XLII.

Lambro presented, and one instant more

Had stopp'd this Canto, and Don Juan's breath, When Haidée threw herself her boy before;

Stern as her sire: "On me," she cried, "let death “Descend—the fault is mine; this fatal shore

"He found—but sought not. I have pledged my faith; "I love him-I will die with him: I knew "Your nature's firmness-know your daughter's too."

XLIII.

A minute past, and she had been all tears,
And tenderness, and infancy: but now

She stood as one who champion'd human fears—
Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo'd the blow;
And tall beyond her sex, and their compeers,
She drew up to her height, as if to show
A fairer mark; and with a fix'd eye scann'd
Her father's face-but never stopp'd his hand,

XLIV.

He gazed on her, and she on him; 'twas strange
How like they looked! the expression was the same;
Serenely savage, with a little change

In the large dark eye's mutual-darted flame;
For she too was as one who could avenge,

If cause should be—a lioness, though tame : Her father's blood before her father's face

Boil'd up, and proved her truly of his race.

XLV.

I said they were alike, their features and

Their stature differing but in sex and

Even to the delicacy of their hands

years;

There was resemblance, such as true blood wears;

And now to see them, thus divided, stand

In fix'd ferocity, when joyous tears,

And sweet sensations, should have welcomed both,

Show what the passions are in their full growth.

XLVI.

The father paused a moment, then withdrew
His weapon, and replaced it; but stood still,

And looking on her, as to look her through,

"Not I," he said, "have sought this stranger's ill; "Not I have made this desolation: few

"Would bear such outrage, and forbear to kill;

"But I must do my duty-how thou hast
"Done thine, the present vouches for the past.

XLVII.

"Let him disarm; or, by my father's head,
"His own shall roll before you like a ball !”
He raised his whistle, as the word he said,
And blew; another answered to the call,
And rushing in disorderly, though led,

And arm'd from boot to turban, one and all,
Some twenty of his train came, rank on rank;
He gave the word," Arrest or slay the Frank."

XLVIII.

Then, with a sudden movement, he withdrew His daughter; while compress'd within his grasp, "Twixt her and Juan interposed the crew;

In vain she struggled in her father's graspHis arms were like a serpent's coil: then flew Upon their prey, as darts an angry asp, The file of pirates; save the foremost, who Had fallen, with his right shoulder half cut through.

XLIX.

The second had his cheek laid open; but

The third, a wary, cool old sworder, took The blows upon his cutlass, and then put

His own well in; so well, ere you could look, His man was floor'd, and helpless at his foot, With the blood running like a little brook From two smart sabre gashes, deep and redOne on the arm, the other on the head.

L.

And then they bound him where he fell, and bore Juan from the apartment: with a sign

Old Lambro bade them take him to the shore, Where lay some ships which were to sail at nine. They laid him in a boat, and plied the oar

Until they reach'd some galliots, placed in line; On board of one of these, and under hatches, They stowed him, with strict orders to the watches.

LI.

The world is full of strange vicissitudes,

And here was one exceedingly unpleasant:

A gentleman so rich in the world's goods,
Handsome and young, enjoying all the present,

Just at the very time when he least broods.
On such a thing is suddenly to sea sent,
Wounded and chain'd, so that he cannot move,
And all because a lady fell in love.