246
SONGS, LEGENDS, AND BALLADS.
Let the curtain fall: when the red sun rose
From the placid ocean, the joys and woes
Of a thousand men he had last eve seen
Were as things or thoughts that had never been.
When the settlers returned,—in a month or two,—
They bethought of the dogs and the prisoned crew.
And a boat went out on a tardy quest
Of whatever was living on Rottenest.
They searched all the isle, and sailed back agen
With some specimen bones of the dogs and men.