s: I slung away me King to take that trick.


s: Which one!  Say, ain't yer 'ead a trifle thick?


s: "Now, don't yeh see that when I plays me King


s: I give yer Queen a chance, an' lost the slam."


s: But Poole, 'e sez 'e don't see no sich thing,


s: So Begg gits 'ot, an' starts to loose a "Damn."


s: 'E twigs the missus jist in time to check,


s: An' makes it "Dash," an' gits red down 'is neck.


s: There's me an' Peter Begg, an' ole man Poole--


s: Neighbours uv mine, that farm a bit close by--


s: Jist once a week or so we makes a school,


s: An' gives this game uv Dummy Bridge a fly.


s: The kid's in bed; an' 'ere's me 'eart's desire.


s: 'Ome-comfort, peace, the picter uv me wife


s: 'Appy at work, me neighbours gathered round


s: All friendly-like--wot more is there in life?


s: I've searched a bit, but, better I ain't found.


s: Doreen, she seems content, but in 'er eye


s: I've seen reel pity when the talk gits 'igh.


s: This ev'nin' we 'ad started off reel 'ot:


s: Two little slams, an' Poole, without a score,


s: Still lookin' sore about the cards 'e'd got--


s: When, sudden-like, a knock comes to the door.


s: "A visitor," growls Begg, "to crool our game."


s: An' looks at me, as though I was to blame.


s: Jist as Doreen goes out, I seen 'er grin.


s: "Deal 'em up quick!" I whispers. "Grab yer 'and,


s: An' look reel occupied when they comes in.


s: Per'aps they'll 'ave the sense to understand.


s: But if"--Then Missus Flood comes in the door.


s: 'Twas ole Mar Flood, 'er face wrapped in a smile.


s: "Now, boys," she sez, "don't let me spoil yer game.


s: I'll jist chat with Doreen a little while;


s: But if yeh stop I'll be ashamed I came."


s: An' then she waves a letter in 'er 'and.


s: Sez she, "Our Jim's a soldier!  Ain't it grand?"


s: "Good boy," sez Poole.  "Let's see.  I make it 'earts."


s: "Doubled!" shouts Begg. . . . "An' 'e's been in a fight,"


s: Sez Missus Flood, "out in them furrin' parts.


s: French, I suppose. I can't pronounce it right.


s: 'E's been once wounded, somewhere in the leg. . . ."


s: "'Ere, Bill! Yeh gone to sleep?" asks Peter Begg.


s: Begg snorts. . . . "My boy," sighs Missus Flood. "My Jim." . . .


s: Doreen she smiles: "I'm glad yeh've 'eard from 'im.". . .


s: "We're done," groans Begg. "Why did yeh nurse yer Ace?". . .


s: "My Jim!" An' there was sunlight in 'er face.


s: Sez Begg. "'E does yeh credit. 'Ere, your deal."


s: "That's so," sez Poole. "'E was an all-right kid.


s: No trumps? I'm sorry that's the way yeh feel.


s: 'Twill take yeh all yer time to make the book." . . .


s: An' then Doreen sends me a wireless look.


s: "My deal," 'e yaps. "Wot rotten cards I get."


s: "The best," she whispers, "I ain't told yeh yet."


s: I strains me ears, an' leads me King uv Trumps.


s: "Ace 'ere!" grins Begg. Poole throws 'is Queen--an' thumps.


s: "That saves me Jack!" 'owls Begg. "Tough luck, ole sport." . . .


s: Sez Missus Flood, "Jim's won a medal too


s: For doin' somethin' brave at Bullycourt." . . .


s: "Play on, play on," growls Begg. "It's up to you."


s: Then I reneges, an' trumps me partner's Ace,


s: An' Poole gets sudden murder in 'is face.


s: "I'm sick uv this 'ere game," 'e grunts. "It's tame."


s: "Righto," I chips. "Suppose we toss it in?"


s: Begg don't say nothin'; so we sling the game.


s: "Finished?" sez she, su'prised. "Well, p'r'aps it's right.


s: It looks to me like 'earts was trumps to-night."


s: An' so they was.  An', say, the game was grand.


s: Two hours we sat while that ole mother told


s: An', on 'er face, a glowin' look that rolled


s: The miles all up that lie 'twixt France an' 'ere,


s: An' found 'er son, an' brought 'im very near.


s: A game uv Bridge it was, with 'earts for trumps.


s: We was the dummies, sittin' silent there.


s: I knoo the men, like me, was feelin' chumps:


s: Foolin' with cards while this was in the air.


s: It took Doreen to shove us in our place;


s: An' mother 'eld the lot, right from the Ace.


s: She told us 'ow 'e said 'e'd writ before,


s: An' 'ow the letters must lave gone astray;


s: An' 'ow the stern ole father still was sore,


s: But looked like 'e'd be soft'nin', day by day;


s: 'Ow pride in Jim peeps out be'ind 'is frown,


s: An' 'ow the ole fool 'opes to 'ide it down.


s: "I knoo," she sez. "I never doubted Jim.


s: When pryin' folks asked wot become uv 'im,


s: But drop 'er eyes an' say she never knoo.


s: Now I can lift me 'ead to that sly glance,


s: An' say, 'Jim's fightin', with the rest, in France.'"


s: An' when she's gone, us four we don't require


s: Ole Poole sits starin' 'ard into the fire.


s: I guessed that 'e was thinkin' uv 'is boy,


s: 'Oo's been right in it from the very start;


s: An' Poole was thinkin' uv a father's part.


s: An' then 'e speaks: "This war 'as turned us 'ard.


s: That I'd sit 'eedless, starin' at a card


s: While that ole mother told--Good Lord!" sez 'e


s: To playin' games in war-time," an' 'e sighs.


s: An' 'ere Doren sets out to put 'im right.


s: "There's games an' games," she sez.  "When women starts


s: A hand at Bridge like she 'as played to-night


s: It's Nature teachin' 'em to make it 'earts.


s: The other suits are yours," she sez; "but then,


s: That's as it should be, seein' you are men."


s: "Maybe," sez Poole; an' both gits up to go.


s: I stands beside the door when they are gone,


s: Watchin' their lantern swingin' to an' fro,


s: An' 'ears Begg's voice as they goes trudgin' on:


s: "If you 'ad led that Queen we might 'ave made. . . ."


s: I've knowed ole Flood this last five year or more;


s: I knoo 'im when 'is Syd went to the war.


s: A proud ole man 'e was. But I've watched 'im,


s: An' seen 'is look when people spoke uv Jim:


s: As sour a look as most coves want to see.


s: It made me glad that this 'ere Jim weren't me.


s: I sized up Flood the first day that we met--


s: Stubborn as blazes when 'is mind is set,


s: Ole-fashioned in 'is looks an' in 'is ways,


s: An' still dead set, in spite uv bumps 'e's got,


s: Poor ole Dad Flood, 'e is too old to fight


s: By close on thirty year; but, if I'm right


s: They are too old to fight, but, all the same,


s: 'Is kind's quite young enough to play the game.


s: I've 'eard it called, this war--an' it's the truth--


s: I've 'eard it called the sacrifice uv youth.


s: An' all this land 'as reckernized it too,


s: An' gives the boys the praises that is doo.


s: I've 'eard the cheers for ev'ry fightin' lad;


s: But, up to now, I ain't 'eard none for Dad.


s: Ole Flood, an' all 'is kind throughout the land,


s: They ain't been 'eralded with no brass band,


s: Or been much thought about; but, take my tip,


s: The war 'as found 'em with a stiffened lip,


s: 'Umpin' a load they thought they'd dropped for good,


s: Crackin' reel 'ardy, an'--jist sawin' wood.


s: Dad Flood, 'is back is bent, 'is strength is gone;


s: 'E'd done 'is bit before this war come on.


s: At sixty-five 'e thought 'is work was done;


s: An' jist sat back in peace, with 'is ole wife,


s: To spend content the ev'nin' uv 'is life.


s: Then come the war. An' when Syd 'esitates


s: Between the ole folk an' 'is fightin' mates,


s: The ole man goes outside an' grabs a hoe.


s: Sez 'e, "Yeh want to, an' yeh ought to go.


s: Wot's stoppin' yeh?" 'E straightens 'is ole frame.


s: "Ain't I farmed long enough to know the game?"


s: There weren't no more to say. An' Syd went--West:


s: But no one ever 'eard no groans from Dad.


s: Though all 'is pride an' 'ope was in that lad


s: 'E showed no sign excep' to grow more grim.


s: One day last month when I was down at Flood's


s: I seen 'im strugglin' with a bag uv spuds.


s: "Look 'ere," I sez, "you let me spell yeh, Dad.


s: You 'umpin' loads like that's a bit too bad."


s: 'E gives a grunt that's more than 'arf a groan.


s: "Wot's up?" 'e snaps. "Got no work uv yer own?"


s: That's 'im.  But I've been tippin' that the pace


s: Would tell; an' when 'is wife comes to our place,


s: An' sez that Dad is ill an' took to bed,


s: Flat out with work--though that ain't wot she said--


s: I ain't su'prised; an' tells 'er when I'm thro'


s: Strike me! it's no use reas'nin' with some men.


s: Stubborn ole cows! I'm sick uv them ole fools.


s: The way 'e yells, "Keep yer 'ands off my tools!"


s: Yeh'd think I was a thief. 'Is missus said


s: I'd better slope, or 'e'd be out uv bed.


s: 'E 'eard us talkin' through the open door.


s: "'Oo's that?" 'e croaks, altho' 'e tries to roar.


s: 'E barks. "I'll do me work meself, yeh 'ear?"


s: An' then 'e gits so snarky that I clear.


s: But 'e'll do me. I like the ole boy's nerve.


s: We don't do nothin' that 'e don't deserve;


s: The sly ole fox, when we sneaks down each day


s: An' works a while to keep things under way.


s: We digs a bit, an' ploughs a bit, an' chops


s: The wood, an' does the needful to 'is crops.


s: We does it soft, an' when 'e 'ears a row


s: 'Is missus tells 'im it's the dog or cow.


s: 'E sez that it's queer noises for a pup.


s: An'--there'll be ructions when ole Flood gits up.


s: It ain't all overwork that's laid 'im out.


s: Ole Pride in 'im is fightin' 'ard with Doubt.


s: To-day 'is wife sez, "Somethin's strange in 'im,


s: For in 'is sleep sometimes 'e calls for Jim.


s: It's six long years," she sez, an' stops to shake


s: 'Er 'ead. "But 'e don't mention 'im awake."


s: Dad Flood. I thought 'im jist a stiff-necked fool


s: This war 'as tested more than fightin' men.


s: Friends try to 'elp 'im earn a bite an' sup.


s: Oh, there'll be 'Ell to pay when 'e gits up!


s: 'E CALLS me Digger; that's 'ow 'e begins.


s: Judged be 'is nerve, I'd say 'e was worth two


s: Borrers me matches, an' I gives 'im best.


s: The first I 'eard about it Poole told me.


s: "There is a bloke called Smith at Flood's," sez 'e;


s: Come there this mornin', sez 'e's come to stay,


s: Sez 'e was sent there be a pal named Flood;


s: An' talks uv contracts sealed with Flanders mud.


s: "No matter wot they say, 'e only grins,"


s: Sez Poole. "'E's rather wobbly on 'is pins.


s: Seems like a soldier bloke. An' Peter Begg


s: "'E grins," sez Poole, "at ev'rything they say.


s: 'E's cursed, an' ordered 'im clean off the place;


s: Jist goes on grinnin', an' 'e sez, quite carm,


s: The tale don't sound too good to me at all.


s: "If 'e's a crook," I sez, "'e wants a fall.


s: When I 'ave done, if 'e needs dealin' with."


s: Sez 'e, "Why 'ello, Digger. Got a match?"


s: "Digger?" I sez. "Well, you ain't digger 'ere.


