Page:What cheer, or, Roger Williams in banishment (1896).pdf/137

 XXXIX.

Our Founder then the brief epistle traced, Entreating first that some kind Salem friend, To aid his little Israel through the waste, Would for a while two well-trained palfreys lend; Then to his wife, with kind expression graced, Did meet directions for her guidance send; Called her from Egypt, bade her cheerly dare The desert pass, and find her Canaan there.

XL.

The morrow dawned, and Waban stood prepared; His knife well sharpened and his bow well strung— He waited only till his chief declared His purpose full; then on his mantle flung, Girded his loins, his brawny arms he bared, And lightly through the rattling thickets sprung; And soon the thunderings of the partridge tell Where bounds his distant foot from dell to dell.