To build his country's Hope and Fame,
And win for her a seat divine
Beneath bright Freedom's hallowed shrine;
And few, though rashly brave, would dare,
To start the Swamp Fox[2] from his lair.
Or in his fastness wild and dun,
Cope with the rebel Marion.

[Footnote 2: _Swamp Fox_ was the cognomen bestowed on Marion
by the British.]

V.

Soon Huon by the river's tide
Sought out his brave commander's side,
And listened with respectful air,
To learn what new emprise to share,
What lurking foe to shun or brave.
Short was their conference and grave,
Ere Huon bade a trooper call
His page, young Lennard, to his aid;
And passing 'neath the cedar tall,
And giant oaks' far spreading shade,
The boy with graceful step and light,
Stood quickly in his captain's sight,
And Marion thus, in kindly tone,
Spoke with a frankness all his own.
"'T is said, my boy, thy heart is brave,
Thy courage sure, and caution grave;
This night, then, we will task thy power.
Seek, ere the closing of the hour,
The village inn that stands below,
Embowered within the coppice glade,
And learn the bearings of the foe--
Their force in camp, and field, and shade;
But ere the silver moon again
O'er Carolina's hills shall wane,
Meet us beside the deep lagoon
Beyond, that knows no scorching noon."

VI.

Anon, far down the silent wood,
Undaunted by its solitude,
Sped Lennard on his way;
Until beneath a blasted pine,
Beyond the forest gray,
That tall, and bald, and hoary white,
Gleamed through the dusky veil of night,
As through Life's mist on human sight
Gleams vital truth divine,
He paused, and from a whistle clear,
Drew notes that thrilled the valley near.

VII.

Within the rebel camp, meanwhile,
No slumbers winning smiles beguile,
From care to dreams away;
The troop who view with fearless heart
The coming strife and battle's mart;
And thus with blithesome song, though rude,
Awake the echoes of the wood:

Though dark the night,
And fierce the fight,
We fear no living foe;
The swamp our home,
The sky our dome,
Our bed the turf below;
We hail the strife,
And prize not life,
Unblessed by Freedom's smile;

And