s: You ought to know that you can't dig them spuds.


s: They don't belong to you; they're ole Dad Flood's."


s: "Can't I?" 'e grins. "I'll do the best I can,


s: Give us a light. I can't get none from Flood,


s: I parts; an' 'e stands grinnin' at me still;


s: An' then 'e sez, "'Ave yeh fergot me, Bill?"


s: I looks, an' seen a tough bloke, short an' thin.


s: Then, Lord! I recomembers that ole grin.


s: "It's little Smith!" I 'owls, "uv Collin'wood.


s: Last time I seen yeh, you an' Ginger Mick


s: Was 'owling rags, out on yer final kick."


s: "Yer on to it," 'e sez. "Nex' day we sailed.


s: Now 'arf uv me's back 'ome, an' 'arf they nailed.


s: An' Mick. . . . Ar, well, Fritz took me down a peg."


s: "It ain't too bad," 'e sez, with 'is ole smile;


s: "But when I starts to dig it cramps me style.


s: "But I ain't grouchin'. It was worth the fun.


s: We 'ad some picnic stoushin' Brother 'Un--


s: The only fight I've 'ad that some John 'Op


s: They pulled me leg a treat, but, all the same,


s: There's nothin' over 'ere to beat the game.


s: "An' now," 'e sez, "I'm 'ere to do a job


s: Back 'ome before me mate," 'e sez, an' then,


s: "As clear as mud," I sez. "But I can't work


s: Me brains to 'old yer pace.  Say, wot's the lurk?"


s: So then 'e puts me wise. It seems that 'im


s: An' this 'ere Flood--I tips it must be Jim--


s: Was cobbers up in France, an' things occurred.


s: Things did occur up there). But, anyway,


s: Seems Flood done somethin' good for 'im one day.


s: Then Smith 'e promised if 'e came back 'ome


s: Before 'is cobber o'er the flamin' foam,


s: 'E'd see the ole folks 'ere, an' 'e agreed,


s: So long as 'e 'ad one sound, dinkum arm.


s: "So, 'ere I am," 'e sez, an' grins again.


s: When once 'e's got yer strength, an' as for Mar,


s: She'll kiss yeh when she finds out 'oo yeh are."


s: So we goes up, an' finds 'em both fair dazed


s: About this little Smith; they think 'e's crazed.


s: I tells the tale in words they understand;


s: To see Dad grab Smith's 'and an' pump it good,


s: An' Mar, she kissed 'im, like I said she would.


s: Mar sez 'e must be starved, an' right away


s: The kettle's on, she's busy with a tray.


s: An', when I left, this Digger Smith 'e looked


s: For keeps, with tea an' bread an' beef inside.


s: "Our little Willie's 'ome," 'e grins, "an' dried."


s: I'm yearnin' for clear thoughts," said 'e.


s: Said 'e, "When it's like that, I think--"


s: "I've thought a lot," said Digger Smith--


s: Said 'e, "Why, lad, I tell yeh straight,


s: "They talk uv love 'twixt men," said 'e.


s: I've 'ad so many thoughts uv late." . . .


s: Said I, "Now, tell me, tell me straight;


s: "Gone West!" said Digger Smith. "Ah, lad,


s: 'TAINT my idea uv argument to call a man a fool,


s: An' I ain't lookin' round for bricks to 'eave at ole man Poole;


s: But when 'e gets disputin' 'e's inclined to lose 'is 'ead.


s: It ain't so much 'is choice uv words as 'ow the words is said.


s: 'E's sich a coot for takin' sides, as I sez to Doreen.


s: Sez she, "'Ow can 'e, by 'imself ?"  Wotever that may mean.


s: My wife sez little things sometimes that nearly git me riled.


s: I knoo she meant more than she said be that soft way she smiled.


s: To-day, when I was 'arrowin', Poole comes down to the fence


s: To 'ave a bit uv friendly talk, an' one word leads to more,


s: As is the way with ole man Poole, as I've remarked before.


s: An' diggin' brings the talk to earth, an' earth leads on to clay,


s: An' mortar brings up mud, an' then, uv course, it's politics.


s: Now, Poole sticks be 'is Party, an' I don't deny 'is right;


s: But when 'e starts abusin' mine 'e's lookin' for a fight.


s: So I delivers good 'ome truths about 'is crowd; then Poole


s: Wags 'is ole beard across the fence an' tells me I'm a fool.


s: Now, that's the dizzy limit; so I lays aside the reins,


s: An' starts to prove 'e's storin' mud where most blokes keeps


s: 'E decorates 'is answers, an' we're goin' it ding-dong,


s: When this returned bloke, Digger Smith, comes sauntering along.


s: Poole's gripped the fence as though 'e means to tear the rails


s: An' eyes my waggin' finger like 'e wants to 'ave a chew.


s: Then Digger Smith 'e grins at Poole, an' then 'e looks at me,


s: An' sez, quite soft an' friendly-like, "Winnin' the war?" sez 'e.


s: "Yeh make me sad," sez Digger Smith; "the both uv you," sez 'e.


s: "The both uv us!  Gawstruth!" sez I.  "You ain't includin' me?"


s: "Well, it takes two to make a row," sez little Digger Smith.


s: "A bloke can't argue 'less 'e 'as a bloke to argue with.


s: I've come 'ome from a dinkum scrap to find this land uv light


s: Is chasin' its own tail around an' callin' it a fight.


s: We've seen big things, an' thought big things, an' all the


s: That used to get us rattled once, seems very small to us.


s: "An' when a bloke's fought for a land an' gets laid on the shelf


s: It pains 'im to come 'ome an' find it scrappin' with itself;


s: An' scrappin' all for nothin', or for things that look so


s: To us, 'oo've been in bigger things, they don't seem reel at all.


s: "P'r'aps we 'ave 'ad some skite knocked out, an' p'r'aps we see


s: But seems to us there's plenty cleanin'-up to do round 'ere.


s: We've learnt a little thing or two, an' we 'ave unlearnt 'eaps,


s: An' silly partisans, with us, is counted out for keeps.


s: "I didn't want to see a game, nor see no justice done.


s: It never mattered wot occurred as long as my side won.


s: The other side was narks an' cows an' rotters to a man;


s: But mine was all reel bonzer chaps.  I was a partisan.


s: We battles on for one good hour. My team sleeps where it stands;


s: An' Smith 'as dropped the maul 'e 'ad. Then I looks round to see


s: Doreen quite close. She smiles at us. "Winnin' the war?" sez she.


s: MY oath!' the Duchess sez. 'You'd not ixpect


s: Sich things as that. Yeh don't mean kangaroos?


s: Go hon!' she sez, or words to that effect--


s: (It's 'ard to imitate the speech they use)


s: I tells 'er, 'Straight; I drives 'em four-in-'and


s: "You 'ear a lot," sez little Digger Smith,


s: "About 'ow English swells is so stand-off.


s: Don't yeh believe it; it's a silly myth.


s: I've been reel cobbers with the British toff


s: While I'm on leaf; for Blighty liked our crowd,


s: "Us Aussies was the goods in London town


s: When I was there. If they jist twigged yer 'at


s: The Dooks would ask yeh could yeh keep one down,


s: An' Earls would 'ang out 'Welcome' on the mat,


s: An' sling yeh invites to their stately 'alls


s: "This Duchess--I ain't quite sure uv 'er rank;


s: I meets 'er 'usband first.  'E owns a bank,


s: A dinkum toff. 'E sez, 'Come 'ome with me


s: "That's 'ow I met this Duchess Wot's-'er-name--


s: I ain't no 'and at this 'ere title game--


s: An' right away, I was reel pals with 'er.


s: 'Now, tell me all about yer 'ome,' sez she,


s: "That knocks me out. I know it ain't no good


s: Paintin' word-picters uv the things I done


s: Out 'ome 'ere, barrackin' for Collin'wood,


s: "I thinks reel 'ard; an' then I lets it go.


s: I tells 'er, out at Richmond, on me Run--


s: A little place uv ten square mile or so--


s: I'm breedin' boomerangs; which is reel fun,


s: When I ain't troubled by the wild Jonops


s: "I talks about the wondrous Boshter Bird


s: That builds 'er nest up in the Cobber Tree,


s: An' 'atches out 'er young on May the third,


s: Stric' to the minute, jist at 'arf pas' three.


s: 'Er eyes get big.  She sez, 'Can it be true?'


s: "An' then I speaks uv sport, an' tells 'er 'ow


s: Large packs uv Barrackers, an' 'ow their row


s: Where lurks the deadly Shicker Snake 'oo's breath


s: An' 'ow I used to drive 'em four-in-'and.


s: 'Wot?' sez the Marchioness. 'Them things in Zoos


s: That 'ops about? I've seen 'em in the Strand


s: In double 'arness; but I ain't seen four.


s: "I baulks a bit at that; an' she sez, 'Well,


s: There ain't no cause at all for you to feel


s: Modest about the things you 'ave to tell;


s: An' wot yeh say sounds wonderfully reel.


s: Your talk'--an' 'ere I seen 'er eyelids flick--


s: "'I reckerlect,' she sez--'Now, let me see--


s: In Gippsland, long ago, when I was young,


s: (I sits up in me chair like I was stung.)


s: 'On its 'ind legs,' she sez, 'it used to stand.


s: "Uv course, I threw me alley in right there.


s: I can't do nothin' else but sit an' stare,


s: Thinkin' so rapid that me 'air roots curl.


s: But 'er?  She sez, 'I ain't 'eard talk so good


s: "'I wish,' sez she, 'I could be back again


s: Beneath the wattle an' that great blue sky.


s: It's like a breath uv 'ome to meet you men.


s: You've done reel well,' she sez. 'Don't you be shy.


s: When yer in Blighty once again,' sez she,


s: "I don't see 'er no more; 'cos I stopped one.


s: Which sez, 'Give my love to the dear ole Sun,


s: An' take an exile's blessin' 'ome with you.


s: An' if you 'ave some boomerangs to spare,


s: "'I'd like to see 'em play about,' she wrote,


s: 'Out on me lawn, an' stroke their pretty fur.


s: God bless yeh, boy.'  An' then she ends 'er note,


s: A sport?  You bet!  She's marri'd to an Earl--


s: "Not that I'm askin'" . . . 'Ere 'is eyes


s: I only was jist thinkin'--p'r'aps . . . . .


s: There's some," 'e sez, "that sticks to chaps.


s: "Some girls," sez 'e, "keeps true to chaps,


s: An' wed 'em when they've done with scraps,


s: It's jist the form 'is nerves 'ave took.


s: "Ole Jim won't blame yeh when she's gone.


s: These silly tarts, they can't keep true."


s: An' then 'e sez, "'Ere, sling that talk!


s: There's blokes to fight, yeh're twenty men."


s: "Wot tart?" 'e asks. "Yeh mean this Flo?"


s: "P'r'aps not," I sez.  "You ought to know."


s: They'll talk uv wot they've seen an' done


s: When they've been out to 'ave their fun;


s: All times.  The things that they 'ave done,


s: We knoo they'd fight; but they've became


s: Flat feet! Me feet 'as len'th an' brea'th


s: They don't know nix but wot they're told


s: At school; an' that sticks till they're old.


s: It's that old stock; an', more than that,


s: When it's all said, there's somethin' yet.


s: There's somethin' yet; an' there I'm beat.


s: Crowds uv these lads I've known, but then,


s: To name it right.  There's somethin' yet.


s: "I WASH me 'ands uv 'im," I tells 'em, straight.


s: "You women can do wot yeh dash well like.


s: I leave this 'arf a man to 'is own fate;


s: I've done me bit, an' now I'm gone on strike.


s: Do wot yeh please; but don't arsk 'elp from me;


s: 'E's give me nerves; so now I'll let 'im be."


s: Doreen an' ole Mar Flood 'as got a scheme.


