Viii

Now the wilderness is passed; Now the first hut reached, at last.

Ho, dwellers by the frontier trail, Come forth and greet the bride of war! From cabin and rough settlement They come to speed her on her way-- Maidens, whose ruddy cheeks grow pale With pity never felt before; Children that cluster at the door; Mothers, whose toil-worn hands are lent To help, or bid her longer stay. But through them all she passes on, Strangely martial, fair and wan; Nor waits to listen to their cheers That sound so faintly in her ears. For now all scenes around her shift, Like those before a racer's eyes When, foremost sped and madly swift, Quick stretching toward the goal he flies, Yet feels his strength wane with his breath, And purpose fail 'mid fears of death,--

Till, like the flashing of a lamp, Starts forth the sight of Arnold's camp,-- The bivouac flame, and sinuous gleam Of steel,--where, crouched, the army waits, Ere long, beyond the midnight stream, To storm Quebec's ice-mounded gates.