234 TENNYSON
And they blest him in their pain, that they were not
left to Spain, To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of
the Lord.
He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and
to fight, And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniard
came in sight, With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather
bow.
'Shall we fight or shall we fly? Good Sir Richard, tell us now, For to fight is but to die ! There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be
set.' And Sir Richard said again: 'We be all good English
men. Let us bang those dogs of Seville, the children of the
devil, For I never turned my back upon Don or devil yet.'
Sir Richard spoke and he laughed, and we roared a hurrah, and so
The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foe,
With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below;
For half their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen,
And the little Revenge ran on through the long sea- lane between.
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