The animals went in two by two,
Hurrah!
The animals went in two by two,
The elephant and the battery mu-
l', and they all got into the Ark,
For to get out of the rain!

Then I heard an old, grizzled, long-haired Central Asian chief, who had come down with the Amir, asking questions of a native officer.

"THEN I HEARD AN OLD, GRIZZLED, LONG-HAIRED, CENTRAL ASIAN CHIEF ASKING QUESTIONS OF A NATIVE OFFICER."
"THEN I HEARD AN OLD, GRIZZLED, LONG-HAIRED, CENTRAL ASIAN
CHIEF ASKING QUESTIONS OF A NATIVE OFFICER."

"Now," said he, "in what manner was this wonderful thing done?"

And the officer answered, "There was an order, and they obeyed."

"But are the beasts as wise as the men?" said the chief.

"They obey, as the men do. Mule, horse, elephant, or bullock, he obeys his driver, and the driver his sergeant, and the sergeant his lieutenant, and the lieutenant his captain, and the captain his major, and the major his colonel, and the colonel his brigadier commanding three regiments, and the brigadier his general, who obeys the Viceroy, who is the servant of the Empress. Thus it is done."

"Would it were so in Afghanistan!" said the chief; "for there we obey only our own wills."

"And for that reason," said the native officer, twirling his mustache, "your Amir whom you do not obey must come here and take orders from our Viceroy."

PARADE-SONG OF THE CAMP ANIMALS

ELEPHANTS OF THE GUN-TEAM

We lent to Alexander the strength of Hercules,
The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of our knees;
We bowed our necks to service; they ne'er were loosed again,—
Make way there, way for the ten-foot teams
Of the Forty-Pounder train!

GUN-BULLOCKS

Those heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannon-ball,
And what they know of powder upsets them one and all;
Then we come into action and tug the guns again,—
Make way there, way for the twenty yoke
Of the Forty-Pounder train!

CAVALRY HORSES

By the brand on my withers, the finest of tunes

Is played by the Lancers, Hussars, and Dragoons,

And it's sweeter than "Stables" or "Water" to me,

The Cavalry Canter of "Bonnie Dundee"!

Then feed us and break us and handle and groom,

And give us good riders and plenty of room,

And launch us in column of squadrons and see

The way of the war-horse to "Bonnie Dundee"!

SCREW-GUN MULES

As me and my companions were scrambling up a hill,

The path was lost in rolling stones, but we went forward still;

For we can wriggle and climb, my lads, and turn up everywhere,

And it's our delight on a mountain height, with a leg or two to spare!

Good luck to every sergeant, then, that lets us pick our road;

Bad luck to all the driver-men that cannot pack a load:

For we can wriggle and climb, my lads, and turn up everywhere,

And it's our delight on a mountain height with a leg or two to spare!

COMMISSARIAT CAMELS

We haven't a camelty tune of our own

To help us trollop along,

But every neck is a hairy trombone

(Rtt-ta-ta-ta! is a hairy trombone!)

And this is our marching song:

Can't! Don't! Sha'n't! Won't!

Pass it along the line!

Somebody's pack has slid from his back,

Wish it were only mine!

Somebody's load has tipped off in the road—

Cheer for a halt and a row!

Urrr! Yarrh! Grr! Arrh!

Somebody's catching it now!

ALL THE BEASTS TOGETHER

Children of the Camp are we,
Serving each in his degree;
Children of the yoke and goad,
Pack and harness, pad and load.
See our line across the plain,
Like a heel-rope bent again.
Reaching, writhing, rolling far,
Sweeping all away to war!
While the men that walk beside,
Dusty, silent, heavy-eyed,
Cannot tell why we or they
March and suffer day by day.
Children of the Camp are we,
Serving each in his degree;
Children of the yoke and goad,
Pack and harness, pad and load.
Back Cover

Transcriber's Notes:

The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the same in the List of Illustrations and in the book.

On page 78, "Bandar log" was replaced with "Bandar-log".

On page 80, a period was added after "leave to hunt here".

On page 156, "Novastoshna" was replaced with "Novastoshnah".

On page 171, "floam-flecked" was replaced with "foam-flecked".

On page 299, there is a hyphen at the end of a line of poetry. That hyphen seems to be deliberate, and was kept as-is.