"They wont do that," said Mowle, thoughtfully, "they wont do that.--I do not know how it is, sir," he continued, after a moment's pause, "but the difference between the establishment of the Customs and the smugglers is a very strange one; and I'll tell you what it is: there is not one of these fellows who run goods upon the coast, or carry them inland, who will, for any sum that can be offered, inform against their employers or their comrades; and there's scarce a Custom-House officer in all Kent, that, for five shillings, would not betray his brother or sell his country. The riding officers are somewhat better than the rest; but these fellows at the ports think no more of taking a bribe to shut their eyes than of drinking a glass of rum. Now you may attempt to bribe a smuggler for ever--not that I ever tried; for I don't like to ask men to sell their own souls; but Birchett has, often. I cannot well make out the cause of this difference; but certainly there is such a spirit amongst the smugglers that they wont do a dishonest thing, except in their own way, for any sum. There are the Ramleys, even--the greatest blackguards in Europe, smugglers, thieves, and cut-throats--but they wont betray each other. There is no crime they wont commit but that; and that they would sooner die than do; while we have a great many men amongst us, come of respectable parents, well brought up, well educated, who take money every day to cheat their employers." "I rather suspect that it is the difference of consequences in the two cases," answered Osborne, "which makes men view the same act in a different way. A Custom-House officer who betrays his trust, thinks that he only brings a little loss upon a government which can well spare it--he is not a bit the less a rogue for that, for honesty makes no such distinctions--but the smuggler who betrays his comrade or employer, must be well aware that he is not only ruining him in purse, but bringing on him corporeal punishment." "Ay, sir, but there's a spirit in the thing," said Mowle, shaking his head; "the very country people in general love the smugglers, and help them whenever they can. There's not a cottage that will not hide them or their goods; scarce a gentleman in the county who, if he finds all the horses out of his stable in the morning, does not take it quietly, without asking any more questions; scarce a magistrate who does not give the fellows notice as soon as he knows the officers are after them. The country folks, indeed, do not like them so well as they did; but they'll soon make it up." "A strange state, certainly," said the officer of dragoons; "but what has become of the horses you mention, when they are thus found absent?" "Gone to carry goods, to be sure," answered Mowle. "But one thing is very clear, all the country is in the smugglers' favour, and I cannot help thinking that the people do not like the Custom's dues, that they don't see the good of them, and are resolved to put them down."