The sound of their voices as they talked was low
and like that of people watching by the sick. Jones, who had at last
begun to doze, tumbled and murmured, and every now and then opened
unconscious eyes upon me where I lay. I found myself growing eerier
and eerier, for I dare say I was a little fevered by my restless
night, and hurried to dress and get downstairs.
You had to pass through the rain, which still fell thick and
resonant, to reach a lavatory on the other side of the court. There
were three basin-stands, and a few crumpled towels and pieces of wet
soap, white and slippery like fish; nor should I forget a looking-
glass and a pair of questionable combs. Another Scots lad was here,
scrubbing his face with a good will. He had been three months in New
York and had not yet found a single job nor earned a single
halfpenny. Up to the present, he also was exactly out of pocket by
the amount of the fare. I began to grow sick at heart for my fellow-
emigrants.
Of my nightmare wanderings in New York I spare to tell. I had a
thousand and one things to do; only the day to do them in, and a
journey across the continent before me in the evening.
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