Chapter Twenty-second.
"Hail! independence, hail! heaven's next best gift,
To that of life, and an immortal soul."
—Thomson.
"There is strength,
Deep bedded in our hearts, of which we reck
But little till the shafts of heaven have pierc'd
Its fragile dwelling. Must not earth be rent
Before her gems are found?"
—Mrs. Hemans.
"Boom!"
The loud voice of the cannon rent the air with sudden shock just as eager waiting eyes caught the first glimpse of the sun's bright disc peeping above the eastern horizon.
The sound broke suddenly in upon many a dream, woke many a sleeper.