Page:Captain Craig; a book of poems.djvu/31

And watched the track and waited for the train;
And I remember, when the brakes had ceased
Their welcome wheezing and the place was filled
With yells and shadows and official smash,
How he ground my patient fingers and said, "Well,
Good-by, old man!—good-by! And don't forget:
Patrician, but all Waggles to the grave."
The grin became a smile soon after that,
And I knew that he had let the Captain go;
And I could read, where once the jest had been,
The spirit of the friend who cared the most.

The train began to move; and as it moved,
I felt a comfortable sudden change
All over and inside. Partly it seemed
As if the strings of me had all at once
Gone down a tone or two; and even though
It made me scowl to think so trivial
A touch had owned the strength to tighten them,
It made me laugh to think that I was free.
But free from what—when I began to turn
The question round—was more than I could say:
I was no longer vexed with Killigrew,
Nor more was I possessed with Captain Craig;