The World of IceBallantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
General
The World of Ice
Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Adventure stories; Arctic regions -- Fiction; Whaling -- Fiction
My comrades, you must know
It was many years ago
I left my daddy's cottage in the greenwood O!
And I jined a man-o'-war
An' became a jolly tar,
An' fought for king and country on the high seas O!
Pull, boys, cheerily, our home is on the sea
Pull, boys, merrily and lightly O!
Pull, boys, cheerily, the wind is passing free
An' whirling up the foam an' water sky-high O!
There's been many a noble fight,
But Trafalgar was the sight
That beat the Greeks and Romans in their glory O!
For Britain's jolly sons
Worked the thunder-blazing guns,
And Nelson stood the bravest in the fore-front O!
Pull, boys, etc.
A roaring cannon shot
Came an' hit the very spot
Where my leg goes click-an'-jumble in the socket O!
And swept it overboard
With the precious little hoard
Of pipe an' tin an' baccy in the pocket O!
Pull, boys, etc.
They took me down below,
An' they laid me with a row
Of killed and wounded messmates on a table O!
Then up comes Dr. Keg,
An' says, Here's a livin' leg
I'll sew upon the stump if I am able O!
Pull, boys, etc.
This good and sturdy limb
Had belonged to fightin' Tim,
An' scarcely had they sewed it on the socket O!
When up the hatch I flew,
An' dashed among the crew,
An' sprang on board the Frenchman like a rocket O!
Pull, boys, etc.
'Twas this that gained the day,
For that leg it cleared the way--
And the battle raged like fury while it lasted O!
Then ceased the shot and shell
To fall upon the swell,
And the Union Jack went bravely to the mast-head O!'
Pull, boys, etc.
We need scarcely say that this song was enthusiastically encored, and
that the chorus was done full justice to by the audience, who picked it
up at once and sang it with lusty vehemence. At the last word Ben Bolt
nodded familiarly, thrust his hands into his pockets, and swaggered off
whistling "Yankee Doodle." It was a matter of uncertainty where he had
swaggered off to, but it was conjectured that he had gone on his journey
to anywhere that might turn up.
Meanwhile, Blunderbore had been bobbing his head up and down behind the
hummock in amazement at what he heard and saw, and when Ben Bolt made
his exit he came forward. This was the signal for the two bears to
discover him and rush on with a terrific roar. Blunderbore instantly
fetched them each a sounding whack on their skulls, leaped over both
their backs, and bounded up the side of the iceberg, where he took
refuge, and turned at bay on a little ice pinnacle constructed expressly
for that purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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