章节正文
The vessels started dragging, drifting slowly to the lee;
And the darkness of the night
Hid the coral reefs from sight,
And the Captains dared not risk the chance to grope their way to sea.
In the dark they dared not shift!
They were forced to wait and drift;
All hands stood by uncertain would the anchors hold or no.
But the men on deck could see
If a chance of hope might be -
There was little chance of safety for the men who were below.
Through that long, long night of dread,
While the storm raged overhead,
They were waiting by their engines, with the furnace fires aroar.
So they waited, staunch and true,
Though they knew, and well they knew,
They must drown like rats imprisoned if the vessel touched the shore.
Page: 99
When the grey dawn broke at last,
And the long, long night was past,
While the hurricane redoubled, lest its prey should steal away,
On the rocks, all smashed and strewn,
Were the German vessels thrown,
While the Yankees, swamped and helpless, drifted shorewards down the bay.
Then at last spoke Captain Kane,
`All our anchors are in vain,
`And the Germans and the Yankees they have drifted to the lee!
`Cut the cables at the bow!
`We must trust the engines now!
`Give her steam, and let her have it, lads, we'll fight her out to sea!'
And the answer came with cheers
From the stalwart engineers,
From the grim and grimy firemen at the furnaces below;
And above the sullen roar
Of the breakers on the shore
Came the throbbing of the engines as they laboured to and fro.
Page: 100
If the strain should find a flaw,
Should a bolt or rivet draw,
Then - God help them! for the vessel were a plaything in the tide!
With a face of honest cheer,
Quoth an English engineer,
`I will answer for the engines that were built on old Thames side!
`For the stays and stanchions taut,
`For the rivets truly wrought,
`For the valves that fit their faces as a glove should fit the hand.
`Give her every ounce of power,
`If we make a knot an hour
`Then it's way enough to steer her and we'll drive her from the land.'
Like a foam flake tossed and thrown,
She could barely hold her own,
While the other ships all helplessly were drifting to the lee.
Through the smother and the rout
The `Calliope' steamed out -
And they cheered her from the Trenton that was foundering in the sea.
Page: 101
Aye! drifting shoreward there,
All helpless as they were,
Their vessel hurled upon the reefs as weed ashore is hurled.
Without a thought of fear
The Yankees raised a cheer -
A cheer that English-speaking folk should echo round the world.
Page: 102
DO THEY KNOW
Do they know? At the turn to the straight
Where the favourites fail,
And every atom of weight
Is telling its tale;
As some grim old stayer hard-pressed
Runs true to his breed,
And with head just in front of the rest
Fights on in the lead;
When the jockeys are out with the whips,
With a furlong to go;
And the backers grow white to the lips -
Do you think they don't know?
Do they know? As they come back to weigh
In a whirlwind of cheers,
Though the spurs have left marks of the fray,
Though the sweat on the ears
Page: 103
Gathers cold, and they sob with distress
As they roll up the track,
They know just as well their success
As the man on their back.
As they walk through a dense human lane,
That sways to and fro,
And cheers them again and again,
Do you think they don't know?
Page: 104
THE PASSING OF GUNDAGAI
`I'LL introdooce a friend!' he said,
`And if you've got a vacant pen
`You'd better take him in the shed
`And start him shearing straight ahead,
`He's one of these here quiet men.
`He never strikes - that ain't his game;
`No matter what the others try
`He goes on shearing just the same.
`I never rightly knew his name -
`We always call him ``Gundagai''!'
Our flashest shearer then had gone
To train a racehorse for a race,
And while his sporting fit was on
He couldn't be relied upon,
So `Gundagai' shore in his place.
Page: 105
Alas for man's veracity!
For reputations false and true!
This `Gundagai' turned out to be,
For strife and all-round villainy,
The very worst I ever knew!
He started racing Jack Devine,
And grumbled when I made him stop.
The pace he showed was extra fine,
But all those pure-bred ewes of mine
Were bleeding like a butcher's shop.
