"Who are?" I asked carelessly. "All we police," he said. "I gave a whole rupee, but the others could give but a penny or twopence each because they are only constables. We could not afford more. We are poor men, your Honour." I stopped my signing. "Sergeant," I said, "come here. I don't know what you're talking about. What is the matter?" "There is a little girl," he answered, coming up to the table. "That's the difficulty." I held my head between my hands. I had no idea of what he could be talking about. The syncopated method of beginning a conversation which Burmese often use made my head ache. I stared, he stared. At last I said: "Sergeant, I'm going home," and rose. Then it all came out. It was the opium smuggler. He could not pay the fine, for he was penniless. He had no friends this side of fifty miles away, and he had with him a little daughter aged ten years or so. This was, of course, the first that I had heard of her, but it seems that she was just outside when her father was being tried, and when she heard he had to go to gaol she was in despair. They wept together. Therefore the Sergeant whose zeal had caused the trouble repented of his work and took up a collection. In the police-office and among my clerks he got five rupees. That was but half, and they did not know where to get the rest. Then someone had a brilliant idea. "Go," he said to the Sergeant, "ask the magistrate." "Therefore," said the Sergeant, "I came in to your Honour." "For what?" "The other five rupees." I laughed. How could I help it? The audacity of the demand, that I, the magistrate, should pay half the fine that I had myself inflicted! "Sergeant," I said severely, "what have you and I to do with offenders who break the law? Are we to pay for them? What is the good of _your_ arresting them and my fining them if we afterwards pay their fines for them? We make a mockery of the law and ruin ourselves." He did not answer. "You see the point?" I asked. He did. "Then I am going home." The Sergeant saluted. "I didn't suppose your Honour has the money in Court. Shall I come for it or will your Honour send it over?" he replied. "Send what?" "The five rupees." I sent it over. This story, besides illustrating the kindheartedness of the people and their quickness to see the injustice of a law and try to remedy it, shows the difficulty Government have in this matter of opium.