XXXIX.
Our Founder then the brief epistle traced,
Entreating first that some kind Salem friend,
To aid his little Israel through the waste,
Would for a while two well-trained palfreys lend;
Then to his wife, with kind expression graced,
Did meet directions for her guidance send;
Called her from Egypt, bade her cheerly dare
The desert pass, and find her Canaan there.
XL.
The morrow dawned, and Waban stood prepared;
His knife well sharpened and his bow well strung—
He waited only till his chief declared
His purpose full; then on his mantle flung,
Girded his loins, his brawny arms he bared,
And lightly through the rattling thickets sprung;
And soon the thunderings of the partridge tell
Where bounds his distant foot from dell to dell.
