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n.
- Oh ay, that is all very well on dry land,
- but I'm blest if it matters a snuff on board ship,
- when a decent man's out on the seas with such riff-raff.
- At sea one never can be one's self;
- one must go with the others from deck to keel;
- if for boatswain and cook the hour of vengeance should strike,
- I shall no doubt be swept to the deuce with the rest;-
- one's personal welfare is clean set aside;-
- one counts but as a sausage in slaughtering-time.-
- My mistake is this: I have been too meek;
- and I've had no thanks for it after all.
- Were I younger, I. think I would shift the saddle,
- and try how it answered to lord it awhile.
- There is time enough yet! They shall know in the parish
- that Peer has come sailing aloft o'er the seas!
- I'll get back the farmstead by fair means or foul;-
- I will build it anew; it shall shine like a palace.
- But none shall be suffered to enter the hall!
- They shall stand at the gateway, all twirling their caps;-
- they shall beg and beseech-that they freely may do;
- but none gets so much as a farthing of mine.
- If I've had to howl 'neath the lashes of fate,
- trust me to find folks I can lash in my turn-
THE STRANGE PASSENGER [stands in the darkness at PEER GYNT's side,
- and salutes him in friendly fashion].
- Good evening!
