14 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



senger was allo\Yed to sit at the back of the coach 

 with the guard ; that was a rule which was sternly 

 enforced, and admitted of no exception. 



In spite of the mail-box being under the feet of the 

 guard, and so, to all appearances, secure at least from 

 attacks by way of the lid, the Leeds mail on one 

 occasion lost sixteen of its bags near Higham Ferrers, 

 by the robber forcing the lock. 



If the department was robbed of its bags, it took a 

 lofty revenge on the supposed delinquent, Huffey 

 White, by publishing his description all over the 

 country : ' He is marked with the small-pox in large 

 pits deep in the skin ; his nose turns up ; he has 

 a squeaking voice ; he has served on board the hulks ; 

 he has been transported for life ; he is well known at 

 all the police offices.' Conscious, perhaps, that the 

 hypercritical might regard the terms of this public 

 notice as somewhat deficient in politeness, the depart- 

 ment had the grace to add, ' He is mild in manner, 

 and does not talk much.' 



White was a dandy as well as a burglar. He wore 

 a blue under-coat with gilt buttons, white w^aistcoat, 

 blue pantaloons, and a yellow belcher handkerchief 

 round his neck. Never were mails more genteelly 

 rifled. 



If mail-coaches could be despoiled at the halt 

 in towns, what might not be done on the King's 

 highway? Even the plan of protecting the mail- 

 riders under a grant of fifteen hundred pounds a year, 

 which early in the century had been obtained from 



