Dunn Gilbert, And Ben Hall (2)
Come all ye lads that's fond of fun,and listen to my tale,
It's of three of the present date
To you I will unveil.
There is Dunn, Gilbert, and Ben Hall,
Three heroes stout and bold.
Stand and deliver unto them
your jewels and your gold. To see the mounted troopers
Scouring of the bush,
Like diggers in the olden times,
Hasting to a rush.
But those bushranging heroes
They do deceive them all.
There's one thousand pounds, alive or dead,
For Dunn, Gilbert, or Ben Hall. As Ben was riding out one day,
His trade being rather slack,
By private information
The troops got on his track.
Saying, "Hall, you are my prisoner,
Surrender unto me."
And Ben bolted from his saddle,
And climbed up in a tree. With rage and disappointment
The troopers cursed and swore;
They moped and poked about the bush;
And tracked him o'er and o'er.
_ They kept the watch till daylight,
And no Ben could be found.
At length they saw his cabbage-tree
A-lying on the ground. Then away goes eight or ten of them,
Like so many yelping curs,
To capture bold Morgan,
With shining boots and spurs.
Their horses they knocked up at last,
He cannot captured be.
They turn, back from a fruitless chase,
And Morgan still is free. The troopers now, in latter days,
They're only paper men,
Not like the mounted heroes
We had in thirty-nine.
But a man that's carrying on the roads
Is taken from his dray
With a pair of bracelets on his wrists;
He's captured--led away. So now my song is ended,
I think I will resign,
Well toast those gallant heroes
In a glass of sparkling wine,
We'll give them three times three my boys,
We'll toast them one and all.
And we'll sit and sing "long live the Queen,
Dunn, Gilbert, and Ben Hall."
Notes
From the Sydney newspaper the Evening News Saturday 4 April 1903 p. 2 S. A BUSH-RANGING SONG. In our Supplement of March 21 a few lines were quoted of the old bushranging song, "Dunn, Gilbert and Ben Hall," a very well-known song in the old days, Immediately on the appearance of our notice; complete versions of the song were sent in by various readers, the best being those forwarded by Mr. W. Huckel, jun., of Mount View, Broula, Cowra, and by Mr. D. Carter, of Conrad-street, Richmond. Curiously enough these two versions are quite separate songs, relating to dif- ferent incidents, and they will be published separately in full. The version sent by Mr. Huckel is as follows:-- DUNN GILBERT, AND BEN HALL.See also in this collection Bushranger Gilbert's Song and Dunn, Gilbert and Ben hall in this collection.