Dick also curled up as though heather was his usual bed;
and very soon both were asleep, though at first rather fitfully and
restlessly, for they were over-tired. But whenever they woke for a
moment they were lulled to sleep by the voice of the woman, who sat on
a stool watching them and crooning a song to herself. The children
were too sleepy to catch the words, but they were as follows:
"_Oh! whither away that ye fly so fast,
Ye black crows croaking loud?
And what have ye sped that ye wheel so wide
Above yon grey dust cloud?_
"_We spy two hosts of fighting men,
The blue coats and the red.
For mile on mile in rank and file
They come with even tread._
"_And brave and bright on brass and steel
The slanting sunbeams fall.
Like giant snakes, with glittering flakes,
Their columns wind and crawl._
"_The red march north and the blue march south,
And we wheel betwixt the twain;
And we hear their song, as they tramp along,
Rise joyous from the plain._
"_The red march north and the blue march south,
And the daylight wanes apace,
'Till their fires gleam bright through the falling night,
And the twain rest face to face._
"_And the morning's thunder shall be of guns,
And the morning's mist of smoke,
And higher and higher o'er din and fire,
We crows shall rise and croak.
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