Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/57

 There Elsie stands among them ! How came she To join my countrymen! [He strikes his forehead with his hands.] Oh, loving heart ! Now first, now I divine thy stratagem. Thou wast the guide, that brought assistance here, When every other means proved unavailing! What seemed confused, entangled hopelessly, Quickly the magic of thy love dissolves; What deemed impossible my doubting mind, Thy loving courage lightly executes.— But see! what means that joyful agitation And curious flutter 'mong my countrymen ? Ah, I observe! my Elsie's magic charm Has proved effective; for a flag of truce Advances from the barrack-gate. 'Tis Bradburn! How hard, how grievous must his every step Appear to him ! how painful his defeat! How ominously he must around him feel The pinions of the gloomy spirits waft, Whose counsels lured him on his giddy way, Whose voices shut his ear and heart against The warnings of his better genius, And whose triumphant mockeries and sneers Now point him to the wreck of all his plans. So it has been, and so 't will ever be: The harvest sown upon the poisonous soil Of tyranny, will bear no other fruit