THE HIGHWAYMAN

He rose upright in the stirrups ; he scarce could reach

her hand.
But she loosened her hair i' the casement ! His face

burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over

his breast ;
And he kissed the waves in the moonlight

(Oh, sweet black waves in the moon-

light) ;
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and

galloped away to the west.

PART II
He did not come in the dawning ; he did not come at
noon ;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the
moon,
When the road was a gipsy's ribbon, looping the
purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching— 10
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 ;
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.
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