My brother and I were out hunting A stray bullet made him its mark I carried him back to the cabin His life nothing more than a spark He whispered to me very softly Dear brother, I'm going away So listen and come to me closely There's so much that I have to say My sweetheart, her dear name is Sally Her mother and father have died She's waiting alone in the valley When I left her, oh how she cried I promised to bring her my fortune Return to the valley and wed But I've had a call from my maker So I'll have to go there instead He gave me the ring he had bought her And told of the plans they had made He spoke of how long she had waited And for his return, how she prayed
He gave me a small piece of paper The will he had made for this day I promised to do as he wanted The Good Lord would show me the way He gave me his home in the valley And all of the money he had He asked me to marry his Sally And promise she'd never be sad But once long ago we were rivals For I loved her too from the start I'd made up my mind to stay single For Sally had broken my heart My dear brother went up to heaven And I went to our valley home But Sally had married another So what's left for me but to roam? I pray the good Lord up above me To keep Brother's faith in me still His Sally was fickle, unfaithful That's why I broke my brother's will