Tecumseh retreats from Fort Meigs.
Elliot's night expedition. Perry sails from Black Rock,--having discovered the enemy, he retires to Put-in-bay. The sailing of the British. The battle. The scene-Fort Meigs, Black Rock, and Lake Erie. The book ends three days after Croghan's defence of fort Sandusky.
MEANWHILE Tecumseh, Proctor to support, Tax'd his invention to deceive the fort; Battles, contriving with superior skill To draw the patriot army from the hillBut well the heroes his intention scann'd, And render'd vain what he with judgment plann'd.
As slow the sun descends the western deep,
Soft on the mountain tops like love in sleep,
His last rays linger. Soon night's virgin queen,
Touch'd with a bashful modesty, is seen,
Fair brightening in mid heaven. Like a coy maid,
At times she veils her beauty in a shade-
At times from curling mist her cheek she shows,
And on the sun a thrilling love-glance throws,
Which he enraptur'd catches from her eye,
And back returns it burnishing the sky.
His notice fills her bosom with delight----
To grace her form more pleasing to his sight,
She calls the stars: forth at her voice serene,
They come with dancing o'er the nightly scene.
They wreathe her snowy bosom, and bedeck
With starry chain the graces of her neck.
These gems ethereal elevate her charms,
And all her lover into transport warms;
He sends a kiss, in which his soul is given,
Sweeter than manna from the hand of heaven----
To press her dewy lips and silent tell,
How, with her loveliness his affections thrill.
Smooth it glides forth upon a cloud as bright
As that which wraps a messenger of light,
Sent to attend the sainted of the earth----
To bear to heaven their aspirations forth.
It weds her silvery lips! A bashful glow
Runs through her heart and blushes on her brow.
She turns with languishment her cheeks aside,
Like the delicious passion of a bride----
But, lo! the kissing cloud dissolv'd away,
Her smile of love makes earth and heaven look gay.
When Chambers saw the regal effort lost,
He, calm in mind,--the rest a panic host,
Ponder'd the state in which Tecumseh stood---
Void of support and barr'd by Erie's flood.
Scarce the thought reach'd him when he leap'd his horse,
And as the moon was smiling in her course,
He found Tecumseth in his depth of mind,
Searching for plans his enemy to blind:
"Tecumseh, break thy musing! Lo, I come,
Press'd with defeat to speak to thee of home.
Our promis'd triumph is a field of blood!
Yea, all our prospects are in widowhood!
My soul reluctant manifests the truth----
We 've been disaster'd by a beardless youth!
Mine eyes saw Proctor like a dead man fall----
Dixon and Elliot bore him to his yawl.
"There's nothing royal to sustain you here----
And all Kentucky is in progress near!
Johnson, a chief unconquerable as flame,
Hath pass'd with mounted arms Ohio's stream!
And Perry now is practising to sail--
Alas, should Barclay in the action fail!
But never can I think that grief can be-
No more--but backward for thy safety flee."
Tecumseh darkening stood. His jutting brow Gather'd a frown, while passion's fiery glow Flash'd from his eye. He look'd an ancient tower, When clouds and moonlight mix the solemn hour---Which prov'd the workings of his soul within
His bosom smothering sighs. At length his words begin :
"Defeated!----Proctor dead !----What, can a boy, A sapling youth, the forest oak destroy?
"Our hope, Tekelah, is a cloud of night-
A bud scarce blossom'd puts us to the flight!
Proctor-me dig his heart-his blood you drain--
Why talk of him ?----already is he slain.
We now with Reynolds will new death Tecumseh yet feels nothing of despair."
A smother'd silence through the wild men reignsThey feel as ice were curdling in their veins.
Still as a moving mist they leave the shore,
And dead with heavy motion labouring swing the oar.
A thrill of gladness the Fredonians felt,
When they beheld the savage darkness melt-
Their joy was like a hunter seeking game
On Deer-Grove Island in Ohio's stream.
Lo, while the trails he eagerly pursu'd,
Rains pouring from the mountains swell'd the flood
And sunk his skiff! Behold he found his bark
Lost in the freshet----all his hopes were dark.
Th' augmenting waves still magnified his dread,
That soon they'd rise and o'er the island spread!
At length when three long tedious days were past,
While the clear moon her silver image cast
Deep in the flooding mirror,----glad his eye
Perceiv'd the waters were receding by,
Smooth creeping down the beach, sand after sand,
Which made the feelings of his heart expand.
Soon by its halser fast his light skiff show'd,
And through his breast redeeming transport flow'd:
Such was the patriots' joy, when like a stream,
Their foes retir'd beneath the lunar beam..
But Shelby sage with years: "Wisdom sedate,
Forbids th' affections sudden to elate;
First learn the cause before our passions rise,
Or it may lure us to a sacrifice.
|