And he finished loading the gun with his own
hands, aimed it, and bade the men fire. And there he stayed, captain
of that gun, keeping those fellows in spirits, till the enemy
struck--sitting on the carriage while the gun was cooling, though he
was exposed all the time--showing them easier ways to handle heavy
shot--making the raw hands laugh at their own blunders--and when the
gun cooled again, getting it loaded and fired twice as often as any
other gun on the ship. The captain walked forward by way of
encouraging the men, and Nolan touched his hat and said:
"I am showing them how we do this in the artillery, sir."
And this is the part of the story where all the legends agree; the
commodore said:
"I see you do, and I thank you, sir; and I shall never forget this
day, sir, and you never shall, sir."
And after the whole thing was over, and he had the Englishman's
sword, in the midst of the state and ceremony of the quarter-deck, he
said:
"Where is Mr. Nolan? Ask Mr. Nolan to come here."
And when Nolan came, he said:
"Mr. Nolan, we are all very grateful to you to-day; you are one of us
to-day; you will be named in the despatches."
And then the old man took off his own sword of ceremony, and gave it
to Nolan, and made him put it on. The man told me this who saw it.
Nolan cried like a baby, and well he might. He had not worn a sword
since that infernal day at Fort Adams. But always afterwards on
occasions of ceremony, he wore that quaint old French sword of the
commodore's.
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