66
THE SEVEN SEAS
Till they heard the torment of Reuben Paine that wailed upon his death:
'The tides they'll go through Fundy Race but I'll go never more
'And see the hogs from ebb-tide mark turn scampering back to shore.
'No more I'll see the trawlers drift below the Bass Rock ground,
'Or watch the tall Fall steamer lights tear blazing up the Sound.
'Sorrow is me, in a lonely sea and a sinful fight I fall,
'But if there's law o' God or man you'll swing for it yet, Tom Hall!'
Tom Hall stood up by the quarter-rail. 'Your words in your teeth,' said he.
'There's never a law of God or man runs north of Fifty-Three.
'So go in grace with Him to face, and an ill-spent life behind,
'And I'll be good to your widows, Rube, as many as I shall find.'
