The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme :: :: University of Virginia Library

But men must work though women greet,
And surely war is labor meet
For brawny heroes fit to save
Their native land from gyve and glaive.
Our chief felt higher duties draw
Than comforting a widowed squaw;
He had a valiant foe to smite,
A vanished child to bring to light.

So, wheeling wide through leafy lands,
He overpassed the scarlet bands,
Nor halted till he saw, before,
The dunes of Narragansett shore,
And, far behind, the alien hive
He meant to slay or take alive.
This done, he scoured the lanskip round
To find a friendly battle-ground,
And, searching wisely, reached a place
Where Britain's ranks would end their race,
If martial lore or Yankee trick
Could make them charge at double-quick.

Anon the red battalions spied
This lonely horseman riding wide,
And, doubting rustic ambuscade,
Deployed their mass in grim parade,

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But there remained, a torpid swarm,
Nor dared begin the battle's storm,
Because their chief had faced about
And sped a-rear on secret scout.