expressive of his situation._
SMITH. 'Tis all in vain! no clue to guide my steps. [_Music._
By this the explorers have return'd despairing,
And left their forward leader to his fate.
The rashness is well punish'd, that, alone,
Would brave the entangling mazes of these wilds.
The night comes on, and soon these gloomy woods
Will echo to the yell of savage beasts,
And savage men more merciless. Alas!
And am I, after all my golden dreams
Of laurel'd glory, doom'd in wilds to fall,
Ignobly and obscure, the prey of brutes? [_Music._
Fie on these coward thoughts! this trusty sword,
That made the Turk and Tartar crouch beneath me,
Will stead me well, e'en in this wilderness.
[_Music._
O glory! thou who led'st me fearless on,
Where death stalk'd grimly over slaughter'd heaps,
Or drank the drowning shrieks of shipwreck'd wretches,
Swell high the bosom of thy votary! [_Music. Exit SMITH._
_Music. A party of INDIANS enter, as following SMITH, and steal
cautiously after him. The Indian yell within. Music, hurried.
Re-enter SMITH, engaged with the INDIANS; several fall. Exeunt,
fighting, and enter from the opposite side the Prince NANTAQUAS, who
views with wonder the prowess of SMITH; when the music has ceased he
speaks._
Sure 'tis our war-god, Aresqui himself, who lays our chiefs low! Now
they stop; he fights no longer; he stands terrible as the panther, which
the fearful hunter dares not approach. Stranger, brave stranger,
Nantaquas must know thee! [_Music._
_He rushes out, and re-enters with SMITH._
PRINCE. Art thou not then a God?
SMITH. As thou art, warrior, but a man.
PRINCE. Then art thou a man like a God; thou shalt be the brother of
Nantaquas. Stranger, my father is king of the country, and many nations
obey him: will thou be the friend of the great Powhatan?
SMITH. Freely, prince; I left my own country to be the red man's friend.
PRINCE. Wonderful man, where is thy country?
SMITH. It lies far beyond the wide water.
PRINCE. Is there then a world beyond the wide water? I thought only the
sun had been there: thou comest then from behind the sun?
SMITH. Not so, prince.
PRINCE. Listen to me. Thy country lies beyond the wide water, and from it
do mine eyes behold the sun rise each morning.
SMITH. Prince, to your sight he seems to rise from thence, but your eyes
are deceived, they reach not over the wilderness of waters.
PRINCE. Where sleeps the sun then?
SMITH. The sun never sleeps. When you see him sink behind the mountains,
he goes to give light to other countries, where darkness flies before him,
as it does here, when you behold him rise in the east: thus he chases
Night for ever round the world.
PRINCE. Tell me, wise stranger, how came you from your country across the
wide water? when our canoes venture but a little from the shore, the waves
never fail to swallow them up.
SMITH. Prince, the Great Spirit is the friend of the white men, and they
have arts which the red men know not.
PRINCE. My brother, will you teach the red men?
SMITH. I come to do it. My king is a king of a mighty nation; he is great
and good: go, said he, go and make the red men wise and happy.
_During the latter part of the dialogue, the INDIANS had crept in,
still approaching till they had almost surrounded SMITH. A burst of
savage music. They seize and bear him off, the PRINCE in vain
endeavouring to prevent it._
PRINCE. Hold! the white man is the brother of your prince; hold, coward
warriors! [_He rushes out._