Page:Songs from the Southern Seas and Other Poems (1873).djvu/108

104 How 'possums and kangaroo rats were killed; And when that was learned, I helped him to build From mahogany slabs a good bush hut, And showed him how sandal-wood logs were cut. I lived up there with him days and days, For I loved the lad for his honest ways. I had only one fault to find: at first Dave worked too hard; for a lad who was nursed, As he was, in idleness, it was strange How he cleared that sandal-wood off his range. From the morning light till the light expired He was always working, he never tired; Till at length I began to think his will Was too much settled on wealth, and still When I looked at the lad's brown face, and eye Clear open, my heart gave such thought the lie. But one day—for he read my mind—he laid His hand on my shoulder: "Don't be afraid," Said he, "that I'm seeking alone for pelf. I work hard, friend; but 'tis not for myself."

And he told me then, in his quiet tone. Of a girl in Scotland, who was his own,—