Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/254

70 Leaking like a lobster-pot, steering like a dray—

Out we took the "Bolivar," out across the Bay!

One by one the Lights came up, winked and let us by;

Mile by mile we waddled on, coal and fo'c'sle short;

Met a blow that laid us down, heard a bulkhead fly;

Left The Wolf behind us with a two-foot list to port.

Trailing like a wounded duck, working out her soul;

Clanging like a smithy-shop after every roll;

Just a funnel and a mast lurching through the spray—

So we threshed the "Bolivar" out across the Bay!

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

Wondered every time she raced if she'd stand the shock;