Page:Poems, Volume 1, Coates, 1916.djvu/108

86 With one brave Sergeant, swam the stream,

His precious drum held high,

And from the river dripping rose

Amid the battle's hum,

A French refrain, with might and main,

To pound upon his drum.

The Austrians at Arcola

Seemed fifty thousand strong,

But many were the raw recruits

Among that mighty throng,

Who hearing Frenchmen in the rear,

Listened, confused and dumb,

Then gave a shout,—"We're hemmed about!"

And fled—before a drum!

The courage shown at Arcola

By André Estienne—

The lesson taught at Arcola

Is wholesome now as then.

Needs there a moral to the tale?

Then read in this its sum:

The greatest strength may yield at length,

When sounds a hero's drum!