Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/426

VARIOUS POEMS Darkling with all the secrets of the gnomes.

The lambent, ambient lava far below

Grew hot, and broadened like the mouth of hell

Yawning for prey; and poisonous, floating fumes

Steamed over him, till, at the last, a puff,

Noisome and dense, smothered his breath so long

The knight was stifled; round his heart he felt

The weight of death, and dropt within his crate

Fainting; but even then it struck firm earth.

The sulphurous vapor coiled, and fled away;

And sight and sound came to him where he stood,

There on the jagged ledges, half-way hung

Betwixt the furnace and the crater's rim.

And lo! beneath, and piled on either side,

A drift of brimstone, fallen like the snow

From those hot clouds; shining before his eyes,

Yellow and bright and crystal-flaked, it lay,

More worth than what it seemed like, powdered gold.

Then, without pause, he labored with the spade

Till the wide crate was full; while, far above,

The men-at-arms peered from the outmost cliff,

Watching the work, and, when the crate was full,

Drew up and emptied it and let it down;

So three times drew it up and lowered it;

But the third time Montaña stept within,

And signalled. So they lifted him again,

Past shadowy lines of chasm, cave, and crag,

Up, till the sky seemed nearer than the gulf

Where even to look was ruin; but the knight

Held to the summit, where they drew him in

To light and life. Thus was the brave deed done.

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