s: They've been conspirin' for a week or more


s: About this Digger Smith, an' now they dream


s: They've got 'is fucher waitin' in cool store


s: To 'and 'im out, an' fix 'im up for life.


s: But they've got Buckley's, as I tells me wife.


s: I've seen 'em whisperin' up in our room.


s: Now they wants me to join in the debate;


s: But, "Nix," I tells 'em. "I ain't in the boom,


s: An' Digger Smith ain't risin' to me bait;


s: 'E's fur too fly a fish for me to catch,


s: An' two designin' women ain't 'is match."


s: I puts me foot down firm, an' tells 'em, No!


s: Their silly plan's a thing I wouldn't touch.


s: An' then me wife, for 'arf an hour or so,


s: Into the scheme, an' leader uv the plot.


s: 'Twas Mar Flood starts it. She got 'old uv 'im--


s: You know the way they 'ave with poor, weak men--


s: Tells 'im wot women 'ave to bear; an' then


s: 'E never would 'ave squeaked to any man.


s: She leads 'im on--It's crook the way they scheme


s: To talk about this girl 'e's left be'ind.


s: Not that she's pryin'!  Why, she wouldn't dream!--


s: But speakin' uv it might jist ease 'is mind.


s: Then, 'fore 'e knows, 'e's told, to 'is su'prise,


s: Name an' address--an' colour uv 'er eyes!


s: An' then she's off 'ere plottin' with Doreen--


s: Bustin' a confidence, I tells 'em, flat.


s: But all me roustin' leaves 'em both serene


s: Women don't see a little thing like that.


s: An' I ain't cooled off yet before they've got


s: Me workin' for 'em in this crooked plot.


s: Nex' day Mar Flood she takes 'er Sund'y dress


s: 'Er game's to see the girl at this address


s: To take Smith be su'prise.  My part's to fix


s: I tips, some'ow, that girl won't 'esitate.


s: She don't.  She comes right back with Mar nex' day,


s: I thinks I'd best see Digger straight away;


s: 'Cos, if I don't, 'e's bound to 'ear the row,


s: With 'er: "Where is 'e?  Can't I see 'im now?"


s: 'E don't say nothin': goes on baggin' spuds.


s: "'Ow would yeh like," I sez to 'im, an' stops.


s: "'Ow would it be" . . . 'E stands an' looks at me


s: "Now, wot the 'Ell's got into you?" sez 'e.


s: While 'e looks at me like 'e thinks I'm dipped.


s: "Well--jist suppose," I sez; an' then I turn


s: An' see 'er standin' there among the fern.


s: She don't want no prelimin'ries, this tart;


s: She's broke away before they rung the bell;


s: She's beat the gun, an' got a flyin' start.


s: Smith makes a funny noise, an' I sez, "'Ell"


s: Because I tumbles that I'm out uv place:


s: But, as I went, I caught sight uv 'er face.


s: That's all I want to know.  An', as I ran,


s: I 'ears 'er cry, "My man!  Man an' a 'arf!


s: Don't fool me with yer talk uv 'arf a man!". . . .


s: An' then I 'ears ole Digger start to larf.


s: Fair in the middle uv it come a sob. . . .


s: I don't see Digger till the other night.


s: "Yes, 'arf a man," sez 'e.  "Yeh got it right;


s: But she is mendin' things."  'E starts to larf.


s: "Some day," 'e sez, "she'll be the better 'arf."


s: Ole Missus Flood wave signals to Doreen.


s: She's comin' up the road; an' if she turns


s: An 'andspring I won't be su'prised a bit,


s: She yells out some remark when she gets near,


s: Which I don't catch, I'm too fur off to 'ear.


s: An' then Doreen comes prancin' to our door,


s: An' Missus Flood she sprints, an' yells some more;


s: My wife runs to the gate an' waves 'er arms. . . .


s: But I lays low; I'm used to these alarms.


s: A marri'd bloke, in time, 'e learns a bit;


s: Each time the women calls the fire-reel out.


s: When things get normal. That's a point I learn;


s: So I saws wood, an' keeps on cuttin' fern.


s: An' these 'ere fireworks gets me fair perplexed.


s: I watch the 'ouse to see wot 'appens next;


s: But nothin's doin'.  They jist goes on in,


s: An' leaves me wonderin' wot's caused the din.


s: I stands it for a full 'arf-hour or more;


s: Then gets dead sick uv starin' at the door.


s: I goes down to the 'ouse an' 'unts about


s: To find some 'baccer, which I 'ave no doubt


s: When I goes in, the talk stops, an' they smile.


s: I sez I've lost me smoke, an' search a bit,


s: An' turns the mantelshelf all upside-down,


s: An' looks inside the teapot, with a frown;


s: Then gives it up, an' owns I'd like a drink;


s: When Missus Flood sez, "Bill, _wot do you think_?"


s: Now, ain't that like a woman?  Spare me days,


s: I'll never get resigned to all their ways.


s: When they 'as news to tell they smile, an' wink,


s: An' bottle it, an' ask yeh wot yeh think.


s: It's jist a silly game uv theirs, an' so,


s: I gives the countersign: "Wot?  I dunno."


s: "Then guess," she sez.  Well, I'm a patient bloke,


s: So I sits down an' starts to cut a smoke.


s: (To play this game yeh've got to persevere.)


s: "Couldn't," I sez, "if I guessed for a year";


s: Then lights me pipe, an' waits for 'er to speak.


s: At last she sez, "_Jim's comin' back next week_!"


s: Quite unconcerned.  But for to see 'er smile


s: Was jist a treat: 'er eyes was shinin' bright,


s: An' she'd grow'd ten years younger in a night.


s: Jist 'ere, Doreen she sez to me, "Good Lor,


s: Wot do yeh want _two_ plugs uv 'baccer for?"


s: I takes me pipe out uv me mouth an' stares,


s: An' stammers, "Must 'ave found a piece--somewheres."


s: But, by the way she smiles--so extra sweet--


s: I know she twigs me game, an' I am beat.


s: "Fancy," she sez. "Yeh're absent-minded, dear.


s: Sure there was nothin' else yeh wanted 'ere?"


s: "Nothin'," I sez, an' feels a first-prize fool;


s: An' goes outside, an' grabs the nearest tool.


s: It was the crosscut; so I works like mad


s: "This game," I tells meself, "will do yeh good.


s: You ain't proficient, yet, at sawin' wood."


s: "NOW, be the Hokey Fly!" sez Peter Begg.


s: "Suppose 'e comes 'ome with a wooden leg.


s: Then, ain't we 'asty fixin' up this ball?


s: 'E owns a reel good farm; an' all 'e fears


s: Is that some girl will land 'im, by are by,


s: An' share it with 'im--be the Hokey Fly.


s: That's 'is pet swear-word, an' I dunno wot


s: "Darncin'!" growls Begg. We're fixin' up the 'all


s: With bits uv green stuff for a little ball


s: To welcome Jim, 'oo's comin' 'ome nex' day.


s: We're 'angin' flags around to make things gay,


s: An' shiftin' chairs, an' candle-greasin' floors,


s: 'As is our way when blokes come 'ome from wars.


s: "A little game uv Bridge," sez Peter Begg,


s: "Would be more decent like, an' p'r'aps a keg


s: But this 'ere darncin'!  Be the Hokey Fly,


s: About the guest; they only wants the ball.


s: "Now, cards," sez Begg, "amuses ev'ry one.


s: An' then our soldier guest could 'ave 'is fun


s: If 'e'd lost _both_ 'is legs.  It makes me sick


s: 'Ere!  Don't yeh spread that candle-grease too thick


s: Yeh're wastin' it; an' us men 'as to buy


s: Begg, 'e ain't never keen on wastin' much.


s: "Peter," I sez, "it's you that needs a crutch.


s: Why don't yeh get a wife, an' settle down?"


s: 'E looks reel fierce, an' answers, with a frown,


s: For 'arf me tucker, jist to get it cooked?"


s: Along the 'omeward track, down by Flood's gate


s: I meet ole Digger Smith, an' stops to state


s: Me views about the weather an' the war. . . .


s: 'E tells me Jim gets 'ere nex' day, at four.


s: A strange bloke 'umpin' some queer sort uv load.


s: I points 'im out to Smith an' sez; "'Oo's that?


s: Looks like a soldier, don't 'e, be 'is 'at?"


s: "Stranger," sez Digger, "be the cut uv 'im."


s: But, trust a mother's eyes. . . . "_It's Jim! My Jim_!


s: "My Jim!" I 'ears; an', scootin' up the track


s: Come Missus Flood, with Flo close at 'er back.


s: They finished neck an' neck; but mother won,


s: For it was 'er that got the first good 'ug.


s: (I'm so took back I stands there like a mug.)


s: _Then_ come Flo's turn; an' Jim an' Digger they


s: Shake 'ands without no fancy, gran'-stand play.


s: Yeh'd think they parted yesterd'y, them two.


s: "Yeh done it, lad," sez Jim.  "I knoo yeh would."


s: "You bet," sez Smith; "but I'm all to the good."


s: Then, uv a sudden, all their tongues is loosed.


s: They finds me there an' I am intrajuiced;


s: An' Jim tells 'ow it was 'e come to land


s: So soon, while Mar an' Flo each 'olds a 'and.


s: But, jist as sudden, they all stop an' stare


s: Down to the 'ouse, at Dad Flood standin' there.


s: 'E's got 'is 'and up shadin' off the sun.


s: Then 'e starts up to them; but Dad don't run


s: 'E isn't 'owlin' for 'is lost boy's kiss;


s: 'E's got 'is own sweet way in things like this.


s: 'E wanders up, an' stands an' looks at Jim.


s: An', spare me days, that look was extra grim!


s: I seen the mother pluckin' at 'er dress;


s: I seen the girl's white face an' 'er distress.


s: An' Digger Smith, 'e looks reel queer to me


s: Grinnin' inside 'imself 'e seemed to be.


s: At last Dad sez--oh, 'e's a tough ole gun!


s: "Well, are yeh sorry now for wot yeh done?"


s: Jim gives a start; but answers with a grin,


s: "Well, Dad, I 'ave been learnin' discipline.


s: An' tho' I ain't quite sure wot did occur


s: (It beats me, that, about these soldier blokes


s: They're always grinnin', like all things was jokes.)


s: P'r'aps Dad is gettin' dull in 'is ole age;


s: But 'e don't seem to see Jim's cammyflage.


s: P'r'aps 'e don't want to; for, in 'is ole eye,


s: "Nex' week," 'e sez, "we will begin to cart


s: The taters.  Yeh can make another start."


s: But then 'e grabs Jim's 'and.  I seen the joy


s: In mother's eyes.  "Now, welcome 'ome, me boy,"


s: Sez Dad; an' then 'e adds, "Yeh've made me proud;"


s: That's all.  An' 'e don't add it none too loud.


s: Dad don't express 'is feelin's in a shout;


s: It cost 'im somethin' to git that much out.


s: We 'ad the darnce.  An', spite uv all Begg's fears,


s: Jim darnced like 'e could keep it up for years;


s: Mostly with Flo.  We don't let up till three;


s: Doreen 'as quite a lot uv things to say.


s: "Did you see Flo?" sez she.  "Don't she look grand?


s: That Jim's the luckiest in all the land--


s: An' little Smith--that girl uv 'is, I'm sure,


s: She'll bring 'im 'appiness that will endure."


s: She 'ugs my arm, then sez, "'Usband or wife,


s: If it's the right one, is the wealth uv life."


s: I sneaks a look at Begg, an' answers, "Yes,


s: Yeh're right, ole girl; that's the reel 'appiness.


s: They'd swap their bank-books for a wife," sez I.


s: Sez Peter Begg, "_Well! Be the--Hokey--Fly_!"


s: There's visions on the 'ill-tops there."


