The year of this futile strike saw the passing of an Act which was badly needed. Although “bilking” has never been so common as it was in the days of back-door cabs, there has always been a number of well-dressed rascals who make a point of swindling cabmen. Usually they alight at some big shop or institution, telling the cab-driver that they will be out again in a few minutes and will want to be taken farther; then they enter the building and pass out by another door into a different street, leaving the cabman to discover that he has been “bilked.” The “Bilking Act,” as cabmen call the Act of 1896, made any person who hired a cab knowing that he could not pay the legal fare, or intending to avoid payment of it, liable to a fine of 40_s._, in addition to the fare, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding fourteen days. The whole or part of the fine could be given to the cabman as compensation. CHAPTER VI Gentlemen cabmen--An applicant’s nerve--The doctor-cabby--John Cockram--A drunken cabman’s horse. Cab proprietors receive applications for work from all classes of men. One morning a particularly dissipated-looking fellow strolled into a cab-yard, not far from King’s Cross, and asked the proprietor for a job, mentioning that he had driven most things in India from a pony-trap to a four-in-hand, and did not anticipate the slightest difficulty in driving a cab. The proprietor observed that it required some nerve to drive a cab in London. “Nerve!” the applicant exclaimed. “Well, I don’t think I’m deficient in that. One morning in India I woke and found a cobra coiled up on my bed. It wasn’t a nice position to find myself in, but I’d been in many a worse fix and didn’t lose my presence of mind. I’m a bit of ventriloquist, and as there was a big image of some old Hindoo god at the other end of the room I immediately made it speak. As I expected, directly the cobra heard the voice he slipped off the bed like a shot and went for the idol, while I seized the opportunity to bolt from the room.” The cab proprietor congratulated him on his presence of mind, but after appearing to consult a well-worn book, declared that he had not a single vacancy. The applicant did not seem very disappointed, and having succeeded in borrowing twopence, departed.