Onward! the cry of the East and the West—
Onward! spoke Chaffee, Columbia’s son:
The nations were calling their bravest and best
For the work of a giant before them undone.
No time now to palter with quavering breath—
’Twas action and rescue—’twas rescue or death!
V.
And the word came to Reilly—it spoke not again—
Brave Reilly with all his bold lads of the guns—
(Ah, if any came out from El Caney’s red rain,