"Coome orn, will yer? Arter you, sir, with the light agen; talking let's one's weed out more nor anything. Rum fellows them sailors, sir; there goes two with the name of their ship on their hats, like dogs with their master's name on their collar. Rum dogs, too--British bulldogs. They ain't no notion at all o' what money's worth; they seem to fancy as it's only meant to spend--never thinks a bit about saving of it. I took one up wunst at London Bridge, and I opens the door for him, and touches my hat quite civil, for I allus does that to a fare, whosumever he be. Mighty pleased he seemed, too, for he pulls out a tanner--what you calls a tizzy, you know, sir--and he hands it over, and he says-- "`Give's hold o' the rudder-lines, mate, and fetch a glass o' grog to drink afore sailing.' And then he gets hold of the reins, and I fetches a glass of rum-and-water, and we drinks it fair atween us; and when I holds the door open agen, he pitches his bundle inside. `Clap on the hatches,' he says, and he bangs to the door, and then, while I was a-staring, up he goes, and put hisself plop atop o' the roof, for all the world like a tailor, and there he began a-chewing his bacca. `Deck's clear, mate,' he says, `clap on sail;' and away we goes along Cheapside, and the boys a-cheering and hooraying like all that. "We hadn't gone werry far before he 'ails me to stop, and then we has another glass o' rum-and-water. And so we goes on and on, making no end o' calls, till at last we must both have been in a werry reprehensible state, sir; for all I remembers is waking up at four o'clock in the morning in our mews, with the horse's head as far into the stable as he could get it, and the sailor a-sitting fast asleep on the t'other cushion inside the keb just opposite to me. But then, you see, sailors is such rum chaps! "Law, sir, it's wonderful the dodges as I've seen in my time. People's beginning to find out as there's some romance in a keb now, since that chap pisoned his wife and two children in one of our wehicles `licensed to carry four persons'--and then went and did for hissen. He was a bad 'un, reg'lar. I wunst had a case of that sort myself. I remember it as well as if it was only yesterday, and it's many a year ago now. That was a night, surety--all rain and sleet mixed up, and the roads churned into a pudge--City batter, I calls it. I was on night-work, a-sitting on my box, driving about anyveres, noveres like, for it was too cold for the hoss to stand still. P'raps I shouldn't ha' got him on again, for he'd ha' turned stiff. I'd been a-growling to myself like that I should have to be out on such a night, and was then twisting of an old red 'ankercher round the brim o' my hat, to keep the rain from running down, when a street door opens, and a woman comes running out with a man arter her.