Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/534

 Si6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

THE SHUT-EYE SENTRY

CEZ the Junior Orderly Sergeant

To the Senior Orderly Man : "Our Orderly Orf'cer's hokee-mut, 1

"You 'elp 'im all you can. "For the wine was old and the night is cold,

"An* the best we may go wrong, "So, 'fore 'e gits to the sentry-box, "You pass the word along."

So it was "Rounds ! What Rounds ? " at two of a frosty night, 'E's 'oldin on by the sergeant's fash, but, sentry, shut your eye.

An' it was "Pass ! Alfs well! Oh, ain't 'e drippin tight ! 'Ell need an affidavit pretty badly by-an'-by. "

The moon was white on the barricks,

The road was white an' wide, An' the Orderly Orf'cer took it all,

An' the ten-foot ditch beside. An' the corporal pulled an' the sergeant pushed,

An* the three they danced along, But I'd shut my eyes in the sentry-box,

So I didn't see nothin' wrong.

Though it was "Rounds ! What Rounds ?" corporal, 'old

'im up I 'E's usin' 'is cap as it shouldn't be used, but, sentry, shut

your eye.

An it was "Pass ! All's well ! Ho, shun thefoamin cup ! 'Ell need," etc.

'Very drunk.