2

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot
of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And Hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that
_he_ would ride.

3

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel
beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say--
_Look for me by moonlight;_
_Watch for me by moonlight;_
_I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!_

4

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the
hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,