FIFTEEN MEN ON DEAD MAN'S CHEST

                      -Young Ewing Allison

        Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Drink and the Devil had done for the rest
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        The Mate was fixed by the bo'sun's pike,
        And the bo'sun brained by a marlin-spike,
        And the cookie's throat was marked belike!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 

        Fifteen men of the whole ship's list,
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Dead and bedamned and their souls gone whist
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        The skipper lay with his nob in gore
        Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore
        And the scullion he was stabbed times four!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        And there they lay, and the soggy skies
        Dripped ceaselessly in staring eyes
        By murk sunset and by foul sunrise!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 

        Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark,
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Ten of the crew bore the murder mark
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
        Or a gaping hole in a battered head,
        And the scuppers glut of a rotting red!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        And there they lay, aye, [bad word] their eyes,
        Their lookouts clapped on Paradise;
        Their souls gone just the contrariwise!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 

        Fifteen men of 'em good and [bad word]                 Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Every man Jack could have sailed with Old Pew!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        There was chest on chest of Spanish gold
        And a ton of plate in the middle hold
        And the cabin's riot of loot untold!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        And there they lay that had took the plum
        With sightless eyes and with lips [bad word] dumb
        And we shared all [bad word] o'thumb!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 

        More was seen [bad word] the stern light's screen
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Chartings ondoubt where a woman had been
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 

        flimsy shift on a bunker cot
        With a dirk slit sheer [bad word] the bosom spot
        And the lace stiff-dry in a purplish rot!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Or was she wench, or shuddering maid,
        She dared the knife, and she took the blade;
        Faith, she was a plucky jade!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 

        Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        Drink and the Devil had done for the rest
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        We wrapped 'em all in a mainsail tight
        With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight
        And we heaved 'em over and out of sight!
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word] 
        With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-thee-well,
        And a sudden plunge in a sudden swell;
        Ten fathoms along the Road To [bad word] 
                Yo, ho, ho and a bottle [bad word]