I would have struck them, but they knew th’ intent,
And smiled upon the oar, and down they went.
“Now, from that day, whenever I began
To dip my net, there stood the hard old man -
He and those boys: I humbled me and pray’d
They would be gone; they heeded not, but stay’d:
Nor could I turn, nor would the boat go by,
But, gazing on the spirits, there was I:
They bade me leap to death, but I was loth to die:
And every day, as sure as day arose,