er yer all the time. I don't go back on
a pardner like that. Why, if they'd shipped yer up to the island, I'd a'
been there to say good-by to yer, an' don't yer ferget it. Yer give me a
breakfast this morning, didn't yer? Yer licked them fellers, didn't yer?
Well, Pete, if he's got only one name, don't go back on yer. See? An'
that settles it."

It was not an elegant speech, and Pete was an uncommonly
disreputable-looking lad, with his grimy face and hands and his tattered
garments, but there was a ring of gratitude and earnestness in his tone
that went straight to Andy's heart, and he held out his hand with:

"You're the right sort, Pete."

"Anyhow, I don't go back on a pardner," said Pete, shaking the proffered
hand awkwardly.

Andy was in need of sympathy at just that moment, and he was really very
glad of the friendship of the little waif, who was so old in experience
if so young in years.

[Illustration:
"YER KNOW ME? I'M LYNX-EYED BILL, THE TERROR OF THE FORCE.
GIT ONTER MY LYNX EYE."]

He would not have selected Pete for a friend and confidant; but there he
was, at hand, with his sympathy ready, and Andy was moved to take him
into his confidence.

"I say, Pete," he began, and stopped.

"Say it," said Pete.

But at that moment Andy had caught sight of his man with the child, and
he exclaimed: "Do you see that man, Pete?"

"The feller that was on the wharf? I see him."

"I want to follow him."

"Nobody's hinderin' yer."

"But he knows me, and if he sees me following him, he will know what I
am after. Don't you see?"

"I'm fly. Yer want me ter do the trick. Good! Yer know me? I'm Lynx-eyed
Bill, the terror of the force. Git onter my lynx eye."

Whether he had a lynx eye or not, he certainly was a very shrewd little
scamp, for he left Andy's side and hurried nearer to the man and child;
and so, followed by Andy at a considerable distance, he kept after them.

The mother of the child and some sympathizing friends were with them,
and there was no difficulty in keeping them in sight as long as they
remained together.

Mr. Roberts went with them, however, only to the cars, where he left
them, evidently with many apologies for the trouble he had been the
cause of putting them all to, for Pete, and even Andy, from his
distance, could see him bowing many times over.

As soon as the car took them away, he looked all around with seeming
carelessness, though it was plain to the boys that he was scrutin