Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/119

Rh And some of us drift to Sarawak,

And some of us drift up The Fly,

And some share our tucker with tigers,

And some with the gentle Masai

(Dear boys!),

Take tea with the giddy Masai.

We've painted The Islands vermilion,

We've pearled on half-shares in the Bay,

We've shouted on seven-ounce nuggets,

We've starved on a Seedeeboy's pay;

We've laughed at the world as we found it,—

Its women and cities and men—

From Sayyid Burgash in a tantrum

To the smoke-reddened eyes of Loben

(Dear boys!),

We've a little account with Loben.

The ends o' the Earth were our portion,

The ocean at large was our share.

There was never a skirmish to windward

But the Leaderless Legion was there: