XXVI.

Light-hearted chieftain-boys! No knapsacks they, No firelock’s weight, no full cartouches bore. The promptings of their valour they obey; And Leo’s sun in vain o’er them doth pour His maddening rays--for courage warms them more! But clambering Santa Cruz’s torrid steep, Full many a soldier fell convulsed, while gore And froth commixed their parchéd mouths o’erleap, And respite found from toil in Death’s eternal sleep!