de with which he alternated in
getting up his disguise. He also was able when occasion required to work
the female racket as a cover beyond any other man who had ever attempted
the role.

There was one feature of Dudie Dunne's disguises. He acted the
character he assumed. He never lost his head or forgot himself, and
going around as he did under the guise of one of the most harmless of
mortals, he had excellent chances for getting information. Under the
fleece of the lamb was the hide of the lion, and there was just where he
came in when the crisis was presented. Oscar was standing on the corner
of a street waiting for a car to pass when he saw a man suddenly leap
off the car, and immediately afterward an old lady ran out to the
platform screaming, "Stop thief! stop thief!"

The conductor did not even stop the car, but Dudie was at hand. He made
a leap forward, only a leap, for the thief ran close to him, and he
seized the rascal, when immediately a second man who had jumped off the
car ran up while Oscar was struggling with the thief. The second man
proved a confederate of the first, and he grabbed hold of Oscar. There
was no policeman near, but a crowd had gathered and the people merely
looked on, not understanding the cause of the struggle. They thought it
was great fun, and one of the crowd created a laugh by yelling:

"Hang on to him, chappie; hang on to him."

Well, he did not hang on to him--he did better. Thief number two had
hauled off to deal Oscar a tremendous blow. He was a large man and
appeared to possess great strength, but to the surprise of everybody,
chappie, as the crowd had dubbed our hero, let go the man he had been
holding just in time to dodge a blow aimed at his head, and he countered
with a stinger which sent his assailant staggering to the street. He
then as quick as a wink, to the amazement of the crowd, dealt the man he
had first seized a sockdologer and down he went, and at the same instant
the old lady arrived on the scene. She had beheld the capture and saw
the thief knocked out. The crowd cheered at the powers of chappie when
the truth went flying around that the two men whom the chappie downed
were pickpockets, and that the old lady was their victim. Our hero
followed his man and took from him quick as lightning the purse which
the thief had slid to his bosom. This he handed to the old lady, who
quickly disappeared, and at the same instant a policeman arrived. The
thief was a quickwi