Songs of Action - Arthur Conan Doyle (graded readers TXT) š
- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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āOld āard, old gal!ā says master, and āGently then!ā says I, But an engine wonāt āeed coaxinā anā it aināt no use to try; So first āe pulled a lever, anā then āe turned a screw, But the thing kept crawlinā forrard spite of all that āe could do.
And first it went quite slowly and the āorse went also slow, But āe āad to buck up faster when the wheels began to go; For the car kept crowdinā on āim and buttinā āim along, And in less than āalf a minute, sir, that āorse was goinā strong.
At first āe walked quite dignified, anā then āe āad to trot, And then āe tried a canter when the pace became too āot. āE looked āis very āaughtiest, as if āe didnāt āe mind, And all the time the motor-car was pushinā āim beāind.
Now, master lost āis āead when āe found āe couldnāt stop, And āe pulled a valve or somethinā anā somethinā else went pop, Anā somethinā else went fizzywiz, and in a flash, or less, That blessed car was goinā like a limited express.
Master āeld the steerinā gear, anā kept the road all right, And away they whizzed and clatteredāmy aunt! it was a sight. āE seemed the finest draught āorse as ever lived by far, For all the country Juggins thought ātwas āim wot pulled the car.
āE was stretchinā like a greyāound, āe was goinā all āe knew; But it bumped anā shoved beāind āim, for all that āe could do; It butted āim anā boosted āim anā spanked āim on aāead, Till āe broke the ten-mile record, same as I already said.
Ten mile in twenty minutes! āE done it, sir. Thatās true. The only time we ever found what that āere āorse could do. Some say it wasnāt āardly fair, and the papers made a fuss, But āe broke the ten-mile record, and thatās good enough for us.
You see that āorseās tail, sir? You donāt! No more do we, Which really aināt surprisinā, for āe āas no tail to see; That engine wore it off āim before master made it stop, And all the road was littered like a bloominā barberās shop.
And master? Well, it cured āim. āE altered from that day, And come back to āis āorses in the good old-fashioned way. And if you wants to git the sack, the quickest way by far Is to āint as āow you think āe ought to keep a motor-car.
WITH THE CHIDDINGFOLDSThe horse is bedded down
Where the straw lies deep.
The hound is in the kennel;
Let the poor hound sleep!
And the fox is in the spinney
By the run which he is haunting,
And Iāll lay an even guinea
That a goose or two is wanting When the farmer comes to count them in the morning.
The horse is up and saddled;
Girth the old horse tight!
The hounds are out and drawing
In the morning light.
Now itās āYoick!ā among the heather,
And itās āYoick!ā across the clover,
And itās āTo him, all together!ā
āHyke a Bertha! Hyke a Rover!ā And the woodlands smell so sweetly in the morning.
āThereās Termagant a-whimpering;
She whimpers so.ā
āThereās a young hound yapping!ā
Let the young hound go!
But the old hound is cunning,
And itās him we mean to follow,
āThey are running! They are running!
And itās āForrard to the hollo!ā For the scent is lying strongly in the morning.
āWhoās the fool that heads him?ā
Hold hard, and let him pass!
Heās out among the oziers
Heās clear upon the grass.
You grip his flanks and settle,
For the horse is stretched and straining,
Hereās a game to test your mettle,
And a sport to try your training, When the Chiddingfolds are running in the morning.
Weāre up by the Coppice
And weāre down by the Mill,
Weāre out upon the Common,
And the hounds are running still.
You must tighten on the leather,
For we blunder through the bracken;
Though youāre over hocks in heather
Still the pace must never slacken As we race through Thursley Common in the morning.
We are breaking from the tangle
We are out upon the green,
Thereās a bank and a hurdle
With a quickset between.
You must steady him and try it,
You are over with a scramble.
Hereās a wattle! You must fly it,
And you land among the bramble, For itās roughish, toughish going in the morning.
āWare the bog by the Grove
As you pound through the slush.
See the whip! See the huntsman!
We are close upon his brush.
āWare the root that lies before you!
It will trip you if you blunder.
āWare the branch thatās drooping oāer you!
You must dip and swerve from under As you gallop through the woodland in the morning.
There were fifty at the find,
There were forty at the mill,
There were twenty on the heath,
And ten are going still.
Some are pounded, some are shirking,
And they dwindle and diminish
Till a weary pair are working,
Spent and blowing, to the finish, And we hear the shrill whoo-ooping in the morning.
The horse is bedded down
Where the straw lies deep,
The hound is in the kennel,
He is yapping in his sleep.
But the fox is in the spinney
Lying snug in earth and burrow.
And Iāll lay an even guinea
We could find again to-morrow, If we chose to go a-hunting in the morning.
A HUNTING MORNINGPut the saddle on the mare,
For the wet winds blow; Thereās winter in the air,
And autumn all below. For the red leaves are flying And the red bracken dying, And the red fox lying
Where the oziers grow.
