Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/166

 Heaven then forefend to be a man of State. To save the terrors of the cannonade, The bloodshed of the storm, the loss of time, We must possess your secret. To reward Your revelation, I agree to grant The self-same terms and offers of surrender As hitherto I offered to the rebels. Madmen they were, if seeing them astride On a volcano's brink, whose fiery womb Is pregnant with the threats of instant death. They still persisted to reject my offer, You are deceived; no form, no garb of death, Save that of shame, has terrors for the brave. But why again discuss a likelihood Whose call to life my stout resolve precludes? You ask me to reveal the hidden way: My only answer is : I never shall. Not even to redeem your lover's life. Not even to redeem my lover's life.