"Nonsense, my girl; I will tell my friend. Aren't we all drinking together?"
Turning once more to me he said:
"What do I do, Doctor. Well, first I look over the lot of declarations. Then I pick out two or three that look pretty good. I make a list of the things they claim to have in their trunks. Then I get at their baggage and give it a smash, accidentally of course--things are apt to be broken in the hold you know, the boat pitching, carelessness by the porters and all that. So the luggage of my fancy folks is broken open. We look it over. If my lady has held out anything from her declaration, out of the trunk that comes and into my private quarters."
I winked knowingly as if to praise his cleverness.
"We reach the bay; the customs officers come on board. We give them all the declarations. The fancy folks are standing round their baggage waiting for the customs man to get through. Suddenly one of them cries:
"'Oh, my sealskin coat is gone!'
"I step up and politely say:
"'But you must be mistaken. Madame said nothing about a sealskin coat on her declaration so she could not have had one.'
"Ha! Ha! The customs man hears this so she can say nothing. Finish! Ah yes, your old friend baggage man knows a thing or two."
Needless to say this was all grist to my mill. It was just what I wanted. When the ship was a day from New York, I said to the rascal: