Had he a badge?
Or did he think perhaps, that it would do to take other people's business?
They knew very well what sort of a fellow he was! He was well aware that he could not get a badge, so he must get along as he best could by working and toiling and fighting for an empty stomach, and make his way by threats and with his fists, and--when it was a case of being entrusted with a burden, or getting first hold of a trunk--by being deaf, stone-deaf, to everything they might think of calling out about him.
There were ten men to every job requiring one, and, as it were, a wall or circle drawn round every road to earning something.

Some small jobs he might now and then chance to be alone in--when the lock of a door had slipped, or the door came off its hinges, or some kind of smithcraft was required at a moment's notice.

But he gained no more than a bare subsistence, often only a dram or two by way of thanks.
And now that it had been such a long winter, he was both hungry and cold.

The nights especially were so long.

He often took spirits for his supper to get them to pass.