198
SONGS FROM THE SOUTHERN SEAS.
We've work to do this day will prove what every man is worth;
Ay, work, my lads, will make amends for all our long delay,—
The General says on us depends the fortune of the day!'
"No order needed we to mount,—each man was in his place.
And stern and dangerous was the look on every veteran face.
"We trotted sharply up the hill, and halted on the brow.
And then that glorious field appeared. Oh! lad, I see it now!
But little time had we to spare for idle gazing then:
Beneath us, in the valley, stood a dark-clad mass of men:
It cut the British line in two. Our Colonel shouted, 'There!
Behold your work! Our orders are to charge and break that square!'