For days that ghost declined to stir,
A foggy shapeless giant—
For weeks that splendid officer
Stared back again defiant!
Just as the Englishman returned
The goblin's vulgar staring,
Just so the Scotchman boldly spurned
The ghost's unmannered scaring.
 
For several years the ghostly twain
These Britons bold have haunted,
But all their efforts are in vain
Their victims stand undaunted,
This very day the imp, and ghost,
Whose powers the imp derided,
Stand each at his allotted post—
The bet is undecided.