3. "They come, they come! the pale-face come!"
The chieftain shouted where he stood,
Sharp watching at the margin wood,
And gave the war-whoop's treble yell,
That like a knell on fair hearts fell
Far watching from their rocky home.
4."Not yet, not yet: steady, steady!"
On came the foe in even line,
Nearer and nearer, to thrice paces nine.
We looked into their eyes. "Ready!"
A sheet of flame, a roll of death!
They fell by scores: we held our breath:
Then nearer still they came.
Another sheet of flame,
And brave men fled who never fled before.
5. Did ye not hear it?—No: 'twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined!
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
But hark!—that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;
And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!
Arm, arm! it is—it is—the cannon's opening roar!
6. "Together!" shouts Niagara his thunder-toned decree;
"Together!" echo back the waves upon the Mexic Sea;
"Together!" sing the sylvan hills where old Atlantic roars;
"Together!" boom the breakers on the wild Pacific shores;
"Together!" cry the people. And "together" it shall be,
An everlasting charter-bond forever for the free!
Of liberty the signet-seal, the one eternal sign,
Be those united emblems,—the Palmetto and the Pine.
7. "Ho, sailor of the sea!
How's my boy,—my boy?"
"What's your boy's name, good wife?
And in what good ship sailed he?"
"My boy John,—
He that went to sea:
What care I for the ship, sailor?
My boy's my boy to me."
8. Out burst all with one accord:
"This is Paradise for Hell!
Let France, let France's king,
Thank the man that did the thing!"
What a shout! and all one word,—
"Hervé Riel!"
As he stepped in front once more,
Not a symptom of surprise
In the frank blue Breton eyes:
Just the same man as before.
9. He called his child,—no voice replied;
He searched, with terror wild:
Blood, blood, he found on every side,
But nowhere found his child.
"Hell-hound! my child's by thee devoured,"
The frantic father cried;
And to the hilt his vengeful sword
He plunged in Gelert's side.
His suppliant, as to earth he fell,
No pity could impart;
But still his Gelert's dying yell
Passed heavy o'er his heart.