HOW GILBERT DIED
(Paterson/Roweth)

There's never a stone at the sleeper's head
There's never a fence beside
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died

For he rode at dusk with his comrade Dunn
To the hut at the Stockman's Ford
In the waning light of the sinking sun
They peered with a fierce accord
They were outlaws both and on each man's head
Was a thousand pounds reward

They had taken toll of the country round
And the troopers came behind
With a black who tracked like a human hound
In the scrub and the ranges blind
He could run the trail where a white man's eye
No sign of track could find

He had hunted them out of the One Tree Hill
And over the Old Man Plain
But they wheeled their tracks with a wild beast's skill
And they made for the range again
Then away to the hut where their grandsire dwelt
They rode with a loosened rein

And their grandsire gave them a greeting bold
"Come in and rest in peace
No safer place does the country hold
With the night pursuit must cease
And we'll drink success to the roving boys
And to hell with the black police."

But they went to death when they entered there
In the hut at the Stockman's Ford
For their grandsire's words were as false as fair
They were doomed to the hangman's cord
He had sold them both to the black police
For the sake of the big reward

In the depth of night, there are forms that glide
As stealthily as serpents creep
And around the hut where the outlaws hide
They plant in the shadows deep
And they wait till the first faint flush of dawn
Shall waken their prey from sleep.

But Gilbert wakes while the night is dark
A restless sleeper aye
He has heard the sound of a sheep dog's bark,
And his horse's warning neigh
And he says to his mate, "There are hawks abroad
And it's time that we went away."

Their rifles stood at the stretcher head
Their bridles lay to hand
They wakened the old man out of his bed
When they heard the sharp command
"In the name of the Queen ,lay down your arms,
Now, Dunn and Gilbert, stand!"

Then Gilbert reached for his rifle true
That close at hand he kept
He pointed straight at the voice and drew
But never a flash out-leapt
For the water ran from the rifle breech
It was drenched while the outlaws slept

Then he dropped the piece with a bitter oath
And he turned to his comrade Dunn
"We are sold," he said, "we are dead men both
Still, there may be a chance for one
I'll stop and I'll fight with the pistol here
You take to your heels and run."

So Dunn crept out on his hands and knees
In the dim, half-dawning light
And he made his way to a patch of trees
And was lost in the black of night
And the trackers hunted his tracks all day
But they never could trace his flight

But Gilbert walked from the open door
In a confident style and rash
He heard at his side the rifles roar
And he heard the bullets crash
But he laughed as he lifted his pistol hand,
And he fired at the rifle flash

Then out of the shadows the troopers aimed
At his voice and the pistol sound
With rifle flashes the darkness flamed
He staggered and spun around
And they riddled his body with rifle balls
As it lay on the blood-soaked ground.

There's never a stone at the sleeper's head
There's never a fence beside
And the wandering stock on the grave may tread
Unnoticed and undenied
But the smallest child on the Watershed
Can tell you how Gilbert died

Youtube clip

--Stewie.