A SMUGGLER'S SONG
(Rudyard Kipling)

If you wake at midnight and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blinds, nor looking in the street.
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by.

CHORUS: Five and twenty ponies trotting through the dark,
Brandy for the parson and baccy for the clark.
Laces for a lady, and letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling while the gentlemen go by.

Running 'round the woodlands, if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tied, all full of brandywine,
Well, don't you shout to come and look, nor use them for your play,
Just put the brushwood back again and they'll be gone next day.

If you see a stable door setting open wide,
And if you see a tired horse a'lying down inside,
And if your mother mends a coat what's cut about and torn,
And if the lining's wet and warm, well, don't you ask no more. CHORUS.

If you meet the King's men, dressed in blue and red,
You be mindful what you say and mindful what is said.
And if they call you "pretty maid" and chuck you 'neath your chin,
Well, don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been.

Knocks and footsteps 'round the house, whistles after dark.
You've no call for running out until the housedogs bark.
For Trusty's here and Pinch is here and see how dumb they lie,
They don't fret to follow when the gentlemen go by. CHORUS.

If you do as you've been told, likely there's a chance
You'll be give a dainty doll that's all the way from France,
With a cap of Alyentsins and a velvet hood,
A present from the gentlemen, no longer being good.

Five and twenty ponies trotting through the dark,
Brandy for the parson and baccy for the clark.
Them what asks no questions isn't told a lie,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by.