Part 35 (1/2)

Orion: Your eyes are hollow, your step is slow, And your cheek is pallid as though from toil, Watching or fasting, by which I know That you have been burning the midnight oil.

Hugo: Aye, three nights running.

Orion: 'Twill never do To travel all day, and study all night; Will you join in a gallop through mist and dew, In a flight that may vie with the eagle's flight?

Hugo: With all my heart. Shall we saddle ”Rollo”?

Orion: Nay, leave him undisturb'd in his stall; I have steeds he would hardly care to follow.

Hugo: Follow, forsooth! he can lead them all.

Orion: Touching his merits we will not quarrel; But let me mount you for once; enough Of work may await your favourite sorrel, And the paths we must traverse to-night are rough.

But first let me mix you a beverage, To invigorate your enfeebled frame.

[He mixes a draught and hands it to Hugo.]

All human ills this draught can a.s.suage.

Hugo: It hisses and glows like liquid flame; Say, what quack nostrum is this thou'st brewed?

Speak out; I am learned in the chemist's lore.

Orion: There is nothing but what will do you good; And the drugs are simples; 'tis h.e.l.lebore, Nepenthe, upas, and dragon's blood, Absinthe, and mandrake, and mandragore.

Hugo: I will drink it, although, by ma.s.s and rood, I am just as wise as I was before.

SCENE--A Rough, Hilly Country.

HUGO and ORION riding at speed on black horses.

Mountains in the distance. Night.

Hugo: See! the sparks that fly from our hoof-strokes make A fiery track that gleams in our wake; Like a dream the dim landscape past us shoots, Our horses fly.

Orion: They are useful brutes, Though somewhat skittish; the foam is whit'ning The crest and rein of my courser ”Lightning”; He pulls to-night, being short of work, And takes his head with a sudden jerk; Still heel and steady hand on the bit, For that is ”Tempest” on which you sit.

Hugo: 'Tis the bravest steed that ever I back'd; Did'st mark how he crossed yon cataract?

From hoof to hoof I should like to measure The s.p.a.ce he clear'd.

Orion: He can clear at leisure A greater distance. Observe the chasm We are nearing. Ha! did you feel a spasm As we flew over it?

Hugo: Not at all.

Orion: Nathless 'twas an ugly place for a fall.

Hugo: Let us try a race to yon mountain high, That rears its dusky peak 'gainst the sky.

Orion: I won't disparage your horsemans.h.i.+p, But your steed will stand neither spur nor whip, And is hasty and hard to steer at times.

We must travel far ere the midnight chimes; We must travel back ere the east is grey.

Ho! ”Lightning”! ”Tempest”! Away! Away!

[They ride on faster.]

SCENE--A Peak in a Mountainous Country Overhanging a Rocky Pa.s.s.