peril shines the Star with steadiest ray;
Ever quail the fiercest hunters when Kargynda turns at bay.
No life is worth the living that counts each fleeting breath;
No eyes from God averted can meet the eyes of Death.
Vague fear and spectral terrors haunt the soul that dwells in shade,
Nor e'er can crimson conscience confront the crimson blade.
From a cloud of shame and sorrow breaks the Light that shines afar,
And cold and dark the household spark that lit the Silver Star.
The triumph is a death-march; the victor's voice a moan:--But
the Powers of Night are broken when the Stranger wins his own!

"Ever in blackest midnight shines the Star with brightest ray;
Woe to them that hunt the theme if Kargynda cross the way!
In the Home of Peace, Clavelta, can our fears thy spirit move?
Look down! whence comes the rescue to the household of thy love?
As the All-Commander's lightning falls the Vengeance from above!
A shriek from thousand voices; a thunder crash; a groan;
A thousand homes in mourning--a thousand deaths in one!
Woe to the Sons of Darkness, for the Stranger wields his own!
Oh, hide that scene of horror in the deepest shades of night!
Look upward to the welkin, where the Vessel fades from sight ...
But the Veil is rent for ever by the Hand that veiled the Shrine;
And, on a peace of ages, the Star of Peace shall shine!"

Esmo listened with the anxious attention of one who believed that her
every word had a real and literal meaning; and his face was
overclouded with a calm but deep sadness, which testified to the
nature of the impression made on his mind by language that hardly
conveyed to my own more than a dim and general prediction of victory,
won through scenes of trial and trouble. But when she had closed, a
quiet satisfaction in what seemed to be the final promise of triumph
to the Star, at whatever cost to the noblest of its adherents, was all
that I could trace in his countenance.

The sibyl fell back as the last word passed her lips, with a sigh of
relief, into what was evidently a profound and insensible sleep. Those
around me must have witnessed such scenes at least as often as I; but
it was plain that the impression made, even on the experienced Chiefs
of the Order, was far deeper than had affected myself. I should hardly
have been able to remember the words of the prophecy, but for
subsequent conversation thereon with Eveena, when one part h