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The musket swung behind his shoulders, broad

And somewhat stoop'd by his marine abode,
But brawny as the boar's; and,hung beneath,
His cutlass droop'd, unconscious of a sheath,
Or lost or worn away; his pistols were
Link'd to his belt, a matrimonial pair-
(Let not this metaphor appear a scoff,
Though one miss'd fire, the other would
go off');

These, with a bayonet, not so free from rust
As when the arm-chest held its brighter trust,
Completed his accoutrements, as Night
Survey'd him in his garb heteroclite.

“What cheer, Ben Bunting?” cried (when in full view

Our new acquaintance) Torquil; "Aught

of new?" "Ey, cy," quoth Ben, “not new, but news enow;

A strange sail in the offing."-"Sail! and how?

What! could you make her out? It cannot be; I've seen no rag of canvass on the sea." "Belike," said Ben, "you might not from the bay, But from the bluff-head, where I watch'd to-day, I saw her in the doldrums; for the wind Was light and baffling."—"When the sun

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CANTO III.

THE fight was o'er; the flashing through Which robes the cannon as he wings a tomb, the gloom, Had ceased; and sulphury vapours upward driven

Had left the earth, and but polluted heaven: The rattling roar which rung in every volley Had left the echoes to their melancholy; No more they shriek'd their horror, boom

for boom;

The strife was done, the vanquish'd had their doom; The mutineers were crush'd, dispersed, or ta'en,

Or lived to deem the happiest were the slain. Few, few escaped, and these were hunted o'er The isle they loved beyond their native shore.

No further home was theirs, it seem'd, on earth, Once renegades to that which gave them birth;

Track'd like wild beasts, like them they sought the wild, As to a mother's bosom flies the child; But vainly wolves and lions seek their den, And still more vainly men escape from men.

Beneath a rock whose jutting base protrudes

Far over ocean in his fiercest moods,
Is hurl'd down headlong like the foremost
When, scaling his enormous crag, the wave
brave,

And falls back on the foaming crowd behind,
Which fight beneath the banners of the wind,
But now at rest, a little remnant drew

Egad, she seem'd a wicked-looking craft." "Årm'd ?"— “I expect so; – sent on the look-Together, bleeding, thirsty, faint, and few;

out;

'Tis time, belike, to put our helm about.” “About ?—Whate'er may have us now in chase,

We'll make no running fight, for that were base;

We will die at our quarters, like true men." "Ey, ey; for that, 'tis all the same to Ben." "Does Christian know this?"-"Ay; he has piped all hands

To quarters. They are furbishing the stands
Of arms; and we have got some guns to bear,
And scaled them. You are wanted."—"That's
but fair;

And if it were not, mine is not the soul
To leave my comrades helpless on the shoal.
My Neuha! ah! and must my fate pursue
Not me alone, but one so sweet and true?
But whatsoe'er betide, ah, Neuha! now
Unman me not; the hour will not allow
A tear; I am thine, whatever intervenes!
"Right," quoth Ben, "that will do for the
*marines."

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But still their weapons in their hand, and still

With something of the pride of former will,
As men not all unused to meditate,
And strive much more than wonder at their

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Back on themselves, — their sins remain'd | His light brown locks, so graceful in their

-

alone.

Proscribed even in their second country, they
Were lost;in vain the world before them lay;
All outlets seem'd secured. Their new allies
Had fought and bled in mutual sacrifice;
But what avail'd the club and spear and arm
Of Hercules, against the sulphury charm,
The magic of the thunder, which destroy'd
The warrior ere his strength could be
employ'd?

Dug, like a spreading pestilence, the grave
No less of human bravery than the brave!
Their own scant numbers acted all the few
Against the many oft will dare and do;
But though the choice seems native to die
free,

Even Greece can boast but one Thermopyla Till now, when she has forged her broken chain

Back to a sword, and dies and lives again!

