The Dead-Beat
18 lines✦
e dropped,--more sullenly than wearily,Lay stupid like a cod, heavy like meat,And none of us could kick him to his feet;Just blinked at my revolver, blearily;--Didn't appear to know a war was on,Or see the blasted trench at which he stared."I'll do 'em in," he whined, "If this hand's spared,I'll murder them, I will." A low voice said,"It's Blighty, p'raps, he sees; his pluck's all gone,Dreaming of all the valiant, that AREN'T dead:Bold uncles, smiling ministerially;Maybe his brave young wife, getting her funIn some new home, improved materially.It's not these stiffs have crazed him; nor the Hun." We sent him down at last, out of the way.Unwounded;--stout lad, too, before that strafe.Malingering? Stretcher-bearers winked, "Not half!"
✦
