The man walked along the plain till he came to the side of a dry pit, when, looking round to see that no one was nigh, he laid his table on the grass, and, sitting down with his legs over the side of the pit, he motioned me to do the same. "So you are in want of employ," said he, after I had sat down beside him. "Yes," said I, "I am very much in want of employ." "I think I can find you some." "What kind?" said I. "Why," said the man, "I think you would do to be my bonnet." "Bonnet!" said I; "what is that?" "Don't you know? However, no wonder, as you had never heard of the thimble and pea game, but I will tell you. We of the game are very much exposed; folks when they have lost their money, as those who play with us mostly do, sometimes uses rough language, calls us cheats, and sometimes knocks our hats over our eyes; and what's more, with a kick under our table, cause the top deals to fly off; this is the third table I have used this day, the other two being broken by uncivil customers: so we of the game generally like to have gentlemen go about with us to take our part, and encourage us, though pretending to know nothing about us; for example, when the customer says, 'I'm cheated,' the bonnet must say, 'No, you a'n't, it is all right;' or, when my hat is knocked over my eyes, the bonnet must square, and say, 'I never saw the man before in all my life, but I won't see him ill-used;' and so, when they kicks at the table, the bonnet must say, 'I won't see the table ill-used, such a nice table, too; besides, I want to play myself;' and then I would say to the bonnet, 'Thank you, my lord, them that finds, wins;' and then the bonnet plays, and I lets the bonnet win." "In a word," said I, "the bonnet means the man who covers you, even as the real bonnet covers the head." {27a} "Just so," said the man; "I see you are awake, and would soon make a first-rate bonnet." "Bonnet," said I, musingly; "bonnet; it is metaphorical." "Is it?" said the man. "Yes," said I, "like the cant words--" "Bonnet is cant," said the man; "we of the thimble, as well as all clyfakers and the like, understand cant, as, of course, must every bonnet; so, if you are employed by me, you had better learn it as soon as you can, that we may discourse together without being understood by every one. Besides covering his principal, a bonnet must have his eyes about him, for the trade of the pea, though a strictly honest one, is not altogether lawful; so it is the duty of the bonnet, if he sees the constable coming, to say, 'The Gorgio's welling.'" {27b} "That is not cant," said I, "that is the language of the Rommany Chals." {27c} "Do you know those people?" said the man. "Perfectly," said I, "and their language too."