Till  his  mother  wouldn'  ha'  known  the  chap —
Aw,  boosely,  boosely  !  2  and  navar  a  word
Urrov  his  mouth — the  pluck,  good  lord  !
That  ts  the  pluck — Did  he  strike  me  f     No  !
Couldn' !  in  a  vice  ?  just  so  !
In  a  vice.     Then  I  loosed  him,  and  then  a  dart
Went  through  me,  and  I  caught  him  to  my  heart.
And  cried  and  cried — You'd  ha'  thought  I  was  drunk —
And  went  and  put  him  in  his  bunk.
And  coaxed  him,  and  nussed  him,  and  washed  him  there.
And  made  him  rather  comfibler.
Then  the  fo'c's'le  had  a  meetin'.
To  see  what  they'd  do,  the  way  I  was  beatin'
Peter  ;  and  wouldri  stand  it^  they  said.
And  I  went  to  the  meetin',  and  hung  my  head
Like  a  dog,  I  did.     And  they  grumbled  a  dale —
Special  a  chap  called  Billy  Sayle —

But  I  knew  Billy,  but howavar.
There's  people  thinks  themselves  that  clavar —

So  I  said — "  Look  here !  it's  quite  correc',

It's  only  just  what  I  ought  to  expec',"

I  says  ;  "  but  still  you  know  nothin'  about  it

At  all,"  I  says  ;  "  so  you  needn'  doubt  it —

Nothin',  no  more  till  brute  bases,

And  circumstances  alters  cases."

O  yes  /  they  krunt/d  it  all  the  same^
Says  one  of  the  chaps — Miss  What  s-her-name

^  Determined.  2  Beastly,  brutally.
