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72
A BALLAD OF JOHN NICHOLSON
"You are overhasty, Mehtab Singh,When that the rest are gone,I have a word that may not waitTo speak with you alone."
The Captains passed in silence forthAnd stood the door behind;To go before the game was playedBe sure they had no mind.
But there within John NicholsonTurned him on Mehtab Singh,"So long as the soul is in my bodyYou shall not do this thing.
"Have ye served us for a hundred yearsAnd yet ye know not why?We brook no doubt of our mastery,We rule until we die.
"Were I the one last EnglishmanDrawing the breath of life,And you the master-rebel of allThat stir this land to strife—
"Were I," he said, "but a Corporal,And you a Rajput King,So long as the soul was in my bodyYou should not do this thing.
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