s: "Dreamin'," sez Digger Smith.  "Why not?


s: "I'm thinkin' things," sez Digger Smith.


s: Some work, some play, an' food an' such."


s: Yeh'll git less than yeh're lookin' for."


s: Wants great swank 'ead-stones on their chest?


s: We're sick uv greed, an' 'ate, an' strife,


s: An' all the mess that's made uv life." . . .


s: By blokes that went an' blokes that stayed.


s: The chance to live a clean, straight life,


s: Ar.--An exclamation expressing joy, sorrow, surprise, etc.,


s: Bird, to give the.--To treat with derision.


s: Bluff.--Cunning practice; make-believe; to deceive; to mislead.


s: Coot.--A person of no account (used contemptuously).


s: Cow.--A thoroughly unworthy, not to say despicable person,


s: Crack hardy.--To suppress emotion; to endure patiently;


s: Crook.--Unwell; dishonest; spurious; fraudulent.


s: Crool.--To frustrate; to interfere with.


s: Dizzy limit--The utmost; the superlative degree.


s: Grandstand play.--Playing to the gallery.


s: Hump, to--To carry, as a swag or other burden.


s: Kid, to.--To deceive; to persuade with flattery.


s: Lurk--A plan of action; a regular occupation.


s: Nark.--s., a spoil--sport; a churlish fellow.


s: Pull, to take a.--To desist; to discontinue.


s: Pull my (or your) leg.--To deceive or get the best of.


s: Punter.--The natural prey of bookmakers (betting men).


s: Renege.--To fail to follow suit (in playing cards); to quit.


s: Rouse (or Roust).--To upbraid with many words.


s: Sawing wood--"Bluffing;" biding one's time.


s: School.--A club; a clique of gamblers, or others.


s: Slam,--Making all the tricks (in card-playing).


s: Smooge.--To flatter or fawn; to bill and coo.


s: Sock it into.--To administer physical punishment.


s: S.O.S--Signal of distress or warning, used in telegraphy.


s: Sprag--To accost truculently; to convince.


s: Stoush--To punch with the fist. s., Violence.


s: Strike me!--The innocuous remnant of a hardy curse.


s: Swiv'ly--Afraid, or unable, to look straight.


s: Tart.--A young woman (contraction of sweetheart).


s: Tip.--A warning; a prognostication; a hint.


s: Track with--To woo; to "go walking with."


s: Wowser--A narrow-minded, intolerant person.


s: _I have collected in this volume practically all the


s: verses and chapter-headings scattered through my books.


s: In several cases where only a few lines of verse were


s: originally used, I have given in full the song, etc., from


s: Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,


s: Shadow to shadow, well persuaded, saith,


s: Astrologer's Song, An            Rewards and Fairies


s: Bee Boy's Song, The              Puck of Pook's Hill


s: Blue Roses                       Light that Failed


s: _Chapter Headings_               Beast and Man, etc.


s: "             "                Naulahka, Light that Failed


s: Chil's Song                      Second Jungle Book


s: Darzee's Chaunt                  Jungle Book


s: Eddi's Service                   Rewards and Fairies


s: Egg-shell, The                   Traffics and Discoveries


s: Frankie's Trade                  Rewards and Fairies


s: Gallio's Song                    Actions and Reactions


s: Heriot's Ford                    Light that Failed


s: Juggler's Song, The              Naulahka


s: King's Task, The                 Traffics and Discoveries


s: Mother o' Mine                   Light that Failed


s: Mowgli's Song against People     Second Jungle Book


s: My Lady's Law                    Naulahka


s: 'My New-Cut Ashlar'              Life's Handicap


s: 'Our Fathers also'               Traffics and Discoveries


s: Poseidon's Law                   Traffics and Discoveries


s: Queen's Men, The                 Rewards and Fairies


s: Rabbi's Song, The                Actions and Reactions


s: Song of the Men's Side           Rewards and Fairies


s: Way through the Woods, The       Rewards and Fairies


s: All the world over, nursing their scars,


s: 'And some are sulky, while some will plunge',


s: As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree,


s: As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled,


s: Before my spring I garnered autumn's gain,


s: Between the waving tufts of jungle-grass,


s: Cry 'Murder' in the market-place, and each,


s: For our white and our excellent nights--for the nights


s: 'Gold is for the mistress--silver for the maid',


s: Go, stalk the red deer o'er the heather,


s: Harry, our King in England, from London town is gone,


s: He drank strong waters and his speech was coarse,


s: His spots are the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the


s: 'How far is St. Helena from a little child at play?',


s: I am the Most Wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones,


s: If you can keep your head when all about you,


s: If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,


s: I met my mates in the morning (and oh, but I am old!),


s: In the daytime, when she moved about me,


s: 'I see the grass shake in the sun for leagues on either


s: I tell this tale, which is strictly true,


s: I was very well pleased with what I knowed,


s: I will let loose against you the fleet-footed vines,


s: 'Less you want your toes trod off you'd better get back


s: Look, you have cast out Love! What Gods are these,


s: Man goes to Man! Cry the challenge through the Jungle!,


s: Neither the harps nor the crowns amused, nor the cherubs'


s: Not though you die to-night, O Sweet, and wail,


s: Not with an outcry to Allah nor any complaining,


s: Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle


s: Now this is the Law of the Jungle--as old and as true as


s: Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,


s: Oh, light was the world that he weighed in his hands!,


s: Once we feared The Beast--when he followed us we ran,


s: Our gloves are stiff with the frozen blood,


s: Prophets have honour all over the Earth,


s: Queen Bess was Harry's daughter. Stand forward partners


s: Ride with an idle whip, ride with an unused heel,


s: She dropped the bar, she shot the bolt, she fed the fire


s: Shiv, who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow,


s: So we settled it all when the storm was done,


s: 'Stopped in the straight when the race was his own!',


s: The Celt in all his variants from Builth to Ballyhoo,


s: The gull shall whistle in his wake, the blind wave break


s: The People of the Eastern Ice, they are melting like the


s: There is sorrow enough in the natural way,


s: There's a convict more in the Central Jail,


s: There were three friends that buried the fourth,


s: These are the Four that are never content, that have


s: These were my companions going forth by night,


s: The torn boughs trailing o'er the tusks aslant,


s: The wolf-cub at even lay hid in the corn,


s: This is the mouth-filling song of the race that was run


s: To-night, God knows what thing shall tide,


s: Unto whose use the pregnant suns are poised,


s: We lent to Alexander the strength of Hercules,


s: When the cabin port-holes are dark and green,


s: When the Earth was sick and the Skies were grey,


s: When the robust and  Brass-bound Man commissioned first


s: When ye say to Tabaqui, 'My Brother!' when ye call the


s: Yet at the last, ere our spearmen had found him


s: You mustn't swim till you're six weeks old


s: Your tiercel's too long at hack, Sir. He's no eyass


s: Till I fill their hearts with knowledge.


s: She has ground her corn and paid her tax


s: O they are the lines the Flint Men made,


s: Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,


s: There was once a road through the woods.


s: When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools


s: You will hear the beat of a horse's feet,


s: The Weald and the Marsh and the Down countrie;


s: The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!


s: Twix' a liddle low shaw an' a great high gill.


s: On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun.


s: I've given my soul to the Southdown grass,


s: Oh Firle an' Ditchling an' sails at sea,


s: _The Weald is good, the Downs are best_--


s: _I'll give you the run of 'em, East to West._


s: And what those two have missed between 'em


s: And when you end on the Hampshire side--


s: _The Downs are sheep, the Weald is corn,_


s: I was very well pleased with what I knowed,


s: Till I met with a maid on the Brookland Road,


s: O maids, I've done with 'ee all but one,


s: 'Twas right in the middest of a hot June night,


s: You'll ring Old Goodman[A] out of the sea,


s: _Ever 'neath high Valhalla Hall the well-tuned horns begin


s: Dust of the stars was under our feet, glitter of stars above--


s: She with the star I had marked for my own--I with my set desire--


s: Hewing our way to Valhalla, a million years ago!


s: With a naked sword at the Council board,


s: With shame and fear for our daily cheer,


s: All that I wrought for, all that I fought for,


s: They have gone down, they have gone down,


s: Their soul went from them in their youth,


s: And I slew a thief, and an honest thief,


s: They have laid the Reiver low in his place,


s: But the twenty knights in the peat-water


s: For I struck the blow for my false love's sake


s: But now this game is the other way over--


s: Love is the first, and Death is the second--


s: But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,


s: Back ye must speed for all that ye need,


s: He will take no wrong when he lieth along


s: But--we have been out in the woods all night,


s: And we bring you news by word of mouth--


s: Spring begins in Southern England on the 14th April, on


s: which date the Old Woman lets the Cuckoo out of her


s: basket at Heathfield Fair--locally known as Heffle Cuckoo


s: 'I see the grass shake in the sun for leagues on either hand,


s: I see a river loop and run about a treeless land--


s: An empty plain, a steely pond, a distance diamond-clear,


s: And low blue naked hills beyond. And what is that to fear?'


s: 'Go softly by that river-side or, when you would depart,


s: You'll find its every winding tied and knotted round your heart.


s: Be wary as the seasons pass, or you may ne'er outrun


s: The wind that sets that yellowed grass a-shiver 'neath the Sun.'


s: I hear the horns of Autumn blow to the wild-fowl overhead;


s: And I hear the hush before the snow. And what is that to dread?'


s: Bar home the door of summer nights lest those high planets drown


s: The memory of near delights in all the longed-for town.'


s: 'What need have I to long or fear? Now, friendly, I behold


s: My faithful seasons robe the year in silver and in gold.


s: Now I possess and am possessed of the land where I would be,


s: Look, you have cast out Love! What Gods are these


s: It may be they shall give me greater ease


s: Than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities.


s: When the Earth was sick and the Skies were grey,


s: The Dead Man rode through the autumn day


s: Cry 'Murder' in the market-place, and each


s: Will turn upon his neighbour anxious eyes


s: Asking;--'Art thou the man?' We hunted Cain


s: This bred the fear our own misdeeds maintain


s: Go, stalk the red deer o'er the heather,


s: The chase of the Human, the search for the Soul


s: 'Stopped in the straight when the race was his own!


s: Look at him cutting it--cur to the bone!'


s: Ask ere the youngster be rated and chidden


s: What did he carry and how was he ridden?


s: Maybe they used him too much at the start;


s: Maybe Fate's weight-cloths are breaking his heart.


s: 'And some are sulky, while some will plunge.


s: Some you must gentle, and some you must lunge.


s: _(There! There! Who wants to kill you?)_


s: Will break their hearts ere bitted and made,


s: Will fight like fiends as the rope cuts hard,


s: Not though you die to-night, O Sweet, and wail,


s: Shall mortal Fear make Love immortal fail--


s: Who, from Death's House returning, give me still


s: One moment's comfort in my matchless ill.


s: Spirit of Fire, where'er Thy altars rise,


s: Thou art the Light of Guidance to our eyes!


s: Ride with an idle whip, ride with an unused heel.


s: But, once in a way, there will come a day


s: In the daytime, when she moved about me,


s: In the night, when she was sleeping at my side,--


s: I was wearied, I was wearied of her presence.


s: Day by day and night by night I grew to hate her--


s: To-night, God knows what thing shall tide,


s: By the hot sun emptied, and blistered and dried;


s: Bund where the earth-rat's mounds are strown;


s: Cave in the bank where the sly stream steals;


s: _Hark, from in front where the best men ride;--_


s: _'Pull to the off, boys! Wide! Go wide!'_


s: He drank strong waters and his speech was coarse;


s: He purchased raiment and forbore to pay;


s: He stuck a trusting junior with a horse,


s: Then, 'twixt a vice and folly, turned aside


s: To do good deeds and straight to cloak them, lied.


