Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/275

Rh Then Farmer said, "I'll try, sir," and Farmer bowed so low

That George could see his pigtail tied in a velvet bow.

George gave him his commission, and that it might be safer,

Signed "King of Britain, King of France," and sealed it with a wafer.

Then proud was Captain Farmer in a frigate of his own,

And grander on his quarter-deck than George upon his throne.

He'd two guns in his cabin, and on the spar-deck ten,

And twenty on the gun-deck, and more than ten-score men.

And as a hunstman scours the brakes with sixteen brace of dogs,

With two-and-thirty cannon the ship explored the fogs.

From Cape la Hogue to Ushant, from Rochefort to Belleisle,

She hunted game till reef and mud were rubbing on her keel.

The fogs are dried, the frigate's side is bright with melting tar,

The lad up in the foretop sees square white sails afar;

The east wind drives three square-sailed masts from out the Breton bay,

And "Clear for action!" Farmer shouts, and reefers veil "Hooray!"