Page:Livingstone in Africa.djvu/88

Trembles for ever toward the hidden pole;
Notes a bronzed mariner's strong vigilance
Revolving with both arms the straining wheel,
Beyond wet decks, wash'd over by fierce seas;
Beholds tall masts, more tall than forest kings,
Robed in broad shadowy windy sails and booms,
Circling among wan stars in rifts of cloud.

All made him welcome, and they liked him well;
But the new wonderworld inflamed his brain;
Kept his mind whirling ever night and day;
Until, when we approach'd Mauritius,
A steamer steam'd from forth the harbour mouth—
Wonder of wonders to poor Sebweku!
Fiery smoke outbursting from her funnel,
She chums the water with a rushing wheel;
Slanting and swiftly swims upon the wave:
He cries: "It is some fiend of the wild sea!"
Alas! my friend. . . . .
. . . . When we are calmly moor'd,
In a mad frenzy plunges—and is drown'd!