o reveal the whereabouts of his jocker, as they were well
aware that this lad was merely a tool in the hands of some designing
scoundrel, but Jim, as all the other road kids before him have done,
refused to divulge the least word that would have caused his jocker's
apprehension.

Finding that pleading and threats were unavailing, the officers in their
efforts to catch the man "higher up" swore at Jim, then cuffed him and
finally, angry at the stubborn silence of the boy, they beat him
dreadfully, but even this punishment was in vain for Jim ever repeated
in his mind at every cuff and lick he received, that Kansas Shorty had
his mother's correct address and that this scoundrel would do far worse
than merely murder him, should Jim fail to keep the promise not to tell
who was his jocker.

Unable to extort a word from Jim that would lead to the arrest of his
jocker, the officers dragged the staggering, heart-broken lad back to
his cell and locked him up. When from sheer exhaustion he fell asleep
late in the night, he dreamed that Kansas Shorty's grinning face was
pressed against his steel-barred cell door. "Jim, Jim," he could
distinctly hear the scoundrel say mocking him in his helplessness, "come
on, Jim, let us go and peddle needle cases and loot more houses." Jim
leaped from his bunk at Kansas Shorty's throat, as if he were a wounded
tiger, to strangle with his bare hands the fiend who had so wantonly
spoiled his life, but he only gripped the cold steel bars of his cell
and awakened, then as he sank back upon the edge of the prison-bunk, he
realized that now it was too late--and he burst into bitter tears.

[Illustration: Behind bars]

CHAPTER X.

"Slippery, the Yegg."

After Slippery, the Yegg, and Joe had parted company with Kansas Shorty
and Jim, they walked leisurely southward upon the railroad track. For
some time their conversation lagged, as Slippery was absorbed in
thoughts centering upon the boy who was walking by his side. Slippery
had up to this moment lived strictly in accord with the laws laid down
by the "Code of Crime", the rules of which, although not printed and
bound into a costly volume, nor even written, are nevertheless strictly
observed by those who defy law and order.

A tradition of this unwritten code was to the effect that a "wise" yegg
must never have a minor hoboing with him about the country, as not only
would the youngster be of little value when committing a crime and a
mo