XII.

The King was terribly put out; To hear him call the guard and shout, And stamp, and curse, and rave Was (as the Missionaries say) A lesson in the Godless way The heathen will behave. He sent us to a Prison, made Of pointed stakes in palisade, And there for several hours Our Leader was a mark for bricks, And eggs and cocoanuts and sticks, And pussy-cats in showers. Our former porters seemed to bear A grudge against the millionaire.

And yet the thing I minded most Was not the ceaseless teasing (With which the Captain was engrossed), Nor being fastened to a post (Though that was far from pleasing); But hearing them remark that they “Looked forward to the following day.”