They made tracks for the Gold Reef City, Expecting their jobber friends out, But those cowards, whom brave men pity, Had noticed their plot ‘up the spout.’ They distinctly could hear the guns rattle, They could help. Did they ever try? No. They left their poor dupes to do battle, To be driven about, and to die.
The raiders had supped, drank and slumbered, And were fully prepared for the fray; They knew that they were not outnumbered, But their conscience caused them dismay. They’re not very considerate or tender, But their hearts sunk down to the boot, And they had to accept a surrender In lieu of gold, glory and loot.
I’m sure they were wrong--worse than madmen, And I think at the Judgment Day, When God sifts the good from the bad men, For themselves they’ll have little to say. They were wrong, but they are not sorry, They’ve caused innocent blood to flow, And the men who joined such a foray, Unrepentant, to Satan must go.
After Steve had finished reading, the smiling and laughter-loving Scotchman burst into a hearty laugh.
‘Very good; very good indeed; ha, ha!’ he laughed. ‘I should like to see Austin’s face if he should read this; ha, ha! It certainly has the merit of _truth_ which Austin’s poem lacks.’
After some further conversation Steve’s guest left him, giving him a hearty invitation to dine with him the following day.
We have endeavoured to keep romance and love stories out of this book. We have nearly succeeded, but in order to complete our work, we find that love will intrude itself, if it is only in the last chapter. It is not our fault, we have done our best, but our hero, like all other heroes, has gone and done it. He fell in love. With whom? Why, my dear reader, it cannot be difficult to guess. We have not introduced many ladies into our story. We have only introduced two who would or could be a fit mate to our young friend. The first one was the sister of the poor young fellow who was killed by lightning. But we honestly declared, from the moment of introducing her, that Steve was not going to fall in love with her. So there is only one left. We have not tried to deceive the reader in the least. When we knew that Steve was not going to fall in love, we told the kind and indulgent reader so honestly. We did not deceive the reader, but Steve deceived us. He never told us that he was going to fall in love. When we heard of it, it was an accomplished fact. It happened in this way. Steve got a fortnight’s holiday. What was he to do? He thought for a moment, then jumped up and said aloud, astonishing his friends who were with him at the time.