XXV.
Calmer in bearing but with equal dread,
The anxious father viewed the threatening harm;
And, under God, what was there now to aid,
Save his own firmness and red Waban's arm?
Behind—before—a dreary forest spread;
Far was Neponset; here the dire alarm
Of lurking savage; whilst the gathering night
Still added horror to a dubious flight.
XXVI.
He paused a moment, and his means forlorn,
To guard the onward march, he thus arrayed:
The palfreys shielded by the burdens borne,
On either side the moving group, were led,
This by himself, that by his eldest born,
Whilst nimble Waban scoured the threatening shade,
And, keeping wary watch where'er he ran,
Now fenced their flanks, now pioneered their van.
XXVII.
Like as the eagle,—when, from airy rest
She wards her callow young with watchful eye,
And sees the thickets move, by footsteps prest
Within the precinct of her nursery,—
Wheels first on outstretched pinions round her nest,
Searching below, then darts into the sky
For far espial,—gathering every sound,—
And soars aloft or sails along the ground;
XXVIII.
So Waban watched and ran, while, moving slow,
The anxious father aids the group along.
In dreadful silence sleeps the forest now,
Hushed is the prattling of each infant's tongue;
