And I Berold was the meanest hind[276] In all that train to the Prince assign'd. 60 The Prince was a lawless shameless youth; From his father's loins he sprang without ruth: Eighteen years till then had he seen, And the devil's dues in him were eighteen. And now he cried: "Bring wine from below; 65 Let the sailors revel ere yet they row: "Our speed shall o'ertake my father's flight Though we sail from the harbor at midnight." The rowers made good cheer without check; The lords and ladies obeyed his beck; 70 The night was light and they danced on the deck. But at midnight's stroke they cleared the bay, And the White Ship furrowed the water-way. The sails were set, and the oars kept tune To the double flight of the ship and the moon: 75 Swifter and swifter the White Ship sped Till she flew as the spirit flies from the dead: As white as a lily glimmered she Like a ship's fair ghost upon the sea. And the Prince cried, "Friends, 'tis the hour to sing! 80 Is a songbird's course so swift on the wing?" And under the winter stars' still throng, From brown throats, white throats, merry and strong, The knights and the ladies raised a song. A song,--nay, a shriek that rent the sky, 85 That leaped o'er the deep!--the grievous cry Of three hundred living that now must die. An instant shriek that sprang to the shock As the ship's keel felt the sunken rock. 'Tis said that afar--a shrill strange sigh-- 90 The King's ships heard it and knew not why. Pale Fitz-Stephen stood by the helm 'Mid all those folk that the waves must whelm. A great King's heir for the waves to whelm And the helpless pilot pale at the helm! 95 The ship was eager and sucked athirst, By the stealthy stab of the sharp reef pierced, And like the moil[277] round a sinking cup, The waters against her crowded up. A moment the pilot's senses spin,-- 100 The next he snatched the Prince 'mid the din, Cut the boat loose, and the youth leaped in. A few friends leaped with him, standing near. "Row! the sea's smooth and the night is clear!" "What! none to be saved but these and I?" 105 "Row, row as you'd live! All here must die!" Out of the churn of the choking ship, Which the gulf grapples and the waves strip, They struck with the strained oars' flash and dip. 'Twas then o'er the splitting bulwarks' brim 110 The Prince's sister screamed to him. He gazed aloft still rowing apace, And through the whirled surf he knew her face.