CANTO SEVENTH.

I.

STILL far along the winding James
War's muttering thunders ran,

And dark and gloomy clouds hung round

The hills of Powhatan ;

And, as the storm more threatening seem'd,

The savage fiercer grew,

And thick around the settlements

His hurtling arrows flew.

As Powhatan in council sat

Among his warriors brave,

And for the coming night's campaign

His bloody orders gave,

Old Japazaws, who came not there

For many months before,

With hurrying step and haggard look

Came tottering to the door.

Each voice was hush'd, and every eye
Look'd anxiously about,

For well they knew no light affair
Had brought the old chief out.

II.

'Speak, Japazaws,' with sadden'd tone,

The anxious monarch said;

'Another cloud of blackness now

'Is settling o'er my head

'Soon as I saw thy steps approach,

'I felt it in the air,

'I felt it in my aching heart,

'I felt it every where.

'I see it now in thy speaking eye,

'So sorrowful and wild

'Speak out thy thoughts, and tell what blight

'Has come upon my child.'

III.

'Oh, sad the tale I have to tell,'

The trembling chief replied,

'And gladly to have saved thy child,

'Would Japazaws have died.

'Like a beam of light fair Metoka
'Went dancing through our grove,
'Her voice was like the nightingale,
'Her spirit like the dove,
'And every thing was happier,

'On which her brightness shone;

'Such innocence and love were hers, "We loved her as our own.

'But, oh, the cruel pale-face came,

'In his shallop dark and tall,

'And he seized her on the river bank

'We heard her feeble call,

'And ran to rescue, but in vain;

'They bore her from the shore,

'Away, away, and much I fear

'Thou❜lt never see her more.' 26

IV.

The aged monarch bow'd his head

In bitterness of wo;

In all his long eventful life

This was the deadliest blow.

In manhood's prime he had look'd on

And seen his kindred die,

Without one muscle quivering,

Without one tear or sigh.

Two generations he had seen

Swept from his wide domain;

And war, and peace, and lapse of years,

Had battled him in vain;

But when this last, this brightest hope Was torn from him apart,

It shook the strength of his iron frame, And pierced him to the heart.

The eyes of his fierce warriors glow'd
And flash'd with living fire;

And leave to fly and leave to fight
Is all they now require.

Pamunky rises in his might,

His voice is loud and high—

'This instant let us seek the foe,

'And cut him down or die.'

Like an angry tiger, Nantaquas

Sends fiery glances round,

And clutching his huge war-club, growls,

And fiercely beats the ground;

And a hundred warriors seize their arms

And foam like a raging flood;

And a hundred voices cry with thirst

For a taste of English blood.

But while they raged with furious heat,

And long'd for the coming fight,

A swiftly flying messenger

From the forest came in sight.

"Twas faithful Rawhunt-six long days

At Jamestown he had been,
A captive in the picket fort-
How came he free again?
He rushes to the council-hall

And stands before the king,

And listening warriors bend to hear
What tidings he may bring.

V.

'O, sire,' the faithful servant said,

'Would that the pale-face foe

'Had sent his lightning through the heart

'Of Rawhunt long ago;

"Then had I never lived to see

'The sorrow and distress

'Of that sweet child, whose life has been 'All love and tenderness.

6

They led her to the inner fort—

'I saw her as she pass'd;

'Her head was bent like a dying flower,

'And her tears were falling fast.

'And then their council bade me bear

'This message to my king,

'And ere the setting sun goes down

'His answer back to bring.

"The pale-face now, of Powhatan, 'Demands that war shall cease,

'And holds his daughter as a pledge

That he will live at peace; 'But if another white man falls, 'Or a drop of blood is shed,