rge
piece and came headlong, with the aggravation of hearing my enemy
breathing hoarsely close above me. As regards him, I suppose it was
lucky that my fall jerked the shilling and the penny out of my pocket,
for as the shilling rolled away he went after it, and I saw him no more.
What I did see when I sat up was the last of my penny (which had rolled
in another direction), as it gave one final turn and fell into the dock.

I could have cried with vexation, and partly with fatigue, for it was
getting late, and I was getting tired. I had fallen soft enough, as it
happened, for I found myself on a heap of seeds, some kind of small
bean, and the yielding mass made a pleasant resting-place. There was no
one very near, and I moved round to the back of the heap to be still
more out of sight, and sat down to try and think what it was best to do.
If my slops were really a sort of uniform to which I was not entitled,
they would do me more harm than good. But whom could I ask? If there
were an honest, friendly soul in all this crowd, and I could come across
him, I felt that (without telling too much of my affairs) I could
explain that I had exchanged some good shore clothes of my own for what
I had been told were more suitable to the work I was looking out for,
and say further that though I had never yet been at sea, I was hardy,
and willing to make myself useful in any way. But how could I tell whom
to trust? I might speak fair to some likely-looking man, and he might
take me somewhere and strip me of my slops, and find my leather
money-bag, and steal that too. When I thought how easily my
fellow-traveller might have treated me thus, I felt a thrill of
gratitude towards him, and then I wondered how he had prospered in his
search for work. As for me, it was pretty clear that if I hoped to work
my way in this wicked world, I must suspect a scoundrel in every man I
met, and forestall mischief by suspicion. As I sat and thought, I sifted
the beans through my fingers, and saw that there were lots of strange
seeds mixed with them, some of very fantastic shapes; and I wondered
what countries they came from, and with what shape and scent and colour
the plants blossomed, and thought how Charlie would like some of them to
sow in pots and watch. As I drove my hands deeper into the heap, I felt
that it was quite warm inside, and then I put my head down to smell if
there was any fragrance in the seeds, and I did not lift it up again,
for I f