was only a pint one however, these two men
sat down together to count their ill-gotten gains; for both of them were
vile impostors, who had never been on the salt water in the whole course
of their worthless lives.

"Now, madam," said I, pointedly addressing Miss Flouncer, who had
listened with rapt attention, "this circumstance happened _before_ the
existence of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, and similar cases
happened frequently. In fact, the interior of our land was at that time
constantly visited by shipwrecked sailors of this kind."

"Indeed!" said Miss Flouncer, undulating to me, with a benignant smile.

"Yes, madam," said I. "Now observe another side of this picture."

Hereupon I resumed my address, the substance of which was as follows:

It chanced that when impostor Jim started away over the moor at the
slapping pace I have already referred to, he was observed by two of the
village boys, who were lying in a hollow by the road-side amusing
themselves. These urchins immediately ran home, and told what they had
seen. The gossips of the place congregated round the inn door, and
commented on the conduct of the pretended seaman in no measured terms--
at the same time expressing a wish that they only had him there, and
they would let him smell the peculiar odour of their horse-pond. At
this point the courage and the ire of three stout young ploughmen, who
had been drinking deeply, was stirred up so much that they vowed to be
revenged, and set off in pursuit of the offender. As they ran nearly
all the way, they soon came to the spot where Jim and Bill had been
enjoying themselves, and met these villains just as they were issuing
from the underwood to continue their journey.

A fight immediately ensued, but Jim made such play with his crutch that
the ploughmen were driven back. Bill, too, who had been a London
prize-fighter, unslung his left arm, and used it so vigorously that the
rustics, after having had all their eyes blackened and all their noses
bled, were fain to turn round and fly!

This event, as you may suppose, made a considerable sensation in the
neighbourhood; travellers and carriers conveyed the news of it along the
road from village to village; and the thing was thoroughly canvassed,
and the impostors duly condemned.

Well, about three weeks afterwards a great storm arose; a ship was
wrecked on the coast, and all the crew and passengers drowned except one
man--a powerful seaman, who chan