Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/208

 CHOLERA CAMP

got the cholerer in camp—it's worse than forty fights;

We're dyin' in the wilderness the same as Isrulites;

It's before us, an' be'ind us, an' we cannot get away,

An' the doctor's just reported we've ten more to-day!

Oh, strike your camp an' go, the bugle's callin',

The Rains are fallin'—

The dead are bushed an' stoned to keep 'em safe below;

The Band's a-doin all she knows to cheer us;

The chaplain's gone and prayed to Gawd to 'ear us—

To 'ear us—

O Lord, for it's a-killin' of us so!

186