s only son, who dropped from a mountain-crest--
He trod the ling like a buck in spring and he looked like a lance in
rest.
'Now here is thy master,' Kamal said, 'who leads a troop of the Guides,
And thou must ride at his left side as shield to shoulder rides.
Till Death or I cut loose the tie, at camp and board and bed,
Thy life is his--thy fate it is to guard him with thy head.
And thou must eat the White Queen's meat, and all her foes are thine,
And thou must harry thy father's hold for the peace of the Border-line,
And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power--
Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged in Peshawur.'
They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found no
fault,
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and
salt;
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut
sod,
On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Wondrous Names
of God.
The Colonel's son he rides the mare and Kamal's boy the dun,
And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one.
And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty swords flew clear--
There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the
mountaineer.
'Ha' done! ha' done!' said the Colonel's son. 'Put up the steel at your
sides!
Last night ye had struck at a Border thief--to-night 'tis a man of the
Guides!'

Oh, east is east, and west is west, and never the two shall meet
Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat.
But there is neither east nor west, border or breed or birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends
of the earth.

_Kipling._

CXXVI

THE FLAG OF ENGLAND

Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro--
And what should they know of England who only England know?--
The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and brag,
They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the English
Flag.

Must we borrow a clout from the Boer--to plaster anew with dirt?
An Irish liar's bandage, or an English coward's shirt?
We may not speak of England; her Flag's to sell or share.
What is the Flag of England? Win