Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/36

18  They were unenlightened men, Ballard knew them not.

They procured their swords and guns chiefly on the spot;

And the lore of centuries, plus a hundred fights,

Made them slow to disregard one another's rights.

With a unanimity dear to patriot hearts

All those hairy gentlemen out of foreign parts

Said: "The good old days are back—let us go to war!"

Swaggered down the Grand Trunk Road into Bow Bazaar,

Nubbee Baksh Punjabi Jat found a hide-bound flail;

Chimbu Singh from Bikaneer oiled his Tonk jezail;

Yar Mahommed Yusufzai spat and grinned with glee

As he ground the butcher-knife of the Khyberee.

Jowar Singh the Sikh procured sabre, quoit, and mace,

Abdul Huq, Wahabi, jerked his dagger from its place,

While amid the jungle-grass danced and grinned and jabbered

Little Boh Hla-oo and cleared his dah-blade from the scabbard.

What became of Mookerjee? Soothly, who can say?

Yar Mahommed only grins in a nasty way,

Jowar Singh is reticent, Chimbu Singh is mute,

But the belts of all of them simply bulge with loot.

What became of Ballard's guns? Afghans black and grubby

Sell them for their silver weight to the men of Pubbi;

And the shiny bowie-knife and the town-made sword are

Hanging in a Marri camp just across the Border.

What became of Mookerjee? Ask Mahommed Yar

Prodding Siva's sacred bull down the Bow Bazaar.

Speak to placid Nubbee Baksh—question land and sea—

Ask the Indian Congressmen—only don't ask me!

