BARB-WIRE BILL

At dawn of day the white land lay all gruesome

like and grim,

When Bill McGee he says to me: "We've got to do it

Jim.

"We've got to make Fort Laird quick. I know the

rivers bad,

"But oh the little woman's sick .... why! don't

you savvy lad?"

And me! Well, yes, I must confess it wasn't hard to

see

Their little family group of two would soon be one of

three

And so I answered, careless-like: "Why, Bill! you don't

suppose

"I'm scared of that there 'babbling brook'? Whatever

you say --- goes."

A real live man was barb-wire Bill, with insides copper-

lined;

For "barb-wire" was the brand of "hooch" to which

he most inclined.

They knew him far; his igloos are on Kittiegazuit

strand

They knew him well, the tribes who dwell within the

Barren Land.

From Koyokuk to Kuskoquim his fame was

everywhere;

And he did love, all life above, that little Julie

Claire,

The lithe, white slave-girl he had bought for seven

hundred skins'

And taken to his wickiup to make his moccasins.

We crawled down to the river bank and feeble folk

were we,

That Julie Claire from God knows where, and Barb-wire

Bill and me.

From shore to shore we heard the roar the heaving

ice-floes make,

And loud we laughed, and launched our raft and

followed in their wake.

The river swept and seethed and leapt, and caught us

in it's stride;

And on we hurled amid a world that crashed on every

side.

With sullen din the banks caved in; the shore-ice lanced

the stream;

The naked floes like spooks arose, all jiggling and agleam.

Black anchor-ice of strange device shot upward from its

bed,

As night and day we cleft our way, and arrow like we sped.

But "Faster still!" cried Barb-wire Bill, and looked the

live-long day

In dull despair at Julie Claire, as white like death she

lay.

And sometimes he would seem to pray and sometimes

seem to curse,

And bent above, with eyes of love, yet ever she grew

worse.

And as we plunged and leapt and lunged, her face was

plucked with pain,

And I could feel his nerves of steel a-quiver at the

strain.

And in the night he griped me tight as I lay fast

asleep:

"The river's kicking like a steer .... run out the

forward sweep!

"that's Hell-gate Canyon right ahead; I know of old

its roar,

"And .... I'll be damned! the ice is jammed!

We've got to make the shore."

With one wild leap I gripped the sweep. The night was

black as sin.

The float-ice crashed and ripped and smashed, and stunned

us with its din.

And near and near, and clear and clear I heard the

canyon boom;

And swift and strong we swept along to meet our awful

doom.

And as with dread I glimpsed ahead the death that waited

there,

My only thought was of the girl, the little Julie

Claire;

And so, like demon mad with fear, I panted at the

oar,

And foot by foot, and inch by inch, we worked the raft

ashore.

The bank was staked with grinding ice, and as we scraped

and crashed,

I only knew one thing to do, and through my mind it

flashed:

Yet while I groped to find the rope, I heard Bill's savage

cry:

"That's my job lad! It's me that jumps. Ill snub

this raft of die!"

I saw him leap, I saw him creep, I saw him gain the

land;

I saw him crawl, I saw him fall, then run with rope in

hand.

And then the darkness gulped him up, and down we

dashed once more,

And nearer, nearer drew the jam, and thunder-like its

roar.

Oh God! all's lost .... from Julie Claire there

came a wail of pain,

And then --- the rope grew sudden taught, and quivered at

the strain;

It slacked and slipped, it whined and gripped, and oh, I

held my breath!

And there we hung and there we swung right in the

jaws of death.

A little strand of hempen rope, and how I watched it

there,

With all around a hell of sound, and darkness and

despair;

A little strand of hempen rope, I watched it all

alone,

And somewhere in the dark behind, I heard a woman

moan;

And somewhere in the dark ahead I heard a man cry

out,

Then silence, silence fell, and mocked my hollow

shout.

And yet once more from out the shore I heard that cry

of pain,

A moan of mortal agony, then all was still

again.

Than night was hell with all the frills, and when the

dawn broke dim,

I saw the lean and level land, but never a sign of

him.

I saw the flat and frozen shore of hideous

device,

I saw a long drawn strand of rope that vanished through

the ice.

And on that treeless, rockless shore I found my partner

--- dead.

No place there was to snub the raft, so --- he had served

instead;

And with the rope lashed round his waste, in last

defiant fight,

He'd thrown himself beneath the ice, that closed and

gripped him tight;

And there he'd held us back from death, as fast in death

he lay....

Say, boys! I'm not the pious brand, but --- I just tried

to pray.

And then I looked to Julie Claire, and sore abashed

was I,

For from the robes that covered her, I --- heard --- a ---

baby --- cry ....

Thus Love conqueror of death, and life for life was

given;

And though no saint on earth, d'ye think --- Bill's squared

himself with heaven?

ROBERT W. SERVICE