THE CAPTAIN’S COW. A ROMANCE OF THE IRON AGE.

“Water, water everywhere, But not a drop to drink.”—Coleridge.

T is a jolly Mariner As ever knew the billows’ stir, Or battled with the gale; His face is brown, his hair is black, And down his broad gigantic back There hangs a platted tail. In clusters, as he rolls along, His tarry mates around him throng, Who know his budget well; Betwixt Canton and Trinidad No Sea-Romancer ever had Such wondrous tales to tell! Against the mast he leans a-slope, And thence upon a coil of rope Slides down his pitchy “starn;” Heaves up a lusty hem or two, And then at once without ado Begins to spin his yarn:— “As from Jamaica we did come, Laden with sugar, fruit and rum, It blew a heavy gale: A storm that scar’d the oldest men For three long days and nights, and then The wind began to fail. “Still less and less, till on the mast The sails began to flap at last, The breezes blew so soft; Just only now and then a puff, Till soon there was not wind enough To stir the vane aloft. “No, not a cat’s paw anywhere: Hold up your finger in the air You couldn’t feel a breath For why, in yonder storm that burst, The wind that blew so hard at first Had blown itself to death. “No cloud aloft to throw a shade; No distant breezy ripple made The ocean dark below. No cheering sign of any kind; The more we whistled for the wind The more it did not blow. “The hands were idle, one and all; No sail to reef against a squall; No wheel, no steering now! Nothing to do for man or mate, But chew their cuds and ruminate, Just like the Captain’s Cow. “Day after day, day after day, Becalm’d the Jolly Planter lay, As if she had been moor’d: The sea below, the sky a-top Fierce blazing down, and not a drop Of water left aboard! “Day after day, day after day, Becalm’d the Jolly Planter lay, As still as any log; The Parching seamen stood about, Each with his tongue a-lolling out, And panting like a dog— “A dog half mad with summer heat And running up and down the street, By thirst quite overcome; And not a drop in all the ship To moisten cracking tongue and lip, Except Jamaica rum! “The very poultry in the coop Began to pine away and droop— The cock was first to go; And glad we were on all our parts, He used to damp our very hearts With such a ropy crow. “But worst it was, we did allow, To look upon the Captain’s Cow, That daily seemed to shrink: Deprived of water hard or soft, For, though we tried her oft and oft, The brine she wouldn’t drink: “But only turn’d her bloodshot eye, And muzzle up towards the sky, And gave a moan of pain, A sort of hollow moan and sad, As if some brutish thought she had To pray to heav’n for rain; “And sometimes with a steadfast stare Kept looking at the empty air, As if she saw beyond, Some meadow in her native land, Where formerly she used to stand A-cooling in the pond. “If I had only had a drink Of water then, I almost think She would have had the half: But as for John the Carpenter, He couldn’t more have pitied her If he had been her calf. “So soft of heart he was and kind To any creature lame, or blind, Unfortunate, or dumb: Whereby he made a sort of vow, In sympathising with the Cow, To give her half his rum;— “An oath from which he never swerved, For surely as the rum was serv’d He shared the cheering dram; And kindly gave one half at least, Or more, to the complaining beast, Who took it like a lamb. “At last with overclouding skies A breeze again began to rise, That stiffen’d to a gale: Steady, steady, and strong it blew; And were not we a joyous crew, As on the Jolly Planter flew Beneath a press of sail! “Swiftly the Jolly Planter flew, And were not we a joyous crew, At last to sight the land! A glee there was on every brow, That like a Christian soul the Cow Appear’d to understand. “And was not she a mad-like thing To land again and taste the spring, Instead of fiery glass: About the verdant meads to scour, And snuff the honey’d cowslip flower, And crop the juicy grass! “Whereby she grew as plump and hale As any beast that wears a tail, Her skin as sleek as silk; And through all parts of England now Is grown a very famous Cow, By giving Rum-and-Milk!”