To dash the dice-box down;
And with the click of the ancient clock
Is heard the click of a pistol’s cock—
And then—the deep fall, in a sudden shock,
Of a body lifeless grown.
The stranger is standing beside the board—
The stranger that entered without a word—
And to five who with cowardice quail and quake,
As white as the moon looking on the lake,
It was thus that the noiseless stranger spake:—