13 july 1754 i we were gathered in the green dragon , beneath the low , dark beams of the back room that we now called our own , and which we were rapidly expanding to fill , stuffing ourselves into the dusty eaves : thomas , who liked to lounge in a horizontal position whenever he was n't hoisting tankards of ale or bothering our hosts for more ; william , whose frown lines deepened as he laboured over charts and maps spread out over a table , moving from that to his lectern and occasionally letting out a frustrated gasp , waving thomas and his ale-slopping tankard away whenever he lurched too close ; charles , my right-hand man , who took a seat beside me whenever i was in the room , and whose devotion i felt sometimes as a burden , at other times as a great source of strength ; and now , of course , dr. church , who had spent the last couple of days recuperating from his injuries in a bed that had been begrudgingly provided for him by cornelius .