Shapes of Clay

Hard by an excavated street one sat

In solitary session on the sand;

And ever and anon he spake and spat

And spake again—a yellow skull in hand,

To which that retrospective Pioneer

Addressed the few remarks that follow here:

"Who are you? Did you come 'der blains agross,'

Or 'Horn aroundt'? In days o' '49

Did them thar eye-holes see the Southern Cross

From the Antarctic Sea git up an' shine?

Or did you drive a bull team 'all the way

From Pike,' with Mr. Joseph Bowers?—say!

"Was you in Frisco when the water came

Up to Montgum'ry street? and do you mind

The time when Peters run the faro game—

Jim Peters from old Mississip—behind

Wells Fargo's, where he subsequent was bust

By Sandy, as regards both bank and crust?

"I wonder was you here when Casey shot

James King o' William? And did you attend

The neck-tie dance ensuin'? I did not,

But j'ined the rush to Go Creek with my friend

Ed'ard McGowan; for we was resolved

In sech diversions not to be involved.

"Maybe I knowed you; seems to me I've seed

Your face afore. I don't forget a face,

But names I disremember—I'm that breed

Of owls. I'm talking some'at into space

An' maybe my remarks is too derned free,

Seein' yer name is unbeknown to me.

"Ther' was a time, I reckon, when I knowed

Nigh onto every dern galoot in town.

That was as late as '50. Now she's growed

Surprisin'! Yes, me an' my pardner, Brown,

Was wide acquainted. If ther' was a cuss

We didn't know, the cause was—he knowed us.

"Maybe you had that claim adjoinin' mine

Up thar in Calaveras. Was it you

To which Long Mary took a mighty shine,

An' throwed squar' off on Jake the Kangaroo?

I guess if she could see ye now she'd take

Her chance o' happiness along o' Jake.

"You ain't so purty now as you was then:

Yer eyes is nothin' but two prospect holes,

An' women which are hitched to better men

Would hardly for sech glances damn their souls,

As Lengthie did. By G——! I hope it's you,

For" (kicks the skull) "I'm Jake the Kangaroo."