Hane

SALLY: A STUDY

"Over the Past not e'en the gods have power,

For what hath been, hath been, and I have had my hour!"

-DRYDEN.

SALLY: A STUDY

AND OTHER

TALES OF THE OUTSKIRTS

BY

HUGH CLIFFORD, C.M.G.

AUTHOR OF 'STUDIES IN BROWN HUMANITY,' 'BUSH-WHACKING,'
A FREE-LANCE of to-day,' etc., etc.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MCMIV

All Rights reserved

ΤΟ

MY BRETHREN IN MALAYA.

took

THE grim Recording Angel turns the pages of the Book,
And the days are thrust behind us past recall—
All the sorrows that we tasted, all the pleasure that we
In that life we shared together, Brothers all!
But to-day the forest whispers and to-day the ungkas whoop,
While the big, slow river lumbers down to meet the sunlit sea,
And the village drones and drowses where the palm-fronds lift
or droop,

For the old life glideth onward still-with ne'er a place for me!

In the hut and in the palace, 'mid the rice-fields or the shade Where the vast trees crowding stagger 'neath their load of fern and vine,

In that world of untouched Nature, 'mid the marvels God hath made,

Ye are living on in listlessness the life that once was mine! Hark! I catch the thud of tom-toms, and the drone of old

world song,

The sleepy hum of insects and the rush of startled beast— And I lack the words to tell you, O my Brothers, how I long

For the glory and the glamour and the wonder of the East!