72 
THE SEA-SERPENT. 
II. 
If the sunny skies of childhood 
Were to float for ever near, 
If the leaves that deck the wildwood 
Were never to be sere, 
If joys in troops descended 
To gild life’s barren plain, 
Who would wish this fair world ended, 
Or would feel “ to die is gain ” ? 
Albert Prince caught the sad refrain, and he 
turned to Forbes and gently said, u I truly feel 
c to die were gain, ’ could I follow where my 
Cora fled ; but at present I hope to live, and 
take before I die that fearful snake. ” Newport 
never before nor since held two such sad and 
gloomy men as Richard Forbes and Albert 
Prince, nor soon shall see their like again. So 
let us leave them, and follow the wake, for a 
moment, of this most horrible snake. 
