Then might the higher powers approving see And bless the brave resolve... Oh, that my arm Could wield yon lightnings which play idly there, In inoffensive radiance, round thy head! The Swerga should not need a champion now, Nor Earth implore deliverance still in vain!

INDRA.

Think'st thou I want the will ? rash Son of Heaven,
What if my arm be feeble as thine own
Against the dread Kehama? He went on
Conquering in irresistible career,

Till his triumphant car had measured o'er
The insufficient earth, and all the kings
Of men received his yoke; then had he won
His will, to ride upon their necks elate,

And crown his conquests with the sacrifice That should, to men and gods, proclaim him Lord And Sovereign Master of the vassal World,

Sole Rajah, the Omnipotent below.

The steam of that portentous sacrifice

Arose to Heaven. Then was the hour to strike.

Then in the consummation of his pride,

His height of glory, then the thunder-bolt Should have gone forth, and hurl'd him from his throne Down to the fiery floor of Padalon,

To everlasting burnings, agony

Eternal, and remorse which knows no end.

That hour went by: grown impious in success, By prayer and penances he wrested now

Such

power from Fate, that soon, if Seeva turn not
His eyes on earth, and no Avatar save,
Soon will he seize the Swerga for his own,
Roll on through Padalon his chariot wheels,
Tear

up the adamantine bolts which lock

The accurst Asuras to its burning floor,

And force the drink of Immortality

From Yamen's charge... Vain were it now to strive; My thunder cannot pierce the sphere of power

Wherewith, as with a girdle, he is bound,

KAILYAL.

Take me to earth, O gentle Deveta! Take me again to earth! This is no place Of hope for me!...my Father still must bear His curse... he shall not bear it all alone; Take me to earth, that I may follow him!... I do not fear the Almighty Man! the Gods Are feeble here; but there are higher powers Who will not turn their eyes from wrongs like ours; Take me to earth, O gentle Deveta!...

Saying thus she knelt, and to his knees she clung
And bow'd her head, in tears and silence praying.
Rising anon, around his neck she flung
Her arms, and there with folded hands she hung,
And fixing on the guardian Glendoveer

Her eyes, more eloquent than Angel's tongue,
Again she cried, There is no comfort here!
I must be with my Father in his pain...
Take me to earth, O Deveta, again !

Indra with admiration heard the Maid.

O Child of Earth, he cried,

Already in thy spirit thus divine,

Whatever weal or woe betide,

Be that high sense of duty still thy guide, And all good Powers will aid a soul like thine. Then turning to Ereenia, thus he said,

Take her where Ganges hath its second birth, Below our sphere, and yet above the earth: There may Ladurlad rest beyond the power

Of the dread Rajah, till the fated hour.

VIII.

THE SACRIFICE..

Dost thou tremble, O Indra, O God of the Sky, Why slumber those Thunders of thine? Dost thou tremble on high,...

Wilt thou tamely the Swerga resign, . . .

Art thou smitten, O Indra, with dread?

Or seest thou not, seest thou not, Monarch divine, How many a day to Seeva's shrine

Kehama his victim hath led?

Nine and nmety days are fled,

Nine and ninety steeds have bled;

One more, the rite will be complete,

One victim more, and this the dreadful day,