the Chinks' truck-gardens to the Athabasca
saloon.

And a bunch of the boys was standing around by the old Scotch
store,
Standing and spitting and swearing by old Macallister's door--
And the name on their lips was Britain--the word that they spoke was
War.

War!... Do you think I waited to talk about wrong or right
When I knew my own old country was up to the neck in a fight?
I said, "So long!"--and I beat it--"I'm hitting the trail
to-night."

I wasn't long at my packing. I hadn't much time to dress,
And the cash I had at disposal was a ten-spot--more or less;
So I didn't wait for my ticket; I booked by the Hoboes' Express.

I rode the bumpers at night-time; I beat the ties in the day;
Stealing a ride and bumming a ride all of the blooming way,
And--I left the First Contingent drilling at Valcartier!

I didn't cross in a liner (I hadn't my passage by me!);
I spotted a Liverpool cargo tramp, smelly and greasy and grimy,
And they wanted hands for the voyage, and the old man guessed he'd
try me.

She kicked like a ballet-dancer or a range-bred bronco mare;
She rolled till her engines rattled; she wallowed, but what did I
care?
It was "Go it, my bucking beauty, if only you take me there!"

Then came an autumn morning, grey-blue, windy and clear,
And the fields--the little white houses--green and peaceful and
dear,
And the heart inside of me saying, "Take me, Mother, I'm here!

"Here, for I thought you'd want me; I've brought you all that I
own--
A lean long lump of a carcass that's mostly muscle and bone,
Six-foot-two in my stockings--weigh-in at fourteen stone.

"Here, and I hope you'll have me; take me for what I'm worth--
A chap that's a bit of a waster, come from the ends of the earth
To fight with the best that's in him for the dear old land of his
birth!"

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Lady in black._ "Our Jim's killed seven Germans--and he'd
never killed _ANYONE_ before he went to France!"]

* * * * *

THE PEACE-MAKER.

The Anonymous War is not to be followed by an Anonymous Peace. I have
Twyerley's own authority for this statement.

I may go farther and make public the interesting fact that Twyerley
himself has the matter in hand, and readers of _The Daily Booster_
will at an early date rece