ming closer.

"Ain't touched yer lumber," growled Jack Sagger.

"We're after anudder feller wot hid in here," said Sammel.

"That's a likely story. I believe you are nothing but a crowd of young
thieves," grumbled the watchman. "Every night somebody is trying to
steal lumber or bricks, or something. I've a good mind to make an
example of you and have you all locked up."

"We ain't touched a thing!" cried a small boy, and began to back away in
alarm. At once several followed him.

"Here's a barrel of water knocked over and everything in a mess. You've
been skylarking, too. I'm going to have you locked up!"

The watchman made a dash after the boys and the crowd scattered in all
directions. Sagger received a crack on the shoulder that lamed him for
a week, and Sammel tripped and went down, taking the skin off of the end
of his nose.

"Oh, me nose!" he moaned. "It's busted entirely!"

"Run!" cried Sagger. "If you don't you'll be nabbed sure!" And then the
crowd ran with all their speed, scrambling out of the hole as best they
could. They did not stop until they were half a dozen blocks away and on
their way home.

"We made a fizzle of it dat trip," said Sagger, dolefully.

"It's all your fault," growled one of the boys. "I ain't goin' out wid
you again. You promise big things but you never do 'em."

"Oh, Jack 's a gas-bag, dat's wot he is," was the comment of another,
and he walked off by himself. Presently one after another of the boys
followed suit, leaving Jack Sagger to sneak home, a sadder if not a
wiser lad.

CHAPTER XXI.

DAYS AT THE HOTEL.

"Perhaps those fellows have learned a lesson they won't forget in a
hurry," remarked Frank to Joe, after he learned the particulars of the
attack in the dark.

"I hope they don't molest me further," answered our hero. "If they'll
only let me alone I'll let them alone."

"That Sagger is certainly on the downward path," said Frank. "If he
doesn't look out he'll land in jail."

What Frank said was true, and less than a week later they heard through
another hotel boy that Jack Sagger had been arrested for stealing some
lead pipe out of a vacant residence. The pipe had been sold to a junkman
for thirty cents and the boy had spent the proceeds on a ticket for
a cheap theater and some cigarettes. He was sent to the House of
Correction, and that was the last Joe heard of him.

With the coming of winter the hotel filled up and Joe was kept busy from
morning