Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 3.djvu/140

 I do not now spare him, fifty of his comrades, whom he is about to betray to me, will escape the punishment of the laws;" and this calculation prescribed a line of conduct to me, which I followed up as long as it was useful to society. Between the thieves and myself hostilities were not less lasting; I only allowed the enemy certain terms, and tacitly granted safeguards, safe-conducts, and truces, which died a natural death on the least infraction thereof. The false comrade becoming the victim of another false comrade, I had no power to interpose between the crime and the repression of it, and the perfidious delinquent fell, betrayed by a rogue not less treacherous than himself. I thus made thieves serve for the destruction of thieves; that was my method, and it was excellent; the proof is, that in less than seven years, I placed in the hands of justice more than four thousand malefactors. Whole classes of thieves were at bay, and amongst the number was those called the rouletiers, (who plunder baggage from travelling carriages;) I was anxious to reduce them all to inaction; I made the attempt, which was nearly fatal to me. I can never forget M. Henry's remark on this occasion: "It is not doing well only, but you must also give proof that you have done well."

Two of the most daring rouletiers, named Gosnet and Doré, alarmed at my efforts to put a stop to their depredations, came to a resolution to devote their services to the police, and in a short time they procured the arrest of a great many of their comrades, who were all convicted. They appeared zealous; I owed to their informations some most important discoveries, and particularly of several fences; the more dangerous, as in business they enjoyed a reputation for honesty. After services of this nature I thought I could trust them; I asked for their admission as secret agents, with an allowance of one hundred and fifty francs per month. They wished nothing more, they said; their ambition was limited to the hundred and fifty francs per month.