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expended half our stock by the time we got to Kingston, our first stage, and only twelve miles from town. Here we put up at a public-house, called The Eight Bells, and having enjoyed a good dinner, which was succeeded by some excellent mulled elder wine of the landlady's own composition, and which was peculiarly adapted to the season of the year, we liked our quarters so well that we spent not only the night, but half the next day in the enjoyments of repose, eating, drinking, and smoking, before it occurred to either of us that every item of those said enjoyments was recorded in chalk by the hostess, and would inevitably be consolidated in the shape of a bill, which we must discharge before a clearance could be obtained for the next port. Having at length recollected ourselves, and called "to pay," our reckoning amounted to three or four shillings more than we possessed in our common purse. As it was impossible to think of proceeding any further without recruiting, we were now in no small consternation. Bilking the landlady was out of the question, for we had given our bundles into her charge on first entering the house, and their contents were not only indispensably necessary to us, but also worth more than the sum required to release them. In this dilemma, a sudden thought struck me. Calling for pen, ink, and paper, I told my companion I had a scheme in my head for raising a supply, but would
