184 COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



object of the journey. Never probably did a letter 

 prove more fatal to its bearers. 



The above is but the prologue to the tragedy. The 

 tragedy itself was set in motion by the arrival of Chater 

 and Galley at the White Hart, Rowlands Castle, in the 

 company of a Mr. George Austin, who had found them 

 somewhere out of their proper road, and had undertaken 

 to set them right. No sooner had they arrived at the 

 inn than the landlady, a Mrs. Payn, friendly of course 

 to smugglers and highwaymen, seems to have been 

 struck with a sudden suspicion — that there was some- 

 thing in the custom-house officer's presence which boded 

 no good to her friends. She communicated her fears 

 to Mr. George Austin, who, by way of assuring her 

 that they were groundless, told her that the custom-house 

 officer and his friend were simply bearers of a letter to 

 Major Battin at Chichester. But this ominous fact, far 

 from comforting Mrs. Payn, only assured her that she 

 had harped her fears aright. She knew that Diamond 

 was in bonds at that very place, and that Major Battin 

 was a justice of the peace. She took instant action. 

 First she advised Mr. George Austin to leave Chater's 

 and Galley's company at once or harm would come to 

 him (a hint which he with pusillanimous alacrity availed 

 himself of), and then when he was safely off the premises, 

 she sent for seven smugglers resident in the place — by 

 name William Steele, William Jackson, W 7 illiam Carter, 

 John Race, Samuel Downer, Edmund Richards, and 

 Henry Sheerman, and confided to them her suspicions 

 and her fears. 



They too took alarm. For some time divided councils 

 prevailed as to what course should be taken to provide 

 most effectively for their own and Diamond's safety ; 

 but by and by it was generally felt that the first step to 

 be taken was to ascertain beyond all doubt the contents 

 of the letter which Galley and Chater were carrying to 

 the Chichester magistrate. The smugglers at once pro- 

 ceeded to carry out this scheme with an assurance 



