Then I stumbled on to a still darker room, where were benches and tables and men.

The place smelled vilely, and the sombre gloom, and the mumble of voices from out of the obscurity, made it seem more like some anteroom to the infernal regions.
Most of the men were suffering from tired feet, and they prefaced the meal by removing their shoes and unbinding the filthy rags with which their feet were wrapped.

This added to the general noisomeness, while it took away from my appetite.
In fact, I found that I had made a mistake.

I had eaten a hearty dinner five hours before, and to have done justice to the fare before me I should have fasted for a couple of days.

The pannikin contained skilly, three-quarters of a pint, a mixture of Indian corn and hot water.