The Works of Rudyard Kipling Part 10

Now Anne of Austria shared their drinks, Collinga knew her fame, From Tarnau in Galicia To Juan Bazaar she came, To eat the bread of infamy And take the wage of shame.

She held a dozen men to heel-- Rich spoil of war was hers, In hose and gown and ring and chain, From twenty mariners, And, by Port Law, that week, men called her Salem Hardieker's.

But seamen learnt--what landsmen know-- That neither gifts nor gain Can hold a winking Light o' Love Or Fancy's flight restrain, When Anne of Austria rolled her eyes On Hans the blue-eyed Dane.

Since Life is strife, and strife means knife, From Howrah to the Bay, And he may die before the dawn Who liquored out the day, In Fultah Fisher's boarding-house We woo while yet we may.

But cold was Hans the blue-eyed Dane, Bull-throated, bare of arm, And laughter shook the chest beneath The maid Ultruda's charm-- The little silver crucifix That keeps a man from harm.

"You speak to Salem Hardieker; "You was his girl, I know.

"I s.h.i.+p mineselfs tomorrow, see, "Und round the Skaw we go, "South, down the Cattegat, by Hjelm, "To Besser in Saro."

When love rejected turns to hate, All ill betide the man.

"You speak to Salem Hardieker"-- She spoke as woman can.

A scream--a sob--"He called me--names!"

And then the fray began.

An oath from Salem Hardieker, A shriek upon the stairs, A dance of shadows on the wall, A knife-thrust unawares-- And Hans came down, as cattle drop, Across the broken chairs.

In Anne of Austria's trembling hands The weary head fell low:-- "I s.h.i.+p mineselfs tomorrow, straight "For Besser in Saro; "Und there Ultruda comes to me "At Easter, und I go--

"South, down the Cattegat--What's here?

"There--are--no--lights--to guide!"

The mutter ceased, the spirit pa.s.sed, And Anne of Austria cried In Fultah Fisher's boarding-house When Hans the mighty died.

Thus slew they Hans the blue-eyed Dane, Bull-throated, bare of arm, But Anne of Austria looted first The maid Ultruda's charm-- The little silver crucifix That keeps a man from harm.

AS THE BELL CLINKS

As I left the Halls at Lumley, rose the vision of a comely Maid last season wors.h.i.+pped dumbly, watched with fervor from afar; And I wondered idly, blindly, if the maid would greet me kindly.

That was all--the rest was settled by the clinking tonga-bar.

Yea, my life and hers were coupled by the tonga coupling-bar.

For my misty meditation, at the second changin'-station, Suffered sudden dislocation, fled before the tuneless jar Of a Wagner obbligato, scherzo, doublehand staccato, Played on either pony's saddle by the clacking tonga-bar--

Played with human speech, I fancied, by the jigging, jolting bar.

"She was sweet," thought I, "last season, but 'twere surely wild unreason Such tiny hope to freeze on as was offered by my Star, When she whispered, something sadly: 'I--we feel your going badly!'"

"And you let the chance escape you?" rapped the rattling tonga-bar.

"What a chance and what an idiot!" clicked the vicious tonga-bar.

Heart of man--oh, heart of putty! Had I gone by Kakahutti, On the old Hill-road and rutty, I had 'scaped that fatal car.

But his fortune each must bide by, so I watched the milestones slide by, To "You call on Her tomorrow!"--fugue with cymbals by the bar--

"You must call on Her tomorrow!"--post-horn gallop by the bar.

Yet a further stage my goal on--we were whirling down to Solon, With a double lurch and roll on, best foot foremost, ganz und gar-- "She was very sweet," I hinted. "If a kiss had been imprinted?"-- "'Would ha' saved a world of trouble!" clashed the busy tonga-bar.

"'Been accepted or rejected!" banged and clanged the tonga-bar.

Then a notion wild and daring, 'spite the income tax's paring, And a hasty thought of sharing--less than many incomes are, Made me put a question private, you can guess what I would drive at.

"You must work the sum to prove it," clanked the careless tonga-bar.

"Simple Rule of Two will prove it," lilted back the tonga-bar.

It was under Khyraghaut I mused. "Suppose the maid be haughty-- (There are lovers rich--and rotty)--wait some wealthy Avatar?

Answer monitor untiring, 'twixt the ponies twain perspiring!"

"Faint heart never won fair lady," creaked the straining tonga-bar.

"Can I tell you ere you ask Her?" pounded slow the tonga-bar.

Last, the Tara Devi turning showed the lights of Simla burning, Lit my little lazy yearning to a fiercer flame by far.

As below the Mall we jingled, through my very heart it tingled-- Did the iterated order of the thres.h.i.+ng tonga-bar--

"Try your luck--you can't do better!" tw.a.n.ged the loosened tonga-bar.

AN OLD SONG

So long as 'neath the Kalka hills The tonga-horn shall ring, So long as down the Solon dip The hard-held ponies swing, So long as Tara Devi sees The lights of Simla town, So long as Pleasure calls us up, Or Duty drives us down, If you love me as I love you What pair so happy as we two?

So long as Aces take the King, Or backers take the bet, So long as debt leads men to wed, Or marriage leads to debt, So long as little luncheons, Love, And scandal hold their vogue, While there is sport at Annandale Or whisky at Jutogh, If you love me as I love you What knife can cut our love in two?

So long as down the rocking floor The raving polka spins, So long as Kitchen Lancers spur The maddened violins, So long as through the whirling smoke We hear the oft-told tale-- "Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,"

And Whatshername for sale?

If you love me as I love you We'll play the game and win it too.

So long as l.u.s.t or Lucre tempt Straight riders from the course, So long as with each drink we pour Black brewage of Remorse, So long as those unloaded guns We keep beside the bed, Blow off, by obvious accident, The lucky owner's head, If you love me as I love you What can Life kill or Death undo?

So long as Death 'twixt dance and dance Chills best and bravest blood, And drops the reckless rider down The rotten, rain-soaked khud, So long as rumours from the North Make loving wives afraid, So long as Burma takes the boy Or typhoid kills the maid, If you love me as I love you What knife can cut our love in two?

By all that lights our daily life Or works our lifelong woe, From Boileaugunge to Simla Downs And those grim glades below, Where, heedless of the flying hoof And clamour overhead, Sleep, with the grey langur for guard Our very scornful Dead, If you love me as I love you All Earth is servant to us two!

By Docket, Billetdoux, and File, By Mountain, Cliff, and Fir, By Fan and Sword and Office-box, By Corset, Plume, and Spur By Riot, Revel, Waltz, and War, By Women, Work, and Bills, By all the life that fizzes in The everlasting Hills, If you love me as I love you What pair so happy as we two?