regular hand, at four-and-twenty shillings a week.

He was thus thinking, and he had got almost to the gate, when something
ahead of him occurred that made him shrink back with a look of dismay
in his face. He saw that each man as he passed through the portal held
up his arms while one of the gatekeepers passed his hands over his
clothes. They were being searched. Douglas stood still; his whole
spirit in angry revolt. He would rather give up his day's wage, the
coat off his back, the cap from his head--anything than have to go
through this shameful ordeal. He looked back: could he not get out by
the wicket at which he entered, at the other end of the docks?

'Come on, Scottie; you ain't been prigging oranges, eh?' said one of
his mates, laughing at him.

Now it was quite clear that this searching of the outgoing labourers
was in most cases merely formal; but when the gatekeepers saw this man
hanging back, they naturally concluded he had been stealing. They
called to him to come along. He hesitated no longer. With a grim air
he advanced and held up his arms in the usual way. He would betray no
shame. Doubtless it was a necessary precaution. And as he had stolen
nothing, they could not hurt him by merely suspecting him.

But this gatekeeper's inspection was minute; and when he came to some
slight protuberance on the breast of the coat, which, indeed, Douglas
himself had not noticed, he demanded to know what it was. Nay, he had
the coat taken off. On examination, a part of the lining of the coat
was found to have been cut open and carefully sewn together again.

'Took all that trouble?' said the gatekeeper, glancing at him.

'I did not know there was any pocket there,' said Douglas, hurriedly;
'I got the coat only this morning.'

'Oh, indeed,' said the other, with a slight derisive laugh. 'I
shouldn't wonder if we found some tobacco all the same.'

The lining was ripped open, in the presence of the little crowd of
labourers, carmen, stevedores, and so forth, who, seeing something
unusual going on, had collected. Douglas certainly looked very guilty.
His face was burning red; and the natural sternness of his features
made him look as if he were angry at being detected. But, on the other
hand, the expression on the face of the big yellow-bearded gate-keeper
changed very suddenly, when he took from inside the lining a little
oblong parchment bag, flat and dirty, and opened it, and drew out a
thin packe