tamped in his
nickname, "Niagara Swifty, the Shop Lifter", while the last one, a
red-haired, wary-looking chap answered to the rather suggestive name of
"Atlanta Jerry, the Hold-Up."

Joe, who had heard at home the section men tell about the "monicker"
every tramp bore, could not help but note that these "names-de-crime"
which Slippery had just now given as the ones with which these gentlemen
addressed each other, so very closely resembled those used by the hoboes
that perhaps every one of the men before him had formerly been a road
kid.

The boy's astonishment was greatly increased when next Slippery
introduced the "ladies". The one who so cautiously opened the door for
their entrance was honored by the name of "Dippy Marie"; the second on
account of the color of her hair was known as "Red Annie"; while a third
was titled "Noisy Jane", and the last, the youngest and best looking one
of them, went by the nickname of "Babe".

After this introduction Bunko Bill invited Slippery and Joe to make
their home with them during their sojourn in Chicago, which offer was
readily accepted and then all sat down to dine. After dinner Slippery
under the pretense of wishing to show Joe the city, managed to keep out
of complications which might have been caused by some of the inmates too
closely questioning the lad, and he took the boy for a walk to the
nearby shores of Lake Michigan.

After Joe had enjoyed for some time the beauty of the marine scenery
that spread like a gigantic panorama before his eyes, he broke the
silence by bluntly asking Slippery how and when they were to meet his
brother Jim. Slippery assured Joe and quieted him by saying that it
would be merely a matter of days before they would meet Jim in the
street in the same manner that they had met Boston Frank.

They returned to the flat in time to join the others at supper, and
after this had been served Joe wondered why one after another, all the
members of the gang cautiously slipped out of the door and vanished down
the stairway with the sole exception of "Dippy Marie", who showed them
to their bedroom.

In the morning Boston Frank made a call at the flat, and behind locked
doors had a long conference with Slippery and the others. After his
visit Slippery became a busy man and Joe watched him oiling, filing and
tempering a collection of jimmies, nippers, wedges, pliers, saws, and
other such tools for which an expert mechanic could find a proper use.
When Joe