s: _'Gold is for the mistress--silver for the maid--


s: Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.'_


s: 'Good!' said the Baron, sitting in his hall,


s: 'But Iron--Cold Iron--is master of them all.'


s: So he made rebellion 'gainst the King his liege,


s: Camped before his citadel and summoned it to siege.


s: 'Nay!' said the cannoneer on the castle wall,


s: 'But Iron--Cold Iron--shall be master of you all!'


s: Woe for the Baron and his knights so strong,


s: When the cruel cannon-balls laid 'em all along!


s: He was taken prisoner, he was cast in thrall,


s: And Iron--Cold Iron--was master of it all.


s: Yet his King spake kindly (Ah, how kind a Lord!)


s: 'What if I release thee now and give thee back thy sword?'


s: 'Nay!' said the Baron, 'mock not at my fall,


s: For Iron--Cold Iron--is master of men all.'


s: _'Tears are for the craven, prayers are for the clown--


s: Halters for the silly neck that cannot keep a crown.'_


s: 'As my loss is grievous, so my hope is small,


s: For Iron--Cold Iron--must be master of men all!'


s: Yet his King made answer (few such Kings there be!)


s: 'Here is Bread and here is Wine--sit and sup with me.


s: Eat and drink in Mary's Name, the whiles I do recall


s: How Iron--Cold Iron--can be master of men all!'


s: He took the Wine and blessed It. He blessed and brake the Bread.


s: With His own Hands He served Them, and presently He said:


s: 'See! These Hands they pierced with nails, outside My city wall,


s: Show Iron--Cold Iron--to be master of men all!


s: 'Wounds are for the desperate, blows are for the strong,


s: Balm and oil for weary hearts all cut and bruised with wrong.


s: I forgive thy treason--I redeem thy fall--


s: _'Crowns are for the valiant--sceptres for the bold!


s: Thrones and powers for mighty men who dare to take and hold.'_


s: 'Nay!' said the Baron, kneeling in his hall,


s: 'But Iron--Cold Iron--is master of man all!


s: Iron out of Calvary is master of men all!'


s: Oh, light was the world that he weighed in his hands!


s: Oh, heavy the tale of his fiefs and his lands!


s: He has gone from the _guddee_ and put on the shroud,


s: And departed in guise of _bairagi_ avowed!


s: Now the white road to Delhi is mat for his feet.


s: The _sal_ and the _kikar_ must guard him from heat.


s: His home is the camp, and the waste, and the crowd--


s: He is seeking the Way as _bairagi_ avowed!


s: He has looked upon Man, and his eyeballs are clear--


s: (There was One; there is One, and but One, saith Kabir);


s: The Red Mist of Doing has thinned to a cloud--


s: He has taken the Path for _bairagi_ avowed!


s: To learn and discern of his brother the clod,


s: Of his brother the brute, and his brother the God,


s: He has gone from the council and put on the shroud


s: ('Can ye hear?' saith Kabir), a _bairagi_ avowed!


s: That breaks her heart in the cold, good sirs,


s: I know, through Thee, the blame was mine.


s: Bring'st Eden to the craftsman's brain--


s: They steamed and dripped in the chancel,


s: While, just as though they were Bishops,


s: Shiv, who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow,


s: Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago,


s: Gave to each his portion, food and toil and fate,


s: From the King upon the _guddee_ to the Beggar at the gate.


s: _All things made he--Shiva the Preserver.


s: Thorn for the camel, fodder for the kine,


s: And mother's heart for sleepy head, O little son of mine!_


s: Wheat he gave to rich folk, millet to the poor,


s: Broken scraps for holy men that beg from door to door;


s: Cattle to the tiger, carrion to the kite,


s: And rags and bones to wicked wolves without the wall at night.


s: Naught he found too lofty, none he saw too low--


s: Parbati beside him watched them come and go;


s: Thought to cheat her husband, turning Shiv to jest--


s: Stole the little grasshopper and hid it in her breast.


s: _So she tricked him, Shiva the Preserver.


s: Tall are the camels, heavy are the kine,


s: But this was Least of Little Things, O little son of mine!_


s: When the dole was ended, laughingly she said,


s: 'Master, of a million mouths is not one unfed?'


s: Laughing, Shiv made answer, 'All have had their part,


s: Even he, the little one, hidden 'neath thy heart.'


s: From her breast she plucked it, Parbati the thief,


s: Saw the Least of Little Things gnawed a new-grown leaf!


s: Saw and feared and wondered, making prayer to Shiv,


s: Who hath surely given meat to all that live.


s: _All things made he--Shiva the Preserver.


s: Thorn for the camel, fodder for the kine,


s: And mother's heart for sleepy head, O little son of mine!_


s: Playing with strife for the most of my life,


s: Hand him the keys of the place on your knees--


s: 'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true!


s: Ask for his terms and accept them at once.


s: Never before have I flinched from the guns,


s: To the Triple Crown I would not bow down--


s: _I_'ll not fight with the Powers of Air,


s: Drawbridge let fall, it's the Lord of us all,


s: Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!


s: 'Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'


s: Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,


s: Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!


s: Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat.


s: Our helmets scorch our foreheads, our sandals burn our feet.


s: Now in the ungirt hour--now ere we blink and drowse,


s: Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!


s: Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main--


s: Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!


s: Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,


s: Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!


s: Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies,


s: Look on thy  children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!


s: Many roads thou hast fashioned--all of them lead to the Light:


s: Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!


s: And after this fashion, adventure to seek,


s: Was Sir Galahad made--as it might be last week!


s: That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.


s: She has no strong white arms to fold you,


s: But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you--


s: Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.


s: And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,


s: Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken--


s: Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters.


s: And look at your ship in her winter quarters.


s: You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,


s: The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables--


s: To pitch her sides and go over her cables.


s: Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow,


s: And the sound of your oar-blades, falling hollow.


s: Is all we have left through the months to follow.


s: And it's worth while seeking him half your days


s: But the Thousandth Man will stand your friend


s: 'Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show


s: By your looks or your acts or your glory.


s: For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim


s: Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call


s: But the Thousandth Man he's worth 'em all.


s: His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right,


s: Stand up and back it in all men's sight--


s: But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side


s: When the night is thick and the tracks are blind


s: But a fool to wait for the laggard behind.


s: He travels the fastest who travels alone.


s: White hands cling to the tightened rein,


s: High hopes faint on a warm hearth stone--


s: Who travels the fastest and travels alone.


s: Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed,


s: His be the labour and yours be the spoil,


s: He travels the fastest who travels alone!


s: 'How far is St. Helena from a little child at play?'


s: What makes you want to wander there with all the world between?


s: Oh, Mother, call your son again or else he'll run away.


s: (_No one thinks of winter when the grass is green!_)


s: 'How far is St. Helena from a fight in Paris street?'


s: I haven't time to answer now--the men are falling fast.


s: The guns begin to thunder, and the drums begin to beat.


s: (_If you take the first step you will take the last!_)


s: 'How far is St. Helena from the field of Austerlitz?'


s: You couldn't hear me if I told--so loud the cannons roar.


s: But not so far for people who are living by their wits.


s: (_'Gay go up' means 'Gay go down' the wide world o'er!_)


s: 'How far is St. Helena from an Emperor of France?'


s: I cannot see--I cannot tell--the crowns they dazzle so.


s: The Kings sit down to dinner, and the Queens stand up to dance.


s: (_After open weather you may look for snow!_)


s: 'How far is St. Helena from the Capes of Trafalgar?'


s: A longish way--a longish way--with ten year more to run.


s: It's South across the water underneath a setting star.


s: (_What you cannot finish you must leave undone!_)


s: 'How far is St. Helena from the Beresina ice?'


s: An ill way--a chill way--the ice begins to crack.


s: But not so far for gentlemen who never took advice.


s: (_When you can't go forward you must e'en come back!_)


s: 'How far is St. Helena from the field of Waterloo?'


s: A near way--a clear way--the ship will take you soon.


s: A pleasant place for gentlemen with little left to do,


s: (_Morning never tries you till the afternoon!_)


s: 'How far from St. Helena to the Gate of Heaven's Grace?'


s: That no one knows--that no one knows--and no one ever will.


s: But fold your hands across your heart and cover up your face,


s: And after all your trapesings, child, lie still!


s: These were my companions going forth by night--


s: Now come I to whistle them the ending of the fight.


s: Word they gave me overhead of quarry newly slain,


s: Word I gave them underfoot of buck upon the plain.


s: Here's an end of every trail--they shall not speak again!


s: They that called the hunting-cry--they that followed fast--


s: They that bade the sambhur wheel, or pinned him as he passed--


s: They that lagged behind the scent--they that ran before,


s: They that shunned the level horn--they that overbore,


s: Here's an end of every trail--they shall not follow more.


s: These were my companions. Pity 'twas they died!


s: Now come I to comfort them that knew them in their pride.


s: Tattered flank and sunken eye, open mouth and red,


s: Locked and lank and lone they lie, the dead upon their dead.


s: Here's an end of every trail--and here my hosts are fed!


s: Not with an outcry to Allah nor any complaining


s: He answered his name at the muster and stood to the chaining.


s: When the twin anklets were nipped on the leg-bars that held them,


s: Thus we had speech by the way, but not touching his sorrow--


s: Rather his red Yesterday and his regal To-morrow,


s: Wherein he statelily moved to the clink of his chains unregarded,


s: Saluting aloofly his Fate, he made swift with his  story,


s: But the cool and perspicuous eye overbore unbelieving.


s: So I submitted myself to the limits of rapture--


s: Bound by this man we had bound, amid captives his capture--


s: Till he returned me to earth and the visions departed.


s: The Celt in all his variants from Builth to Ballyhoo,


s: His mental processes are plain--one knows what he will do,


s: And can logically predicate his finish by his start;


s: But the English--ah, the English--they are quite a race apart.


s: Their psychology is bovine, their outlook crude and raw.


s: They abandon vital matters to be tickled with a straw,


s: For undemocratic reasons and for motives not of State,


s: They arrive at their conclusions--largely inarticulate.


s: Being void of self-expression they confide their views to none;


s: But sometimes in a smoking-room, one learns why things were done.


s: On some step that they have taken, or some action they approve--


s: Embellished with the _argot_ of the Upper Fourth Remove.


s: In telegraphic sentences, half nodded to their friends,


s: They hint a matter's inwardness--and there the matter ends.


s: And while the Celt is talking from Valencia to Kirkwall,


s: The English--ah, the English!--don't say anything at all!


s: Who knows the heart of the Christian? How does he reason?


s: What are his measures and balances? Which is his season


s: For laughter, forbearance  or bloodshed, and what devils move him


s: He invites the derision of strangers--he enters all places.


s: Booted, bareheaded  he  enters. With shouts and embraces


s: He asks of us news of the household whom we reckon nameless.


s: Certainly Allah created him forty-fold shameless.


s: So it is not in the Desert. One came to me weeping--


s: The Avenger of Blood on his track--I took him in keeping.


s: Demanding not whom he had slain, I refreshed him, I fed him


s: As he were even a brother. But Eblis had bred him.


s: He was the son of an ape, ill at ease in his clothing,


s: As a frog shows in a mud-puddle. Yet I abode it!


s: He chirped in my face like some sparrow, and, presently, jested!


s: Wherefore slew I that stranger? He brought me dishonour.


s: I saddled my mare, Bijli, I set him upon her.


s: I gave him rice and goat's flesh. He bared me to laughter.


s: When he was gone from my tent, swift I followed  after,


s: Taking my sword in my hand. The hot wine had filled him.


s: Under the stars he mocked me--therefore I killed him!


s: And the lamps were dead and the Gods alone,


s: And the grey snake coiled on the altar stone--


s: Ere I fled from a Fear that I could not see,


s: And the Gods of the East made mouths at me.


