But it's over now, so the Colonel says: he is ready to start, we are
ready to go:
And the cavalry boys will be led by men--Ewart! and Russell! and
Drury-Lowe!
Just once again let me stroke the mane--let me kiss the neck and feel
the breath
Of the good little horse who will carry me on to the end of the
battle--to life or death!
"Give us a grip of your fist, old man!" let us all keep close when
the charge begins!
God is watching o'er those at home! God have mercy on all our sins!
So pass the word in the dark, and then,
When the bugle sounds, let us mount like men!
Out we went in the dead of the night! away to the desert, across the
sand--
Guided alone by the stars of Heaven! a speechless host! a ghostly
band!
No cheery voice the silence broke; forbidden to speak, we could hear
no sound
But the whispered words, "Be firm, my boys!" and the horses' hoofs on
the sandy ground.
"What were we thinking of then?" Look here! if this is the last true
word I speak,
I felt a lump in my throat--just here--and a tear came trickling down
my cheek.
If a man dares say that I funked, he lies! But a man is a man though
he gives his life
For his country's, cause, as a soldier should--he has still got a
heart for his child and wife!
But I still rode on in a kind of dream; I was thinking of home and
the boys--and then
The silence broke! and, a bugle blew! then a voice rang cheerily,
"Charge, my men!"
So pass the word in the thick of the fight,
For England's honour and England's right!
What is it like, a cavalry charge in the dead of night? I can
scarcely tell,
For when it is over it's like a dream, and when you are in it a kind
of hell!
I should like you to see the officers lead--forgetting their swagger
and Bond Street air--
Like brothers and men at the head of the troop, while bugles echo and
troopers dare!
With a rush we are in it, and hard at work--there's scarcely a minute
to think or pause--
For right and left we are fighting hard for the regiment's honour and
country's cause!
Feather-bed warriors! On my life, be they Life Guards red or Horse
Guards blue,
They haven't lost much of the pluck, my boys, that their fathers
showed us at Waterloo!
It isn't for us, who are soldiers bred, to chatter of wars, be they
wrong or right;
We've to keep the oath that we gave our QUEEN! and when we are in
it--we've got to fight!
So pass the word, without any noise,
Bravo, Cavalry! Well done, boys!
Pass the word to the boys to-night, now that the battle is fairly
won.
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