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"But in one chamber, where our path must lead

"There sleeps he must not wake

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pressor Seyd!"

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"Gulnare Gulnare I never felt till now "My abject fortune, withered fame so low: 1530 "Seyd is mine enemy: had swept my band "From earth with ruthless but with open hand, "And therefore came I, in bark of war,

my

"To smite the smiter with the scimitar;

"Such is my weapon

-

not the secret knife

-

"Who spares a woman's seeks not slumber's life. "Thine saved I gladly, Lady, not for this "Let me not deem that mercy shewn amiss. "Now fare thee well

breast!

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more peace be with thy

"Night wears apace-my last of earthly rest!" 1540

"Rest! Rest! by sunrise must thy sinews shake, "And thy limbs writhe around the ready stake. "I heard the order -- saw I will not see

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"If thou wilt perish, I will fall with thee. love my hatred all below

"My life

my

"Are on this cast Corsair! 'tis but a blow!

"Without it flight were idle how evade

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"His sure pursuit? my wrongs too unrepaid,

"My youth disgraced

years,

the long, long wasted

"One blow shall cancel with our future fears; 1550 "But since the dagger suits thee less than brand, "I'll try the firmness of a female hand.

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"Corsair! we meet in safety or no more;
"If errs my feeble hand, the morning cloud
"Will hover o'er thy scaffold, and my

IX.

shroud."

She turned, and vanished ere he could reply,
But his glance followed far with eager eye;
And gathering, as he could, the links that bound
His form, to curl their length, and curb their

sound, 1560 Since bar and bolt no more his steps preclude, He, fast as fettered limbs allow, pursued. "'Twas dark and winding, and he knew not where That passage led; nor lamp nor guard were there: He sees a dusky glimmering shall he seek Or shun that ray so indistinct and weak?

Chance guides his steps a freshness seems to bear Full on his brow, as if from morning air

He reached an open gallery

on his eye

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Gleamed the last star of night, the clearing sky: 1570
Yet scarcely heeded these — another light
From a lone chamber struck upon his sight.
Towards it he moved, a scarcely closing door
Revealed the ray within, but nothing more.
With hasty step a figure outward past,
Then paused and turned — and paused

She at last!

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Again he looked, the wildness of her eye
Starts from the day abrupt and fearfully.

1580

She stopped threw back her dark far-floating

hair,

That nearly veiled her face and bosom fair:
As if she late had bent her leaning head

Above some object of her doubt or dread.

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Its hue was all he saw, and scarce withstood

Oh! slight but certain pledge of crime

blood!

'tis

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1590

He had been tempted chastened— and the chain
Yet on his arms might ever there remain:
But ne'er from strife — captivity — remorse
From all his feelings in their inmost force —
So thrilled so shuddered every creeping vein,
As now they froze before that purple stain.
That spot of blood, that light but guiltly streak,
Had banished all the beauty from her cheek!
Blood he had viewed could view unmoved—

but then

It flowed in combat, or was shed by men! 1600

XI.

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"Tis done he nearly waked but it is done "Corsair! he perished — thou art dearly won. “All words would now be vain — away — away! "Our bark is tossing -'tis already day.

“The few gained over, now are wholly mine, "An these thy yet surviving band shall join: "Anon my voice shall vindicate my hand, "When once our sail forsakes this hated strand.”

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Silent but quick they stoop, his chains unbind;
Once more his limbs are free as mountain wind!
But on his heavy heart such sadness sate,
As if they there transferred that iron weight.
No words are uttered at her sign, a door
Reveals the secret passage to the shore;

The city lies behind they speed, they reach
The glad waves dancing on the yellow beach;
And Conrad following, at her beek, obeyed,
Nor cared he now if rescued or betrayed; 1620
Resitance were as useless as if Seyd

Yet lived to view the doom his ire decreed.

XIII.

Embarked, the sail unfurled, the light breeze

blew

How much had Conrad's memory to review!
Sunk he in contemplation, till the cape

Where last he anchored reared its giant shape.

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Ah! since that fatal night, though brief the time,

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