Saltbush Bill, J. P.

The Protest

  I say 'e isn't Remorse!
   'Ow do I know?
  Saw 'im on Riccarton course
   Two year ago!
  Think I'd forget any 'orse?
   Course 'e's The Crow!

  Bumper Maginnis and I,
   After a “go”,
  Walkin' our 'orses to dry,
   I says, “Hello!
  What's that old black goin' by?”
    Bumper says “Oh!
  That's an old cuddy of Flanagan's—
   Runs as The Crow!”

  Now they make out 'e's Remorse.
   Well, but I know.
  Soon as I came on the course
   I says “'Ello!
   'Ere's the old Crow.”
   Once a man's seen any 'orse,
   'Course 'e must know.
  Sure as there's wood in this table,
   I say 'e's The Crow.

      (Cross-examined by the Committee.)

  'Ow do I know the moke
   After one sight?
  S'posin' you met a bloke
   Down town at night,
  Wouldn't you know 'im again when you met 'im?
   That's 'I'm all right!

  What was the brand on 'is 'ide?
   I couldn't say,
  Brands can be transmogrified.
   That ain't the way—
  It's the look of a 'orse and the way that 'e moves
   That I'd know any day.

  What was the boy on 'is back?
   Why, 'e went past
  All of a minute, and off down the track.
  —“The 'orse went as fast?”
   True, so 'e did!  But, my eyes, what a treat!
  'Ow can I notice the 'ands and the seat
  Of each bumble-faced kid of a boy that I meet?
   Lor'!  What a question to ast!

      (Protest dismissed.)