Page:Complete Works of Lewis Carroll.djvu/816

She stands in silence, pulling hard
Against the pulling bit.

And now the road to Dalton
 Hath felt their coming tread,
The crowd are speeding on before,
 And all have gone ahead.
Yet often look they backward,
 And cheer him on, and bawl,
For slower still, and still more slow,
 That horseman and that charger go,
And scarce advance at all.

And now two roads to choose from
 Are in that rider's sight:
In front the road to Dalton,
 And New Croft upon the right.
"I can't get by!" he bellows,
 "I really am not able!
Though I pull my shoulder out of joint,
I cannot get him past this point,
 For it leads unto his stable!"

Then out spake Ulfrid Longbow,^[1]
 A valiant youth was he,
"Lo! I will stand on thy right hand
 And guard the pass for thee!"
And out spake fair Flureeza,^[2]
 His sister eke was she,
"I will abide on thy other side,
 And turn thy steed for thee!"

1. This valiant knight, besides having a heart of steel and nerves of iron, has been lately in the habit of carrying a brick in his eye.
2. She was sister to both.