The Ballad of Four Prisoners - Jamestown Revival

Inside the walls of an old Yuma prison

Four captives lie awake in their beds

An earthquake had toppled the old prison walls

And put dreams of escape in their heads

As if it was God, or maybe the devil

Had finally shown them the way

They took out the guards, mounted their horses

And left before light of the day

Four battered and desperate and dying men

Headed south in the glaring sun

Each one of them knowing that in the end

There could only be just one

The first stop they made was to dig up some gold

In the hills on the outside of the town

And one of them knew that his fate had been sealed

When his secret was pulled from the ground

The desert was hot and the canteens were empty

With water so hard to find

And the one who had shared up his secret of gold

Was the first one to get left behind

Three battered and desperate and dying men

Headed south in the glaring sun

Each one of them knowing that in the end

There could only be just one

When they came upon water they stopped there to rest

As one took his place in the shade

The others slept lightly and when he awoke

He knew the mistake he had made

He followed on foot, he went over the mountain

Determined to catch them again

And when he succeeded, a gun fight ensued

And brought one man’s life to an end

Two battered and desperate and dying men

Headed south in the glaring sun

Each one of them knowing that in the end

There could only be just one

Seventy miles they rode in the summer

South through the Mexico line

They came to the bay, at the edge of the ocean

As bounty men followed behind

The trackers pursued them and one man lie wounded

He held up his gun in his hand

Said my time is up, you go on without me

It’s time that I make my last stand

One battered and desperate and dying man

Headed south in the glaring sun

Out on the water a boat sets sail

A journey just begun