He wiped the green side of his dyed mustache with the back of his hand, and began the second verse drowsily, quavering on the high notes:
“She dressed herself—in man’s attire,
And went by the name—of Richard Carr,
With her lily-white fingers—all besmirched,
All besmirched—with pitch and tar.”
Here he paused.
“Go on,” coaxed Joe. “How about the part on the parade-ground. Remember?”
“Hold on—let’s see. Kinder slipped out of my mind—been so long since I tried to sing it.”
But Joe was again insistent, and after a little thinking Ed resumed:
“One day when she—was exercisin’—