Since August, when it started, it's been sticking to our tail, Tho' they've 'ad us out by marches an' they've 'ad us back by rail; But it runs as fast as troop-trains, an' we can not get away; An' the sick-list to the Colonel makes ten more to-day. There ain't no fun in women nor there ain't no bite to drink; It's much too wet for shootin', we can only march and think; An' at evenin', down the nullahs, we can 'ear the jackals say, "Get up, you rotten beggars, you've ten more to-day!" 'Twould make a monkey cough to see our way o' doin' things Lieutenants takin' companies an' captains takin' wings, An' Lances actin' Sergeants-eight file to obeyFor we've lot's o' quick promotion on ten deaths a day! Our Colonel's white an' twitterly-'e gets no sleep nor food, But mucks about in 'orspital where nothing does no good. 'E sends us 'eaps o' comforts, all bought from 'is pay But there aren't much comfort 'andy on ten deaths a day. Our Chaplain's got a banjo, an' a skinny mule 'e rides, An' the stuff 'e says an' sings us, Lord, it makes us split our sides! With 'is black coat-tails a-bobbin' to Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-ay! 'E's the proper kind o' padre for ten deaths a day. An' Father Victor 'elps 'im with our Roman Catho licks He knows an 'eap of Irish songs an' rummy conjurin' tricks; An' the two they works together when it comes to play or pray; So we keep the ball a-rollin' on ten deaths a day. We've got the cholerer in camp—we've got it'ot an' sweet; It ain't no Christmas dinner, but it's 'elped an' we must eat. We've gone beyond the funkin', 'cause we've found it doesn't pay, An' we're rockin' round the Districk on ten deaths a day! Then strike your camp an' go, the Rains are fallin', The bugle's callin'! The dead are bushed an' stoned to keep 'em safe below! An' them that do not like it they can lump it, An' them that can not stand it they can jump it; We've got to die somewhere--some way-some'ow W'e might as well begin to do it now! Then, Number One, let down the tent-pole slow, Knock out the pegs an' 'old the corners—so! (Gawd 'elp us!) THE LADIES. I've taken my fun where I've found it; An' four o' the lot was prime. One was an 'arf-caste widow, One was a woman at Prome, Now I aren't no 'and with the ladies, For, takin' 'em all along, You never can say till you've tried 'em, An' then you are like to be wrong. There's times when you'll think that you mightn't, There's times when you'll know that you might; But the things you will learn from the Yellow an' Brown, They'll 'elp you an 'eap with the White! *Head-groom. I was a young un at 'Oogli, An' Aggie was clever as sin; More like a mother she were Showed me the way to promotion an' pay, Then I was ordered to Burma, Actin' in charge o' Bazar, An' I got me a tiddy live 'eathen Through buyin' supplies off 'er pa. Funny an' yellow an' faithful— Doll in a teacup she were, But we lived on the square, like a true-married pair, An' I learned about women from 'er. Then we was shifted to Neemuch (Or I might ha' been keepin' 'er now), An' I took with a shiny she-devil, The wife of a nigger at Mhow; |