Now the Russians are powerful on sea and on land;
But the Japs they are active, they will them command,
Before this war is finished I have one word to say,

_Ambo._

There will be more shot and drowned than in the Crimea.

_Man._

Now the Japs are victorious up to this time,
And thousands of Russians I hear they are dying.

Etc., etc.

And so it went on with the same alternation of the voices through
seven or eight verses; and it was curious to feel how much was
gained by this simple variation of the voices.

When I passed back to the fair-green, I met the men I am staying
with, and went off with them under an archway, and into a back yard
to look at a little two-year-old filly that they had bought and left
for the moment in a loose box with three or four young horses. She
was prettily and daintily shaped, but looked too light, I thought,
for the work she will be expected to do. As we came out again into
the road, an old man was singing an out-spoken ballad on women in
the middle of the usual crowd. Just as we passed it came to a
scandalous conclusion; and the women scattered in every direction,
shrieking with laughter and holding shawls over their mouths.