Then mock not the African kopje,
And rub not your flank on its side,
The silent and simmering kopje,
The kopje beloved by the guide.
You can never be, etc.

Then mock not the African kopje,
Especially when it is twins,

One sharp and one table-topped kopje,
For that's where the trouble begins.
You never can be, etc.

Only two African kopjes

Baited the same as before

Only we've had it so often,

Only we're taking no more
Only a wave to our troopers,
Only our flanks swinging past,

Only a dozen voorloopers,
Only we've learned it at last!

Then mock not the African kopje,
But take off your hat to the same,
The patient, impartial old kopje,

The kopje that taught us the game!
For all that we knew in the Columns,
And all they've forgot on the Staff,
We learned at the fight o' Two Kopjes,
Which lasted two years an' a half.

O mock not the African kopje,

Not even when peace has been signed— The kopje that isn't a kopje

The kopje that copies its kind.

You can never be sure of your kopje,

But of this be you blooming well sure,

That a kopje is always a kopje,
And a Boojer is always a Boer!

THE INSTRUCTOR

(Corporals)

T times when under cover I have said,

Α

To keep my spirits up an' raise a laugh,
'Earin' 'im pass so busy over-'ead-

Old Nickel Neck, 'oo isn't on the Staff-
"There's one above is greater than us all.'

Before 'im I 'ave seen my Colonel fall,
An' watched 'im write my Captain's epitaph,
So that a long way off it could be read-
He 'as the knack o' makin' men feel small-
Old Whistle Tip, 'oo isn't on the Staff.

There is no sense in fleein' (I 'ave fled),
Better go on an' do the belly-crawl,
An' 'ope 'e'll 'it some other man instead
Of you 'e seems to 'unt so speshual-
Fitzy van Spitz, 'oo isn't on the Staff.

An' thus in mem'ry's gratis biograph,
Now that the show is over, I recall
The peevish voice an' 'oary mushroom 'ead
Of 'im we owned was greater than us all,
'Oo give instruction to the quick an' the dead-
The Shudderin' Beggar not upon the Staff.

BOOTS

(Infantry Columns of the Earlier War)

E'RE foot-slog-slog-slog-sloggin' over

WE

Africa!

Foot-foot-foot-foot-sloggin' over Africa— (Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up and down again!)

There's no discharge in the war!

Seven-six-eleven-five-nine-an'-twenty mile to

day

Four-eleven-seventeen-thirty-two the day before— (Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up and down

again!)

There's no discharge in the war!

Don't-don't-don't-don't-look at what's in front of

you

(Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up an' down

again);

Men-men-men-men-men go mad with watchin'

'em,

An' there's no discharge in the war.

Try-try-try-try-to think o' something differentOh-my-God-keep-me from goin' lunatic!

BOOTS

(Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up an' down

again!)

There's no discharge in the war.

Count-count-count-count-the bullets in the ban

doliers;

If-your-eyes-drop-they will get atop o' you (Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up and down

again)

There's no discharge in the war!

We-can-stick-out-'unger, thirst, an' weariness, But-not-not-not-not the chronic sight of 'em— Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up an' down again, An' there's no discharge in the war!

"Tain't-so-bad-by-day because o' company, But night-brings-long-strings o' forty thousand

million

Boots-boots-boots-boots, movin' up an' down again. There's no discharge in the war!

I-'ave-marched-six-weeks in 'Ell an' certify
It-is-not-fire-devils dark or anything

But boots-boots-boots, movin' up an' down again
An' there's no discharge in the war!