Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/193

Rh The Colonel's son a pistol drew and held it 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 mountain-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 on 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.

"So thou must eat the White Queen's meat, and all her foes are thine,

"And thou must harry thy father's hold for the peace of the Border-line,