I’m proud, of the fine old regiment!”—then the Colonel shook his hand—
“So I’ll ask one single favour from my Queen and my native land!
“If ever a man bore up, sir, as a soldier should with pluck,
And fought with a savage sorrow the demon of cursed ill-luck—
That man he sits before you! Give us back, with his wounds and scars,
The man who has sorely suffered, and is loved by the Tenth Hussars!”
Then a cheer went up from his comrades, and echoed across the sand,
And was borne on the wings of mercy to the heart of his native land,
Where the Queen on her throne will hear it, and the Colonel Prince will praise
The words of a simple soldier just uttered by Trooper Hayes!