Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/352

168 It ain't the chanst o' being rushed by Paythans from the 'ills,

It's the commissariat camel puttin' on 'is bloomin frills!

O the oont, O the oont, O the hairy, scary oont!

A-trippin' over tent-ropes when we've got the night alarm!

We socks 'im with a stretcher-pole an' 'eads 'im off in front,

An' when we've saved 'is bloomin' life 'e chaws our bloomin' arm.

The 'orse 'e knows above a bit, the bullock's but a fool,

The elephant's a gentleman, the battery-mule's a mule;

But the commissariat cam-u-el, when all is said an' done,

'E's a devil an' a ostrich an' a orphan-child in one.

O the oont, O the oont, the Gawd-forsaken oont!

The lumpy-'umpy 'ummin'-bird a-singin' where 'e lies,