Granting, for the sake of the argument, that we were what we represented ourselves to be, namely, poor men and broke, then here was our position: night was coming on; we had had no supper, much less dinner; and we possessed sixpence between us.I was hungry enough to eat three sixpenn'orths of food, and so was Bert.One thing was patent.By doing 16 2/3 per cent justice to our stomachs, we would expend the sixpence, and our stomachs would still be gnawing under 83 1/3 per cent injustice.Being broke again, we could sleep under a hedge, which was not so bad, though the cold would sap an undue portion of what we had eaten.But the morrow was Sunday, on which we could do no work, though our silly stomachs would not knock off on that account.Here, then, was the problem: how to get three meals on Sunday, and two on Monday (for we could not make another 'sub' till Monday evening).We knew that the casual wards were overcrowded; also, that if we begged from farmer or villager, there was a large likelihood of our going to jail for fourteen days.What was to be done? We looked at each other in despair-Not a bit of it.We joyfully thanked God that we were not as other men, especially hoppers, and went down the road to Maidstone, jingling in our pockets the half-crowns and florins we had brought from London.
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