| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
Frontier Ballads
The "Queen," she drew to the "Pauline's" wheel
An' her captain come a-bow; "I'll give yeh three miles the lead," says he, "An' beat yeh at that into Old Santee." "Come on," says the "Pauline's" chief, "an' see!
I'm a-waitin' fer yeh now." Sing ho! fer the captains, grim an' white With the smothered hate of an old-time fight
An' the chance fer a new-time row.
So the sassy "Queen" strung out behind
An' let the distance spread, Till the "Pauline" headed Ackley's Bend An' herself come in at the lower end; Then her slow-bell speed begun to mend
Fer the space that the old boat led. Sing ho! fer the clerks an' the engineers A-swabbin' the grease on the runnin' gears
An' settin' the stroke ahead.
Puff-puff! they went by the flat sand-bars,
Chug-chug! where the currents spun, An' the "Pauline's" stokers were not to blame Fer her tall, black stacks were spoutin' flame, But the "Queen" crawled up on her, just the same,
Two miles to the "Pauline's" one. Sing ho! fer the steam-chest's poundin' cough, A-shakin' the nuts o' the guy-rods off
To the beat o' the piston's run.
The "Queen" pulled up on the old boat's beam
At the mouth o' Chouteau Creek, An' the "Pauline's" captain stamped an' swore, Fer the wood bulged out o' the furnace door, An' the steam-gauge hissed with the load it bore,
But she couldn't do the trick. Sing ho! fer the pilot at the wheel A-shavin' the shoals on a twelve-inch keel. Enough to scare yeh sick. |
||
|
90 |
||