is
welcome ter the parlor. We wants Red Joe ter hear yer sing. That
leetle song o' yers.

(_He returns to the recess at the rear of the cabin and covertly
watches Joe. Patch-Eye is lost in heavenly meditation. Joe's attention
is roused before the first stanza of the song is finished. By the
third stanza Betsy sings to him alone._)

[Music: Betsy's Lullaby]

[Transcriber's Note: Misspelled "Betsey" in original music title.]

BETSY: (_sings_).

The north wind's cheeks are puffed with tunes:
It whistles across the sky.
Its song is shrill and rough, until
The hour of twilight 's nigh.
Rest, my dear one, rest and dream.
The winds on tip-toe keep.
In the dusk of day they hum their lay,
And weary children sleep.

The waves since dawn roared on the rocks:
They snarled at the ships on the deep.
But at twilight hour they chain their power
And little children sleep.
Rest, my dear one, rest and dream.
The ships in a cradle swing,
And sailormen blink and children sink
To sleep, as the wavelets sing.

The sun at noon was red and hot:
It stifled the east and west.
But at even song the shadows long
Have summoned the world to rest.
Rest, my dear one, rest and dream.
The sun runs off from the sky.
But the stars, it 's odd, while children nod,
Are tuned to a lullaby.

(_She sings slowly, to a measure that might rock a cradle. This can be
managed, for I have tried it with a chair. Once, Patch-Eye blows his
nose to keep his emotions from exposure. But make him blow
softly--_soto naso_, shall we say?--so as not to disturb the song. In
Red Joe the song seems to have stirred a memory. At the end of each
stanza Betsy pauses, as if she, too, dwelt in the past._)

PATCH: When I hears that song I feels as if I were rockin' babies in a
crib--blessed leetle pirates, pullin' at their bottles, as will foller
the sea some day.

(_He blows his sentimental nose. A slighter structure would burst in
the explosion._)

DUKE: Yer ol' nose sounds as if it were tootin' fer a fog. Yer might
be roundin' the Isle o' Dogs on a mirky night.

(_He goes to the door and stretches out his hand for raindrops._)

DUKE: Joe, you and me has got ter put ile in the lantern. Come on, ol'
sweetheart. When yer sees this lantern blinkin' at that there winder,
yer will know that willainy 's afoot.

(_He comes close to Darlin' and whisp