Doubletree

The snow falls on the passes

And it covers up the rails

And the hired men ride up to make them clean

It's a winter camp and a frozen damp

And a shovel in your hand

And a coal train comes rumbling through the seam

That morning came up shining

Clear and sharp as broken glass

We were riding for the tracks at Sugaree

All holler and high spirit

And the devil take the last

And Henry lay a wager then to me

He said "I've got five dollars

And a whiskey at the bar

Says I make the tracks ahead of you"

So we touched our horses up

Sent them running down the hill

And I did something I never meant to do

Well I cut hard behind him

From his blind side I come around

Just as we were going down the scree

I only meant to scare him but he tumbled to the ground

And he broke his neck beneath the doubletree

So you take him cut him out in a length of pine

Lay him out in a suit of clothes

Best that you can find

Lay his body gentle in the ground

And say a prayer for Henry

Before you lay him down

The night before poor Henry died

We slept on open ground

The circus of the stars a blaze of white

Henry was the best friend that I ever had

And I slept still as a child that night