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 obey-
For we've lots 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 payBut 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 Boomder-ay!'

'E's the proper kind o' padre for ten deaths a day.

An' Father Victor 'elps 'im with our Roman CatholicksHe 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.

CHOLERA CAMP

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 cannot stand it they can jump it;
We've got to die somewhere-some way-some'ow-
We 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!
Fold in the flies, furl up the ropes, an' stow!
Oh, strike-oh, strike your camp an' go!
(Gawd 'elp us!)

I

THE LADIES

'VE taken my fun where I've found it;

I've rogued an' I've ranged in my time;
I've 'ad my pickin' o' sweet'earts,

An' four o' the lot was prime.

One was an 'arf-caste widow,

One was a woman at Prome,

One was the wife of a jemadar-sais,'

An' one is a girl at 'ome.

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 a lot with the White!

I was a young un at 'Oogli,

Shy as a girl to begin;

Aggie de Castrer she made me,

An' Aggie was clever as sin;

'Head groom.

THE LADIES

Older than me, but my first un-
More like a mother she were-
Showed me the way to promotion an' pay,
An' I learned about women from 'er!

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; 'Taught me the gipsy-folks' bolee;1

Kind o' volcano she were,

For she knifed me one night 'cause I wished she was

white,

And I learned about women from 'er!

Then I come 'ome in the trooper,

'Long of a kid o' sixteen

Girl from a convent at Meerut,

The straightest I ever 'ave seen. Love at first sight was 'er trouble,

She didn't know what it were;

An' I wouldn't do such, 'cause I liked 'er too much, But I learned about women from 'er!

'Slang.

I've taken my fun where I've found it,
An' now I must pay for my fun,
For the more you 'ave known o' the others
The less will you settle to one;

An' the end of it's sittin' and thinkin',

An' dreamin' Hell-fires to see;

So be warned by my lot (which I know you will not), An' learn about women from me!

What did the Colonel's Lady think?
Nobody never knew.

Somebody asked the Sergeant's wife,
An' she told 'em true!

When you get to a man in the case,
They're like as a row of pins-

For the Colonel's Lady an' Judy O'Grady
Are sisters under their skins!