The foreign sailors and merchant captains were all curious about the recent events in this town. Through asking questions and idle chatter, they came to understand what the sheriff was up to.
For a moment, they too were relieved they had only indulged in eating, drinking, and merrymaking these past two days without causing any trouble. The worst offense had been drunken brawls, which merely resulted in being taken to the station by the sheriff and detained until they sobered up, with no further consequences.
However, for the merchants, the implications ran deeper. They found the security environment here to be genuinely good. To their surprise, during their long stay, no one had ever approached them with outstretched hands for a bribe.
This shocked the merchants significantly, as even in a bustling place like Totnes, getting things done involved being exploited at every level.
