The spatter'd brain and bubbling blood Hiss'd on the half-extinguish'd wood, The miscreant gasp'd and fell !· Nor rose in peace the Island Lord; One caitiff died upon his sword, And one beneath his grasp lies prone, In mortal grapple over-thrown. But while Lord Ronald's dagger drank The life-blood from his panting flank, The Father-ruffian of the band Behind him rears a coward hand! -O for a moment's aid, Till Bruce, who deals no double blow, Dash to the earth another foe, Above his comrade laid And it is gain'd-the captive sprung On the raised arm, and closely clung, And, ere he shook him loose, The master'd felon press'd the ground, And gasp'd beneath a mortal wound, While o'er him stands the Bruce. XXX. "Miscreant! while lasts thy flitting spark, That arm'd thy hand with murderous knife, "No stranger thou!" with accent fell, And know thee for the foeman sworn Of my high chief, the mighty Lorn." "Speak yet again, and speak the truth For thy soul's sake!—from whence this youth? His country, birth, and name declare, And thus one evil deed repair.". "Vex me no more! ... my blood No more I know than I have told. runs cold... We found him in a bark we sought Fate cut him short; in blood and broil, As he had lived, died Cormac Doil. XXXI. Then resting on his bloody blade, The valiant Bruce to Ronald said, And clasps his hands, to testify His gratitude to God on high, For strange deliverance given. His speechless gesture thanks hath paid, He raised the youth with kindly word, Fate doom'd, when with so soft a heart, And form so slight as thine, She made thee first a pirate's slave, Then, in his stead, a patron gave Of wayward lot like mine; A landless prince, whose wandering life And well has Allan's fate been wroke ; Come, wend we hence the day has broke. Seek we our bark-I trust the tale Was false, that she had hoisted sail." 1. XXXII. Yet, ere they left that charnel-cell, The Island Lord bade sad farewell He said, "in halls of Donagaile! Oh, who his widow'd mother tell, That, ere his bloom, her fairest fell! Rest thee, poor youth! and trust my care, For mass and knell and funeral prayer ; While o'er those caitiffs, where they lie, The wolf shall snarl, the raven cry!"And now the eastern mountain's head On the dark lake threw lustre red; Bright gleams of gold and purple streak Ravine and precipice and peak (So earthly power at distance shows; Reveals his splendour, hides his woes.) O'er sheets of granite dark and broad, Rent and unequal, lay the road. In sad discourse the warriors wind, And the mute captive moves behind. END OF CANTO THIRD. |