be seen under his great-coat, so he offered him
a great-coat of his own, little knowing what
construction would afterwards be put upon his free
kind-heartedness. Meanwhile, Cochrane went
down to Chatham. In a day or two it transpired
that the intelligence of the mysterious officer
who had landed at Dover was false. The
committee of the Stock Exchange at once took
measures to bring the concoctors of the false-
hood to justice, and offered a reward of two
hundred and fifty guineas for the discovery of
De Bourg.

It was already evident that the sham courier
who had given this name was a cheat and
swindler, evidently the agent of some conspirators,
who had wished to profit by a sudden
rise in government stocks, which had already
risen like a mountain wave, and gone down
like a burnt-out rocket.

The head rascal was hotly pursued, and a
clue soon found. A man named Crane, driving
hackney-coach No. 890, was discovered, who,
on the morning in question, took up De Bourg
at Lambeth Marsh gate, where he got out of
the post-chaise. He did not drive either to
the Admiralty or the War Office, but straight
to No. 13, Green-street. He got out there,
returned with a small leathern portmanteau,
and gave the driver five shillings. Part of the
uniform was hauled up from the Thames by
the fishermen, one day in March. It was tied
up in an old chair-cover, and had been sunk
with three pieces of lead, some stones, and a
lump of coal. Besides the clothes, there was
some embroidery and a broken star. The other
links were soon found, for Mr. Solomon,
military accoutrement maker at Charing-cross,
identified the uniform. It had been purchased
by a man with whiskers on the 19th of
February—- great-coat, fur foraging cap with pale
gold band, and staff-officer's scarlet coat, with
star. The man with whiskers said the dress
was wanted for private theatricals; and what
pleased Mr. Solomon was, that he did not try
to beat down the price.

De Bourg was hard to catch; but one of his
accomplices was soon struck upon, a Mr. Vinn,
an accountant, who had many rather suspicious
friends among needy and shifty gentlemen. On
the 14th of February, receiving a note from a
man he knew, named M'Rae, who lived in Fetter-
lane, he went the next day, by appointment, to
meet him at the Caroline Coflee-house. M'Rae
told him that there was now an opportunity for
him to make his fortune. By .travelling abroad?
No; but by travelling at home. M'Rae said
there was a scheme in contemplation by men of
affluence and consequence, and he thought no one
was more fit to be employed than Vinn. On
asking him if there was nothing of moral turpitude
in it, M'Rae answered there was none:
it was a scheme practised daily by men of the
first consequence. It was nothing more nor
less than biting the biters, or, in other words, a
hoax on the Stock Exchange. On Vinn asking
which way it was to be performed, M'Rae
said it was by going down to Dartford,
Folkstone, or Dover, as he might receive
instructions; but it was necessary for himself
and his accomplice to get two naval officers'
dresses.

Vinn was to be recompensed at once,
and then to have his fortune made. Here
Vinn grew indignant, and said he would
as soon share in a highway robbery; he
really thought M'Rae had known him better;
and, in his virtuous indignation, he began to
talk very loud. M'Rae quieted him, and cried,
"Hush!" They then walked up Cornhill, where
they parted. But Vinn's virtue somewhat
melting (he thought as informer he might
net something), he returned, and proposed
to introduce M'Rae to a suitable man at the
Jamaica Coffee-house. M'Rae assented, but, at
the door, grew cautious, and would not venture
in; he then asked how " Long live Louis the
Eighteenth," and "Long live the Bourbons," was
expressed in French, and Vinn obligingly told
him. He saw his way better now. The real fact
was, the artful Vinn was trying to get
another witness to the affair, for he instantly
went and communicated with a friend at the
Atlas printing office, and with thirteen other
friends at an adjacent coffee-house.

On Sunday, the 20th of February, M'Rae
came to his lodgings, with two dark blue
coats and two opera-hats in a bundle. One
hat had a brass plate and a gold tassel; this
he put on, and asked Mrs. Alexander, a
fellow-lodger, if she thought he looked like
an officer; Mrs. Alexander pronounced
emphatically that he did. He had some white
ribbon with him, which he ordered his wife to
make up into two round cockades, as he was
going to take in the flats, and must be at
Gravesend by a quarter before two. He then
left, anxious and excited, with his bundle. The
next day Mrs. Alexander met M'Rae, with his
bundle, in Cursitor-street, and he requested her
to go to a cook-shop and get him a dinner. He
told her he had been sleeping at Northfleet,
but he looked as if he had been up all night.
The white cockade, and the paper on which it
was pricked, were burnt, the white lining was
taken out of the coat, and the coat sent to the
dyer. Before this night journey, M'Rae had
been so poor that he, his wife, and Mrs.
Alexander had only had one fire between them;
but after this he flourished about one-pound
notes, and boasted that he had made fifty
pounds by the job.

Two men, named Holloway and Knight, were
next ferreted out. They owned to the Stock
Exchange committee that they had joined in
the scheme. Knight had been employed by
M'Rae, at Holloway's solicitation. Knight, a
man named Sandon, and M'Rae, had come in
the post-chaise from Dartford. Holloway
seemed frightened at the serious turn things
had taken.

De Bourg, of course, proved to be De Berenger.
He lodged with a man named Davidson
in Asylum-buildings. He had not dined at
home on the Sunday, and he did not come home