Page:Livingstone in Africa.djvu/88

Trembles for ever toward the hidden pole;
Notes a bronzed mariner's strong vigilance
Revolving with both arms the straining wheel,
Beyond wet decks, wash'd over by fierce seas;
Beholds tall masts, more tall than forest kings,
Robed in broad shadowy windy sails and booms,
Circling among wan stars in rifts of cloud.

⁠All made him welcome, and they liked him well;
But the new wonderworld inflamed his brain;
Kept his mind whirling ever night and day;
Until, when we approach'd Mauritius,
A steamer steam'd from forth the harbour mouth—
Wonder of wonders to poor Sebweku!
Fiery smoke outbursting from her funnel,
She chums the water with a rushing wheel;
Slanting and swiftly swims upon the wave:
He cries: "It is some fiend of the wild sea!"
Alas! my friend. . . . .
⁠. . . . When we are calmly moor'd,
In a mad frenzy plunges—and is drown'd!