He cursed the sheep, he cursed the shed,
From roof to rafter, floor to shelf;
As for my mongrel ewes, he said,
I ought to get a razor blade
And shave the blooming things myself.
On Sundays he controlled a `school',
And played `two-up' the livelong day;
And many a young confiding fool
He shore of his financial wool;
And when he lost he would not pay.
He organised a shearers' race,
And `touched' me to provide the prize.
Page: 106
His packhorse showed surprising pace
And won hands down - he was The Ace,
A well-known racehorse in disguise.
Next day the bruiser of the shed
Displayed an opal-tinted eye,
With large contusions on his head.
He smiled a sickly smile, and said
He'd `had a cut at ``Gundagai''!'
But just as we were getting full
Of `Gundagai' and all his ways,
A telegram for `Henry Bull'
Arrived. Said he, `That's me - all wool!
`Let's see what this here message says.'
He opened it, his face grew white,
He dropped the shears and turned away.
It ran, `Your wife took bad last night;
`Come home at once - no time to write,
`We fear she may not last the day.'
He got his cheque - I didn't care
To dock him for my mangled ewes;
His store account - we `called it square'.
Poor wretch! he had enough to bear,
Confronted by such dreadful news.
Page: 107
The shearers raised a little purse
To help a mate, as shearers will,
`To pay the doctor and the nurse,
`And if there should be something worse -
`To pay the undertaker's bill.'
They wrung his hand in sympathy,
He rode away without a word,
His head hung down in misery.
A wandering hawker passing by
Was told of what had just occurred.
`Well! that's a curious thing,' he said,
`I've known that feller all his life -
`He's had the loan of this here shed!
`I know his wife ain't nearly dead,
`Because he hasn't got a wife!'
.
.
.
.
.
You should have heard the whipcord crack
As angry shearers galloped by,
In vain they tried to fetch him back.
A little dust along the track
Was all they saw of `Gundagai'.
Page: 108
THE WARGEILAH HANDICAP
WARGEILAH town is very small,
There's no cathedral nor a club,
In fact the township, all in all,
Is just one unpretentious pub;
And there, from all the stations round,
The local sportsmen can be found.
The sportsmen of Wargeilah side
Are very few but very fit:
There's scarcely any sport been tried
But what they held their own at it
In fact, to search their records o'er,
They held their own and something more.
'Twas round about Wargeilah town
An English new-chum did infest:
He used to wander up and down
In baggy English breeches drest -
His mentalaspect seemed to be
Just stolid self-sufficiency.
Page: 109
The local sportsmen vainly sought
His tranquil calm to counteract,
And the darkness of the night
Hid the coral reefs from sight,
And the Captains dared not risk the chance to grope their way to sea.
In the dark they dared not shift!
They were forced to wait and drift;
All hands stood by uncertain would the anchors hold or no.
But the men on deck could see
If a chance of hope might be -
There was little chance of safety for the men who were below.
Through that long, long night of dread,
While the storm raged overhead,
They were waiting by their engines, with the furnace fires aroar.
So they waited, staunch and true,
Though they knew, and well they knew,
They must drown like rats imprisoned if the vessel touched the shore.
Page: 99
When the grey dawn broke at last,
And the long, long night was past,
While the hurricane redoubled, lest its prey should steal away,
On the rocks, all smashed and strewn,
Were the German vessels thrown,
While the Yankees, swamped and helpless, drifted shorewards down the bay.
Then at last spoke Captain Kane,
`All our anchors are in vain,
`And the Germans and the Yankees they have drifted to the lee!
`Cut the cables at the bow!
`We must trust the engines now!
`Give her steam, and let her have it, lads, we'll fight her out to sea!'
And the answer came with cheers
From the stalwart engineers,
From the grim and grimy firemen at the furnaces below;
And above the sullen roar
Of the breakers on the shore
Came the throbbing of the engines as they laboured to and fro.
