[Illustration: NELSON RECEIVING THE SWORD OF THE SPANISH ADMIRAL SURRENDERED AFTER A NAVAL BATTLE IN THE WAR OF 1797. _From the painting by David Neal_] It is not surprising that men under his command exclaimed, in comparing him with other men, “_Nelson_ was the man to _love!_” The wars of Great Britain with Napoleon kept the young navy officer in active service. During a siege a shell burst and destroyed the sight of his right eye. In another attack he was wounded in the arm. He shouted to those who wished to remove him from the fray, “Let me alone; I have yet my legs and one arm. Tell the surgeon to make haste and get the instruments. I know I must lose my right arm; so the sooner it is off, the better.” In 1798, when Napoleon started out with the French fleet for an unknown port, to surprise and lay waste the countries of people friendly to Great Britain, these instructions were issued to Admiral Nelson: “Take, sink, burn, and destroy the French fleet.” With his battleships Nelson set out to search the Mediterranean, but for a long time he was unable to find the French fleet. At last it was found at anchor in Aboukir Bay at the mouth of the Nile. The French were caught in a trap. Though Nelson had not eaten or slept much for many days and nights, he invited his officers to dinner on his flagship, the _Vanguard_, to discuss the coming battle. “If we succeed, what will the world say?” asked one of the officers. “There is no ‘_if_’ in the case,” replied the admiral sharply. “We are sure to succeed, but who may live to tell the story is a very different question.” Admiral Nelson had the colors flying from six different places on his flagship when they went into battle that very night. That engagement, now known as the battle of the Nile, was one of the greatest naval combats in history. The French flagship, _L’Orient_, on which Napoleon had sailed to carry war into Egypt, was blown up and the French admiral killed with all on board. The battle raged from seven in the evening until three in the morning. Though the French had thousands more men than the British, most of them were killed. Nelson sent boats to rescue them from the burning French ships, but they preferred to go on fighting through the flames, amidst bursting shells and exploding powder magazines. Napoleon’s fleet was utterly destroyed. Nelson wrote of that night’s work: “Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene; it is a conquest.”