Penniless, without friends, sick, he drifted naturally to the county poorhouse.

There he was patched up quickly and sent out half-cured.

The authorities were not so much to blame.

With the slender appropriations at their disposal, they found difficulty in taking care of those who came legitimately under their jurisdiction.

It was hardly to be expected that they would welcome with open arms a vast army of crippled and diseased men temporarily from the woods.