: The Modern Traveller by Belloc Hilaire B T B Basil Temple Blackwood Illustrator - Humorous poetry English; English poetry 19th century; Great Britain Colonies Africa Poetry

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Illustrator: Basil Temple Blackwood

THE MODERN TRAVELLER

EDWARD ARNOLD 37, BEDFORD STREET, LONDON 1898

BAD CHILD'S BOOK OF BEASTS. Fcap. 4to., 2s. 6d. nett. ALDEN & CO., OXFORD.

MORE BEASTS . Demy 4to., 3s. 6d. EDWARD ARNOLD, LONDON.

THE MODERN TRAVELLER.

Of course, the Public know I mean To publish in the winter. I mention the intention in Connection with Commander Sin; The book is with the Printer. And here, among the proofs, I find The very thing I had in mind-- The portrait upon page thirteen.

Pray pause awhile, and mark The wiry limbs, the vigorous mien, The tangled hair and dark; The glance imperative and hot, That takes a world by storm: All these are in the plate, but what You chiefly should observe is The--Did you say his uniform Betrayed a foreign service?

Of course, it does! He was not born In little England! No! Beyond the Cape, beyond the Horn, Beyond Fernando Po, In some far Isle he saw the light That burns the torrid zone, But where it lay was never quite Indubitably known. Himself inclined to Martinique, His friends to Farralone. But why of this discussion speak? The Globe was all his own! Oh! surely upon such a birth No petty flag unfurled! He was a citizen of earth, A subject of the world!

As for the uniform he bore, He won it in the recent war Between Peru and Ecuador, And thoroughly he earned it. Alone of all who at the time Were serving sentences for crime, Sin, during his incarceration Had studied works on navigation; And when the people learned it, They promptly let him out of jail, But on condition he should sail.

It marked an epoch, and you may Recall the action in A place called Quaxipotle bay? Yes, both the navies ran away; And yet, if Ecuador can say That on the whole she won the day, The fact is due to Sin.

The Fleet was hardly ten weeks out, When somebody descried The enemy. Sin gave a shout, The Helmsmen put the ship about; For, upon either side, Tactics demanded a retreat. Due west retired the foreign fleet, But Sin he steered due east; He muttered, "They shall never meet." And when, towards the close of day, The foemen were at least Fifteen or twenty miles away, He called his cabin-steward aft, The boldest of his men; He grasped them by the hand; he laughed A fearless laugh, and then, "Heaven help the right! Full steam a-head, Fighting for fighting's sake," he said.

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