_Mab._ You speak falsely. You know nothing about it. He has acted nobly. _All._ He has acted nobly. _Mab._ Dearly as I loved him before, his heroic sacrifice to his sense of duty has endeared him to me tenfold. He has done his duty. I will do mine. Go ye, and do yours. [_Exit MABEL._ _All._ Very well. _Serg._ This is perplexing. _All._ We cannot understand it at all. _Serg._ Still he is actuated by a sense of duty---- _All._ That makes a difference, of course. At the same time we repeat, we cannot understand it at all. _Serg._ No matter; our course is clear. We must do our best to capture these pirates alone. It is most distressing to us to be the agents whereby our erring fellow-creatures are deprived of that liberty which is so dear to all--but we should have thought of that before we joined the force. _All._ We should. _Serg._ It is too late now! _All._ It is. SONG.--SERGEANT. When a felon’s not engaged in his employment-- _All._ His employment, _Serg._ Or maturing his felonious little plans-- _All._ Little plans, _Serg._ His capacity for innocent enjoyment-- _All._ ’Cent enjoyment, _Serg._ Is just as great as any honest man’s-- _All._ Honest man’s. _Serg._ Our feelings we with difficulty smother-- _All._ ’Culty smother, _Serg._ When constabulary duty’s to be done-- _All._ To be done, _Serg._ Ah, take one consideration with another-- _All._ With another, _Serg._ A policeman’s lot is not a happy one. _All._ When constabulary duty’s to be done, The policeman’s lot is not a happy one. _Serg._ When the enterprising burglar’s not a-burgling-- _All._ Not a-burgling, _Serg._ When the cut-throat isn’t occupied in crime-- _All._ ’Pied in crime, _Serg._ He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling-- _All._ Brook a-gurgling, _Serg._ And listen to the merry village chime-- _All._ Village chime. _Serg._ When the coster’s finished jumping on his mother-- _All._ On his mother, _Serg._ He loves to lie a-basking in the sun-- _All._ In the sun. _Serg._ Ah, take one consideration with another-- _All._ With another, _Serg._ The policeman’s lot is not a happy one. When constabulary duty’s to be done-- _All._ To be done, _Serg._ The policeman’s lot is not a happy one-- _All._ Happy one. CHORUS OF PIRATES (_without, in the distance_).