Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/208

170 The good mate said: "Now must we pray,

For lo! the very stars are gone;

Speak, Admiral, what shall I say?"

"Why say, sail on! and on!"

"My men grow mut'nous day by day;

My men grow ghastly wan and weak."

The stout mate thought of home; a spray

Of salt wave wash'd his swarthy cheek.

"What shall I say, brave Admiral,

If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"

"Why, you shall say, at break of day:

'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,

Until at last the blanch'd mate said;

"Why, now, not even God would know

Should I and all my men fall dead.

These very winds forget their way,

For God from these dread seas is gone.

Now speak, brave Admiral, and say"

He said: "Sail on! and on!"

They sailed, they sailed, then spoke his mate:

"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night,

He curls his lip, he lies in wait,

With lifted teeth as if to bite!

Brave Admiral, say but one word;

What shall we do when hope is gone?"

The words leaped as a leaping sword:

"Sail on! sail on! and on!"

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,

And thro' the darkness peered that night