"And you shall leave a friend behind
Who neither frets nor feels;
And you shall move among your kind
With hundreds at your heels.
"Now this that I have written here
Tells all that need be told;
So, Vickery, take the way that's clear,
And be a man of gold."
Vickery turned his eyes again
To the far mountain-side,
And wept a tear for worthy men
Defeated and defied.
Since then a crafty score of years
Have come, and they have gone;
But Vickery counts no lost arrears:
He lingers and lives on.
[104]
