Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/178

156 But—cheap repairs for a cheap 'un—the doctors said I'd do:

Mary, why didn't you warn me? I've allus heeded to you,

Excep'—I know—about women; but you are a spirit now;

An', wife, they was only women, and I was a man. That's how.

An' a man 'e must go with a woman, as you could not understand;

But I never talked 'em secrets. I paid 'em out o' hand.

Thank Gawd, I can pay for my fancies! Now what's five thousand to me,

For a berth off the Paternosters in the haven where I would be?

I believe in the Resurrection, if I read my Bible plain,

But I wouldn't trust 'em at Wokin'; we're safer at sea again.

For the heart it shall go with the treasure—go down to the sea in ships.

I'm sick of the hired women—I'll kiss my girl on her lips!