And two grim, murderous thieves, or more,
Had bribed the locks with their hooks of steel,
He fought with more than a henchman’s zeal
For sleeping loved ones’ treasures and life:—
He conquered rogue, and bullet, and knife.
That day that he walked by the river’s brink,
Thinking (if certain men can think),
And saw distress with a quick, sure eye,
And heard the half-choked drowning cry
A living life boat, soon he bore