THE LEGEND OF WALBACH TOWER
Scene.—Fort Constitution on the Island of Newcastle, off Portsmouth,
N. H., Colonel Walbach, commanding.
Period, the fall of 1813.
More ill at ease was never man than [Walbach], that Lord's day,
When, spent with speed, a trawler cried, "A war-ship heads this way!"
His pipe, half filled, to shatters flew; he climbed the ridge of knolls;
And, turning spy-glass toward the east, swept the long reach of Shoals.
An hour he watched: behind his back the Portsmouth spires waxed red;
Its harbor like a field of war, a brazen shield o'erhead.
Another hour: the sundown gun the Sabbath stillness brake;
When loud a second voice hallooed, "Two war-ships hither make!"
Again the colonel scanned the east, where soon white gleams arose:
Behind Star Isle they first appeared, then flashed o'er Smuttynose.
Fleet-wing'd they left Duck Isle astern; when, rounding full in view,
Lo! in the face of Appledore three Britishers hove to.
"To arms, O townsfolk!" Walbach cried, "Behold these black hawk three!
Whether they pluck old Portsmouth town rests now with you and me.
"The guns of Kittery, and mine, may keep the channel clear,
If but one pintle-stone be raised to ward me in the rear.