Page 315 (1/2)
IN WHICH THE STORY OF THE CAPTIVE IS CONTINUED
SONNET
"Blest souls, that, frouerdon of brave deeds beatified,
Above this lowly orb of ours abide
Made heirs of heaven and i ye
Your strength, while strength was yours, in battle plied,
And with your own blood and the foe sea
It was the ebbing life-blood first that failed
The weary arh vanquished, yet ye earned the victor's crown:
Though mourned, yet still triumphant was your fall
For there ye won, between the sword and wall,
In Heaven glory and on earth renown"
"That is it exactly, according to my recollection," said the captive
"Well then, that on the fort," said the gentleoes thus:
SONNET
"Up from this wasted soil, this shattered shell,
Whose walls and towers here in ruin lie,
Three thousand soldier souls took wing on high,
In the bright ht of the foeht of arth 'twas left them but to die,
Wearied and few the last defenders fell
And this same arid soil hath ever been
A haunt of countless mournful memories,
As well in our day as in days of yore
But never yet to Heaven it sent, I ween,
From its hard bosom purer souls than these,
Or braver bodies on its surface bore"
The sonnets were not disliked, and the captive was rejoiced at the
tidings they gave hi his tale, he went on
to say:
The Goletta and the fort being thus in their hands, the Turks gave orders
to dismantle the Goletta--for the fort was reduced to such a state that