ROUTE MARCHIN' WE'RE marchin' on relief over Injia's sunny plains, There's a regiment a-comin' down the Grand Trunk With its best foot first And the road a-sliding past, An' every bloomin' campin'-ground exactly like the last; While the Big Drum says, With 'is" rowdy-dowdy-dow!"— "Kiko kissywarsti don't you hamsher argy Oh, there's them Injian temples to admire when you see, There's the peacock round the corner an' the monkey up the tree, An' there's that rummy silver grass a-wavin' in the wind, An' the old Grand Trunk a-trailin' like a rifle-sling be'ind. At half-past five's Revelly, an' our tents they down must come, Like a lot of button mushrooms when you pick 'em up at 'ome. But it's over in a minute, an' at six the column starts, While the women and the kiddies sit an' shiver in the carts. Oh, then it's open order, an' we lights our pipes an' sings, An' we talks about our rations an' a lot of other things, An' we thinks o' friends in England, an' we wonders what they're at, An' 'ow they would admire for to hear us sling the bat.1 An' it's best foot first, It's none so bad o' Sunday, when you're lyin' at your ease, To watch the kites a-wheelin' round them feather 'eaded trees, For although there ain't no women, yet there ain't no barrick-yards, So the officers goes shootin' an' the men they plays at cards. 1 Language. Thomas's first and firmest conviction is that he is profound Orientalist and a fluent speaker of Hindustani. As a matter of fact, he depends largely on the sign-language. order, an' we lights our pipes an' ut our rations an' a lot of other wo friends in England, an' we wonders y re at, would admire for to hear us sling ti.e As best foot first, It', nere so bad of Surday, when you're lyin' at your cheelin' round them feather I no women, yet there ainro es shootin' an' he men they playe t foot first, . Grst and firmest conviction is that he a afluent speaker of Hindustani. As a na ter ey on the sign-lang ge. |