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Star (Christchurch), Issue 5092, 27 October 1894, Page 2

In Blackwood's Magazine, Mr W. W« Story puts in the mouth of a battered old seventy-four frigate meditations natural to a Tesiel which, after a stirring career oa the high seas, is doomed to rot and to sulk, and to brag of the days that are past :•— But even here, when the guns on the shore Peal out, I can feel the, old battle's roar Sonneting again, that I never more, While life remains, shall forget, When out on the sea the enemy . ' In my fighting trim I met 1 '°f Ah 1 my old hulk, each shotted gun Then pealed in a thundering unison, And I seem to hear them yet, — Flashing and crashing, the balls come dashing On their savage errand of death Through sails, yard, mast, coming thundering past And sweeping the deckß beneath. Ah 1 the wild, Bkrill cries, and the agonies Of the wounded— the decks all red With the blood of the dying and- dead ! The living all firing and loading— The guns in flashes exploding— And the fierce wild courage and cry As the balls told sternly their terrible tale, Sweeping the decks with their iron hail, Tearing through masts and yard and sail, As they crashed relentlessly by; Till after what seemed like months had passed. Though they were but moments — at last — at last The enemy's flag was struck from the mast, To our wild cry— Victory.