Then from the rattlesnake’s skin, with a sudden, contemptuous gesture, 475
Jerking the Indian arrows, he filled it with powder and bullets
Full to the very jaws, and handed it back to the savage,
Saying, in thundering tones: “Here, take it! this is your answer!”
Silently out of the room then glided the glistening savage,
Bearing the serpent’s skin, and seeming himself like a serpent, 480
Winding his sinuous way in the dark to the depths of the forest.
V.
THE SAILING OF THE MAYFLOWER.
Just in the gray of the dawn, as the mists uprose from the meadows,
There was a stir and a sound in the slumbering village of Plymouth;