The most of our companions were Tories, for, odd as it may appear, they retained their principles even in Castle Yard.  And in those days to be a Tory was to be the friend of the King, and to be the friend of the King was to have some hope of advancement and reward at his hand.  They had none.  The captain joined forces with the speculator from the Alley, who had hitherto contended against mighty odds, and together they bore down upon the enemy—­ay, and rooted him, too.  For John Paul had an air about him and a natural gift of oratory to command attention, and shortly the dining room after dinner became the scene of such contests as to call up in the minds of the old stagers a field night in the good days of Mr. Pitt and the second George.  The bailiff often sat by the door, an interested spectator, and the macaroni lodgers condescended to come downstairs and listen.  The captain attained to fame in our little world from his maiden address, in which he very shrewdly separated the political character of Mr. Wilkes from his character as a private gentleman, and so refuted a charge of profligacy against the people’s champion.

Altho’ I never had sufficient confidence in my powers to join in these discussions, I followed them zealously, especially when they touched American questions, as they frequently did.  This subject of the wrongs of the colonies was the only one I could ever be got to study at King William’s School, and I believe that my intimate knowledge of it gave the captain a surprise.  He fell into the habit of seating himself on the edge of my bed after we had retired for the night, and would hold me talking until the small hours upon the injustice of taxing a people without their consent, and upon the multitude of measures of coercion which the King had pressed upon us to punish our resistance.  He declaimed so loudly against the tyranny of quartering troops upon a peaceable state that our exhausted neighbours were driven to pounding their walls and ceilings for peace.  The news of the Boston massacre had not then reached England.

I was not, therefore, wholly taken by surprise when he said to me one night: 

“I am resolved to try my fortune in America, lad.  That is the land for such as I, where a man may stand upon his own merits.”

“Indeed, we shall go together, captain,” I answered heartily, “if we are ever free of this cursed house.  And you shall taste of our hospitality at Carvel Hall, and choose that career which pleases you.  Faith, I could point you a dozen examples in Annapolis of men who have made their way without influence.  But you shall have influence,” I cried, glowing at the notion of rewarding him; “you shall experience Mr. Carvel’s gratitude and mine.  You shall have the best of our ships, and you will.”

He was a man to take fire easily, and embraced me.  And, strange to say, neither he nor I saw the humour, nor the pity, of the situation.  How many another would long before have become sceptical of my promises!  And justly.  For I had led him to London, spent all his savings, and then got him into a miserable prison, and yet he had faith remaining, and to spare!