Page:Rideout--Beached keels.djvu/207

Rh Walk her round, boys-oh-boys, We 're all bound to go. Walk her round, my"—

"Please don't sing that, either," Marden broke in with unusual gentleness.

His brother looked up in wrathful surprise.

"Why, look a-here," he bellowed. "What's the matter with you? The' ain't a word o' dirt in that song, so help me."

Marden could not have explained to him what echoes it had raised, and was silent.

"You 're a beauty, you are," growled Lee. "You ain't got common sense. A man's got to come down to psalm-singin', like a reg'lar Rescue Mission.—Well, here's one for ye, parson, that I learned from Scotty McKenzie." And, with a fair imitation of the Scots, he croaked away:—

John come kiss me now, John come kiss me now, John come kiss me by and by.
 * And mak na mair adow.

The Lord thy God I am. That, John, doth thee call. John signifies man.
 * By grace ce-les-ti-all.