As I was bendin' a hook one day A furriner[*] strawled along the kay. His cheeks was white as gannet's wing, An' he looked a whisht an' wakely thing.
His clo'es was nate an' spickety span, But I sez to meself "Now there's a man!"
An' I sez to meself "Now look at his legs, They'm like a couple o' crabpot pegs."
An' I sez to meself "A bit of a squall Would blow his bones to the end of all."
An' I sez—but I didn' had time to say For a scraitch went up from the end o' the kay,
Where a cheeld was aswingin' jest afore, An' now there wasn' no cheeld no more,
Then a'most afore I could see him go, That furriner sprang in the say below.
He couldn' swim much, but he keeped afloat Jest while I tumbled into the boat,
An' I hooked him up an' lugged him aboard, An' he had that cheeld clipped tight as cord.
He trembled an' shook, he was wake an' white, But he awnly sez "Is the kid alright?"