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THE SAVING OF THE CORA ANDREWS 87

Told him that his soul's redemption hinged upon the course he took;

Said he'd get his name recorded in Jehovah's Judgment Book:

Swore 'twould win him reinstatement in the Navy when 'twas found

How he'd took her to Australia — and 'twas this that brought him 'round.

No one met his flashin' glances when we sped him from the strand,

For we knew death had his tow-line, haulin' in hand over hand;

But we watched him, 'shamed an' guilty; saw him crack a bottle's neck,

Take a swig, an' then another as he touched the quarterdeck.

Saw him set his heavy shoulders, heard the ring of sharp command,

Saw the reelin' niggers swarmin' round the capstan in a band;

Saw 'em swayin' onto halyards, saw 'em tailin' on a

sheet,

Heard the bang o' block an' tackle an' the thud o' poundin' feet;

Saw 'em raise an' cat the anchor, saw the Cora fall

away

An' go choppin' through the tide-rip at the entrance o' the bay.

Seven days Bell sailed the Cora from the mouth o' Kai Lagoon;

Drove her through a fierce sou'wester, ran her free with the Monsoon;

Tossin' over dead in dozens, keepin' up the rest with gin;

Cussin', bootin', swearin', breakin' the new sailors

in.

Day an' night, in ev'ry weather, rampin' wild 'tween stem an' stern,

Throwin' down a swig o' whiskey ev'ry time he made a turn;

Drivin' on the dyin' niggers, pilin' up the bulgin'

sail,

Till the Cora split the surges, spittin' like a harpooned whale.

Six days out he raised the Barrier coral shoals and coral jaws,

Crooked teeth o' crusted coral, crinkly lines o' coral

claws

Damdest piece o' navigation that's in all the Seven

Seas,

An' Bell took the wheel to steer her, with the shakin' o' his knees

And the burnin' o' his gullet, as he downed another

peg,

Flashin' up as danger signals o' the comin' o' the "pleg."

They lashed him to a tripod when his head began to

reel,

As he hung there, grim, determined, grindin' steady at the wheel.

With a parasol an' nigger blockin' off the sun's hot

rays,

An' a siphon an' a bottle fightin' the eternal blaze.

THE VOYAGERS

89

Seven hours o' steady steerin' how 'twas done defies belief

An' he'd sailed the Cora Andrews safely through

the Barrier Reef.

They saved some three-score niggers in the Townsville quarantine,

An' the news o' what had happened brought a cable from the Queen;

But the man whose nerve an' courage brought the bloomin' coup about

Had dropped his own life's anchor as the Cora's chain ran out.

Lewis R. Freeman

THE VOYAGERS

We were weary of our prison, with its wheels that grind and roar,

Till we broke the bonds that held us there, and knew that we were free,

Till the walls were far behind us and the morning star before,

And the life that knows no master and the surging of the sea.

So we built a ship and manned her and we left the seething town,

And we reached the Northern Ocean where the

ice-fields heave and groan,

And they fettered us and bound us while the mocking sun looked down,

And we froze and starved and gloried for the toil was all our own.

Then back we came and wearily we sought the trodden way,

And we left the ship at anchor and we thought our work was done;

Till we looked across the waters and we heard the leaping spray

Laugh to scorn our dull contentment in a peace we had not won.

So we manned our ship a second time and sailed her round the world,

Twenty months of wave and tempest till we reached the kindly shore;

Then we brought her back to harbor, once again her sails we furled,

And we swore by all the gods of earth to sail the sea

no more.

But the winds still call us onward to the prize we cannot gain,

And rest is dreary to the soul as meadows to the

eye;

Let us leave the land behind us, let us launch the

ship again,

And we'll sail for worlds undreamed-of, sail forever till we die.

Henry Adams Bellows

THE LAST SHIP

If men who love ships were to choose the last

To be a final vision from the sea

It would be one of lofty, slender mast

[blocks in formation]

With bright sails filled and lifted gloriously.
It would be such a ship as dreamers knew
By island coast-lines when the dawn was mist
Of stardust and great rubies stricken through
With breakers' foam and bays' tossed amethyst.

It would be a ship that proud adventurers
Rigged up for gold coasts and the pearl lagoon,
And all the dreams they had would yet be hers,
Come in from distant voyages near the moon
It would be such a ship as makes men sad
With beauty for romance they might have had!
Glenn Ward Dresbach

SEA FEVER

Oh, the sun is striking down at my heart within the town,

And the long streets are leering at my pain; Will these bells and whistles cease, is there anywhere there's peace?

Shall I ever know the wind and spray again? Give me a boat again, set me out afloat again,

Sail or keel, oar or wheel, any, anything to feel Salt and spray upon my face where, lips wet with wind, I race,

Race the clouds and stars again, far from home and haunt of men;

For the wind and waterways have stamped me with their seal!

Oh, the clamor of the town molds me, holds me grimly down,

And the heat winds its hands about my throat.

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