Part 17

And men who had fought with O'Neil for the life Had gazed on his face with less dread than his wife.

For she who had held him so long could not hold him -- Though a four-month Eternity should have controlled him --

But watched the twin Terror -- the head turned to head -- The scowling, scarred Black, and the flushed savage Red --

The spirit that changed from her knowing and flew to Some grim hidden Past she had never a clue to.

But It knew as It grinned, for he touched it unfearing, And muttered aloud, “So you kept that jade earring!”

Then nodded, and kindly, as friend nods to friend, “Old man, you fought well, but you lost in the end.”

. . . . .

The visions departed, and Shame followed Passion: -- “He took what I said in this horrible fashion,

“I'll write to Harendra!” With language unsainted The Captain came back to the Bride. . .who had fainted.

. . . . .

And this is a fiction? No. Go to Simoorie And look at their baby, a twelve-month old Houri,

A pert little, Irish-eyed Kathleen Mavournin -- She's always about on the Mall of a mornin' --

And you'll see, if her right shoulder-strap is displaced, This: Gules upon argent, a Boh's Head, erased!

THE LAMENT OF THE BORDER CATTLE THIEF

O woe is me for the merry life I led beyond the Bar, And a treble woe for my winsome wife That weeps at Shalimar.

They have taken away my long jezail, My shield and sabre fine, And heaved me into the Central jail For lifting of the kine.

The steer may low within the byre, The Jat may tend his grain, But there'll be neither loot nor fire Till I come back again.

And God have mercy on the Jat When once my fetters fall, And Heaven defend the farmer's hut When I am loosed from thrall.

It's woe to bend the stubborn back Above the grinching quern, It's woe to hear the leg-bar clack And jingle when I turn!

But for the sorrow and the shame, The brand on me and mine, I'll pay you back in leaping flame And loss of the butchered kine.

For every cow I spared before In charity set free, If I may reach my hold once more I'll reive an honest three.

For every time I raised the low That scared the dusty plain, By sword and cord, by torch and tow I'll light the land with twain!

Ride hard, ride hard to Abazai, Young Sahib with the yellow hair -- Lie close, lie close as khuttucks lie, Fat herds below Bonair!

The one I'll shoot at twilight-tide, At dawn I'll drive the other; The black shall mourn for hoof and hide, The white man for his brother.

'Tis war, red war, I'll give you then, War till my sinews fail; For the wrong you have done to a chief of men, And a thief of the Zukka Kheyl.

And if I fall to your hand afresh I give you leave for the sin, That you cram my throat with the foul pig's flesh, And swing me in the skin!

THE RHYME OF THE THREE CAPTAINS

This ballad appears to refer to one of the exploits of the notorious Paul Jones, the American pirate. It is founded on fact.