ed the acquaintance of
Blazing Bosville and his wife, with whom I occasionally took journeys for
company's sake, for it is melancholy to travel about alone, even when one
can take one's own part. I soon found they were evil people; but, upon
the whole, they treated me civilly, and I sometimes lent them a little
money, so that we got on tolerably well together. He and I, it is true,
had once a dispute, and nearly came to blows; for once, when we were
alone, he wanted me to marry him, promising, if I would, to turn off Grey
Moll, or if I liked it better, to make her wait upon me as a
maid-servant. I never liked him much, but from that hour less than ever.
Of the two, I believe Grey Moll to be the best, for she is at any rate
true and faithful to him, and I like truth and constancy, don't you,
young man?"

"Yes," said I, "they are very nice things. I feel very strangely."

"How do you feel, young man?"

"Very much afraid."

"Afraid, at what? At the Flaming Tinman? Don't be afraid of him. He
won't come back, and if he did, he shouldn't touch you in this state: I'd
fight him for you. But he won't come back, so you needn't be afraid of
him."

"I'm not afraid of the Flaming Tinman."

"What, then, are you afraid of?"

"The evil one?"

"The evil one?" said the girl: "where is he?"

"Coming upon me."

"Never heed," said the girl: "I'll stand by you."

CHAPTER VI.--A FOAMING DRAUGHT--THE MAGIC OF ALE.

The kitchen of the public-house was a large one, and many people were
drinking in it; there was a confused hubbub of voices.

I sat down on a bench behind a deal table, of which there were three or
four in the kitchen; presently a bulky man, in a green coat, of the
Newmarket cut, and without a hat, entered, and observing me, came up, and
in rather a gruff tone cried, "Want anything, young fellow?"

"Bring me a jug of ale," said I; "if you are the master, as I suppose you
are, by that same coat of yours, and your having no hat on your head."

"Don't be saucy, young fellow," said the landlord, for such he was,
"don't be saucy, or--" Whatever he intended to say, he left unsaid, for
fixing his eyes upon one of my hands, which I had placed by chance upon
the table, he became suddenly still.

This was my left hand, which was raw and swollen, from the blows dealt on
a certain hard skull in a recent combat. "What do you mean by staring at
my hand so?" said I, withdrawing it from the table.

"No offenc