'At once there rose so wild a yell Within that dark and narrow dell, As all the fiends from heaven that fell Had pealed the banner-cry of hell!
Forth from the pass in tumult driven, Like chaff before the wind of heaven, The archery appear:
For life! for life! their flight they ply--
And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, And plaids and bonnets waving high, And broadswords flashing to the sky, Are maddening in the rear.
Onward they drive in dreadful race, Pursuers and pursued;Before that tide of flight and chase, How shall it keep its rooted place, The spearmen's twilight wood?-- ""Down, down," cried Mar, "your lances down'
Bear back both friend and foe! "--
Like reeds before the tempest's frown, That serried grove of lances brown At once lay levelled low;And closely shouldering side to side, The bristling ranks the onset bide.-- ""We'll quell the savage mountaineer, As their Tinchel cows the game!
They come as fleet as forest deer, We'll drive them back as tame."
