ll boy, thin
to emaciation, who made his way through the crowd with that sprawling,
active, dancing manner peculiar to thin small boys and spiders.

Jim half laughed at the little chap until he saw his face; then he
realized at a glance that the matter was no laughing one for the boy.

At the same time he saw the shocking thinness of the little face, made
into a wolf's face by hunger; the mingled horror and desperation of the
eyes; the big man would not have believed a child's face could express
emotions of such magnitude. He was wonder-stricken at the sight, and felt
an instinctive sympathy for the fugitive.

It is a strange thing how fortune will sometimes guide with certainty,
when reason shows no path.

The boy came unerringly toward Jim; Jim had a sort of prophetic insight
that he would. Back behind him the urchin ran. "Don't cher give me away,
Mister!" he pleaded. Jim flapped a hand in answer.

At the time he was leaning against a corner of the station; a little back
of him was a small lean-to shed where various truck was stored.

Out of the car came a burly brute of a man, who stared about him rapidly.

"Dat's der ol' man," whispered the boy. "If he gits holt of me, there
won't be a hull bone left in me body."

The man walked up to the conductor and spoke to him.

"Aggh!" said the boy. "Now dey'll get me sure--der jig is up--dey'll have
der hull gang ertop o' me!" the voice trailed off into a strangled sob,
and then continued in a fierce whisper: "Aggh! If I had me growth, I'd
show 'em! I'd show 'em!" and then a burst of hair-raising profanity.

The argument was growing loud between the man, who was urging something,
and the conductor, who was declining; others were walking toward the
moderate excitement.

Jim wheeled and caught the boy in his arms. "Up you go!" he said, and
tossed him on top of the shed. "Lie low behind the wood there, and you
are all right."

Then came the conductor's voice: "Say, my friend, if you think I'm going
to hold my train while you hunt up a lost kid, there's something in you
that don't work right! Why didn't you take care of him while you had him?
Now you've got just four minutes by the watch; either hustle around and
hunt, or drop off the train and hunt--what's that? Now don't you give me
any slack, you black-muzzled tarrier, or I'll have the fear of God thrown
into you too quick. Get out of here now! Get out of my way!"

The man slouched off, and made a hasty search ar