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TRAFALGAR

A Tale

by

B. PEREZ GALDOS

Author of "Gloria," etc.

From the Spanish by Clara Bell

Revised and Corrected in the United States







New York
William S. Gottsberger, Publisher
11 Murray Street
1884

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884
by William S. Gottsberger
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington

This Translation Was Made Expressly for the Publisher

Press of
William S. Gottsberger
New York




CONTENTS.


                              PAGE
    CHAPTER I.                   1

    CHAPTER II.                 14

    CHAPTER III.                22

    CHAPTER IV.                 29

    CHAPTER V.                  50

    CHAPTER VI.                 63

    CHAPTER VII.                77

    CHAPTER VIII.               88

    CHAPTER IX.                111

    CHAPTER X.                 126

    CHAPTER XI.                137

    CHAPTER XII.               154

    CHAPTER XIII.              174

    CHAPTER XIV.               192

    CHAPTER XV.                207

    CHAPTER XVI.               231

    CHAPTER XVII.              244




TRAFALGAR.




CHAPTER I.


I trust that, before relating the important events of which I have
been an eye-witness, I may be allowed to say a few words about my
early life and to explain the singular accidents and circumstances
which resulted in my being present at our great naval catastrophe.

In speaking of my birth I cannot follow the example of most writers
who narrate the facts of their own lives, and who begin by naming
their ancestry--usually of noble rank, _hidalgos_ at the very least,
if not actually descended from some royal or imperial progenitor. I
cannot grace my opening page with high-sounding names, for, excepting
my mother whom I remember for some few years, I know nothing of any of
my forefathers, unless it be Adam from whom my descent would seem to
be indisputable. In short, my history began in much the same way as
that of Pablos, the brigand of Segovia; happily it pleased God that it
should resemble it in no other particular.

I was born at Cadiz in the notorious quarter "de la Viña," which was
not then, any more than at the present day, a good school of either
morals or manners. My memory does not throw any light on the events of
my infancy till I was six years old, and I remember that, only because
I associate the idea of being six with an event I heard much talked
about, the battle of Cape St. Vincent, which took place in 1797.

Endeavoring to see myself as I was at that