The Storming Party

Said Paul Leroy to Barrow,     'Though the breach is steep and narrow,     If we only gain the summit     Then it's odds we hold the fort.     I have ten and you have twenty,     And the thirty should be plenty,     With Henderson and Henty     And McDermott in support.'     Said Barrow to Leroy,     'It's a solid job, my boy,     For they've flanked it, and they've banked it,     And they've bored it with a mine.     But it's only fifty paces     Ere we look them in the faces;     And the men are in their places,     With their toes upon the line.'     Said Paul Leroy to Barrow,     'See that first ray, like an arrow,     How it tinges all the fringes     Of the sullen drifting skies.     They told me to begin it     At five-thirty to the minute,     And at thirty-one I'm in it,     Or my sub will get his rise.     'So we'll wait the signal rocket,     Till . . . Barrow, show that locket,     That turquoise-studded locket,     Which you slipped from out your pocket     And are pressing with a kiss!     Turquoise-studded, spiral-twisted,     It is hers! And I had missed it     From her chain; and you have kissed it:     Barrow, villain, what is this?'     'Leroy, I had a warning,     That my time has come this morning,     So I speak with frankness, scorning     To deny the thing that's true.     Yes, it's Amy's, is the trinket,     Little turquoise-studded trinket,     Not her gift--oh, never think it!     For her thoughts were all for you.     'As we danced I gently drew it     From her chain--she never knew it     But I love her--yes, I love her:     I am candid, I confess.     But I never told her, never,     For I knew 'twas vain endeavour,     And she loved you--loved you ever,     Would to God she loved you less!'     'Barrow, Barrow, you shall pay me!     Me, your comrade, to betray me!     Well I know that little Amy     Is as true as wife can be.     She to give this love-badged locket!     She had rather . . . Ha, the rocket!     Hi, McDougall! Sound the bugle!     Yorkshires, Yorkshires, follow me!'     * * *     Said Paul Leroy to Amy,     'Well, wifie, you may blame me,     For my passion overcame me,     When he told me of his shame;     But when I saw him lying,     Dead amid a ring of dying,     Why, poor devil, I was trying     To forget, and not to blame.     'And this locket, I unclasped it     From the fingers that still grasped it:     He told me how he got it,     How he stole it in a valse.'     And she listened leaden-hearted:     Oh, the weary day they parted!     For she loved him--yes, she loved him -     For his youth and for his truth,     And for those dying words, so false.