Page 320 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade7_Flipbook

ACTIvITy 4.7
continued
Then look for me by moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight,
30 I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”
He rose upright in the stirrups. He scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
35 (O, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.
Part Two
He did not come in the dawning. He did not come at noon; And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon, When the road was a gypsy’s ribbon, looping the purple moor,
40 A red-coat troop came marching— Marching—marching—
King George’s men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.
But they gagged his daughter, and bound her, to the foot of her narrow bed. 45 Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window; And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest,
50 They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say—
Look for me by moonlight; Watch for me by moonlight;
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
55 She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
60 The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest. Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast. She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
my Notes
Unit 4 • How We Choose to Act 293
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