Читать книгу The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John André онлайн

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"To drum-beat and heart-beat,

A soldier marches by;

There is color on his cheek,

There is courage in his eye;

Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat

In a moment he must die.

"By starlight and moonlight

He seeks the Briton's camp;

He hears the rustling flag,

And that armèd sentry's tramp;

And the starlight and moonlight

His silent wanderings lamp.

"With slow tread, and still tread,

He scans the tented-line;

And he counts the battery-guns

By the gaunt and shadowy pine;

And his slow tread and still tread

Gives no warning sign.

"The dark wave, the plumed wave,

It meets his eager glance,

And it sparkles 'neath the stars

Like the glimmer of a lance;

A dark wave, a plumed wave,

On an emerald expanse.

"With calm brow, steady brow,

He listens to his doom;

In his look there is no fear,

Nor a shadow trace of gloom;

And with calm brow and steady brow

He robes him for the tomb.

"In the long night, the still night,

He kneels upon the sod;

And the brutal guards withhold

E'en the solemn Word of God!