“‘When you have “quieted” a customer, you break open his chests and his cupboards expecting to find the shiners. “‘But the yellow boys are not always kept in such places. “‘Some shabby wretches hide their paltry money where the devil himself could not find it. “‘You get nothing, you only lose your time, and find you have worked merely for the glory of it. “‘That’s not the way.’ “‘Well, what would you do?’ I asked. “‘What would I do, boys, if I had my youth again? “‘This is what I would do,’ replied the old rat, becoming quite animated. “‘I would do what I did more times than once when I roamed alone. Now, boys, this is the way. “‘When a wretch will not squeak you must quietly light a wisp of straw between his legs, and if that does not loosen his tongue prick the soles of his feet with a fork, and scorch them. “‘He must be very hardened to endure that without squeaking. “‘If you have to do with a young married couple singe the wife in presence of her husband, or the husband in presence of his wife. “‘It is not always that the singed one speaks first.’ “A less cruel but very important character among us was Baptiste, the surgeon. “He was amusing, and the Merry Andrew of the gang. “This Figaro of the treadmill handled the cups and cards as cleverly as he did the lancet and razor. “This harmless pursuit gained him ready admittance to the farmhouses, where he bled patients for fivepence and a plateful of hashed meat. “Every branch of industry has its brokers and warehousemen. “In our gang the brokers were abundant. “Among them was one Barbe, nicknamed the Cowkeeper, whose occupation was to contrive business or work for us. “He hired himself as a labourer at farms, where he would only remain long enough to make himself acquainted with the number and character of the inmates, their habits and resources. “He would then suddenly abscond, and carry to our head-quarters the intelligence he had picked up. “The warehousemen or storekeepers were the receivers or fences. “They existed in all the towns and villages within the territories of the gang. “Some were thieves when opportunity served. “Others contented themselves with buying stolen property, and robbing the robbers. “The fences were almost all of them innkeepers or ‘knackers.’ “Sometimes the ‘knackers’ were also innkeepers, a fearful combination for the stomachs of their guests. “The most notorious among the ‘knackers,’ of the gang, who had earned the right of bearing the title of his calling as a surname, was ‘The Knacker’—Peter Rosseau, the knacker, of the hamlet of Guendreville. “In the garden of his house, which stood almost alone, was a subterranean passage, the origin of which was unknown. “It was, however, supposed to be the secret outlet of some abbey, or feudal castle, long since destroyed.