The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 4.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[377] And oh, with what a loathing eye,
     With what a deadly hate, and deep,
I saw that Indian murderer lie
     Before me, in his drunken sleep!
What though for me the deed was done,
     And words of mine had sped him on!
Yet when he murmured, as he slept,
     The horrors of that deed of blood,
The tide of utter madness swept
     O'er brain and bosom, like a flood.
And, father, with this hand of mine ¹ “—
     ‘Ha! what didst thou?’ the Jesuit cries,
Shuddering, as smitten with sudden pain,
     And shading, with one thin hand, his eyes,
With the other he makes the holy sign.
     ” —I smote him as I would a worm;
With heart as steeled, with nerves as firm:
     He never woke again! “

“Woman of sin and blood and shame,
     Speak, I would know that victim's name.”

‘Father,’ she gasped, “a chieftain, known
     As Saco's Sachem,—Mogg Megone!”

Pale priest! What proud and lofty dreams,
     What keen desires, what cherished schemes,
What hopes, that time may not recall,
     Are darkened by that chieftain's fall!
Was he not pledged, by cross and vow,
     To lift the hatchet of his sire,
And, round his own, the Church's foe,
     To light the avenging fire?
Who now the Tarrantine shall wake,
     For thine and for the Church's sake?
Who summon to the scene
     Of conquest and unsparing strife,
And vengeance dearer than his life,
     The fiery-souled Castine?²
Three backward steps the Jesuit takes,
     His long, thin frame as ague shakes;
And loathing hate is in his eye,
     As from his lips these words of fear
Fall hoarsely on the maiden's ear,—
     “The soul that sinneth shall surely die!”

She stands, as stands the stricken deer,
     Checked midway in the fearful chase,
When bursts, upon his eye and ear,
     The gaunt, gray robber, baying near,
Between him and his hiding-place;
     While still behind, with yell and blow,