On a September evening, before the setting of the sun, a man entered the tavern of the Ship in Thursley, with a baby under his arm. The tavern sign, rudely painted, bore, besides a presentment of a vessel, the inscription on one side of the board: - Now before the hill you climb, Come and drink good ale and wine. On the other side of the board the legend was different. It ran thus: - Now the hill you're safely over, Drink, your spirits to recover. The tavern stood on the high-road side between Godalming and Portsmouth; that is to say the main artery of communication between London and Portsmouth.