CHORUS:
"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And when we think our work is done
We hear the bosun pipe like this
(Whistle),
'Turn to.'

"Way down at Santiago,
We fit the forts one day.
The shells were bursting o'er us,
There was the deuce to pay.
We hid our inclination
To run and hide below,
Because we're little 'heroes,'
They've often told us so.

CHORUS:

"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And just as all the fight was over
We heard the bosun pipe like this
(Whistle),
'Gun-deck sweepers, clean sweep fore and aft.
Sweepers, clean your spit kits.'

"One Saturday we anchored
Just off the Isle of Pines,
To load up with pineapples,
And look for Spanish signs.
We called away the cutters,
With seamen filled them up,
And captured five small sailboats,
Two Spaniards and a pup.

CHORUS:

"Hard-tack and salt-horse every day,
Work, slave, for mighty little pay;
And when we'd like to talk it over
We heard the bosun pipe this
(Whistle),
'Pipe down.'"

"That's great!" said one and all.

"There is just time for the 'Intermezzo' before tattoo, 'Baron,'" said
"Pair o' Pants," the signal boy. "Give it to us, will you?"

"Baron" obligingly complied.

The boys lay around in comfortable, though ungraceful, attitudes, a
small but appreciative audience.

As the last high note died away the ship's bugler began that lovely
call, "tattoo." We listened in silence, for though we had heard it many
times, it was always a delight to us. Then, too, it meant rest (not a
drug in the market by any means). Every ship's crew in the harbor, at
the same moment was listening to the call blown by their own bugler.

The men tumbled below and began to prepare for the voyage to dreamland.

Five minutes later, when the sleepy "taps" sounded, the decks were
almost deserted save for the hammocks, which looked like huge cocoons
swung horizontally.

The following days till Sunday were spent in unloading powder and shell.
The six and eight-inch charges of powder and the shell were lifted by
hand and slid down chutes to the barges alongside. To handle the powder
and shell for the thirteen-inch guns, steam was called into service; the
th