56
SONGS, LEGENDS, AND BALLADS.
From cloth to gold aud gold to silk, to save a paltry mile!
This graybeard pay full silken dues on cloth for slave-bred girls!
Some prize is here — he shall not pass until he pay for pearls!"
Stern Abram turned a lurid eye, as he the man would slay;
An instant, rose the self-command; but thin the lip and quick the hand,
As one who makes a last demand: "On pearls the dues I pay!"
"He cannot pass!" the watcher screamed, as to the chest he clung;
"He shall not pass! Some priceless thing he hideth here. Quick—workmen bring!
I seize this treasure for the King!"
Old Abram stood aghast; it seemed the knell of doom had rung.
