The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse

142 THE LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS.
And as the maid with quicker tread
And gayer song went lightly by,
The mother, though she nothing said,-
The mother, though she knew not why,
Was loth to let the damsel go ;
Perchance within a deeper breast,
Of danger that she did not know,
She felt the trouble and unrest.
Swift sped afar the mystic bark,
Bright on the tide the morning broke ;
But Hayo-went-ha, brooding dark,
Looked on the tide, and nothing spoke ;
As if he spied in outward sight,
Or saw with clearer inner eye,
Or inly felt the spell and might
Of awful sorrow, boding nigh.
Though with that omened dread imbued,
Some tender thought his bosom bore
Unto the mother where she stood,
Sad lingered on the pebbly shore.
Nyah-tah-wanta watching vain
That magic Chee-maun speeding fast,
Still looked and wept, and felt the pain
As if that parting were the last.