My sweet Jeannette was far away amid perils I little dreamed of.

Ludar was, perhaps, even now a prisoner in Spain.

My occupation was gone, and my pocket and my stomach were both empty.
Could I have lived on naught, I think I should even have tried to make my way to Spain (as if it were no bigger a place than Temple Gardens!) and so find Ludar.

Then I changed my mind and thought to set out for Ireland to seek Jeannette.

Then, when I saw a fellow enlisting troopers for the Dutch wars, I well-nigh sold myself to him.
I might have done so straight out, had not there come a loud thump on my back as I stood in the crowd, and a voice in my ear that made me start.
"Are you so weary of life, comrade, that you want a leaden pill or two to cure it ?" "Verily, I am," said I, wheeling round and facing Tom Price, Captain Merriman's man.
At first he knew me not, nor when I told him my name would he believe he spake to Humphrey Dexter.