also comes in
than is shown. In the present instance you yourself have shown how the
extra brandy enters. Our job is to find out how it leaves."

"That part of it is clear enough anyway," Willis said with a smile. "But
brandy smuggling is not new. There must surely be recognized ways of
evading the law?"

"Quite. There are. But to follow them you must understand how the output
is measured. For every consignment of stuff that leaves the works a
permit or certificate is issued and handed to the carrier who removes
it. This is a kind of way-bill, and of course a block is kept for the
inspection of the surveying officer. It contains a note of the quantity
of stuff, date and hour of starting, consignee's name and other
information, and it is the authority for the carrier to have the liquor
in his possession. An Excise officer may stop and examine any dray
or lorry carrying liquor, or railway wagon, and the driver or other
official must produce his certificate so that his load may be checked
by it. All such what I may call surprise examinations, together with the
signature of the officer making them, are recorded on the back of the
certificate. When the stuff is delivered, the certificate is handed over
with it to the consignee. He signs it on receipt. It then becomes his
authority for having the stuff on his premises, and he must keep it for
the Excise officer's inspection. Do you follow me so far?"

"Perfectly."

"The fraud, then, consists in getting more liquor away from the works
than is shown on the certificates, and I must confess it is not easy.
The commonest method, I should think, is to fill the kegs or receptacles
slightly fuller than the certificate shows. This is sometimes done
simply by putting extra stuff in the ordinary kegs. It is argued that
an Excise officer cannot by his eye tell a difference of five or six
per cent; that, for example, twenty-six gallons might be supplied on
a twenty-five gallon certificate without anyone being much the wiser.
Variants of this method are to use slightly larger kegs, or, more
subtly, to use the normal sized kegs of which the wood at the ends has
been thinned down, and which therefore when filled to the same level
hold more, while showing the same measure with a dipping rod. But all
these methods are risky. On the suspicion the contents of the kegs are
measured and the fraud becomes revealed."

Willis, much interested, bent forward eagerly as the other, after a
pause t