Songs Of The Road - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (distant reading TXT) 📗

ringin' in 'is 'ead —
"If you don't stop yourself, young chap,
you've got to pay the price,
There are many sorts of visions, but none
of 'em is nice."

They found that day at Leonards Lee and
ran to Shipley Wood,
'Ell-for-leather all the way, with scent
and weather good.
[31] Never a check to 'Orton Beck and on
across the Weald,
And all the way the Sussex clay was weed-
in' out the field.

There's not a man among them could
remember such a run,
Straight as a rule to Bramber Pool and on
by Annington,
They followed still past Breeding 'ill
and on by Steyning Town,
Until they'd cleared the 'edges and were
out upon the Down.

Full thirty mile from Plimmers Style,
without a check or fault,
Full thirty mile the 'ounds 'ad run and
never called a 'alt.
[32] One by one the Field was done until at
Finden Down,
There was no one with the 'untsman save
young Jeremiah Brown.

And then the 'untsman 'e was beat. 'Is
'orse 'ad tripped and fell.
"By George," said Brown, "I'll go alone,
and follow it to well,
The place that it belongs to." And as 'e
made the vow,
There broke from right in front of 'im
the queerest kind of row.

There lay a copse of 'azels on the border
of the track,
And into this two 'ounds 'ad run them
two was all the pack —
[33] And now from these 'ere 'azels there came
a fearsome 'owl,
With a yappin' and a snappin' and a
wicked snarlin' growl.

Jeremiah's blood ran cold a frightened
man was 'e,
But he butted through the bushes just
to see what 'e could see,
And there beneath their shadow, blood
drippin' from his jaws,
Was an awful creature standin' with a
'ound beneath its paws.

A fox? Five foxes rolled in one a
pony's weight and size,
A rampin', ragin' devil, all fangs and
'air and eyes;
[34] Too scared to speak, with shriek on shriek,
Brown galloped from the sight
With just one thought within 'is mind —
"The doctor told me right."

That evenin' late the minister was seated
in his study,
When in there rushed a 'untin' man, all
travel-stained and muddy,
"Give me the Testament!" he cried, "And
'ear my sacred vow,
That not one drop of drink shall ever pass
my lips from now."

'E swore it and 'e kept it and 'e keeps it to
this day,
'E 'as turned from gin to ginger and says 'e
finds it pay,
[35] You can search the whole o' Sussex from
'ere to Brighton Town,
And you wouldn't find a better man than
Jeremiah Brown.

And the vision it was just a wolf, a big
Siberian,
A great, fierce, 'ungry devil from a show-
man's caravan,
But it saved 'im from perdition and I
don't mind if I do,
I 'aven't seen no wolf myself so 'ere's
my best to you!


THE BAY HORSE
[36]

Squire wants the bay horse,
For it is the best.
Squire holds the mortgage;
Where's the interest?
Haven't got the interest,
Can't raise a sou;
Shan't sell the bay horse,
Whatever he may do.

Did you see the bay horse?
Such a one to go!
He took a bit of ridin',
When I showed him at the Show.
[37] First prize the broad jump,
First prize the high;
Gold medal, Class A,
You'll see it by-and-by.

I bred the bay horse
On the Withy Farm.
I broke the bay horse,
He broke my arm.
Don't blame the bay horse,
Blame the brittle bone,
I bred him and I've fed him,
And he's all my very own.

Just watch the bay horse
Chock full of sense!
Ain't he just beautiful,
Risin' to a fence!
[38] Just hear the bay horse
Whinin' in his stall,
Purrin' like a pussy cat
When he hears me call.

But if Squire's lawyer
Serves me with his writ,
I'll take the bay horse
To Marley gravel pit.
Over the quarry edge,
I'll sit him tight,
If he wants the brown hide,
He's welcome to the white!


THE OUTCASTS
[39]

Three women stood by the river's flood
In the gas-lamp's murky light,
A devil watched them on the left,
And an angel on the right.

The clouds of lead flowed overhead;
The leaden stream below;
They marvelled much, that outcast three,
Why Fate should use them so.

Said one: "I have a mother dear,
Who lieth ill abed,
And by my sin the wage I win
From which she hath her bread."

[40] Said one: "I am an outcast's child,
And such I came on earth.
If me ye blame, for this my shame,
Whom blame ye for my birth?"

The third she sank a sin-blotched face,
And prayed that she might