A restless wild-cat had escaped,
And roamed the gardens free;
The keeper, frightened at the sight,
Had climbed a lofty tree:
The savage brute espied him there,
And with an agile bound,
It met the bullet in the air,
And tumbled to the ground!
[{29}]
A watermelon, large and fine,
Was in the kitchen shed;
The bullet drilled a hole through it
As on its way it sped.
“Who plugged dat melon?” mammy cried,
As through the door she came.
“I’d spank de chile dat done dat trick,
Ef I could learn his name.”
[{31}]
A vender of balloons, a chap
In Russia born and bred,
Came ambling through the dusty street,
His wares above his head.
“Balloons! Balloons! Who vants to buy?”
He shrilly cried. “I say—”
Just then his enterprise collapsed—
The shot had come that way.
[{33}]