And the Elders declared that all would be squared
If she carried the holy words
From her Keokuk Home to the hell-town Nome
To save those sinful birds.
So, two weeks later, she took a freighter,
For the gold-cursed land near the Pole,
But Heaven ain’t made for a lass that’s betrayed—
She was wrecked on Shark Tooth Shoal!
All hands were tossed in the Sea, and lost—
All but the maiden Ruth,