r on my threshold. At
another time I was disturbed with the cry of murder in the street; and
once I was alarmed by a false fire. But, being still upon my guard, I
baffled all their attempts, and thought myself quite secure from their
invention, when one of those bloodhounds, inspired, I believe, by the
devil himself, contrived a snare by which I was at last entrapped. He
made it his business to inquire into the particulars of my traffic; and,
understanding that, among other things, there were several chests of
Florence entered at the custom house on my behalf, he ordered himself
to be enclosed in a box of the same dimensions, with air-holes in the
bottom, for the benefit of breathing, and marked upon the cover; and,
being conveyed to my door in a cart, among other goods, was, in his
turn, hoisted up to my warehouse, where I stood with a hammer, in order
to open the chests, that I might compare the contents with the invoice.
You may guess my surprise and consternation, when, upon uncovering the
box, I saw a bailiff rearing up his head, like Lazarus from the grave,
and heard him declare that he had a writ against me for a thousand
pounds. Indeed, I aimed the hammer at his head, but, in the hurry of my
confusion, missed my mark; before I could repeat the blow, he started
up with great agility, and executed his office in sight of several
evidences whom he had assembled in the street for that purpose; so that
I could not possibly disentangle myself from the toil without incurring
an escape-warrant, from which I had no protection. But, had I known
the contents of the chest, by all that's good! I would have ordered my
porter to raise it up as high as the crane would permit, and then have
cut the rope by accident."

"That expedient," said the knight with the red ribbon, "would have
discouraged him from such hazardous attempts for the future, and would
have been an example in terrorem of all his brethren. The story puts me
in mind of a deliverance achieved by Tom Hackabout, a very stout, honest
fellow, an old acquaintance of mine, who had been so famous for
maiming bailiffs, that another gentleman having been ill-used at a
spunging-house, no sooner obtained his liberty, than, with a view of
being revenged upon the landlord, he, for five shillings, bought one of
Tom's notes, which sold at a very large discount, and, taking out a writ
upon it, put it into the hands of the bailiff who had used him ill. The
catchpole, after a dilige