Ramon

Drunk and senseless in his place,     Prone and sprawling on his face,     More like brute than any man     Alive or dead,     By his great pump out of gear,     Lay the peon engineer,     Waking only just to hear,     Overhead,     Angry tones that called his name,     Oaths and cries of bitter blame,     Woke to hear all this, and, waking, turned and fled!     To the man wholl bring to me,     Cried Intendant Harry Lee,     Harry Lee, the English foreman of the mine,     Bring the sot alive or dead,     I will give to him, he said,     Fifteen hundred pesos down,     Just to set the rascals crown     Underneath this heel of mine:     Since but death     Deserves the man whose deed,     Be it vice or want of heed,     Stops the pumps that give us breath,     Stops the pumps that suck the death     From the poisoned lower levels of the mine!     No one answered; for a cry     From the shaft rose up on high,     And shuffling, scrambling, tumbling from below,     Came the miners each, the bolder     Mounting on the weakers shoulder,     Grappling, clinging to their hold or     Letting go,     As the weaker gasped and fell     From the ladder to the well,     To the poisoned pit of hell     Down below!     To the man who sets them free,     Cried the foreman, Harry Lee,     Harry Lee, the English foreman of the mine,     Brings them out and sets them free,     I will give that man, said he,     Twice that sum, who with a rope     Face to face with Death shall cope.     Let him come who dares to hope!     Hold your peace! some one replied,     Standing by the foremans side;     There has one already gone, whoeer he be!     Then they held their breath with awe,     Pulling on the rope, and saw     Fainting figures reappear,     On the black rope swinging clear,     Fastened by some skillful hand from below;     Till a score the level gained,     And but one alone remained,     He the hero and the last,     He whose skillful hand made fast     The long line that brought them back to hope and cheer!     Haggard, gasping, down dropped he     At the feet of Harry Lee,     Harry Lee, the English foreman of the mine.     I have come, he gasped, to claim     Both rewards. Senor, my name     Is Ramon!     Im the drunken engineer,     Im the coward, Senor    Here     He fell over, by that sign,     Dead as stone!