Page: 100
If the strain should find a flaw,
Should a bolt or rivet draw,
Then - God help them! for the vessel were a plaything in the tide!
With a face of honest cheer,
Quoth an English engineer,
`I will answer for the engines that were built on old Thames side!
`For the stays and stanchions taut,
`For the rivets truly wrought,
`For the valves that fit their faces as a glove should fit the hand.
`Give her every ounce of power,
`If we make a knot an hour
`Then it's way enough to steer her and we'll drive her from the land.'
Like a foam flake tossed and thrown,
She could barely hold her own,
While the other ships all helplessly were drifting to the lee.
Through the smother and the rout
The `Calliope' steamed out -
And they cheered her from the Trenton that was foundering in the sea.
Page: 101
Aye! drifting shoreward there,
All helpless as they were,
Their vessel hurled upon the reefs as weed ashore is hurled.
Without a thought of fear
The Yankees raised a cheer -
A cheer that English-speaking folk should echo round the world.
Page: 102
DO THEY KNOW
Do they know? At the turn to the straight
Where the favourites fail,
And every atom of weight
Is telling its tale;
As some grim old stayer hard-pressed
Runs true to his breed,
And with head just in front of the rest
Fights on in the lead;
When the jockeys are out with the whips,
With a furlong to go;
And the backers grow white to the lips -
Do you think they don't know?
Do they know? As they come back to weigh
In a whirlwind of cheers,
Though the spurs have left marks of the fray,
Though the sweat on the ears
Page: 103
Gathers cold, and they sob with distress
As they roll up the track,
They know just as well their success
As the man on their back.
As they walk through a dense human lane,
That sways to and fro,
And cheers them again and again,
Do you think they don't know?
Page: 104
THE PASSING OF GUNDAGAI
`I'LL introdooce a friend!' he said,
`And if you've got a vacant pen
`You'd better take him in the shed
`And start him shearing straight ahead,
`He's one of these here quiet men.
`He never strikes - that ain't his game;
`No matter what the others try
`He goes on shearing just the same.
`I never rightly knew his name -
`We always call him ``Gundagai''!'
Our flashest shearer then had gone
To train a racehorse for a race,
And while his sporting fit was on
He couldn't be relied upon,
So `Gundagai' shore in his place.
Page: 105
Alas for man's veracity!
For reputations false and true!
This `Gundagai' turned out to be,
For strife and all-round villainy,
The very worst I ever knew!
He started racing Jack Devine,
And grumbled when I made him stop.
The pace he showed was extra fine,
But all those pure-bred ewes of mine
Were bleeding like a butcher's shop.
He cursed the sheep, he cursed the shed,
From roof to rafter, floor to shelf;
As for my mongrel ewes, he said,
I ought to get a razor blade
And shave the blooming things myself.
On Sundays he controlled a `school',
And played `two-up' the livelong day;
And many a young confiding fool
He shore of his financial wool;
And when he lost he would not pay.
He organised a shearers' race,
And `touched' me to provide the prize.
Page: 106
His packhorse showed surprising pace
And won hands down - he was The Ace,
A well-known racehorse in disguise.
Next day the bruiser of the shed
Displayed an opal-tinted eye,
With large contusions on his head.
He smiled a sickly smile, and said
He'd `had a cut at ``Gundagai''!'
But just as we were getting full
Of `Gundagai' and all his ways,
A telegram for `Henry Bull'
Arrived. Said he, `That's me - all wool!
`Let's see what this here message says.'
He opened it, his face grew white,
He dropped the shears and turned away.
It ran, `Your wife took bad last night;
`Come home at once - no time to write,
`We fear she may not last the day.'
He got his cheque - I didn't care
To dock him for my mangled ewes;
His store account - we `called it square'.
Poor wretch! he had enough to bear,
Confronted by such dreadful news.
