Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/201

 THAT DAY

It got beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope;

It got to shammin' wounded an' retirin' from the 'alt.

'Ole companies was lookin' for the nearest road to slope;

It were just a bloomin' knock-out—an' our fault!

Now there ain't no chorus 'ere to give,

Nor there ain't no band to play;

An I wish I was dead 'fore I done what I did,

Or seen what I seed that day!

We was sick o' bein' punished, an' we let 'em know it, too;

An' a company-commander up an' 'it us with a sword, 179