he said. "I know it. I feel something rising in my
breast which tells me so."
"Is your pain great?" asked Beatty.
"So great, that I wish I were dead. Yet," he continued, in lower tones,
"one would like to live a little longer, too."
A few moments of silence passed; then he said in the same low tone,--
"What would become of my poor Lady Hamilton if she knew my situation?"
Fifteen minutes elapsed before Captain Hardy returned.
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