I tried to shrink up smaller inside my clothes, and I registered a fervent though silent hope that it had not popped on me.
In both instances, I found that the smallpox was the cause of their being "on the doss," which means on the tramp.

Both had been working when smitten by the disease, and both had emerged from the hospital "broke," with the gloomy task before them of hunting for work.

So far, they had not found any, and they had come to the spike for a "rest up" after three days and nights on the street.
It seems that not only the man who becomes old is punished for his involuntary misfortune, but likewise the man who is struck by disease or accident.

Later on, I talked with another man--"Ginger" we called him--who stood at the head of the line--a sure indication that he had been waiting since one o'clock.

A year before, one day, while in the employ of a fish dealer, he was carrying a heavy box of fish which was too much for him.