Page:What cheer, or, Roger Williams in banishment (1896).pdf/86

 IV.

Till from the groups another Sachem sprung, To tell his deeds, and count his foemen slain; Lancing the war-post as his numbers rung, As if he slew his vanquished foe again; Whilst on his words the listening warriors hung, And drank with greedy ears the bloody strain, Cheering at times with plaudits loud and long, The butcheries numbered in the martial song.

V.

Amid the tumult of this boisterous rout, Williams, unmarked, had gained the central glade, When all at once an unaccustomed shout Startled the groups around the fires arrayed, And staring eyes, and pointing hands about, Proclaimed the strangers to their view betrayed; Then died that hum, like the past whirlwind's roar, When the dust rises on the distant shore.

VI.

And all were hushed, while round them, man to man They glanced, and wonder in their faces grew, Till through the camp the sullen rumor ran, "Pale-faced Awanux! Wampanoag too!" And warriors, kindling at the words, began To grasp their weapons all that gathering through; When, lo! they opened like a parting tide, And once again their murmurs lulled and died.

VII.

And Williams paused; for, from the severed crowd, A chief advancing trod the breathing plain; Bold was his port, his bearing high and proud, A lance of length did his right hand sustain;