But how, or where? He dived, and rose no more;

The boat's crew look'd amazed o'er sea and shore.

There was no landing on that precipice, 69 Steep, harsh, and slippery as a berg of ice. They watch'd awhile to see him float again, But not a trace rebubbled from the main. The wave roll'd on, no ripple on its face Since their first plunge recall'd a single trace;

The little whirl which eddied, and slight foam,

That whiten'd o'er what seem'd their latest home,

White as a sepulchre above the pair
Who left no marble (mournful as an heir)
The quiet proa wavering o'er the tide
Was all that told of Torquil and his bride;
And but for this alone the whole might

To cheer resistance against death or chains,

They stood, the three, as the three hundred stood

Who dyed Thermopyla with holy blood. 260 But, ah, how different! 't is the cause makes all,

Degrades or hallows courage in its fall. O'er them no fame, eternal and intense, Blazed through the clouds of death and beckon'd hence;

No grateful country, smiling through her tears,

Begun the praises of a thousand years; No nation's eyes would on their tomb be bent,

No heroes envy them their monument; However boldly their warm blood was

spilt,

Their life was shame, their epitaph was guilt.

270

And this they knew and felt, at least the one,

The leader of the band he had undone; Who, born perchance for better things, had

set

His life upon a cast which linger'd yet:
But now the die was to be thrown, and all
The chances were in favour of his fall:
And such a fall! But still he faced the
shock,

Obdurate as a portion of the rock
Whereon he stood, and fix'd his levell❜d gun,
Dark as a sullen cloud before the sun. 280

XII

The boat drew nigh, well arm'd, and firm the crew

To act whatever duty bade them do;

Mercy was offer'd when they saw his gore; Too late for life, but not too late to die, With, though a hostile hand, to close his eye. A limb was broken, and he droop'd along The crag, as doth a falcon reft of young. The sound revived him, or appear'd to wake

Some passion which a weakly gesture spake:

330

He beckon'd to the foremost, who drew nigh, But, as they near'd, he rear'd his weapon high

His last ball had been aim'd, but from his breast

He tore the topmost button from his vest, Down the tube dash'd it, levell'd, fired, and smiled

As his foe fell; then, like a serpent, coil'd His wounded, weary form, to where the steep

Look'd desperate as himself along the deep; Cast one glance back, and clench'd his hand, and shook

His last rage 'gainst the earth which he forsook;

340

Survivors of the skirmish on the isle;
But the last rock left no surviving spoil.
Cold lay they where they fell, and welter-
ing,

While o'er them flapp'd the sea-bird's dewy wing,

Now wheeling nearer from the neighbouring surge,

And screaming high their harsh and hungry dirge.

But calm and careless heaved the wave below,

Eternal with unsympathetic flow;

Far o'er its face the dolphins sported on, And sprung the flying fish against the sun, Till its dried wing relapsed from its brief height,

To gather moisture for another flight.

XIV

371

On the horizon verged the distant deck, Diminish'd, dwindled to a very speck Then vanish'd. All was ocean, all was joy!

Down plunged she through the cave to rouse her boy;

Told all she had seen, and all she hoped, and all

That happy love could augur or recall; 390 Sprung forth again, with Torquil following free

His bounding nereid over the broad sea; Swam round the rock, to where a shallow cleft

Hid the canoe that Neuha there had left Drifting along the tide, without an oar, That eve the strangers chased them from the shore;

But when these vanish'd, she pursued her prow,

Regain'd, and urged to where they found it now.

Nor ever did more love and joy embark, Than now were wafted in that slender ark.

A hundred fires, far flickering from the height,

Blazed o'er the general revel of the night, The feast in honour of the guest, return'd Το

peace and pleasure, perilously earn'd; A night succeeded by such happy days As only the yet infant world displays.

420