---

Henry Lawson - Taking His Chance
Work rating: Low

They stood by the door of the Inn on the Rise; 
May Carney looked up in the bushranger`s eyes: 
`Oh! why did you come? — it was mad of you, Jack; 
You know that the troopers are out on your track.` 
A laugh and a shake of his obstinate head — 
`I wanted a dance, and I`ll chance it,` he said. 
 
Some twenty-odd bushmen had come to the `ball`, 
But Jack from his youth had been known to them all, 
And bushmen are soft where a woman is fair, 
So the love of May Carney protected him there; 
And all the short evening — it seems like romance — 
She danced with a bushranger taking his chance. 
 
`Twas midnight — the dancers stood suddenly still, 
For hoofs had been heard on the side of the hill! 
Ben Duggan, the drover, along the hillside 
Came riding as only a bushman can ride. 
He sprang from his horse, to the shanty he sped — 
`The troopers are down in the gully!` he said. 
 
Quite close to the homestead the troopers were seen. 
`Clear out and ride hard for the ranges, Jack Dean! 
Be quick!` said May Carney — her hand on her heart — 
`We`ll bluff them awhile, and `twill give you a start.` 
He lingered a moment — to kiss her, of course — 
Then ran to the trees where he`d hobbled his horse. 
 
She ran to the gate, and the troopers were there — 
The jingle of hobbles came faint on the air — 
Then loudly she screamed:  it was only to drown 
The treacherous clatter of slip-rails let down. 
But troopers are sharp, and she saw at a glance 
That someone was taking a desperate chance. 
 
They chased, and they shouted, `Surrender, Jack Dean!` 
They called him three times in the name of the Queen. 
Then came from the darkness the clicking of locks; 
The crack of the rifles was heard in the rocks! 
A shriek and a shout, and a rush of pale men — 
And there lay the bushranger, chancing it then. 
 
The sergeant dismounted and knelt on the sod — 
`Your bushranging`s over — make peace, Jack, with God!` 
The bushranger laughed — not a word he replied, 
But turned to the girl who knelt down by his side. 
He gazed in her eyes as she lifted his head: 
`Just kiss me — my girl — and — I`ll — chance it,` he said.
Source
The script ran 0.001 seconds.