48 TBANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



" He would soon be old and useless : gladly would he die to gain 

 Life and freedom for his people, and to see that monster slain." 

 Then he chose his twelve best warriors, and they journeyed in the night, 

 Armed with bows and poisoned arrows, till they reached the fatal height _ 



On a rock above the cavern the old warrior took his seat. 

 Bidding his reluctant comrades bind him to it, hands and feet ; 

 And then, pointing ta the covert nigh, he bade them go and hide, 

 And whene'er the bird swooped down on him to shoot it in the side. 



Thus he waited for the sunrise, and, meanwhile, with rapture viewed 

 Nature's beauties spread about him in that awful solitude ; 

 Here his native hills and valleys, sloping backward from the shore, 

 To the plain where stood his wigwam in the happy days of yore. 



There the plains of the Missouri in their waves of living green, 

 And the Mississippi rolling in majestic course between ; 

 The»he wandered back in fancy, and with honest pride he thought 

 Of the trophies he had taken and the battles he had fought. 



Many moons had come and vanished since, on yonder shining strand. 

 He received the regal hatcbet from his dying father's hand ; 

 With injunctions to be watchful,— well to guard his people's life, 

 And protect their wives and children from the stranger's scalping knife. 



And no foe had e'er been able to molest him in his sway, 



Till the " Piasa's " dread ravages had driven him away ; 



Then he thought of wife and children, and the hero's soul was moved, 



As he asked a final blessing for the beings that he loved : 



For the sun had now arisen in a flood of golden light. 

 Gilding all the plain below him with a thousand colors bright,— 

 Now the time had come for action, and, with calm, untroubled eye, 

 He embraced the fate before him, for his time had come to die ! 



A moment, then the chieftain bowed his head in silent prayer, 

 The next, the death hymn from his lips rose on the morning air ; 

 And the twelve secreted archers, as they listened in dismay, 

 Saw the awful bird rise upward and swoop down upon its prey ! 



Then the chieftain heard the twanging of a dozen loosened strings. 

 And a dozen poisoned arrows lodged beneath the monster's wings ; 

 With a cry of rage and terror, such as never since was heard. 

 Backward o'er the lofty prec'pice, dying, fell the mighty bird. 



