See the wild steeds of the mountain and prairie,
Savage eyes gleaming from forests of mane;
Quivering lances with pennons so airy;
War-painted warriors charging amain.

Backward, again and again, they were driven,
Shrinking to close with the lost little band;
Never a cap that had worn the bright Seven
Bowed till its wearer was dead on the strand.
Closer and closer the death circle growing,

Even the leader's voice, clarion-clear,

Rang out his words of encouragement glowing,
"We can but die once, boys,-we'll sell our lives
dear!"

Dearly they sold them like Berserkers N raging,
Facing the death that encircled them round;
Death's bitter pangs by their vengeance assuaging,
Marking their tracks by their dead on the ground.
Comrades, our children shall yet tell their story,—
Custer's last charge on the old Sitting Bull;
And ages shall swear that the cup of his glory
Needed but that death to render it full.
FREDERICK WHITTAKER.

Notes.- Frederick Whittaker is a well-known contributor to periodical literature. He has written a "Life of Custer" which has been highly praised.

General George A. Custer and all his men were killed near the Big Horn River, in Montana Territory, in an attack upon the Sioux (Soo) Indians. The sad event took place June 25, 1876.

O ga läl'lah, A răp ́a hoe, Çheỹ ĕnhe', are the names of different tribes of Indians, all under the command of Sitting Bull, a notorious Indian warrior at the time of the Custer massacre.

Seven is the number of the regiment, the "Seventh U. S. Cavalry."

'Bayed-embayed, surrounded without chance of escape.

Berserkers were Norse heroes who despised armor, and claimed that furious courage was the best defense in battle.

50.—AN INCIDENT N THE LIFE
SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

ū'ni vĕrse, world.

cāï'tiffs, mean persons.

jerking, close, short coats.

PART I.

halberds, weapons consisting of wooden poles with steel points.

N

al lĕged', declared.
tit'tle, smallest part.
är'dent, intense.

ex ternal, outside.

OF

re lue'tançè, unwillingness.

Walter Raleigh and his friends, Blount and Tracy, were floating on the princely bosom of the broad Thames, upon which the sun now shone forth with all its splendor.

sun in

"There are two things scarce matched in the universe," said Walter to Blount,—“the heaven and the Thames on earth."

"The one will light us to Greenwich well enough," said Blount, "and the other would take us there a little faster, if it were ebb-tide."

"And this is all thou thinkest-all thou carestall thou deem'st to be the use of the King of Elements, and the King of Rivers,-to guide three such poor caitiffs as thyself, and me, and Tracy, upon an idle journey of courtly ceremony!"

"It is no errand of my seeking, faith," replied Blount, "and I could excuse both the sun and the Thames the trouble of carrying me where I have no great mind to go, and where I expect but dog's wages for my trouble;-and by my honor," he added, looking out from the head of the boat, "it seems to me as if our message were a sort of labor in vain; for see, the Queen's barge lies at the stairs, as if Her Majesty were about to take to the water."

It was even so. The royal barge, manned by the Queen's watermen, richly attired in the regal liveries, and having the banner of England displayed, did indeed lie at the great stairs which ascended from the river, and along with it two or three other boats for transporting such part of her retinue as were not in immediate attendance upon the royal person.

The yeomen of the guard, the tallest and handsomest men whom England could produce, guarded with their halberds the passage from the palace gate to the river-side, and all seemed in readiness for the Queen's coming forth, although the day was yet so early.

"By my faith, this bodes us no good," said Blount; "it must be some perilous cause puts her Grace in motion at this time. By my counsel, we had best put back again, and tell the Earl what we have seen."

"Tell the Earl what we have seen!" said Walter; "why, what have we seen but a boat, and men with scarlet jerkins, and halberds in their hands? Let us do his errand, and tell him what the Queen says in reply."

So saying, he caused the boat to be pulled toward a landing place at some distance from the principal one, which it would not, at that moment, have been thought respectful to approach, and jumped on shore, followed, though with reluctance, by his cautious and timid companions. As they approached the gate of the palace, one of the sergeant porters told them that they could not at present enter, as Her Majesty was in the act of coming forth. The gentlemen used the name of