o were
Light Horsemen?--that's a name for one set of people who live by
plunder. That lighter will have a good slice of her cargo out to-night;
for those who cut her adrift know what's on board of her. Then we have
the Heavy Horsemen--they do their work in the daytime, when they go on
board as lumpers to clear the ships. And then we've the Coopers and
Bumboat men, and the Ratcatchers and the Scuffle Hunters, and the River
Pirates; and, last of all, we have the Mudlarkers: all different
professions, Jack; never interfering with each other, and all living by
their wits. I'm too old now; I was a flash pirate once, but I'm now
nearly eighty, and am only fit for a mudlarker."

[Footnote 4: These remarks of Grumble were, at the time, perfectly
correct; it was before the Wet Docks or the River Police was
established. Previously to the West India, London, St. Katharine's, and
other docks having been made, all ships unloaded in the river, and the
depredations were so enormous that Mr. Colquhoun, in his work, has
estimated them at half a million sterling _annually_. At present the
river may be said to be comparatively honest; the police is strict, and
the temptations are removed.]

"But," exclaimed I, with astonishment, "are they not discovered and
punished?"

"That's very seldom, Jack; for you see we have receivers all down the
river; some of them great men, and dining with the mayor and common
council; others in a small way--all sorts, Jack: and then we have what
we call Jew Carts, always ready to take goods inland, where they will
not be looked after. Old Nanny was a receiver and fence in a large way
once."

"Then the only honest people on the river are the watermen."

Here old Grumble chuckled. "Why, Jack, they be the worst of all, for
they be both receivers and thieves. Do you think the watermen live by
their fares? If you do, just wait on the steps one night, and you'll
find that their night work is worth more than the day work is. We all
must live, Jack; and now I've shown you a way by which you can earn more
money in a night than you can in a fortnight by asking for halfpence.
Here's five shillings for you, my boy; and when I want you again I'll
let you know."

Alas! the five shillings, so easily and so unexpectedly earned, did, for
the time, satisfy all my scruples: so easily are we bribed into what is
wrong. I wished Old Grumble a good-night and left him. As I returned
home, I thought of what he had said about n