s: There was a strife 'twixt man and maid--


s: 'Twas, 'Sweet, I must not bide with you,'


s: There is pleasure in the shine of your picture on the line


s: But the pleasure felt in these is as chalk to Cheddar cheese


s: Not a little-place-at-Tooting, but a country-house-with-shooting


s: Will they gape for the husks that ye proffer


s: So we settled it all when the storm was done


s: And I was to wait in the barn, my dears,


s: And Teddy would run to the rainbow's foot


s: In the shape of a God that was digged a clod,


s: From the taint of the soil, thou hast made thy spoil


s: The wolf-cub at even lay hid in the corn,


s: Where the smoke of the cooking hung grey:


s: He knew where the doe made a couch for her fawn,


s: And he looked to his strength for his prey.


s: But the moon swept the smoke-wreaths away,


s: And he turned from his meal in the villager's close,


s: There were three friends that buried the fourth,


s: The mould in his mouth and the dust in his eyes,


s: And they went south and east and north--


s: The strong man fights but the sick man dies.


s: There were three friends that spoke of the dead--


s: The strong man fights but the sick man dies--


s: 'And would he were here with us now,' they said,


s: 'The sun in our face and the wind in our eyes.'


s: Yet at the last, ere our spearmen had found him,


s: Yet at the last, ere a sword-thrust could save,


s: Yet at the last, with his masters around him,


s: He spoke of the Faith as a master to slave.


s: Yet at the last, though the Kafirs had maimed him,


s: Broken by bondage and wrecked by the reiver,


s: Yet at the last, tho' the darkness had claimed him,


s: He called upon Allah, and died a Believer!


s: (And Gallio cared for none of these things.--ACTS xviii. 17)


s: But this is a question of words and names.


s: But, touching your clamour of "Conscience sake,"


s: 'Whether ye rise for the sake of a creed,


s: With fragrant herbs and branches spread,


s: Whose offspring, supping where they supt,


s: Wouldn't you like if your tails were--_so_--


s: _Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines,


s: That rocket by where, light and high, the wild-grape swings.


s: By the rubbish in our wake, and the noble noise we make,


s: Be sure, be sure, we're going to do some splendid things._


s: The grapes are pressed, the corn is shocked--


s: For the Gates of Love and Learning locked


s: By the mighty men of their mighty youth,


s: Thee--_thee_ to guard 'gainst home-born ills,


s: On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;


s: I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,


s: But, at least, they hear the things I hear,


s: And whatever I think of them and their likes


s: Ere our children's teeth are set on edge


s: And I've tramped Britain, and I've tramped Gaul,


s: And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall


s: And I've lost Britain, and I've lost Gaul,


s: Oh dear was the sweetheart that kissed him


s: But his shield was picked up in the heather,


s: We've _all_ left Rome for Lalage's sake, etc.


s: Which you reckon too much by five shillings or ten;


s: When I've told you the troubles of poor honest men!


s: We sail with tobacco for England--but then,


s: And they press half a score of us poor honest men!


s: We leave them behind (as we do now and then)


s: Which is often destruction to poor honest men!


s: With shot-holes to plug and new canvas to bend,


s: Which comfort or aid to King George may intend;


s: They try for to steal it from poor honest men!


s: But fire as we run, our retreat to defend,


s: And she flies up the wind from us poor honest men!


s: And so, when we think we are making Land's End,


s: Blockading French ports against poor honest men!


s: So swiftly we stand to the Nor'ard again;


s: We slip past the Scillies like poor honest men.


s: Though I may not inform how we do it, nor when.


s: Is well understanded by poor honest men!


s: Who spy on our business and are not content


s: And they  say they are murdered by poor honest men!


s: Why should we, moreover, be hanged in the end--


s: As though we were smugglers, not poor honest men?


s: Rode stately through the half-manned fleet,


s: Prophets have honour all over the Earth,


s: Except in the village where they were born.


s: Where such as knew them boys from birth,


s: When Prophets are naughty and young and vain,


s: (You can see by their writings how they complain),


s: But O, 'tis won'erful good for the Prophet!


s: (Nor being swallowed by whales between),


s: Makes up for the place where a man's folk live,


s: Which don't care nothing what he has been.


s: He might ha' been that, or he might ha' been this,


s: But they love and they hate him for what he is.


s: But Tubal fashioned the hand-flung spears


s: The gull shall whistle in his wake, the blind wave break in fire.


s: And he shall see old planets change and alien stars arise,


s: And give the gale his seaworn sail in shadow of new skies.


s: He shall desire loneliness and his desire shall bring,


s: Hard on his heels, a thousand wheels, a People and a King.


s: (For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four


s: which it cannot bear: for a servant when he reigneth; and


s: a fool when he is filled with meat; for an odious woman


s: when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her


s: Excellent herbs had our fathers of old--


s: Anything green that grew out of the mould


s: Was an excellent herb to our fathers of old.


s: Wonderful tales had our fathers of old--


s: Wonderful tales of the herbs and the stars--


s: In the wonderful books of our fathers of old.


s: Most of their teaching was quite untrue--


s: 'Look at the stars when a patient is ill,


s: Blister and bleed him as oft as you please.'


s: Yet when the sickness was sore in the land,


s: They took their lives in their lancet-hand


s: And, oh, what a wonderful war they waged!


s: Yes, when the crosses were chalked on the door--


s: (Yes, when the terrible dead-cart rolled,)


s: 'That those afflicted by doubts and dismays


s: Are mightily helped by a dead man's touch',


s: Down from your heaven or up from your mould,


s: Send us the hearts of our fathers of old!


s: Not all from these their strength they drew,


s: Youth's passion, manhood's fierce intent.


s: Their lives most dear, their dearer loves,


s: Nor dream that awestruck Time shall save


s: For they give my life to the altar-knife


s: Between the waving tufts of jungle-grass,


s: Up from the river as the twilight falls,


s: Across the dust-beclouded plain they pass


s: Great is the sword and mighty is the pen,


s: But greater far the labouring ploughman's blade,


s: The torn boughs trailing o'er the tusks aslant,


s: The saplings reeling in the path he trod,


s: Declare his might--our lord the Elephant,


s: The black bulk heaving where the oxen pant,


s: The bowed head toiling where the guns careen,


s: Declare our might--our slave the Elephant


s: Out of the night came the patient wraith.


s: He might not speak, and he could not stir


s: Speechless and strengthless, a shadow thin,


s: Before my spring I garnered autumn's gain,


s: Out of her time my field was white with grain,


s: The year gave up her secrets, to my woe.


s: Forced and deflowered each sick season lay


s: Who am too wise in all I should not know.


s: Unto whose use the pregnant suns are poised,


s: Creep thou between--thy coming's all unnoised.


s: Heaven hath her high, as Earth her baser, wars.


s: Heir to these tumults, this affright, that fray


s: (By Adam's, fathers', own, sin bound alway);


s: Which planet mends thy threadbare fate, or mars.


s: Where, leagued about the 'wildered boat,


s: Let down through darkness to their lips.


s: There's a convict more in the Central Jail,


s: There's a lifter less on the Border trail,


s: If we lift our hand from a fettered land


s: 'Less you want your toes trod off you'd better get back at once,


s: For the bullocks are walking two by two,


s: All the world over, nursing their scars,


s: Sit the old fighting-men broke in the wars--


s: Sit the old fighting men, surly and grim


s: Mocking the lilt of the conquerors' hymn.


s: Dust of the battle o'erwhelmed them and hid.


s: Fame never found them for aught that they did.


s: Wounded and spent to the lazar they drew,


s: Lining the road where the Legions roll through.


s: Sons of the Laurel who press to your meed,


s: (Worthy God's pity most--ye who succeed!)


s: Ere you go triumphing, crowned, to the stars,


s: Pity poor fighting men, broke in the wars!


s: Man's strength to comfort man's distress.


s: Land of our Birth, our faith, our pride,


s: Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!


s: We lent to Alexander the strength of Hercules,


s: The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of our knees.


s: We bowed our necks to service; they ne'er were loosed again,--


s: Make way there, way for the ten-foot teams


s: Those heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannon-ball,


s: And what they know of powder upsets them one and all;


s: Then _we_ come into action and tug the guns again,--


s: By the brand on my withers, the finest of tunes


s: Is played by the Lancers, Hussars, and Dragoons,


s: And it's sweeter than 'Stables' or 'Water' to me.


s: Then feed us and break us and handle and groom,


s: And give us good riders and plenty of room,


s: And launch us in column of squadron and see


s: The Way of the War-horse to 'Bonnie Dundee'!


s: As me and my companions were scrambling up a hill,


s: The path was lost in rolling stones, but we went forward still;


s: For we can wriggle and climb, my lads, and turn up everywhere,


s: Good luck to every sergeant, then, that lets us pick our road!


s: Bad luck to all the driver-men that cannot pack a load!


s: Somebody's load has tipped off in the road--


s: If you can keep your head when all about you


s: Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;


s: If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,


s: But make allowance for their doubting too;


s: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,


s: Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,


s: Or being hated don't give way to hating,


s: And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:


s: If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;


s: If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;


s: If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster


s: And treat those two impostors just the same;


s: If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken


s: Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,


s: Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,


s: And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:


s: If you can make one heap of all your winnings


s: And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,


s: And lose, and start again at your beginnings


s: And never breathe a word about your loss;


s: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew


s: To serve your turn long after they are gone.


s: And so hold on when there is nothing in you


s: Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'


s: If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,


s: Or walk with Kings--nor lose the common touch;


s: If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,


s: If all men count with you, but none too much;


s: With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,


s: Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,


s: And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!


s: (And it weighs on my brother's mind, you see)


s: But there's no reproach among swine, d'you see,


s: The bread that is three parts chaff to wheat,


s: But there's nothing on record to show I did


s: They talk of the money I spent out there--


s: They hint at the pace that I went out there--


s: But they all forget I was sent out there


s: And lost my cash (can you wonder?) at once,


s: But I didn't give up and knock under at once,


s: Where I spent my nights and my days with hogs,


s: And shared their milk and maize with hogs,


s: Till, I guess, I have learned what pays with hogs


s: God bless you, Mater! I'll write to you....


s: Till Laughter, voiceless through excess,


s: (Song of the breeding Seal. Aleutian Islands)


s: I met my mates in the morning (and oh, but I am old!)


s: Where roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell rolled.


s: I heard them lift the chorus that drowned the breakers' song--


s: The Beaches of Lukannon--two million voices strong!


s: _The song of pleasant stations beside the salt lagoons,


s: The song of blowing squadrons that shuffled down the dunes,


s: The song of midnight dances that churned the sea to flame--


s: The Beaches of Lukannon--before the sealers came!_


s: I met my mates in the morning (I'll never meet them more!);


s: They came and went in legions that darkened all the shore.


s: And through the foam-flecked offing as far as voice could reach


s: We hailed the landing-parties and we sang them up the beach.


s: _The Beaches of Lukannon--the winter-wheat so tall--


s: The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!


s: The platforms of our playground, all shining smooth and worn!


s: The Beaches of Lukannon--the home where we were born_!


s: I meet my mates in the morning, a broken, scattered band.


s: Men shoot us in the water and club us on the land;


s: Men drive us to the Salt House like silly sheep and tame,


s: And still we sing Lukannon--before the sealers came.


s: _Wheel down, wheel down to southward! Oh, Gooverooska go!


s: And tell the Deep-Sea Viceroys the story of our woe;


s: Ere, empty as the shark's egg the tempest flings ashore,


s: The Beaches of Lukannon shall know their sons no more!_


s: There is sorrow enough in the natural way


s: But when we are certain of sorrow in store,


s: By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.


s: When the fourteen years which Nature permits


s: Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,


s: And the vet's unspoken prescription runs


s: _Then you will find--it's your own affair,


s: But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear._


s: When the body that lived at your single will,


s: When the whimper of welcome is stilled (how still!),


s: When the spirit that answered your every mood


s: And will give your heart to a dog to tear._


s: When it comes to burying Christian clay.


