Songs of Action by Arthur Conan Doyle (large screen ebook reader TXT) 📖

poor devil, I was trying

To forget, and not to blame.

‘And this locket, I unclasped it From the fingers that still grasped it: He told me how he got it,

How he stole it in a valse.’ And she listened leaden-hearted: Oh, the weary day they parted! For she loved him—yes, she loved him - For his youth and for his truth,

And for those dying words, so false.

THE FRONTIER LINE

What marks the frontier line?

Thou man of India, say! Is it the Himalayas sheer, The rocks and valleys of Cashmere, Or Indus as she seeks the south From Attoch to the fivefold mouth?

‘Not that! Not that!’

Then answer me, I pray! What marks the frontier line?

What marks the frontier line?

Thou man of Burmah, speak! Is it traced from Mandalay, And down the marches of Cathay, From Bhamo south to Kiang-mai, And where the buried rubies lie?

‘Not that! Not that!’

Then tell me what I seek: What marks the frontier line?

What marks the frontier line?

Thou Africander, say! Is it shown by Zulu kraal, By Drakensberg or winding Vaal, Or where the Shire waters seek Their outlet east at Mozambique?

‘Not that! Not that!

There is a surer way To mark the frontier line.’

What marks the frontier line?

Thou man of Egypt, tell! Is it traced on Luxor’s sand, Where Karnak’s painted pillars stand, Or where the river runs between The Ethiop and Bishareen?

‘Not that! Not that!

By neither stream nor well We mark the frontier line.

‘But be it east or west,

One common sign we bear, The tongue may change, the soil, the sky, But where your British brothers lie, The lonely cairn, the nameless grave, Still fringe the flowing Saxon wave.

‘Tis that! ‘Tis where

THEY lie—the men who placed it there, That marks the frontier line.’

 

CORPORAL DICK’S PROMOTION A BALLAD OF ‘82

 

The Eastern day was well-nigh o’er When, parched with thirst and travel sore, Two of McPherson’s flanking corps

Across the Desert were tramping. They had wandered off from the beaten track And now were wearily harking back, Ever staring round for the signal jack

That marked their comrades camping.

The one was Corporal Robert Dick, Bearded and burly, short and thick, Rough of speech and in temper quick,

A hard-faced old rapscallion. The other, fresh from the barrack square, Was a raw recruit, smooth-cheeked and fair Half grown, half drilled, with the weedy air

Of a draft from the home battalion.

Weary and parched and hunger-torn, They had wandered on from early morn, And the young boy-soldier limped forlorn,

Now stumbling and now falling. Around the orange sand-curves lay, Flecked with boulders, black or grey, Death-silent, save that far away

A kite was shrilly calling.

A kite? Was THAT a kite? The yell That shrilly rose and faintly fell? No kite’s, and yet the kite knows well

The long-drawn wild halloo. And right athwart the evening sky The yellow sand-spray spurtled high, And shrill and shriller swelled the cry

Of ‘Allah! Allahu!’

The Corporal peered at the crimson West, Hid his pipe in his khaki vest. Growled out an oath and onward pressed,

Still glancing over his shoulder. ‘Bedouins, mate!’ he curtly said; ‘We’ll find some work for steel and lead, And maybe sleep in a sandy bed,

Before we’re one hour older.

‘But just one flutter before we’re done. Stiffen your lip and stand, my son; We’ll take this bloomin’ circus on:

Ball-cartridge load! Now, steady!’ With a curse and a prayer the two faced round, Dogged and grim they stood their ground, And their breech-blocks snapped with a crisp clean sound

As the rifles sprang to the ‘ready.’

Alas for the Emir Ali Khan! A hundred paces before his clan, That ebony steed of the prophet’s breed

Is the foal of death and of danger. A spurt of fire, a gasp of pain, A blueish blurr on the yellow plain, The chief was down, and his bridle rein

Was in the grip of the stranger.

With the light of hope on his rugged face, The Corporal sprang to the dead man’s place, One prick with the steel, one thrust with the heel,

And where was the man to outride him? A grip of his knees, a toss of his rein, He was settling her down to her gallop again, When he stopped, for he heard just one faltering word

From the young recruit beside him.

One faltering word from pal to pal, But it found the heart of the Corporal. He had sprung to the sand, he had lent him a hand,

‘Up, mate! They’ll be ‘ere in a minute; Off with you! No palaver! Go! I’ll bide be’ind and run this show. Promotion has been cursed slow,

And this is my chance to win it.’

Into the saddle he thrust him quick, Spurred the black mare with a bayonet prick. Watched her gallop with plunge and with kick

Away o’er the desert careering. Then he turned with a softened face, And loosened the strap of his cartridge-case, While his thoughts flew back to the dear old place

In the sunny Hampshire clearing.

The young boy-private, glancing back, Saw the Bedouins’ wild attack, And heard the sharp Martini crack.

But as he gazed, already The fierce fanatic Arab band Was closing in on every hand, Until one tawny swirl of sand,

Concealed them in its eddy.

 

*

 

A squadron of British horse that night, Galloping hard in the shadowy light, Came on the scene of that last stern fight,

And found the Corporal lying Silent and grim on the trampled sand, His rifle grasped in his stiffened hand, With the warrior pride of one who died

‘Mid a ring of the dead and the dying.

