Thro' the hot black breath of the burnin' boat

Jim Bludsoe's voice was heard,

And they all had trust in his cussedness,

And know'd he would keep his word.

And sure's you're born, they all got off

Afore the smokestacks fell,

And Bludsoe's ghost went up alone

In the smoke of Prairie Belle.

He warn't no saint—but at judgment

I'd run my chance with Jim