s: Though it is not always the case, I believe,


s: That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:


s: For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,


s: _So why in--Heaven (before we are there)


s: Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?_


s: 'Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,


s: But all that has happened, to_ us _you must tell,


s: Or else we will give you no honey to sell!'_


s: Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring,


s: And bears from Shere would come and look


s: Her brows are bound with bracken-fronds,


s: 'Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead.


s: She heard the hops was doing well, an' so popped up her head,'


s: For it's dark where I lie down, My Lord!


s: Old Mother Laidinwool, she give her bones a shake,


s: An' trotted down the churchyard path as fast as she could make.


s: She met the Parson walking, but she says to him, says she:


s: 'Oh don't let no one trouble for a poor old ghost like me!'


s: 'Twas all a warm September an' the hops had flourished grand,


s: She saw the folks get into 'em with stockin's on their hands;


s: An' none of 'em was foreigners but all which she had known,


s: And old Mother Laidinwool she blessed 'em every one.


s: She saw her daughters picking, an' their children them beside,


s: Old Mother Laidinwool she waited on all day


s: Until it come too dark to see an' people went away--


s: Until it come too dark to see an' lights began to show,


s: An' old Mother Laidinwool she hadn't where to go.


s: Old Mother Laidinwool she give her bones a shake,


s: An' trotted back to churchyard-mould as fast as she could make.


s: For it's best as you shall say, My Lord!


s: When the cabin port-holes are dark and green


s: And the steward falls into the soup-tureen,


s: When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,


s: And you aren't waked or washed or dressed,


s: Why, then you will know (if you haven't guessed)


s: We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl


s: The cure for this ill is not to sit still,


s: But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,


s: And then you will find that the sun and the wind,


s: I am the Most Wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones,


s: 'Let us melt into the landscape--just us two by our lones.'


s: People have come--in a carriage--calling. But Mummy is there....


s: Yes, I can go if you take me--Nurse says _she_ don't care.


s: Let's go up to the pig-styes and sit on the farmyard rails!


s: And going truly exploring, and not being in till tea!


s: But different folk have different views;


s: She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,


s: Started by Big God Nqong from Warrigaborrigarooma,


s: Old Man Kangaroo first, Yellow-Dog Dingo behind.


s: Kangaroo bounded away, his back-legs working like pistons--


s: Bounded from morning till dark, twenty-five feet at a bound.


s: Yellow-Dog Dingo lay like a yellow cloud in the distance--


s: Much too busy to bark. My! but they covered the ground!


s: They ran thirty degrees, from Torres Straits to the Leeuwin


s: (Look at the Atlas, please), then they ran back as they came.


s: S'posing you could trot from Adelaide to the Pacific,


s: For an afternoon's run--half what these gentlemen did--


s: You would feel rather hot, but your legs would develop terrific--


s: Or play with a silly old cork and string


s: So, _Binkie's_ the same as the First Friend was,


s: But _Binkie_ will play whatever I choose,


s: And there she stays till the morning-light;


s: But _Binkie_, he snores at my feet all night,


s: But they both of 'em talked to butterflies


s: _Queen Bess was Harry's daughter. Stand forward partners all!


s: The Queen was in her chamber, and she was middling old,


s: Her petticoat was satin, and her stomacher was gold.


s: Backwards and forwards and sideways did she pass,


s: Making up her mind to face the cruel looking-glass.


s: The cruel looking-glass that will never show a lass


s: As comely or as kindly or as young as what she was!


s: _Queen Bess was Harry's daughter. Now hand your partners all!_


s: The Queen was in her chamber, a-combing of her hair.


s: There came Queen Mary's spirit and It stood behind her chair.


s: Singing, 'Backwards and forwards and sideways may you pass,


s: But I will stand behind you till you face the looking-glass.


s: As lovely or unlucky or as lonely as I was!'


s: _Queen Bess was Harry's daughter.--Now turn your partners all!_


s: The Queen was in her chamber, a-weeping very sore.


s: But I will walk beside you till you face the looking-glass.


s: As hard and unforgiving or as wicked as you was!'


s: _Queen Bess was Harry's daughter. Now kiss your


s: The Queen was in her chamber; her sins were on her head.


s: She looked the spirits up and down and statelily she said:--


s: Backwards and forwards and sideways though I've been,


s: Yet I am Harry's daughter and I am England's Queen!'


s: And she faced the looking-glass (and whatever else there was),


s: And  she  saw her day was over and she saw her beauty pass


s: In the cruel looking-glass, that can always hurt a lass


s: More hard than any ghost there is or any man there was!


s: To certain death by certain shame attended.


s: Which, though so few, yet so divinely ended.


s: Than they had set it down untouched before them.


s: Close in confusion and destruction o'er them.


s: Well sure that prize was such as no man strives for;


s: Even Belphoebe's, whom they gave their lives for!


s: Where the poor may lay their wrongs away,


s: Weary they turn from the scroll and crown,


s: Look--we may look--at the Merciful Towns


s: Lest we should hear too clear, too clear,


s: Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry,


s: Ere Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer,


s: Through the Jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh--


s: Very softly down the glade runs a waiting, watching shade,


s: And the whisper spreads and widens far and near.


s: And the sweat is on thy brow, for he passes even now--


s: On thy knees and draw the bow; bid the shrilling arrow go;


s: In the empty, mocking thicket plunge the spear!


s: But thy throat is shut and dried, and thy heart against thy side


s: Hammers: Fear, O Little Hunter--this is Fear!


s: _The pavilion in the Gardens. Enter Ferdinand and the King_


s: _Ferdinand_.  Your tiercel's too long at hack. Sir.


s: But a passage-hawk that footed ere we caught him.


s: Dangerously free o' the air. Faith, were he mine


s: (As mine's the glove he binds to for his tirings)


s: I'd fly him with a make-hawk. He's in yarak


s: Plumed to the very point. So manned, so weathered!


s: Give him the firmament God made him for.


s: Bold--overbold on the perch, but, think you,


s: He can endure the tall skies yonder? Cozen


s: Advantage out of the teeth of the hurricane?


s: Choose his own mate against the lammer-geier?


s: Ride out a night-long tempest, hold his pitch


s: Between the lightning and the cloud it leaps from,


s: There's a bleak devil in the young, my Lord;


s: God put it there to save 'em from their elders


s: And break their  father's heart, but bear them scatheless


s: Through mire and thorns and blood if need be.


s: What our prime saw!  Such glory, such achievements


s: As now our children, wondering at, examine


s: Themselves to see if they shall hardly equal.


s: But what cared we while we wrought the wonders?


s: _The King_.  Little enough, God knows!  But afterwards? After--


s: There comes the reckoning.  I would save him that.


s: _Ferdinand_. Save him dry scars that ache of winter-nights.


s: Worn out self-pity and as much of knowledge


s: As makes old men fear judgment? Then loose him--loose him,


s: A' God's name loose him to adventure early!


s: And trust some random pike, or half-backed horse,


s: Besides what's caught in Italy, to save him.


s: _Enter Gow and a Gardener bearing the Prince's body_


s: _Ferdinand_.(Gods give me patience!) Gow and a gardener


s: Bearing some load along in the dusk to the dunghill.


s: Nay--a dead branch--But as I said, the Prince----


s: _The King. _They've set it down. Strange that


s: _Gow (setting down the body)_. Heark, you unsanctified


s: fool, while I set out our story. We found it, this side


s: the North park wall which it had climbed to pluck


s: nectarines from the alley. Heark again! There


s: was a nectarine in its hand when we found it, and


s: the naughty brick that slipped from the coping


s: beneath its foot and so caused its death, lies now


s: _The King (above)_. The King to see! Why should


s: _Gow_. That is your tale. Swerve from it by so


s: much as the breadth of my dagger and here's your


s: instant reward. You heard not, saw not, and by the


s: Horns of ninefold-cuckolded Jupiter you thought not


s: _The King_. Ninefold-cuckolded Jupiter. That's a


s: _Ferdinand_. Not yet, my Lord! (I cannot hear him


s: _Gardener_. The North park wall? It was so.


s: Plucking nectarines. It shall be. But how shall


s: _Gow (stabs him)_. Thus! Hie after the Prince


s: and tell him y'are the first fruits of his nectarine


s: _The King_. Why did Gow buffet the clown?


s: _Ferdinand (above)_. Save yourself! It is the


s: _Gow_. God save you! This was the Prince!


s: _The King_. The Prince! Not a dead branch?


s: My flesh and blood! My son! my son! my son!


s: _Ferdinand_ (_to Gow_). I had feared something of


s: _Gow_. Dead, or as good. He cannot speak.


s: _The King_. 'Loosed to adventure early!' Tell


s: _Gow_. Saddest truth alack! I came upon him


s: not a half hour since, fallen from the North park


s: wall over against the Deerpark side--dead--dead!--a


s: nectarine in his hand that the dear lad must have


s: climbed for, and plucked the very instant, look you,


s: that a brick slipped on the coping. 'Tis there now.


s: So I lifted him, but his neck was as you see--and


s: _The King_. Oh, very cold. But why should he


s: have troubled to climb? He was free of all the


s: fruit in my garden, God knows!... What, Gow?


s: _The King_. A lad's trick. But I love him the


s: better for it.... True, he's past loving.... And


s: now we must tell our Queen. What a coil at the


s: day's end! She'll grieve for him. Not as I shall;


s: Ferdinand, but as youth for youth. They were


s: much of the same age. Playmate for playmate.


s: See, he wears her colours. That is the knot she


s: gave him last--last.... Oh God! When was


s: _The King_. He'll take no harm of it. I'll follow presently.....


s: He's all his mother's now and none of mine--


s: Her very face on the bride-pillow. Yet I tricked her.


s: But that was later--and she never guessed.


s: I do not think he sinned much--he's too young--


s: Much the same age as my Queen. God must not judge him


s: Too hardly for such slips as youth may fall in.


s: _Gow_. The Heavens hold up still. Earth opens


s: not and this dew's mere water. What shall a man


s: think of it all? _(To Gardener.)_ Not dead yet,


s: sirrah? I bade you follow the Prince. Despatch!


s: _Gardener_. Some kind soul pluck out the dagger.


s: Why did you slay me? I'd done no wrong. I'd ha'


s: kept it secret till my dying day. But not now--not


s: now! I'm dying. The Prince fell from the Queen's


s: chamber window. I saw it in the nut alley. He


s: _Ferdinand_. But what made you in the nut alley


s: _Gardener_. No wrong. No more than another


s: man's wife. Jocasta of the still-room. She'd kissed


s: me good-night too; but that's over with the


s: rest.... I've stumbled on the Prince's beastly


s: _Gow_. Count it your fortune, honest man. You


s: would have revealed it to your woman at the next


s: meeting. You fleshmongers are all one feather.


s: Go in peace and lay your death to Fortune's door.


s: _Ferdinand_. Who knows not Fortune, glutted on


s: Stealing from feasts as rare to coney-catch


s: With that same cruel-lustful hand and eye,


s: Those nails and wedges, that one hammer and lead,


s: And the very gerb of long-stored lightning loosed.


s: _The King_. I have pursued with prayers where my heart warns me


s: _The King_. Look not! Wait till I tell you,


s: _Gow_. So! God hath cut off the Prince in his


s: pleasures. Gow, to save the King, hath silenced one


s: poor fool who knew how it befell, and now the


s: King's dead, needs only that the Queen should kill


s: Gow and all's safe for her this side o' the Judgment.


s: ...Senor Ferdinand, the wind's easterly. I'm for


s: _Ferdinand_. My horse is at the gate. God speed


s: _Gow_. To the Duke, if the Queen does not lay


s: hands on me before. However it goes, I charge you


s: bear witness, Senor Ferdinand, I served the old


s: King faithfully. To the death, Senor Ferdinand--to


s: Sure the wise plan is to live like a man


s: Thrust her away when she gives you 'good day,'


s: And the besom won't board you next time.


