OCR Text |
Show THE OVERLAND MAIL, In the name of the Empress of India, make way. O lord of the Junnle, wherever yon roam. The wood! are amir at the close of the day We exiles are waiting for letters fiom home Let the robber retreat let the tiger turn tail-In tail-In the name of the Empress, the Overland Mail! With a Jlncle of bells as the dusk gathers In, He turns to the footpath that heads up the bill The basrs on his ba k and a clolh round his rhiu, And. tin kwl In his waist belt, thepostofflee b II- "Dlsput h on this date, as received by the rail, Per rume-, two baps of the Overland Mall." Is the torrent In spate? He must ford It or swim. Has rain wrecked the road? He mutellrab by lh' el' ft. Does the tmreit cry "Halt?" What are tempests to h'm? The service admits not a "but or an "if." While the breath's In his mouth, ha must bear without fall, In the name of the Empress, the Overland Wall. From aloe to rose-oak, from rose-oak to fir, From level to upland, from upland to crest, From rice-held to rock-r.dge to spur, Fly the soft sandaled feet, strains the brawny brown chest. From rail to ravine to the peak from the vale Up, up through the nijiht goej the Overlan 1 Mall. There's aspeekonthe hllls'de, a dot on the road A JlnKle of bells on the footpath There's a scuffle above In the m mk'y's alside The world Is awake and tl rlouds are aglow. For the gie it Sun himself must attend to the hail:- "In thenau.e of the Empress, the Overliind Mail I" Hutl yard Kipling. |