THE ROVERS
“Oh, wilt thou go a-sailing,” said the janitor’s boy to me:
“It’s raining, but I’ve got a raft rigged with a canopy.
“We carry boisterous batteries, our cannon balls are stones,
But I’ll wager all your loveliness you’re safe with John Paul Jones.”
I asked him very faintly was he competent to steer?
He said he was authority on rafts and running gear.
Then suddenly his voice sank low to slow and gentle tones,