But the faithful also had
their reward, for Moll never deserted a comrade, and while she lived
in perfect safety herself she knew well how to contrive the safety of
others. Nor was she content merely to discharge those duties of the
fence for which an instinct of statecraft designed her. Her restless
brain seethed with plans of plunder, and if her hands were idle it was
her direction that emptied half the pockets in London. Having drilled
her army of divers to an unparalleled activity, she cast about for some
fresh method of warfare, and so enrolled a regiment of heavers, who
would lurk at the mercers' doors for an opportunity to carry off ledgers
and account-books. The price of redemption was fixed by Moll herself,
and until the mercers were aroused by frequent losses to a quicker
vigilance, the trade was profitably secure.
Meanwhile new clients were ever seeking her aid, and, already empress
of the thieves, she presently aspired to the friendship and patronage
of the highwaymen. Though she did not dispose of their booty, she was
appointed their banker, and vast was the treasure entrusted to the
coffers of honest Moll. Now, it was her pride to keep only the best
company, for she hated stupidity worse than a clumsy hand, and they were
men of wit and spirit who frequented her house. Thither came the famous
Captain Hind, the Regicides' inveterate enemy, whose lofty achievements
Moll, with an amiable extravagance, was wont to claim for her own.
Thither came the unamiably notorious Mull Sack, who once emptied
Cromwell's pocket on the Mall, and whose courage was as formidable as
his rough-edged tongue.
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