friends), that
Will and I had fought in that glorious fight, we lacked neither food nor
shelter for our poor bodies. At first Will fared better than I; for he
was monstrous little altered from the swaggering lad who tried a bout
with me years before at Finsbury Fields. But as for me, men looked
once, twice, and thrice at me before they would believe it was Humphrey
Dexter. And when one day in a tavern I came upon a mirror I learned the
cause. My beard, unkempt now for many weeks, had grown till it made my
face look very fierce and manly; and my hair, once close-cropped, now
fell heavily below my ears. And the scar I got on the _Rata_ gave me so
ferocious a look that I had a mind well-nigh to doubt myself, when first
I saw it.

"'Tis little wonder if they know thee not," said Will, "for thou art
passably handsome now, whereas once--"

Here he left me to guess what I had been.

Be that as it may, I was pleased enough with the change for so far, and
spared my fee to the barber. And as for my old comrades, I had other
signs to make myself known to them, as they soon discovered by the
aching of their heads and the soreness of their ribs. For I soon shook
off my sickness and was as ready for knocks as ever.

Yet you may guess if, with it all, I was merry!

The printing-house without Temple Bar was as black and desolate as a
tomb, with a great lock belonging to the Stationers' Company hanging on
the door. When I asked the neighbours concerning my master, they pulled
long faces and told me he was given over to desperate ventures, and with
his family had fled the country; and 'twas well for him, said they, no
one knew where he hid.

I knew not which way to turn. My sweet Jeannette was far away amid
perils I little dreamed of. Ludar was, perhaps, even now a prisoner in
Spain. My occupation was gone, and my pocket and my stomach were both
empty.

Could I have lived on naught, I think I should even have tried to make
my way to Spain (as if it were no bigger a place than Temple Gardens!)
and so find Ludar. Then I changed my mind and thought to set out for
Ireland to seek Jeannette. Then, when I saw a fellow enlisting troopers
for the Dutch wars, I well-nigh sold myself to him.

I might have done so straight out, had not there come a loud thump on my
back as I stood in the crowd, and a voice in my ear that made me start.

"Are you so weary of life, comrade, that you want a leaden pill or two
to cure it?"

"V