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An' there's that rummy silver grass a-wavin' in the wind,
An' the old Grand Trunk a-trailin' like a rifle-sling be'ind.
While it's best foot first, etc.
At half-past five's Revelly, an' our tents they down must come,
Like a lot of button mushrooms when you pick 'em up at 'ome.
But it's over in a minute, an' at six the column starts,
While the women and the kiddies sit an' shiver in the carts.
And it's best foot first, etc.
Oh, then it's open order, an' we lights our pipes an' sings,
An' we talks about our rations an' a lot of other thing things,
And we thinks o' friends in England, an' we wonders what they're at,
An' 'ow they would admire for to hear us sling the bat.[1]
- ↑ Thomas's first and firmest conviction is that he is a profound Orientalist and a fluent speaker of Hindustani. As a matter of fact, he depends largely on the sign-language.
