Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/166

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152
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO

Elsie.

Heaven then forefend to be a man of State.

Santa Anna.

To save the terrors of the cannonade,
The bloodshed of the storm, the loss of time,
We must possess your secret. To reward
Your revelation, I agree to grant
The self-same terms and offers of surrender
As hitherto I offered to the rebels.
Madmen they were, if seeing them astride
On a volcano's brink, whose fiery womb
Is pregnant with the threats of instant death.
They still persisted to reject my offer,

Elsie.

You are deceived; no form, no garb of death,
Save that of shame, has terrors for the brave.
But why again discuss a likelihood
Whose call to life my stout resolve precludes?
You ask me to reveal the hidden way:
My only answer is : I never shall.

Santa Anna.

Not even to redeem your lover's life.

Elsie.

Not even to redeem my lover's life.