Brown remembered it, however, and was afraid his companion would be rejected, and so as he went along battling against the cutting wind and rain in the darkness of the early morning, he said, "Look here, mate, we'll make a bargain for this job. Share and share alike it shall be, mind, between us for this. If you gets four hours and I gets two, three it shall be for both of us; and if I gets four and you gets two, why then it shall be the same. It was your mates, as I may call 'em, at that mission room as told us of this, and so we'll share and share alike over it."
"All right, I shall get took on, I fancy; that supper has just set me up, and I could do a day's work with anybody now," said Chaplin confidently.
He forgot that although he might feel better, he did not show it much in his looks yet, and, moreover, had begun to be known as broken-winded—a man who would break down after a couple of hours' driving.
When they reached the dock gates, they saw that their secret was shared by at least two hundred. The foreman had taken care of this, for he wanted a good number to pick from. There in the cold rain and the darkness, the usual struggle for an hour's work took place, and Chaplin was among the number not chosen. Brown got a labour-ticket, and the eagerness with which these were struggled for, would have made one think it was for a party of pleasure rather than work of the most laborious kind that they were being given. The foreman was besieged as soon as he appeared at the top of the wall with the coveted tickets in his hand, and men prayed him to give them a chance of earning fivepence, as though it was the greatest favour that he could bestow upon them.
The twenty tickets that were given out were soon distributed. With the practised eye of one well versed in appraising the working capabilities of the crowd before him, the foreman selected his party. He recognized Chaplin by the light of the lantern he held, as one who had scarcely been able to keep up for an hour the previous day, and so a ticket was handed over his head to a man who had only just come up.
With a sickening feeling of despair, Chaplin turned away as the gates closed. Brown had been selected, and for a minute, he felt as though he almost hated him for his "luck."
Although the gates had shut, and there would not be another call for an hour at least, the crowd showed no intention of moving from their post. Silent and subdued they ranged themselves against the dock wall for such shelter as it would afford them from the pelting rain, and presently the new day broke, cold and misty, and yet it made one or two of the men raise their heads, and perhaps there was a flutter of something like hope stealing through their minds as one and another looked out towards the east, and then towards the dock gates in the hope that they would be opened again soon now that daylight had come. Patient and quiet they stood until about three o'clock, and then another call for hands came, and there was the same fighting and struggling for the chance of an hour's work.
Some of those who had gone in with the first lot came out now, thoroughly exhausted with their two hours' labour; but Brown was not among them. Chaplin did not get taken on, and the foreman told him plainly there would be no work for him that day. So with a sigh he turned homewards, wet through now with the drenching rain.
Brown would want a good breakfast when he came out at five o'clock, and recalling the bargain they had made, he thought the least he could do was to have something ready for him when he came home. So without disturbing his wife, he lighted a fire in Brown's room, and by the time he came back from the docks between five and six, he had got some coffee ready, as well as some bacon and eggs cooked.
"That's it, mate," said Brown heartily when he came in and saw the preparations that had been made for his home-coming; "when I get that into me, and have had an hour or two to rest, I shall be ready for another shift. Mate, you and I must just go shares for a bit longer, and—"