Then he said "Good-bye!" and with firm-set lips Silently rode from his cabin door Just as the sun rose over the tips Of the phantom mountain that loomed before The woman there in the cabin door, With a dread at her heart she had not known When she, with him, had dared to cross The Great Divide. None better than she Knew what the terrible ride would cost As he rode, and she waited, each alone. Whether all were gained or all were lost, No message of either gain or loss Could reach her; never a greeting stir Her heart with sorrow or gladness; he In another year would come back to her If all went well; and if all went ill-- Ah, God! could even her courage still The pain at her heart? If the blinding snow Were his winding-sheet, she would never know; If the Indian arrow pierced his side, She would never know where he lay and died; If the icy mountain torrents drowned His cry for help, she would hear no sound! Nay, none would hear, save God, who knew What she had to bear, and he had to do. The clattering hoof-beats died away On the Walla Walla. Ah! had she known They would echo in history still to-day As they echoed then from her heart of stone! He had left the valley. The mountains mock His coming. Behind him, broad and deep, The Columbia meets the Pacific tides; Before him--four thousand miles before-- Four thousand miles from his cabin door, The Potomac meets the Atlantic. On Over the trail grown rough and steep, Now soft on the snow, now loud on the rock, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. The United States must keep Oregon. It was October when he left The Walla Walla, though little heed Paid he to the season. Nay, indeed, In the lonely canyons just ahead, Little mattered it what the almanac said. He heard the coyotes bark; but they Are harmless creatures. No need to fear A deadly rattlesnake coiled too near. No rattlesnake ever was so bereft Of sense as to creep out such a day In the frost. Nay, scarce would a grizzly care For a sniff at him. Only a man would dare The bitter cold, in whose heart and brain Burned the quenchless flame of a great desire; A man with nothing himself to gain From success, but whose heart-blood kept its fire While with freezing face he rode on and on. The United States must keep Oregon.