Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/261

 to be dreaded. We broke legs and arms unsparingly; nothing resisted us; and we were everywhere. I was invulnerable; and some asserted, that I was enveloped in armour from head to foot; which may be said, perhaps, to be true, when one is not reputed a coward.

The formation of the brigade soon followed the expedition of la Courtille. I had at first four agents, then six, afterwards ten, and finally twelve. In 1817, I had no more; and yet, with this handful of men, from the first of January to the thirty-first of December, I effected 772 arrests and 39 perquisitions or seizures of stolen property.

The following table, which is a recapitulation of the arrests during the year 1817, shows the importance of the operations of the "Brigade de Sûreté:"—

From the moment that the robbers knew that I was to exercise the functions of principal police agent, they gave themselves up for lost; and what most disturbed them was to see me surrounded by men who, having lived and "worked" with them, knew them thoroughly.