VII.
But Jamestown’s death-devoted sons
In conscious safety rest;
The natives, months before, had ceased
The pale-face to molest;
Pamunky’s rich and generous gift
Their confidence increased,
And on the morrow all would share
In joyfulness their feast.
’ Tis now the darkest midnight hour,
But yet Sir John sleeps not—
He listeth to the storm without;
The rain beats down like shot
Against the wall and on the roof;
The wind is strong and high,
And bellowing thunders burst and roll
Athwart the troubled sky.
A moment’s pause—what sound is that?
A light tap at the door—
Can mortal be abroad to-night?
That feeble tap once more—
He opes the door; his dim light falls
Upon a slender form—
The monarch’s daughter standeth there,
Like a spirit of the storm!
Through dark wild woods, in that fearful night,
She had peril’d life and limb,
And suffer’d all but death to bring
Safety and life to him.
And now, her object gain’d, she turns
In haste her home to seek—
Sir John such strong emotion feels,
At first he scarce can speak:
But soon he urged her, while the storm
Was raging, to remain;
But she with earnestness replied,
‘I must not heed the rain.’
‘But the night is dark, the way is rough,
‘Till morning you must stay—’
With tears she said, ‘I must return
‘Before the break of day.’
‘Then I will go with a file of men
‘To guard you on your way—’
But still her eyes with tears were fill’d,
And still she answer’d nay—
‘Through woods and rain to my father’s lodge
‘I must return alone,
‘And never must my father know
‘The errand I have done.’
And away she flew from the cottage door,
To the forest wild again:
Sir John upon the darkness look’d,
And listen’d to the rain;
And still he look’d where the pathway lay
Across the distant field,
Until the lightning’s sudden flash
Her flying form reveal’d;
And still with sad and anxious thought
And moveless eyes he stood,
Till he saw her by another flash
Enter the midnight wood.{[24]}