Then the money paid at Lloyd's caught her by the heel, And the stars ran round and round dancin' at our death. Aching for an hour's sleep, dozing off between ; 'Heard the rotten rivets draw when she took it green; 'Watched the compass chase its tail like a cat at play That was on the Bolivar, south across the Bay. Once we saw between the squalls, lyin' head to swell Mad with work and weariness, wishin' they was weSome damned Liner's lights go by like a long hotel; Cheered her from the Bolivar swampin' in the sea. Then a grayback cleared us out, then the skipper laughed; "Boys, the wheel has gone to Hell-rig the winches aft! Yoke the kicking rudder-head-get her under So we steered her, pulley-haul, out across the Just a pack o' rotten plates puttied up with tar, we Euchred God Almighty's storm, bluffed the Seven men from all the world, back to town again, Rollin' down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and raising Cain: Seven men from out of Hell. Ain't the owners gay, 'Cause we took the "Bolivar" safe across the Bay? THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB Er-Heb beyond the Hills of Ao-Safai Thence the tale Comes westward o'er the peaks to India. The story of Bisesa, Armod's child,- Taman is One and greater than us all, This is Taman, the God of all Er-Heb, And presently will break the Gods he made, Who give him milk-dry ewes and cheat his Priests, When all the Valley followed after Kysh He sent the Sickness out upon the hills, And the Red Horse snuffed thrice into the wind, And the Red Horse stamped thrice upon the snow, The naked snow that had no fear of him; The ringing rocks that had no fear of him; And downward, where the lean birch meets the snow, And downward, where the gray pine meets the birch, And downward, where the dwarf oak meets the pine, Till at his feet our cup-like pastures lay. That night, the slow mists of the evening dropped, White waves that rocked and heaved and then were still, Beneath the moonlight, filled with sluggish mist That night, the Red Horse grazed above the Dam, Beyond the cattle-troughs. Men heard him feed, And those that heard him sickened where they lay. Thus came the Sickness to Er-Heb, and slew That night, the slow mists of the evening dropped, Beneath the moonlight, filled with sluggish mist. That night, the Red Horse grazed beyond the Dam, A stone's throw from the troughs. Men heard him feed, And those that heard him sickened where they lay. Of men a score, and of the women eight, Because the road To Gorukh was a road of enemies, And Ao-Safai was blocked with early snow, |