It must be added, that in this connection he also thought of a certain special sort of French soap, which imparted a remarkable whiteness to the skin and freshness to the cheeks. What its name was, God only knew: but he assumed that it must infallibly be found abroad. Thus, he had long pined to enter the custom-house service, but he had been withheld from doing so for a long time by the profits which flowed to him from the building commission; and he had judged wisely, that the custom-house service, however desirable it might be, was nothing more than a crane afar in the heavens, while the building commission was certainly a titmouse in the hand.
Now, however, he was resolved to make his way into the custom-house service at any cost, and he accomplished it. He entered upon his duties with extraordinary zeal. It seemed as though fate itself had destined him to be a custom-house official. Such skill, penetration, and acumen had never been seen, or even heard of before. In three or four weeks he had attained to such dexterity in custom-house matters, that he positively knew all that there was to be known: he no longer weighed or measured, but he could judge from the wrapper how many arshins there were in any piece of cloth, or any other material. On taking a package in his hand, he could instantly tell how many pounds it weighed. In searching for hidden goods, his own comrades declared that he possessed a regular dog’s scent; indeed, it was impossible not to experience some surprise at witnessing how patient he was in feeling every button; and this he did with deadly equanimity and incredible courtesy.
When the people whom he was searching lost their tempers, flew into a rage, and experienced a malicious desire to spoil his agreeable face with their fists, he merely remarked, without any change in the expression of his countenance, or the suavity of his manners, “Will you not be so good as to stand up?” or, “Will you not be so kind, madam, as to step into the other room? the wife of one of our officials will come to an explanation with you there”; or, “Permit me to open the lining of your cloak a trifle with my penknife”; and so saying he would draw forth a shawl or a kerchief, with as much nonchalance as though it had been from his own trunk. His superiors admitted that he was the Devil himself, and not a man: he discovered goods in wheels, in shafts, in a horse’s ears, and in nobody knows what other places besides, where it would never enter the author’s head to hide them, and where no one but a custom-house official could find them. Thus the poor traveller who crossed the frontier lost his wits for several minutes, and could only cross himself, and say, as he wiped away the perspiration which had broken out all over his body, “Well, well!” The traveller’s position very much resembled that of the scholar who has just emerged from the private apartment where his master has summoned him to receive an exhortation, but where he has quite unexpectedly treated him to a flogging.
In a very short time the smugglers found that there was no tricking our hero. Woe and despair reigned throughout all Polish Jewry. His honesty and incorruptibility were invincible, almost superhuman. He did not even collect a little capital for himself out of the various confiscated wares, and other articles which were seized in divers manners, and which did not reach the treasury, because they would necessitate superfluous correspondence. Such zealously disinterested service could not fail to become the subject of general admiration, and at length it came to the knowledge of the chiefs. Our hero received a promotion of one rank (tchin); and then he presented a scheme for trapping all the smugglers, merely requesting that he might be furnished with the means of conducting the affair himself. He was immediately intrusted with the command, and with unlimited power to conduct any and all sorts of searches. That was all he wanted.
At that time a large band of smugglers had been organised on a regular and well-conceived plan. The profits of this bold enterprise were reckoned by the million. Our friend had long known of its existence, and had even refused to wink at its doings, when an envoy had been despatched to buy him, saying dryly, “The proper time has not yet arrived.” But at the very moment when he had got the entire disposition of affairs into his own hands, he informed the band that the time had arrived. His calculations were well founded. In one year he might obtain more money than he could earn in twenty. He had not cared to enter into relations with these people before, because then he had only been an insignificant individual, and, consequently, he would have received but little; but now, now it was quite another matter, he could make what terms he pleased. In order that the business might progress without loss or hindrance, he