Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/260

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76
THE LOST LEGION

But we know as the cartridges finish
And we're filed on our last little shelves,
That the Legion that never was 'listed
Will send us as good as ourselves,
(Good men!)
Five hundred as good as ourselves.


Then a health (we must drink it in whispers),
To our wholly unauthorised horde—
To the line of our dusty foreloopers,
The Gentlemen Rovers abroad.
Yes, a health to ourselves ere we scatter,
For the steamer won't wait for the train,
And the Legion that never was 'listed
Goes back into quarters again.
'Regards!
Goes back under canvas again.
Hurrah!
The swag and the billy again.
Here's how!
The trail and the packhorse again.
Salue!
The trek and the lager again.