And still when twilight shadows fall, After the evening bugle call, In bivouac or in barrack-hall, His comrades speak of the Corporal,

His death and his devotion. And there are some who like to say That perhaps a hidden meaning lay In the words he spoke, and that the day When his rough bold spirit passed away

WAS the day that he won promotion.

A FORGOTTEN TALE

[The scene of this ancient fight, recorded by Froissart, is still called ‘Altura de los Inglesos.’ Five hundred years later Wellington’s soldiers were fighting on the same ground.]

‘Say, what saw you on the hill,

Campesino Garcia?’ ‘I saw my brindled heifer there, A trail of bowmen, spent and bare, And a little man on a sorrel mare

Riding slow before them.’

‘Say, what saw you in the vale,

Campesino Garcia?’ ‘There I saw my lambing ewe And an army riding through, Thick and brave the pennons flew

From the lances o’er them.’

‘Then what saw you on the hill,

Campesino Garcia?’ ‘I saw beside the milking byre, White with want and black with mire, The little man with eyes afire

Marshalling his bowmen.’

‘Then what saw you in the vale,

Campesino Garcia?’ ‘There I saw my bullocks twain, And amid my uncut grain All the hardy men of Spain

Spurring for their foemen.’

‘Nay, but there is more to tell,

Campesino Garcia!’ ‘I could not bide the end to view; I had graver things to do Tending on the lambing ewe

Down among the clover.’

‘Ah, but tell me what you heard,

Campesino Garcia!’ ‘Shouting from the mountain-side, Shouting until eventide; But it dwindled and it died

Ere milking time was over.’

‘Nay, but saw you nothing more,

Campesino Garcia?’ ‘Yes, I saw them lying there, The little man and sorrel mare; And in their ranks the bowmen fair,

With their staves before them.’

‘And the hardy men of Spain,

Campesino Garcia?’ ‘Hush! but we are Spanish too; More I may not say to you: May God’s benison, like dew,

Gently settle o’er them.’

PENNARBY MINE

Pennarby shaft is dark and steep, Eight foot wide, eight hundred deep. Stout the bucket and tough the cord, Strong as the arm of Winchman Ford.

‘Never look down!

Stick to the line!’ That was the saying at Pennarby mine.

A stranger came to Pennarby shaft. Lord, to see how the miners laughed! White in the collar and stiff in the hat, With his patent boots and his silk cravat,

Picking his way,

Dainty and fine, Stepping on tiptoe to Pennarby mine.

Touring from London, so he said. Was it copper they dug for? or gold? or lead? Where did they find it? How did it come? If he tried with a shovel might HE get some?

Stooping so much

Was bad for the spine; And wasn’t it warmish in Pennarby mine?

‘Twas like two worlds that met that day - The world of work and the world of play; And the grimy lads from the reeking shaft Nudged each other and grinned and chaffed.

‘Got ‘em all out!’

‘A cousin of mine!’ So ran the banter at Pennarby mine.

And Carnbrae Bob, the Pennarby wit, Told him the facts about the pit: How they bored the shaft till the brimstone smell Warned them off from tapping—well,

He wouldn’t say what,

But they took it as sign To dig no deeper in Pennarby mine.

Then leaning over and peering in, He was pointing out what he said was tin In the ten-foot lode—a crash! a jar! A grasping hand and a splintered bar.

Gone in his strength,

With the lips that laughed - Oh, the pale faces round Pennarby shaft!

Far down on a narrow ledge, They saw him cling to the crumbling edge. ‘Wait for the bucket! Hi, man! Stay! That rope ain’t safe! It’s worn away!

He’s taking his chance,

Slack out the line! Sweet Lord be with him!’ cried Pennarby mine.

‘He’s got him! He has him! Pull with a will! Thank God! He’s over and breathing still. And he—Lord’s sakes now! What’s that? Well! Blowed if it ain’t our London swell.

Your heart is right

If your coat IS fine: Give us your hand!’ cried Pennarby mine.

A ROVER CHANTY

A trader sailed from Stepney town - Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the mainsail! A trader sailed from Stepney town With a keg full of gold and a velvet gown:

Ho, the bully rover Jack,

Waiting with his yard aback Out upon the Lowland sea!

The trader he had a daughter fair - Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the foresail The trader he had a daughter fair, She had gold in her ears, and gold in her hair:

All for bully rover Jack,

Waiting with his yard aback, Out upon the Lowland sea!

‘Alas the day, oh daughter mine!’ - Shake her up! Wake her up! Try her with the topsail! ‘Alas the day, oh daughter mine! Yon red, red flag is a fearsome sign!’

Ho, the bully rover Jack,

Reaching on the weather tack, Out upon the Lowland sea!

‘A fearsome flag!’ the maiden cried - Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the jibsail! ‘A fearsome flag!’ the maiden cried, But comelier men I never have spied!’

Ho, the bully rover Jack,

Reaching on the weather tack, Out upon the Lowland sea!

There’s a wooden path that the rovers know - Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the headsails! There’s a wooden path that the rovers know, Where none come back, though many must go:

Ho, the bully rover Jack,

Lying with his yard aback, Out upon the Lowland sea!

Where is the trader of Stepney town? - Wake her up! Shake her up! Every stick a-bending! Where is the trader of Stepney town? There’s gold on the capstan, and blood on the gown:

Ho for bully rover Jack,

Waiting with his yard aback, Out upon the Lowland sea!

Where is the maiden who knelt at his side? - Wake her up! Shake her up! Every stitch a-drawing! Where is the maiden