Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/167

Rh By the Little Paternosters, as you come to the Union Bank—

And we dropped her in fourteen fathom; I pricked it off where she sank.

Owners we were, full owners, and the boat was christened for her,

And she died in the Mary Gloster. My heart, how young we were!

So I went on a spree round Java and well-nigh ran her ashore,

But your mother came and warned me and I wouldn't liquor no more:

Strict I stuck to my business, afraid to stop or I'd think,

Saving the money (she warned me), and letting the other men drink.

And I met M'Cullough in London (I'd turned five 'undred then),

And 'tween us we started the Foundry—three forges and twenty men:

Cheap repairs for the cheap 'uns. It paid, and the business grew,

For I bought me a steam-lathe patent, and that was a gold mine too.