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ATA. Hard restraint! O! my poor brave soldiers!Hard that I may no longer be a witness of their valour. But haste you; return to your comrades: I will not keep one soldier from his post. Go, and avenge your fallen brethren. [Exeunt Orano, etc.] I will not repine: my own fate is the last anxiety of my heart. It is for you, my people, that I feel and fear.

[Old Man and Boy advance.

O. MAN. (L. c.) Did I not hear the voice of an unfortunate! Who is it complains thus?

ATA. One almost by hope forsaken.
O. MAN. Is the king alive?

ATA. The king still lives.

O. MAN. Then thou art not forsaken! Ataliba protects the meanest of his subjects.

ATA. And who shall protect Ataliba ?

O. MAN. The Immortal Powers, that protect the just. The virtues of our monarch alike secure to him the affection of his people, and the benign regard of heaven.

ATA. How impious had I murmur'd! How wondrous, thou Supreme Disposer, are thy acts! Even in this moment, which I had thought the bitterest trial of mortal suffering, thou hast infused the sweetest sensation of my life-it is the assurance of my people's love.

Boy. [Turning forward.] O father! -Stranger!-see those hideous men that rush us yonder!

ATA. Ha! Spaniards! And I, Ataliba-ill-fated fugitive! without a sword even to try the ransom of a monarch's Life.

Enter DAVILLA, ALMAGRO, and Spanish Soldiers, L.

DAV. 'Tis he-our hopes are answered-I know him well-it is the king.

ALM. Away; follow with your prize. Avoid those Peruvians, though in flight. This way we may regain our line. [Exeunt Davilla, Almagro, etc. with Ataliba, prisoner. O. MAN. The king! Wretched old man, that could not see his gracious form!-Boy, would thou hadst led me to the reach of those ruffians' swords!

Boy. Father! all our countrymen are flying here for refuge.

O. MAN. No-to the rescue of their king-they never will desert him. [Alarms without, P.

Enter Peruvian Officers and Soldiers, ORANO following,
R. S. E., and form on ↳.

ORA, (R.) Hold, I charge you! Rolla calls you.
OFFIC. We cannot combat with their dreadful engines,
Enter ROLLA, R. S. E..

ROL. (c.) Hold, recreants! cowards!-What, fear ye. death, and fear not shame? By my soul's fury, I cleave to the earth the first of you that stirs, or plunge your dastard swords into your leader's heart, that he no inore. may witness your disgrace. Where is the king?

ORA. From this old man and boy I learn, that the detachment of the enemy, which you observed so suddenly, to quit the field, have succeeded in surprising him; they are yet in sight.

ROL. And bear the Inca off a prisoner!-Hear this, ye base, disloyal rout! Look there!—the dust you see. hangs on the bloody Spaniard's track, dragging, with ruffian taunts, your king, your father-Ataliba in bondage! Now fly and seek your own vile safety, if you can!

O. MAN. Bless the voice of Rolla!-and bless the stroke I once lamented, but which now spares these extinguished eyes the shame of seeing the pale, trembling wretches who dare not follow Rolla, though to save their king!

ROL. Shrink ye from the thunder of the foe, and fall ye not at this rebuke?-Oh! had ye each but one drop of the loyal blood which gushes to waste through the bra ve heart of this sightless veteran! Eternal shame pursue you if you desert me now!-But do-alone I go-alone -to die with glory by my monarch's side!

SOLDIERS. Rolla! we'll follow thee!

[Rolla rushes out R.,, followed by Orano, etc. O. MAN. (L. C.) O, godlike Rolla! And thou, sun, send from thy clouds avenging lightning to his aid!-Hasto,

my boy, ascend some height, and tell to my impatient terror what thou seest!

Boy, I can climb this rock, and the tree above. [Ascends a rock, L.] O, now I see them-now-yes-and the Spaniards turning by the steep.

O. MAN. Rolla follows them?

Boy. He does-he does-he moves like an arrow!now he waves his arm to our soldiers. [Report of cannon. R.] Now there is fire and smoke.

O. MAN. Yes, fire is the weapon of those fiends.

Boy. The wind blows off the smoke; they are all mixed together.

