Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/111

 For wery nigh a century I lived with the crabs, An' danced wi' the Mermaids too, An' drove about the Ocean in mother o' pearl cabs, An' dwelt in a cavern so blue, so blue, so blue; An' dwelt in a cavern so blue. .—Then the raging sea, etc.

I soon forgot the sorrows o' the world above In the pleasures o' the life below; Queer fish they made up to me the want o' human love. As through the world o' waters I did go, did go, did go; As through the world o' waters I did go. .—Then the raging sea, etc.

One day a horrid grampus caught me all by the nose, An' swung me up to the land,— An' I never went to sea again, as everybody knows, And as everybody well may understand, 'derstand, 'derstand, And as everybody well may understand. .—Then the raging sea, etc.

The plaudits with which this song was received were, it need scarcely be remarked, due more to the vigour of the chorus and the enthusiasm of the audience than to intrinsic merit. Even Robin Wright was carried off his legs for the moment, and, modest though he was, broke in at the chorus with such effect—his voice being shrill and clear—that he unintentionally outyelled all the rest, and would have fled in consternation from the saloon if he had not been caught and forcibly detained by the