How long I continued in that state I am unable to say,but I believe for a considerable time;I was suddenly awakened by the ceasing of the jolting to which I had become accustomed,and of which I was perfectly sensible in my sleep.I started up and looked around me,the moon was still shining,and the face of the heaven was studded with stars;I found myself amidst a maze of bushes of various kinds,but principally hazel and holly,through which was a path or driftway with grass growing on either side,upon which the pony was already diligently browsing.I conjectured that this place had been one of the haunts of his former master,and,on dismounting and looking about,was strengthened in that opinion by finding a spot under an ash tree which,from its burnt and blackened appearance,seemed to have been frequently used as a fireplace.I will take up my quarters here,thought I;it is an excellent spot for me to commence my new profession in;I was quite right to trust myself to the guidance of the pony.Unharnessing the animal without delay,I permitted him to browse at free will on the grass,convinced that he would not wander far from a place to which he was so much attached;I then pitched the little tent close beside the ash tree to which I have alluded,and conveyed two or three articles into it,and instantly felt that I had commenced housekeeping for the first time in my life.Housekeeping,however,without a fire is a very sorry affair,something like the housekeeping of children in their toy houses;of this I was the more sensible from feeling very cold and shivering,owing to my late exposure to the rain,and sleeping in the night air.
Collecting,therefore,all the dry sticks and furze I could find,I placed them upon the fireplace,adding certain chips and a billet which I found in the cart,it having apparently been the habit of Slingsby to carry with him a small store of fuel.Having then struck a spark in a tinder-box and lighted a match,I set fire to the combustible heap,and was not slow in raising a cheerful blaze;I then drew my cart near the fire,and,seating myself on one of the shafts,hung over the warmth with feelings of intense pleasure and satisfaction.Having continued in this posture for a considerable time,I turned my eyes to the heaven in the direction of a particular star;I,however,could not find the star,nor indeed many of the starry train,the greater number having fled,from which circumstance,and from the appearance of the sky,I concluded that morning was nigh.About this time I again began to feel drowsy;I therefore arose,and having prepared for myself a kind of couch in the tent,I flung myself upon it and went to sleep.
I will not say that I was awakened in the morning by the carolling of birds,as I perhaps might if I were writing a novel;I awoke because,to use vulgar language,I had slept my sleep out,not because the birds were carolling around me in numbers,as they had probably been for hours without my hearing them.I got up and left my tent;the morning was yet more bright than that of the preceding day.Impelled by curiosity,I walked about endeavouring to ascertain to what place chance,or rather the pony,had brought me;following the driftway for some time,amidst bushes and stunted trees,I came to a grove of dark pines,through which it appeared to lead;I tracked it a few hundred yards,but seeing nothing but trees,and the way being wet and sloughy,owing to the recent rain,I returned on my steps,and,pursuing the path in another direction,came to a sandy road leading over a common,doubtless the one I had traversed the preceding night.My curiosity satisfied,I returned to my little encampment,and on the way beheld a small footpath on the left winding through the bushes,which had before escaped my observation.Having reached my tent and cart,I breakfasted on some of the provisions which I had procured the day before,and then proceeded to take a regular account of the stock formerly possessed by Slingsby the tinker,but now become my own by right of lawful purchase.
Besides the pony,the cart,and the tent,I found I was possessed of a mattress stuffed with straw on which to lie,and a blanket to cover me,the last quite clean and nearly new;then there was a frying-pan and a kettle,the first for cooking any food which required cooking,and the second for heating any water which I might wish to heat.I likewise found an earthen teapot and two or three cups;of the first I should rather say I found the remains,it being broken in three parts,no doubt since it came into my possession,which would have precluded the possibility of my asking anybody to tea for the present,should anybody visit me,even supposing I had tea and sugar,which was not the case.I then overhauled what might more strictly be called the stock in trade;this consisted of various tools,an iron ladle,a chafing-pan and small bellows,sundry pans and kettles,the latter being of tin,with the exception of one which was of copper,all in a state of considerable dilapidation-if I may use the term;of these first Slingsby had spoken in particular,advising me to mend them as soon as possible,and to endeavour to sell them,in order that I might have the satisfaction of receiving some return upon the outlay which I had made.There was likewise a small quantity of block tin,sheet tin,and solder.'This Slingsby,'said I,'is certainly a very honest man,he has sold me more than my money's worth;I believe,however,there is something more in the cart.'Thereupon I rummaged the farther end of the cart,and,amidst a quantity of straw,I found a small anvil and bellows of that kind which are used in forges,and two hammers such as smiths use,one great,and the other small.
The sight of these last articles caused me no little surprise,as no word which had escaped from the mouth of Slingsby had given me reason to suppose that he had ever followed the occupation of a smith;yet,if he had not,how did he come by them?I sat down upon the shaft,and pondered the question deliberately in my mind;at length I concluded that he had come by them by one of those numerous casualties which occur upon the roads,of which I,being a young hand upon the roads,must have a very imperfect conception;honestly,of course-for I scouted the idea that Slingsby would have stolen this blacksmith's gear-for I had the highest opinion of his honesty,which opinion I still retain at the present day,which is upwards of twenty years from the time of which I am speaking,during the whole of which period I have neither seen the poor fellow nor received any intelligence of him.