thod of making things all right was the same in every case. He
would form a circle of disreputable-looking youths, for whose drinks
Sogrange was called upon to pay. The attitude of these young men was
more dejected than positively vicious. They showed not the slightest
signs of any desire to make themselves unpleasant. Only once, when
Sogrange incautiously displayed a gold watch, did the eyes of one or
two of their number glisten. The ex-detective changed his place and
whispered hoarsely in his patron's ear.

"Say, don't you flash anything of that sort about here! That young cove
right opposite to you is one of the best known sneak-thieves in the
city. You're asking for trouble that way."

"If he or any other of them want my watch," Sogrange answered calmly,
"let them come and fetch it. However," he added, buttoning up his coat,
"no doubt you are right. Is there anywhere else to take us?"

The man hesitated.

"There ain't much that you haven't seen," he remarked.

Sogrange laughed softly as he rose to his feet.

"A sell, my dear friend," he said to Peter. "This terrible city keeps
its real criminal class somewhere else rather than in the show places."

A man who had been standing in the doorway, looking in for several
moments, strolled up to them. Peter recognized him at once and touched
Sogrange on the arm. The newcomer accosted them pleasantly.

"Say, you'll excuse my butting in," he began, "but I can see you're kind
of disappointed. These suckers"--indicating the ex-detective--"talk a
lot about what they're going to show you, and when they get you round it
all amounts to nothing. This is the sort of thing they bring you to, as
representing the wickedness of New York! That's so, Rastall, isn't it?"

The ex-detective looked a little sheepish.

"Yes, there ain't much more to be seen," he admitted. "Perhaps you'll
take the job on if you think there is."

"Well, I'd show the gentlemen something of a sight more interesting that
this," the newcomer continued. "They don't want to sit down and drink
with the scum of the earth."

"Perhaps," Sogrange suggested, "this gentleman has something in his mind
which he thinks would appeal to us. We have a motor car outside and we
are out for adventures."

"What sort of adventures?" the newcomer asked, bluntly.

Sogrange shrugged his shoulders lightly.

"We are lookers-on merely," he explained. "My friend and I have traveled
a good deal. We have seen something of crimin