My clasp knife had
departed with my breeches; Bill's pockets were empty; but after
some search, crawling about the barn, I discovered a broken slate
wherewith to cut the fastenings of my feet. And then, when I stood
upright, and with leisure for thought became fully aware of the
sorry figure I cut, in foul garments a world too small for me, I
was nigh overwhelmed with a feeling of despair, and was almost
ready to wait until nightfall, and slink back by byways to
Shrewsbury. But after a while I got the better of this heartsickness,
and, rating myself for a poltroon, I strapped on my knapsack and
issued forth from the barn, doggedly resolved to pursue my journey.
It was many an hour since I had eaten, and, once more in the open
air, my stomach cried out for breakfast. When a man has never had
to want for food, it is with a disagreeable shock he realizes that
he must be hungry. True, I had the crown piece, and before the sun
had mounted I was sore tempted to spend it; but the vow I had
inwardly made to keep it for its owner, together with a shame-faced
reluctance to appear in my present condition before a fellow man,
helped me for a time to bear my hunger. Yet I knew that I could not
go long without food, and it would soon become imperative that I
should pocket my pride and either change the crown or seek some
means of earning enough to buy myself a meal.
For a time I trudged through the fields, avoiding the public eye.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92