O. MAN. Seest thou the king.

Boy. Yes! Rolla is near him!-His sword sheds fire as he strikes!

O. MAN. Bless thee, Rolla! Spare not the monsters. Boy. Father! father, the Spaniards fly!-O, now I see the king embracing Rolla.

[Shouts of victory, flourish of trumpets, etc. R.

O. MAN. [Falls on his knees, L. c.] Fountain of life! how can my exhausted breath bear to thee thanks for this one moment of my life! My boy, come down and let me kiss thee! My strength is gone[Boy descends. Boy. Let me help thee, father. Thou tremblest soO. MAN. 'Tis with transport, boy!

[Boy leads him off, L.-Shouts, flourish, etc.

Enter ATALIBA, ROLLA, and Peruvians, R. U. E.

ATA. (C.) In the name of my people, the saviour of whose sovereign thou hast this day been, accept this emblem of his gratitude. [Giving Rolla his sun of diamonds.] The tear that falls upon it may for a moment dim its lustre, yet does it not impair the value of the gift.

ROL. (c.) It was the hand of heaven, not mine, that saved my king.

Enter Peruvian Officer, R.

ROL. Now, soldier, from Alonzo?

Offic. Alonzo's genius soon repaired the panic which

early broke our ranks; but I fear we have to mourn Alonzo's loss his eager spirit urged him too far in the pursuit.

ATA. How! Alonzo slain! O! victory, dearly purchased!

ROL. (R. C.) O Cora! who shall tell thee this?

ATA. Rolla, our friend is lost our native country saved! Our private sorrows must yield to the public claim for triumph. Now go we to fulfil the first, the most sacred duty which belongs to victory-to dry the widowed and the orphaned tear of those whose brave protectors have perished in their country's cause.

[Triumphant march.-King takes the hand of Rolla, and exeunt, L. Soldiers following,

ACT. III.

SCENE I.-A Wild Retreat.-Cora sitting with her Child in the background, and Wives and Children discovered scattered abovd.

GLEE.-Women.

Fly away, Time, nor be the anxious hour delay'd-
Fly away, Time, that soothes the heart by grief dismay'd;
Should ghastly death appear in view,

We can dare it;

With friends we love, so brave, so true,

Fly away, Time, etc.

We will share it.

A triumphant march of the army is heard at a distance. -Cora rises and looks anxiously about.

Vom. Hush! hush! don't you hear?

A distant march assails the ear;-
Hark! louder still from yonder hill
Increasing sounds with terror fill—

Enter Warriors, singing, L. U. E.-CORA attentively examines them all as they pass.

Victory now has made us free;

We haste, we haste, our friends to see!

ATA. Thanks, thanks, my children! I am well, believe it; the blood once stopped, my wound was nothing. Cora at length approaches Rolla, c. who appears to have been mournfully avoiding her.] Where is Alonzo?

[Rolla turns away in silence. CORA. [Falling at the king's feet.] Give me my husband,

give this child his father!

ATA. (c.) I grieve that Alonzo is not here.

CORA. Hoped you to find him?

ATA. Most anxiously.

CORA. Ataliba! is he not dead?

ATA. NO! the gods will have heard our prayers.
CORA. [Starts up.] Is he not dead, Ataliba?

ATA. He lives--in my heart.

CORA. Oh, king! torture me not thus!-Speak out, is this child fatherless?

ATA. (L. C.) Dearest Cora! do not thus dash aside the little hope that still remains.

CORA. The little hope! yet still there is hope! [Turns to Rolla.] Speak to me, Rolla; thou art the friend of truth, ROL. (R. C.) Alonzo has not been found.

CORA. (c.) Not found! What mean'st thou? Will not thou, Rolla, tell me true? Oh! let me not hear the thunder rolling at a distance; let the bolt fall and crush my brain at once. Say not that he is not found; say at once that he is dead.

ROL. Then should I say false.

CORA. False! blessings on thee for that word! But snatch me from this terrible suspense. [Cora and Child kneel to Rolla.] Lift up thy little hands, my child; pérhaps thy ignorance may plead better than thy mother's agony.

ROL, Alonzo is taken prisoner.

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