Felt her hog and felt her sag, betted when she'd

break;

Wondered every time she raced if she'd stand.

the shock;

Heard the seas like drunken men pounding at her

strake;

Hoped the Lord 'ud keep his thumb on the plummer-block.

Banged against the iron decks, bilges choked with coal;

Flayed and frozen foot and hand, sick of heart and soul;

Last we prayed she'd buck herself into Judgment Day

Hi! we cursed the 'Bolivar' knocking round

the Bay!

O her nose flung up to sky, groaning to be stillUp and down and back we went, never time

for breath;

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 be

tween ;

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

we

Some damned Liner's lights go by like a grand

hotel;

Cheered her from the 'Bolivar' swampin' in the

sea.

Then a greyback 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 way!

So we steered her, pully-haul, out across the

Bay!

Just a pack o' rotten plates puttied up with tar,
In we came, an' time enough, 'cross Bilbao Bar.
Overloaded, undermanned, meant to founder,

we

Euchred God Almighty's storm, bluffed the
Eternal Sea!

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
Bears witness to the truth, and Ao-Safai

Hath told the men of Gorukh.

Thence the tale

Comes westward o'er the peaks to India.

The story of Bisesa, Armod's child,—
A maiden plighted to the Chief in War,
The Man of Sixty Spears, who held the Pass
That leads to Thibet, but to-day is gone

To seek his comfort of the God called Budh
The Silent-showing how the Sickness ceased
Because of her who died to save the tribe.

Taman is One and greater than us all,
Taman is One and greater than all Gods:
Taman is Two in One and rides the sky,

Curved like a stallion's croup, from dusk to dawn,

And drums upon it with his heels, whereby

Is bred the neighing thunder in the hills.

This is Taman, the God of all Er-Heb,

Who was before all Gods, and made all Gods,
And presently will break the Gods he made,
And step upon the Earth to govern men

Who give him milk-dry ewes and cheat his Priests,
Or leave his shrine unlighted—as Er-Heb

Left it unlighted and forgot Taman,

When all the Valley followed after Kysh
And Yabosh, little Gods but very wise,
And from the sky Taman beheld their sin.

He sent the Sickness out upon the hills

The Red Horse Sickness with the iron hooves,

To turn the Valley to Taman again.

And the Red Horse snuffed thrice into the wind,

The naked wind that had no fear of him;