A BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST.

RUDYARD KIPLING.

KAMAL is out with twenty men to raise the border side,

And he has lifted the colonel's mare that is the colonel's

pride;

He has lifted her out of the stable door between the dawn and

the day,

And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away. Then up and spoke the colonel's son, that led a troop of the

Guides:

"Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides ?"

Then up and spoke Mohammed Khan, the son of Ressaldar : "If ye know the track of the morning mist, ye know where his pickets are.

At dusk he harries the Abazal; at dawn he is into Bonair;

But he must go by Fort Monroe to his own place to fare.

So if ye gallop to Fort Monroe as fast as a bird can fly,

By the favor of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai.

But if he be past the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye

then,

For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal's men."

The colonel's son has taken a horse, and a raw, rough dun was he,

With the mouth of a bell and the heart of hell, and the head of the gallows tree.

The colonel's son, he's up and away as fast as he can fly,

Till he was aware of his father's mare in the gut of the Tongue

of Jagai;

Till he was aware of his father's mare with Kamal upon her back,

And when he could spy the white of her eye he made the pistol

crack.

He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went wide.

"Ye shoot like a soldier," Kamal said, "show, now, if ye can ride."

It is up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils go; The dun he fled like a stag of ten, hut the mare like a barren doe.

The dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above, But the red mare played with the snaffle bars as a lady plays with a glove.

They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up the dawn;

The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new

roused fawn.

The dun he fell at a watercourse-in a woeful heap fell he

And Kamal has turned the red mare back and pulled the rider

free;

He has knocked the pistol out of his hand-small room there was to strive

""Twas only by favor of mine," quoth he, "ye rode so long alive; There was not a rock for twenty miles, there was not a clump of

trees,

But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knees.

If I had raised my bridle hand, as I have held it low,

The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in a row ;

If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high, The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly."

Lightly answered the colonel's son: "Do good to bird and beast, But count who come for the broken meats before thou makest a

feast,

If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones

away,

Belike the price of jackal's meat were more than a thief could

pay.

They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their men on the garnered grain,

The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are slain.

But if thou thinkest the price be fair, and thy brethren wait to sup,

The hound is kin to the jackal spawn-howl, dog, and call them up!

And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack,

Give me my father's mare again, and I'll fight my own way back!"

Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet, "No talk shall be of dogs," said he, "when wolf and gray wolf

meet;

May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath.

What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with death "

Lightly answered the colonel's son: "I hold by the blood of my clan;

Take up the mare for my father's gift-she will carry no better

man!"

The red mare ran to the colonel's son and nuzzled against his

breast.

"We be two strong men," said Kamal, then, "but she loveth the younger best;

So she shall go with a lifter's dower, my turquoise-studded rein, My broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups twain.'

The colonel's son a pistol drew and held its muzzle-end, 'Ye have taken the one from a foe," said he; "will ye take the mate from a friend ?”

"A gift for a gift," said Kamal, straight; "a limb for the risk of a limb;

Thy father has sent his son to me, I'll send my son to him!" With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a moun

tain crest;

He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a lance in rest.

"Now, here is thy master," Kamal said, "who leads a troop of the Guides.

And thou must ride at his left side, as shield to shoulder rides,
Till death or I cut loose the tie. At camp and board and bed,
Thy life is his; thy fate it is to guard him with thy head.
And thou must eat the White Queen's meat, and all her foes are

thine;

And thou must harry thy father's hold for the piece of the border line,

And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to

power

Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged in Peshawur."

They have looked each other between the eyes and there they found no fault;

They have taken the oath of the brother-in-blood on leavened bread and salt;

They have taken the oath of the brother-in-blood on fire and fresh-cut sod,

On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber-knife and the wondrous names of God.

The colonel's son he rides the mare, and Kamal's boy the dun, And two have come back to Fort Monroe, where there went forth but one.

And when they drew to the quarter guard, full twenty swords flew clear

There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer.

"Ha' done! ha' done!" said the colonel's son.

steel at your sides ;

"Put up your

Last night ye had struck at a border thief, to-night 'tis a man of the Guides!"

Oh, east is east, and west is west, and never the two shall meet

Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat. But there is neither east nor west, border or breed or birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth.

IF

HOW TO EAT A 'POSSUM.

F yuh wants to know what's good, des lis'en: Yuh look at de 'possum and smack yer lips, fer he a big, fine feller. Den yuh take 'im an' go rite back home, an' des fo' yuh git to de do' yuh take yo' axe-helve an' put 'im across de neck an' brake de neck by pullin' of de tail. Den yuh take 'im in de house an' de ole 'oman done lef' a great big fireplace heap' full hick'ry ashes; yuh takes de shubbel an' opens er big hole in dem pile er ashes an' draps dat 'possum in dar; an' when yuh takes 'im outer dar de ha'r des pull off des as easy, an' yuh put 'im in some hot water an' scrapes 'im wid er caseknife an' he cums des as clean. Den yuh takes out der intrals, hang 'im up an' wash 'im good; den yuh salts 'im down an' puts 'im away twel Monday mawnin'. Monday mawnin' cum, de ole 'oman take 'im out an' parbiles 'im good; den she gits 'bout peck o' taters, an' den slices dem taters an' piles 'em all ober 'im, an' den she bakes 'im twel de grease run all fru dem taters. Den she takes 'im out an' puts 'im in de big dish an' sets 'im on de dinner-table, wid de taters piled up all ober 'im.

Yuh cum ter dinner frum der fiel' an' yuh walks in an' sets down to de table, but yuh doan' eat dat 'possum den. Eh! eh! eh! eh! No, sah; doan' eat dat 'possum den. Arter dinner yuh takes 'im an' de taters an' sets 'im up in de cubburd. Bimeby yuh cums