Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/315

 (For these be matters a man would hide, As a general rule, from an innocent Bride.)

And little the Captain thought of the past, And, of all men, Babu Harendra last.

But slow, in the sludge of the Kathun road, The Government Bullock Train toted its load.

Speckless and spotless and shining with ghee, In the rearmost cart sat the Babu-jee;

And ever a phantom before him fled Of a scowling Boh with a silver head.

Then the lead-cart stuck, though the coolies slaved, And the cartmen flogged and the escort raved,

And out of the jungle, with yells and squeals, Pranced Boh Da Thone, and his gang at his heels!

Then belching blunderbuss answered back The Snider's snarl and the carbine's crack,

And the blithe revolver began to sing To the blade that twanged on the locking-ring,

And the brown flesh blued where the bayonet kissed, As the steel shot back with a wrench and a twist,

And the great white bullocks with onyx eyes Watched the souls of the dead arise,

And over the smoke of the fusillade The Peacock Banner staggered and swayed.