Page: 107
The shearers raised a little purse
To help a mate, as shearers will,
`To pay the doctor and the nurse,
`And if there should be something worse -
`To pay the undertaker's bill.'
They wrung his hand in sympathy,
He rode away without a word,
His head hung down in misery.
A wandering hawker passing by
Was told of what had just occurred.
`Well! that's a curious thing,' he said,
`I've known that feller all his life -
`He's had the loan of this here shed!
`I know his wife ain't nearly dead,
`Because he hasn't got a wife!'
.
.
.
.
.
You should have heard the whipcord crack
As angry shearers galloped by,
In vain they tried to fetch him back.
A little dust along the track
Was all they saw of `Gundagai'.
Page: 108
THE WARGEILAH HANDICAP
WARGEILAH town is very small,
There's no cathedral nor a club,
In fact the township, all in all,
Is just one unpretentious pub;
And there, from all the stations round,
The local sportsmen can be found.
The sportsmen of Wargeilah side
Are very few but very fit:
There's scarcely any sport been tried
But what they held their own at it
In fact, to search their records o'er,
They held their own and something more.
'Twas round about Wargeilah town
An English new-chum did infest:
He used to wander up and down
In baggy English breeches drest -
His mentalaspect seemed to be
Just stolid self-sufficiency.
Page: 109
The local sportsmen vainly sought
His tranquil calm to counteract,
- uncertain [ʌn´sə:tn]
a.不定的；不可靠的 (初中英语单词) - waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- furnace [´fə:nis] n.熔炉；火炉 (初中英语单词)
- vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)
- helpless [´helpləs] a.无助的，无依靠的 (初中英语单词)
- barely [´beəli] ad.公开地；仅仅 (初中英语单词)
- ashore [ə´ʃɔ:] ad.向岸上 (初中英语单词)
- vacant [´veikənt] a.空虚的，无表情的 (初中英语单词)
- financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
- surprising [sə´praiziŋ] a.惊人的；意外的 (初中英语单词)
- well-known [,wel´nəun] a.著名的，众所周知的 (初中英语单词)
- telegram [´teligræm] n.电报 (初中英语单词)
- account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
- dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)
- cathedral [kə´θi:drəl] n.大教堂 (初中英语单词)
- wander [´wɔndə, ´wɑ:n:dər] v.徘徊；流浪 (初中英语单词)
- mental [´mentl] a.精神的；心理的 (初中英语单词)
- aspect [´æspekt] n.面貌；神色；方向 (初中英语单词)
- sullen [´sʌlən] a.不高兴的 (高中英语单词)
- strain [strein] vt.拉紧 vi.拖 n.张力 (高中英语单词)
- smother [´smʌðə] v.抑制；覆盖 n.浓烟 (高中英语单词)
- strife [straif] n.竞争；吵架；冲突 (高中英语单词)
- vainly [´veinli] ad.虚荣地；自负地 (高中英语单词)
- hurricane [´hʌrikən] n.飓风 (英语四级单词)
- plaything [´plei,θiŋ] n.玩具；玩物 (英语四级单词)
- whirlwind [´wə:l,wind] n.旋风；猛烈的势力 (英语四级单词)
- rightly [´raitli] ad.正义地；正确地 (英语四级单词)
- rafter [´rɑ:ftə] n.橼 vt.装橼子于 (英语四级单词)
- blooming [´blu:miŋ] a.正开花的；妙龄的 (英语四级单词)
- sickly [´sikli] a.多病的；病态的 (英语四级单词)
- township [´taunʃip] n.乡；区 (英语四级单词)
- breeches [´britʃiz] n.裤子；马裤 (英语四级单词)
- counteract [,kauntə´rækt] vt.抵抗；阻碍；抵制 (英语四级单词)
- thames [temz] n.泰晤士河 (英语六级单词)
- helplessly [´helplisli] ad.无能为力地 (英语六级单词)
- tranquil [´træŋkwil] a.平静的，稳定的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
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