And as he scrambled down the bank the wond’ring trooper saw
Him struggling half across the rushing tide.
The angry waters swept him down, and every nerve was strained
To keep his hold upon the frail support:
Though icy numbness seized him, yet his courage never waned:
The hope of freedom filled his every thought.
The rope swayed low beneath his weight and bellied to the stream:
Around his head the flying ripples curled;
While high above the river’s roar rang out the awful scream
Of a soul that flies in terror from the world,
As a mighty log, borne swiftly on the bosom of the flood,
Resistless swept him ’neath the eager wave
That sucked him down to river depths; and there beneath the mud
Jack Corrigan sought out a nameless grave.
‘Good-bye to life! good-bye to life!’ the mocking wavelets sang:
The towering cliffs took up the wild refrain.
‘A broken life! a weeping wife!’ ‘twas thus the rhythm rang,
‘And a baby boy he’ll never see again!’
