There was more in this buying of drinks than mere quantity.

I got my finger on it.

There was a stage when the beer didn't count at all, but just the spirit of comradeship of drinking together.

And, ha!--another thing! I, too, could call for small beers and minimise by two-thirds the detestable freightage with which comradeship burdened one.
"I had to go aboard to get some money," I remarked casually, as we drank, in the hope Nelson would take it as an explanation of why I had let him treat six consecutive times.
"Oh, well, you didn't have to do that," he answered.

"Johnny'll trust a fellow like you--won't you, Johnny!" "Sure," Johnny agreed, with a smile.
"How much you got down against me ?" Nelson queried.
Johnny pulled out the book he kept behind the bar, found Nelson's page, and added up the account of several dollars.