Put the bridle on the mare,
For my blood runs chill; And my heart, it is there,
On the heather-tufted hill, With the gray skies oāer us, And the long-drawn chorus Of a running pack before us
From the find to the kill.
Then lead round the mare,
For itās time that we began, And away with thought and care,
Save to live and be a man, While the keen air is blowing, And the huntsman holloing, And the black mare going
As the black mare can.
THE OLD GRAY FOXWe started from the Valley Pride,
And Farnham way we went. We waited at the coverside,
But never found a scent. Then we tried the withy beds
Which grow by Frensham town, And there we found the old gray fox,
The same old fox,
The game old fox; Yes, there we found the old gray fox,
Which lives on Hankley Down.
So hereās to the master,
And hereās to the man!
And hereās to twenty couple
Of the white and black and tan!
Hereās a find without a wait!
Hereās a hedge without a gate!
Hereās the man who follows straight,
Where the old fox ran.
The Member rode his thoroughbred,
Doctor had the gray, The Soldier led on a roan red,
The Sailor rode the bay. Squire was there on his Irish mare,
And Parson on the brown; And so we chased the old gray fox,
The same old fox,
The game old fox, And so we chased the old gray fox
Across the Hankley Down.
So hereās to the master,
And hereās to the man!
&c. &c. &c.
The Doctorās gray was going strong
Until she slipped and fell; He had to keep his bed so long
His patients all got well. The Member he had lost his seat,
āTwas carried by his horse; And so we chased the old gray fox,
The same old fox,
The game old fox; And so we chased the old gray fox
That earthed in Hankley Gorse.
So hereās to the master,
And hereās to the man!
&c. &c. &c.
The Parson sadly fell away,
And in the furze did lie; The words we heard that Parson say
Made all the horses shy! The Sailor he was seen no more
Upon that stormy bay; But still we chased the old gray fox,
The same old fox,
The game old fox; Still we chased the old gray fox
Through all the winter day.
So hereās to the master,
And hereās to the man!
&c. &c. &c.
And when we found him gone to ground,
They sent for spade and man; But Squire said āShame! The beast was game!
A gamer never ran! His wind and pace have gained the race,
His life is fairly won. But may we meet the old gray fox,
The same old fox,
The game old fox; May we meet the old gray fox
Before the year is done.
So hereās to the master,
And hereās to the man!
And hereās to twenty couple
Of the white and black and tan!
Hereās a find without await!
Hereās a hedge without a gate!
Hereās the man who follows straight,
Where the old fox ran.
āWARE HOLES
[āWare Holes!ā is the expression used in the hunting-field to warn those behind against rabbit-burrows or other suck dangers.]
A sportinā death! My word it was!
Anā taken in a sportinā way. Mind you, I wasnāt there to see;
I only tell you what they say.
They found that day at Shillinglee,
Anā ran āim down to Chillinghurst; The fox was goinā straight anā free
For ninety minutes at a burst.
They āad a check at Ebernoe
Anā made a cast across the Down, Until they got a view āullo
Anā chased āim up to Kirdford town.
From Kirdford āe run Bramber way,
Anā took āem over āalf the Weald. If you āave tried the Sussex clay,
Youāll guess it weeded out the field.
Until at last I donāt suppose
As āarf a dozen, at the most, Came safe to where the grassland goes
Switchbackinā southwards to the coast.
Young Captain āEadley, āe was there,
And Jim the whip anā Percy Day; The Purcells anā Sir Charles Adair,
Anā this āere gent from London way.
For āe āad gone amazinā fine,
Two āundred pounds between āis knees; Eight stone he was, anā rode at nine,
As light anā limber as you please.
āE was a stranger to the āUnt,
There werenāt a person as āe knew there; But āe could ride, that London gent -
āE sat āis mare as if āe grew there.
They seed the āounds upon the scent,
But found a fence across their track, And āad to fly it; else it meant
A turninā and a āarkinā back.
āE was the foremost at the fence,
And as āis mare just cleared the rail He turned to them that rode beāind,
For three was at āis very tail.
āWare āoles!ā says āe, anā with the word,
Still sittinā easy on his mare, Down, down āe went, anā down anā down,
Into the quarry yawninā there.
Some say it was two āundred foot;
The bottom lay as black as ink. I guess they āad some ugly dreams,
Who reined their āorses on the brink.
āEād only time for that one cry;
āWare āoles!ā says āe, anā saves all three. There may be better deaths to die,
But that oneās good enough for me.
For mind you, ātwas a sportinā end,
Upon a right good sportinā day; They think a deal of āim down āere,
That gent what came from London way.
THE HOME-COMING OF THE āEURYDICEā
[Lost, with her crew of three hundred boys, on the last day of her voyage, March 23, 1876. She foundered off Portsmouth, from which town many of the boys came.]
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