Strap Finds Employment
When the narrator returns to their lodging after the disappointing meeting with Cringer, he learns that Strap has found paid employment: on the recommendation of his schoolmaster friend, a local periwig-maker has hired Strap, paying him five shillings a week plus room and board.
Dismissed to Mr. Staytape
Over the next fortnight, the narrator continues attending Cringer’s morning levees every other day, without making progress on his warrant request. One morning, Cringer greets a visiting gentleman with extreme deference, bowing low, calling him a good friend, and asking after his wife and daughters. After a whispered conversation, Cringer introduces the stranger to the narrator as Mr. Staytape, a person who can assist with his request, gives the narrator Staytape’s contact details, and tells him he no longer needs to call at Cringer’s house, as Staytape will handle his business.
Acquaintance with a Fellow Dependent
As the narrator leaves Cringer’s house, a fellow Scottish surgeon who also relies on Cringer’s patronage approaches him in the street, having overheard their exchange. The man is dressed in very fine, fashionable clothing, and after learning the narrator’s situation, offers to give him advice, as he has personal experience navigating the process of securing a Navy surgeon’s warrant.
The Method at the Navy Office and Surgeons’ Hall
The fellow dependent takes the narrator to a nearby alehouse, where he explains the official process required to obtain a surgeon’s mate warrant: first, the applicant must write to the Navy Board requesting a letter directing them to Surgeons’ Hall for an examination of their surgical skills. After passing the exam, the surgeons will issue a sealed qualification letter addressed to the Board’s commissioners, which the applicant must deliver to the Board’s secretary to be opened and read in their presence. The applicant must then use their connections to secure a post as quickly as possible.
The High Cost of Qualification
The fellow dependent reveals the full cost of his own qualification: 13 shillings for the Surgeons’ Hall exam, plus half a guinea and half a crown for the warrant itself, plus a 3-pound, 12-shilling bribe for the Board secretary. The narrator is horrified by this news, as his entire remaining fortune amounts to only 12 shillings, far less than the amount required to proceed.
Strap’s Suspicions of the Stranger
The fellow dependent offers to lend the narrator the money he needs once he receives his own upcoming payment, and asks the narrator to lend him five shillings for pocket expenses in the meantime. The narrator, grateful for the offer, agrees and empties his entire remaining purse for the stranger. When the narrator later tells Strap about the encounter, Strap expresses reservations about lending money to an unknown stranger given their recent experience with fraud, though he notes that if the man is indeed Scottish, the risk may be lower.
KAPITEL XVI.
The events of Chapter XVI follow the narrator as he pursues the paperwork required to qualify for a naval surgeon examination, reconnects with his unreliable acquaintance Bean Jackson, and navigates financial strain and lighthearted banter with his servant Strap as he attempts to secure funds for his upcoming examination fees.
A Broken Appointment
The narrator arrives at the pre-arranged meeting place two hours early and waits two hours in vain for his acquaintance (later identified as Bean Jackson) to arrive. Furious at the broken appointment, he travels alone to London’s Navy Office to seek out Jackson and confront him for his breach of promise.
Arriving at the Navy Office
The narrator enters the Navy Office, where he sees crowds of young men, many with similarly modest appearances to his own. He approaches a young man whose countenance he likes and asks for guidance on the correct format for the letter required to request an examination order from the Navy Board.
Meeting the Scottish Clerk
The young man, who speaks broad Scots, shows the narrator a copy of a letter he wrote for himself to submit to the Board, created per guidance from someone familiar with the required form. He tells the narrator that if he is quick, he can submit his letter to the Board before it breaks for the day, as the Board does not conduct business in the afternoons.
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