I believed too that the disputes between Spain and France or England were always about something that those countries ought to give up to us, and in which Spain could not, on the whole, be wrong. Her self-defence seemed to me as legitimate as the aggression was brutal; and as I had always heard that justice must triumph, I never doubted of victory. Looking up at our red and yellow flag—the colors nearest to that of fire—I felt my bosom swell, and could not restrain a few tears of enthusiasm and excitement; I thought of Cádiz, of Vejer, of the whole Spanish nation assembled, as it were, on a vast platform and looking on with eager anxiety; and all this tide of emotion lifted up my heart to God to whom I put up a prayer, which was neither a Paternoster nor an Ave, but a gush of inspiration that came to me at the moment.
A sudden shock startled me from my ecstasy, terrifying me with its violent vibration. The first broadside had been fired.
XI
A vessel in the rear had been the first to fire on the Royal Sovereign, commanded by Collingwood, and while that ship carried on the fight with the Santa Ana the Victory came down on us. On board the Trinidad everyone was anxious to open fire; but our captain would not give the word till he saw a favorable opportunity. Meanwhile, as if the ships were in such close communication that a slow-match was lighted from one to the other, the fire ran along from the Santa Ana in the middle, to each end of the line.
The Victory fired first on the Redoutable, and being repulsed, came up to the windward of the Trinidad. The moment had come for us; a hundred voices cried “fire!”—loudly echoing the word of command, and fifty round-shot were hurled against the flank of the English man-of-war. For a minute I could see nothing of the enemy for the smoke, while he, as if blind with rage, came straight down upon us before the wind. Just within gunshot he put the ship about and gave us a broadside. In the interval between our firing and theirs, our crew, who had taken note of the damage done to the enemy, had gained in enthusiasm. The guns were rapidly served, though not without some hitches owing to want of experience in some of the gunners. Marcial would have been only too glad to undertake the management of one of the cannon, but his mutilated body was not equal to the heroism of his spirit. He was forced to be satisfied with superintending the delivery of the charges and encouraging the gunners by word and gesture.
The Bucentaure, just at our stern, was, like us, firing on the Victory and the Téméraire, another powerful English vessel. It seemed as though the Victory must fall into our hands, for the Trinidad’s fire had cut her tackle to pieces, and we saw with pride that her mizzenmast had gone by the board.
In the excitement of this first onslaught I scarcely perceived that some of our men were wounded or killed. I had chosen a place where I thought I should be least in the way, and never took my eyes off the captain who stood on the quarterdeck, issuing his orders with heroic coolness; and I wondered to see my master, no less calm though less enthusiastic, encouraging the officers and men in his quavering voice.
“Ah!” said I to myself, “if only Doña Francisca could see him now!”
I am bound to confess that at times I felt desperately frightened, and would gladly have hidden myself at the very bottom of the hold, while, at others, I was filled with an almost delirious courage, when I longed to see the glorious spectacle from the most dangerous posts. However, I will set aside my own insignificant individuality and relate the most terrible crisis of our fight with the Victory. The Trinidad was doing her immense mischief when the Téméraire, by a wonderfully clever maneuver, slipped in between the two vessels thus sheltering her consort from our fire. She then proceeded to cut through the line behind the Trinidad, and as the Bucentaure, under fire, had got so close alongside of the Trinidad that their yards touched, there was a wide space beyond into which the Téméraire rushed down and, going about immediately, came up on our lee and delivered a broadside on that quarter, till then untouched. At the same time the Neptune, another large English ship, ran in where the Victory had previously been, while the Victory veered round so that, in a few minutes, the Trinidad was surrounded by the enemy and riddled on all sides.
From my master’s face, from Uriarte’s heroic fury, and from a volley of oaths delivered by Marcial and his friends, I understood that we were lost and the idea of defeat was anguish to my soul. The line of the combined fleets was broken at several points, and the bad order in which they had formed after turning round, gave place to the most disastrous confusion. We were surrounded by the enemy whose artillery kept
