"There was a Yankee skipper who round about did roam;
His name was Stephen Folger,--Nantucket was his home:
And having sailed to Vera Cruz, he had been _skinned_ full sore
By the Senor Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.

"But having got away alive, though all his cash was gone,
He said, 'If there is vengeance, I will surely try it on!
And I do wish that I may be hung,--if I don't clear the score
With Senor Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.'

"He shipped a crew of seventy men--well-armed men were they,
And sixty of them in the hold he darkly stowed away;
And, sailing back to Vera Cruz, was sighted from the shore
By the Senor Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.

"With twenty-five soldados, he came on board, so pleased,
And said '_Maldito_, Yankee,--again your ship is seized.
How many sailors have you got?' Said Folger, 'Ten--no more,'
To the Captain Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.

"'But come into my cabin and take a glass of wine,
I do suppose, as usual, I'll have to pay a fine:
I've got some old Madeira, and we'll talk the matter o'er--
My Captain Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.'

"And, as over the Madeira the Captain-General boozed,
It seemed to him as if his head were getting quite confused;
For, it happened that some morphine had travelled from 'the Store'
To the glass of Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.

"'What is it makes the vessel roll? What sounds are these I hear?
It seems as if the rising waves were beating on my ear!'
'Oh, it is the breaking of the surf--just that, and nothing more,
My Captain Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador!'

"The Governor was in a sleep, which muddled up his brains;
The seventy men had caught his 'gang' and put them all in chains;
And, when he woke the following day, he could not see the shore,
For he was away out on the sea--the Don San Salvador.

"'Now do you see the yard-arm--and understand the thing?'
Said rough, old Folger, viciously--'for this is where you'll swing,
Or forty thousand dollars you shall pay me from your store,
My Captain Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador!'

"The Captain he took up a pen--the order he did sign--
'O my, but Senor Yankee! You charge great guns for wine!'
Yet it was not until the draft was paid, they let him go ashore,
El Senor Don Alonzo Estaban San Salvador.

* * *