s: And the hussy comes plucking your sleeve!


s: Now the fall was ordained from the first


s: Or she'll break her back in the trough....


s: And there's far less weight to the seas!


s: Now clear and black they stride our track,


s: Now, crouched and still, to cave and hill


s: Now, stark and plain, Man's oxen strain,


s: Now, stripped and dread, the dawn is red


s: While down the skies the wild duck cries:


s: The dew is dried that drenched our hide,


s: And, in the sweat of their upturned faces,


s: And sting their toes on the nettle-tops,


s: Till, after a thousand scratches and scrambles,


s: They wipe their brows and the hunting stops.


s: 'You will find on it whorls and clots of


s: Glorious butterflies raised from the dead...,'


s: So we must not look where the snail and the slug lie


s: For Psyche's birth.... And that is our death!


s: Though Kings made swift with many a gift


s: We laugh, but sobs are mixed with laughter;


s: From beds of spice thy locks shake free;


s: I turn and watch the lightning in the sky--


s: The glamour of thy footsteps in the North.


s: The camels and the captives of thy raid.


s: My father's wife is old and harsh with years,


s: And drudge of all my father's house am I--


s: My bread is sorrow and my drink is tears.


s: And stouter hearts that through the brine


s: I know whose love would follow me still,


s: I know whose tears would come down to me,


s: I know whose prayers would make me whole,


s: She dropped the bar, she shot the bolt, she fed the fire anew,


s: 'Now was I born of womankind and laid in a mother's breast?


s: For I have dreamed of a shaggy hide whereon I went to rest?


s: And was I born of womankind and laid on a father's arm?


s: For I have dreamed of clashing teeth that guarded me from harm.


s: And was I born an Only Son and did I play alone?


s: For I have dreamed of comrades twain that bit me to the bone.


s: And did I break the barley-cake and steep it in the tyre?


s: For I have dreamed of a youngling kid new-riven from the byre.


s: 'Tis an hour yet and an hour yet to the rising of the moon,


s: But I can see the black roof-tree as plain as it were noon.


s: If those are wolves that wait outside or my own kin to me!'


s: She loosed the bar, she slid the bolt, she opened the door anon,


s: I will let loose against you the fleet-footed vines--


s: I will call in the Jungle to stamp out your lines!


s: In the gates of these your councils my people shall sing,


s: In the doors of these your garners the Bat-folk shall cling;


s: Ye shall not see my strikers; ye shall hear them and guess;


s: By night, before the moon-rise, I will send for my cess,


s: I will reap your fields before you at the hands of a host;


s: Ye shall glean behind my reapers for the bread that is lost;


s: I have untied against you the club-footed vines--


s: I have sent in the Jungle to swamp out your lines!


s: Swift was the blow--swift as the thought


s: The fangs that tore his father's throat.


s: _The pools are shrunk--the streams are dry,


s: _Brother, he crops in the jungle still._


s: Where is the power that made your pride?


s: _Brother, it ebbs from my flank and side._


s: Veil them, cover them, wall them round--


s: And the does bring forth in the fields unsown,


s: And the blind walls crumble, unknown, o'erthrown,


s: For the smells of the dawning, untainted, ere dew has departed!


s: For the rush through the mist, and the quarry blind-started!


s: Man goes to Man! Cry the challenge through the Jungle!


s: Hear, now, and judge, O ye People of the Jungle,--


s: Answer, who shall turn him--who shall stay?


s: Man goes to Man! He is weeping in the Jungle:


s: Man goes to Man! (Oh, we loved him in the Jungle!)


s: To the Man-Trail where we may not follow more.


s: Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,


s: And black are the waters that sparkled so green.


s: The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us


s: At rest in the hollows that rustle between.


s: Where billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow;


s: Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!


s: The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,


s: Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas.


s: You mustn't swim till you're six weeks old,


s: Or your head will be sunk by your heels;


s: I will remember what I was, I am sick of rope and chain.


s: I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs.


s: I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane.


s: I will go out to my own kind, and the wood-folk in their lairs.


s: I will go out until the day, until the morning break,


s: Out to the winds' untainted kiss, the waters' clean caress.


s: I will forget my ankle-ring and snap my picket-stake.


s: I will revisit my lost loves, and playmates master-less!


s: The People of the Eastern Ice, they are melting like the snow--


s: They beg for coffee and sugar; they go where the white men go.


s: The People of the Western Ice, they learn to steal and fight;


s: But the People of the Elder Ice, beyond the white man's ken--


s: When the Witch of the North took an Egg-shell


s: And that is the finish of _him_!' she said.


s: When the Witch of the North heard the Egg-shell


s: 'Get!' she said, 'or you're gone,' she said,


s: 'The sights are just coming on,' he said,


s: When the Witch of the North saw the Egg-shell


s: 'Did you swim?' she  said. 'Did you sink?' she said,


s: 'For myself I swam, but I think,' he said,


s: After the sack of the City, when Rome was sunk to a name,


s: Between the Cliff and the Forest there ruled a Saxon King.


s: Stubborn all were his people from cottar to overlord--


s: And set on paths of their choosing as the hogs of Andred's Wood.


s: Laws they made in the Witan--the laws of flaying and fine--


s: Common, loppage and pannage, the theft and the track of kine--


s: Rudely but surely they bedded the plinth of the days to come.


s: Behind the feet of the Legions and before the Norseman's ire,


s: Rudely but greatly begat they the framing of state and shire.


s: He filled Use with slaughter, and Lewes he gave to flame.


s: He smote while they sat in the Witan--sudden he smote and sore,


s: But thrice the acorns ripened ere the western mark was clear.


s: Thrice was the beechmast gathered, and the Beltane fires burned


s: Thrice, and the beeves were salted thrice ere the host returned.


s: They drove that king from Hamtun, by Bosenham o'erthrown,


s: Out of Rugnor to Wilton they made his land their own.


s: Camps they builded at Gilling, at Basing and Alresford,


s: But wrath abode in the Saxons from cottar to overlord.


s: Wrath at the weary war-game, at the foe that snapped and ran


s: Wolf-wise feigning and flying, and wolf-wise snatching his man.


s: Wrath for their spears unready, their levies new to the blades--


s: Shame for the helpless sieges and the scornful ambuscades.


s: At hearth and tavern and market, wherever the tale was told,


s: Shame and wrath had the Saxons because of their boasts of old.


s: And some would drink and deny it, and some would pray and atone;


s: 'One is the King and his People--in gain and ungain one.


s: 'Count we the gain together. With doubtings and spread dismays


s: 'We have broken a foolish people--but after many days.


s: 'Count we the loss together. Warlocks hampered our arms,


s: 'We were tricked as by magic, we were turned as by charms.


s: 'We went down to the battle and the road was plain to keep,


s: 'Little blows uncertain dealt on the useless air.


s: 'Also a vision betrayed us, and a lying tale made bold


s: 'As the ague fumes round Oxeney when the rotting reed-bed dries.


s: When the robust and Brass-bound Man commissioned first for sea


s: His fragile raft, Poseidon laughed, and 'Mariner,' said he,


s: 'Behold, a Law immutable I lay on thee and thine,


s: That never shall ye act or tell a falsehood at my shrine.


s: 'Let Zeus adjudge your landward kin, whose votive meal and salt


s: At easy-cheated altars win oblivion for the fault,


s: 'Ye shall not clear by Greekly speech, nor cozen from your path


s: Nor make at all, or all make good, your bulwarks and your boasts.


s: The wide and windward-opening eye, the large and lavish hand,


s: The soul that cannot tell a lie--except upon the land!'


s: In dromond and in catafract--wet, wakeful, windward-eyed--


s: He kept Poseidon's Law intact (his ship and freight beside),


s: The thranite now and thalamite are pressures low and high,


s: And where three hundred blades bit white the twin-propellers ply:


s: From Punt returned, from Phormio's Fleet, from Javan and Gadire,


s: He strongly occupies the seat about the tavern fire,


s: And, moist with much Falernian or smoked Massilian juice,


s: Revenges there the Brass-bound Man his long-enforced truce!


s: _I tell this tale, which is strictly true,


s: How very little, since things mere made,


s: Things have altered in the building trade._


s: We was building flats near the Marble Arch,


s: When a thin young man with coal-black hair


s: Now there wasn't a trick in brick or stone


s: That this young man hadn't seen or known;


s: Nor there wasn't a tool from trowel to maul


s: Which was laying the pipes for the hot and cold:


s: Will you kindly say what your name might be?'


s: Whereas it is Pharaoh surnamed the Great.


s: 'Your glazing is new and your plumbing's strange,


s: And in less than a month if you do as I bid


s: _I tell this tale, which is stricter true,


s: Things have altered in the shipwright's trade._


s: Now there wasn't a knot which the riggers knew


s: But the old man made it--and better too;


s: Nor there wasn't a sheet, or a lift, or a brace.


s: But the old man knew its lead and place.


s: Which was packing the pump in the afterhold:


s: Will you kindly tell what your name might be?'


s: Or it might be Ham (though his skin was dark),


s: 'Your wheel is new and your pumps are strange,


s: And in less than a week, if she did not ground,


s: _We tell these tales, which are strictest true,


s: If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,


s: Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street.


s: Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie,


s: Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!


s: And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!


s: Running round the woodlump if you chance to find


s: Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,


s: Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.


s: Put the brishwood back again--and they'll be gone next day!


s: If you see the stable-door setting open wide;


s: If you see a tired horse lying down inside;


s: If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;


s: If the lining's wet and warm--don't you ask no more!


s: If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,


s: You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.


s: If they call you 'pretty maid,' and chuck you 'neath the chin.


s: Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been!


s: Knocks and footsteps round the house--whistles after dark--


s: You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.


s: If you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,


s: You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,


s: With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood--


s: A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!


s: Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie--


s: Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!


s: Harry, our King in England, from London town is gone,


s: And comen to Hamull on the Hoke in the countie of Suthampton.


s: For there lay _The Mary of the Tower_, his ship of war so strong,


s: He told not none of his setting forth, nor yet where he would go


s: (But only my Lord of Arundel), and meanly did he show,


s: In an old jerkin and patched hose that no man might him mark;


s: With his frieze hood and cloak above, he looked like any clerk.


s: He was at Hamull on the Hoke about the hour of the tide.


s: And saw the _Mary_ haled into dock, the winter to abide,


s: With all her tackle and habiliments which are the King his own;


s: They heaved the main-mast overboard, that was of a trusty tree,


s: To maken beds for their own wives and little children also.


s: There was a knave called Slingawai, he crope beneath the deck.


s: Crying: 'Good felawes, come and see! The ship is nigh a wreck!


s: With that he set the pott on his head and hied him up the hatch,


s: He caught Slingawai round the waist and threw him on to the mud.


s: 'Gramercy, yeoman!' said our King. 'Thy council liketh me.'


s: And behind him the Mayor and Burgesses of merry Suthampton town.


s: When they had beaten Slingawai, out of his own lips


s: Our King appointed Brygandyne to be Clerk of all his ships.


s: Night and the liquor was in their heads--


s: Till they waked the keepers on their beds,


s: They had killed a hart, they had killed a hind,


s: Till they met a man with a green lantern


s: 'Oh, we've broke into Lord Pelham's park,


s: And the ground before them opened and sank


s: 'Oh, that's because it is precious stones


s: And the keepers' hound had followed 'em close,


s: So they picked up their knives and their crossbows


s: I reckon there's more things told than are true,


s: 'Then wipe the sweat from brow and cheek.


s: _You've finished with the Flesh, my lord._


s: For he ran me down with a three-reef mains'le.'


s: For he ran me down under all plain canvas.'


s: 'I caught him young and I used him sore,


s: So you never shall startle Frankie more,