And from a weak consumptive chest;
There came a voice of piteousness—
“Ye poor Mahdi!”
In Cairo’s Hall he saw the light;
Of Gladstone laws, as dark as night,
And in the merchants’ faces gazed,
And saw that they too Gladstone praised,
Ye poor Mahdi!
“Try not this scheme,” good Randy said;
“A scimitar hangs o’er thy head,