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flow,

Now rose like startled vipers o'er his brow. Still as a statue, with his lips comprest To stifle even the breath within his breast, Fast by the rock, all menacing but mute, He stood; and, save a slight beat of his foot, Which deepen'd now and then the sandy dint Beneath his heel, his form seem'd turn'd to flint.

Some paces further Torquil lean'd his head Against a bank, and spoke not, but he bled,— Not mortally-his worst wound was within: His brow was pale, his blue eyes sunken in, And blood-drops sprinkled o'er his yellow hair

Shew'd that his faintness came not from despair,

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At lengthJackSkyscrape,a mercurial man, Who fluttered over all things like a fan, More brave than firm, and more disposed to dare

Exclaim'd "G-d damn!" Those syllables And die at once than wrestle with despair, intense,

Nucleus of England's native eloquence,
As the Turk's "Allah!" or the Roman's more
Pagan "Proh Jupiter!" was wont of yore
To give their first impressions such a vent,
Jack was embarrass'd never hero more,
By way of echo to embarrassment.
And as he knew not what to say, he swore:
Nor swore in vain ; the long congenial sound
Revived Ben Bunting from his pipe profound;
He drew it from his mouth, and look'd
full wise,

But merely added to the oath, his eyes; Thus rendering the imperfect phrase complete

A peroration I need not repeat.

But Christian, of an higher order, stood Like an extinct volcano in his mood; Silent, and sad, and savage,—with the trace Of passion reeking from his clouded face; Till lifting up again his sombre eye, It glanced on Torquil who lean'd faintly by. "And is it thus ?" he cried, "unhappy boy! And thee too, thee my madness must destroy."

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He said, and strode to where young Torquil stood,

Yet dabbled with his lately flowing blood; Seized his hand wistfully, but did not press, And shrunk as fearful of his own caress; Enquired into his state and when he heard The wound was slighter than he deem'd or fear'd,

A moment's brightness pass'd along his brow, As much as such a moment would allow. "Yes," he exclaim'd, "we are taken in the toil,

But not a coward or a common spoil; Dearly they have bought us—dearly still may buy,And I must fall; but have you strength to fly? "Twould be some comfort still, could you survive:

Our dwindled band is now too few to strive.

Oh! for a sole canoe! though but a shell, To bear you hence to where a hope may

dwell!

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And who the first that, springing on the strand,

Leap'd like a Nereid from her shell to land, With dark but brilliant skin, and dewy eye Shining with love, and hope, and constancy? Neuha,—the fond, the faithful, the adored, Her heart on Torquil's like a torrent pour'd; And smiled, and wept, and near, and nearer clasp'd,

As if to be assured 'twas him she grasp'd; Shudder'd to see his yet warm wound, and then,

To find it trivial, smiled and wept again. She was a warrior's daughter, and could bear Such sights, and feel, and mourn, but not despair.

Her lover lived,-nor foes nor fears could blight

That full-blown moment in its all delight:
Joy trickled in her tears, joy fill'd the sob
That rock'd her heart till almost HEARD
to throb;

And Paradise was breathing in the sigh
Of Nature's child in Nature's ecstasy.

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They flew, and fast their fierce pursuers By her command removed, to strengthen

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Not distant from the isle of Toobonai,

A black rock rears its bosom o'er the spray,

The haunt of birds, a desart to mankind,
Where the rough seal reposes from the wind,
And sleeps unwieldy in his cavern-dun,
Or gambols with huge frolic in the sun:
There shrilly to the passing oar is heard
The startled echo of the ocean-bird,
Who rears on its bare breast her callow
brood,

The feather'd fishers of the solitude.
A narrow segment of the yellow sand
On one side forms the outline of a strand;
Here the young turtle, crawling from his

shell,

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This he would have opposed: but with a smile

She pointed calmly to the craggy isle, And bade him "speed and prosper." She would take

The rest upon herself for Torquil's sake.
They parted with this added aid; afar
The proa darted like a shooting star,
And gain'd on the pursuer's, who now steer'd
Right on the rock which she and Torquil
near'd.

