der to dyspeptic girls.
Dying is easy. Come along, my friend!
A glass of port shall cure us of such fears;
Moments like this make mirth in after years.

[_Exeunt_ Arnold _and_ Andre.]

_Father Hudson_. Is there no way to stop them; can ye not
Bring pause to these excited rushing men?

_Leader of Men_. Pause is unknown, as to your moving waters,
That take their God-directed, downward course,
Deaf to beseechment.

_Father Hudson_. 'Tis most pitiful.

_Both Choruses_. No, not to mirth can my voice be tuned, while these
two men converse. Often their story comes to me in the night, and
causes weeping.

One, the young troubadour, the boy poet, beloved by all, burning for
fame; and, in his innocence, he performs the mean work of a spy.

And the other, the old hero, seven times baptized with
immortality-in-action, who betrays his country out of foolishness.

To the first, death by hanging: to the second, one and twenty years of
dishonored life.

Which of them shall have most of pity? Which of them could we see
again with gladness, or greet with a gay demeanor?

The fate of the young man I deem the better; because he is young, and
because death took him in his beauty.

Strange it is what souls are woven together by destiny; and out of what
substance life is wrought.

All men become something incredible to themselves; for they are unwound
like a cocoon, and know not which way the thread doth run.

They dance like motes in the sunbeam for a moment, and then are
illumined no more. Legend takes some of them, and they become
pictures; and the rest, it would seem, enter again into nothingness.

Grant me to know the desire of mine own heart beforehand; that I may
not be deceived. Give me not much, but a true thing, and one that
lasts forever.

[_The distant sound of cannonading is heard._]

_Father Hudson_. Surely I hear a sound disquieting--

_Leader of Men_. Wait: you shall know the cause.

[_Enter hurriedly, and meeting,_ Arnold _and_ Andre _on one side,_
Joshua Smith _on the other._]

_Joshua Smith_. General Arnold! Major Andre!

_Arnold_. What is it? What has happened?

_Joshua Smith_. Colonel Livingston's redoubts on the eastern bank. He
has fired on the _Vulture_. They are exchanging shots; and the
_Vulture_ is dropping down stream. She cannot bear the fire.

_Major Andre_. We are lost!

_Arnold_. No, no, no; not lost, not lost. You have only to drop down
st