Page:Poets of John Company.djvu/48

The horsemen fearlessly push in,
Contending who the ear should win;
For, gentle reader! know, that here
A brush is nothing to an ear.
But Qui Hai, disregarding care,
Fell headlong on a prickly pear:
Making, incautiously, a bound.
Both horse and rider bit the ground;
But luckily, except some dirt,
They both escap'd without a hurt.
The Paria in the tope they caught;
His ear extravagantly bought.
The cur had run them such a heat,
As put the hunters in a sweat;
They vow'd that on a future day,
They'd take his other ear away;
Now jumping-powder, wine and beer.
The riders and the horses cheer.
The huntsman now inform'd them all,
They were to tiff at Bobb'ry Hall.
Mounted again, the party starts,
Upsets the hackeries and carts;
Hammalls, and palanquins, and doolies,
Dobies, and Burrawas, and coolies,
Malabar hill at last they gain'd;
Our hero at its foot remain'd;
His horse he could not think to ride,
Like others, up its rugged side.
So wisely took another path,
That led directly to the bath.
Where soon he found the party met
Were all for tiffin sharply set.
What rounds of beef, hampers of beer.
What jumping-powder they had here,
It is impossible to tell—
To hint at them will do as well.
It, therefore, must suffice to say,
That Qui Hai spent a pleasant day;