They pull'd; her arm, though delicate, was free

And firm as ever grappled with the sea, And yielded scarce to Torquil's manlier strength. The prow now almost lay within its length Of the crag's steep, inexorable face, With nought but soundless waters for its base;

Within an hundred boats' length was the foe,
And now what refuge but their frail canoe?
This Torquil ask'd with half upbraiding eye,
Which said—“Has Neuha brought me here
to die?

Is this a place of safety, or a grave,
And yon huge rock the tombstone of the

wave?"

They rested on their paddles, and uprose Neuha,and, pointing to the approaching foes, Cried, "Torquil, follow me, and fearless follow!"

Then plunged at once into the ocean's hollow.

There was no time to pause—the foes were

near

Chains in his eye and menace in his ear; With vigour they pull'd on,and as they came, Hail'd him to yield, and by his forfeit name. Headlong he leap'd—to him the swimmer's skill

Was native, and now all his hope from ill; But how or where? He dived, and rose no more;

The boat's crew look'd amazed ́o'er sca and

shore.

There was no landing on that precipice, Steep, harsh, and slippery as a berg of ice. They watch'd awhile to see him float again, But not a trace rebubbled from the main: The wave roll'd on, no ripple on its face, Since their first plunge, recall'd a single trace;

The little whirl which eddied, and slight
foam,
That whitened o'er what seem'd their latest
home,

White as a sepulchre above the pair,
Who left no marble (mournful as an heir),
The quiet proa, wavering o'er the tide,

Was all that told of Torquil and his bride ; | And clapp'd her hands with joy at his
And but for this alone the whole might seem
The vanish'd phantom of a seaman's dream.
They paused and search'd in vain, then
pull'd away,

Even superstition now forbade their stay.
Some said he had not plunged into the wave,
But vanish'd like a corpse-light from a grave;
Others, that something supernatural
Glared in his figure, more than mortal tall;
While all agreed, that in his cheek and eye
There was the dead hue of eternity.
Still as their oars receded from the crag,
Round every weed a moment would they lag,
Expectant of some token of their prey;
But no-he had melted from them like the

spray.

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bious steel.

Closely, and scarcely less expert to trace The depths where divers hold the pearl in chase,

Torquil, the nursling of the northern seas, Pursued her liquid steps with art and case. Deep - deeper for an instant Neuha led The way then upward soar'd—and, as she spread Her arms, and flung the foam from off her locks,

Laugh'd, and the sound was answer'd by the rocks.

They had gain❜d a central realm of earth again,

But look'd for tree, and field,and sky, in vain. Around she pointed to a spacious cave, Whose only portal was the keyless wave; (A hollow archway by the sun unseen, Save through the billows' glassy veil of green,

In some transparent ocean-holiday,
When all the finny people are at play;)
Wiped with her hair the brine from Tor-
quil's eyes,

surprise; Led him to where the rock appear'd to jut And form a something like a Triton's hut; For all was darkness for a space, till day Through clefts above let in a sober'd ray; As in some old cathedral's glimmering aisle The dusty monuments from light recoil, Thus sadly in their refuge submarine The vault drew half her shadow from the

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And Neuha took her Torquil by the hand, And waved along the vault her kindled brand,

And led him into each recess, and show'd
The secret places of their new abode.
Nor these alone, for all had been prepared
Before, to soothe the lover's lot she shared ;
The mat for rest; for dress the fresh gnatoo,
And sandal-oil to fence against the dew;
For food the cocoa-nut, the yam, the bread
Born of the fruit; for board the plantain
spread

With its broad leaf, or turtle-shell which bore
A banquet in the flesh it cover'd o'er;
The gourd with water recent from the rill,
The ripe banana from the mellow hill;
A pine-torch-pile to keep undying light,
And she herself, as beautiful as Night,
To fling her shadowy spirit o'er the scene,

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