Page:The Siege of Valencia.pdf/167

ELMINA.

Thou hast said too well.

But what of this?

ABDULLAH.

Then there are those, to whom

The Prophet's armies not as foes would pass
Yon gates, but as deliverers. Might they not
In some still hour, when weariness takes rest,
Be won to welcome us?—Your children's steps
May yet bound lightly through their father's halls!

ALPHONSO (indignantly).

Thou treacherous Moor!

ELMINA.

Let me not thus be tried

Beyond all strength, oh Heaven!

ABDULLAH.

Now, 'tis for thee,

Thou Christian mother! on thy sons to pass
The sentence—life or death!—the price is set
On their young blood, and rests within thy hands.

ALPHONSO,

Mother! thou tremblest!

ABDULLAH.

Hath thy heart resolved?

M 2