Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/248

210 IV.

This done, Mazeppa spread his cloak,

And laid his lance beneath his oak,

Felt if his arms in order good

The long day's march had well withstood—

If still the powder filled the pan,

And flints unloosened kept their lock—

His sabre's hilt and scabbard felt,

And whether they had chafed his belt;

And next the venerable man,

From out his havresack and can,

Prepared and spread his slender stock;

And to the Monarch and his men

The whole or portion offered then

With far less of inquietude

Than courtiers at a banquet would.

And Charles of this his slender share

With smiles partook a moment there,

To force of cheer a greater show,

And seem above both wounds and woe;—

And then he said—"Of all our band,

Though firm of heart and strong of hand,

In skirmish, march, or forage, none

Can less have said or more have done

Than thee, Mazeppa! On the earth

So fit a pair had never birth,

Since Alexander's days till now,

As thy Bucephalus and thou:

All Scythia's fame to thine should yield

For pricking on o'er flood and field."

Mazeppa answered—"Ill betide

The school wherein I learned to ride!"

Quoth Charles—"Old Hetman, wherefore so,

Since thou hast learned the art so well?"

Mazeppa said—"'Twere long to tell;

And we have many a league to go,

With every now and then a blow,

And ten to one at least the foe,