PART TWO

 On Thursday, October Twenty-ninth, Sixteen Hundred Eighteen, at the Tower of London, the curtain fell on the fifth act of the life of Sir Walter Raleigh. It was a public holiday for all London.

 

The morning was cold and foggy.

 

Sir Walter was kept standing¹ on the scaffold while the headsman ground his axe², the delay being for the amusement and edification of the people assembled. The High Sheriff approached the man who was so soon to die, and asked if there was not some last message he wished to send to some one. Sir Walter took from his neck a gold chain and locket. He handed them to the Sheriff and said, "Send these by a trusty messenger to Virginia Dare by the first ship that sails for the New World."

 

[Pg 20]

 

Sir Walter's frame shook in the cold, dank fog, and the Sheriff offered to bring a brazier of coals, but the great man proudly drew his cloak about him and said: "It is the ague I contracted in America. I will soon be cured of it!" And he laid his proud head, gray in the service of his country, calmly on the block, as if to say, "There now, take that, it is all I have left to give!"

 

Among the crowd that pushed, jostled, leered and looked was one Oliver Cromwell, short, swart and strong, a country youth who had come up to London to make his fortune. And Oliver Cromwell there and then made a vow³ that he would dedicate his life to the death of tyranny. So died Sir Walter Raleigh.

 

And Oliver Cromwell went forth⁴ to meet Fate as Destiny had willed.

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

3 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。