e been telling the main guy about you."

"What about me?"

"I told him of your strength, for one thing. There isn't another man in
our outfit who could lift me off my feet the way you did it."

Nick shrugged his shoulders.

"I could have done it as easily if you had been twice the man you are,"
he said contemptuously.

"There is no doubt of that. I don't bear you any ill will for it,
either. Neither does the boss."

"And who may he be, Handsome?"

"Don't you know, Dago John?"

"Maybe I do, and again maybe I don't."

"Didn't you come here looking for him?"

"Maybe so."

"Well, who were you looking for?"

"Maybe the same one that the other fellow was looking for--maybe not."

"That's all right. You can come along, I guess. But I warn you to have a
care what you say to him."

"Say to who?"

"To Hobo Harry. He isn't one to be trifled with."

"Say, Handsome, on the level now, _is_ there such a person?"

"Sure there is. You'll find that out all right, too, before you are much
older. Didn't you come up here to get into the gang? Isn't that what you
are here for?"

"Sure thing; but, on the level, I didn't think that I could do it so
easy."

Handsome laughed as if he were intensely amused.

"If you think that you are in it now, you are very much mistaken," he
said, with a shrug. "We don't take men into the bosom of our family
quite as easy as that. But with us there is always room for a good man,
and he always has a chance to prove whether he is good or not. That is
the sort of chance you are going to get."

"Will you tell me about it?"

"I will if you will agree to teach me that hold by which you threw me
over the fire into the bushes a little while ago."

"Sure thing, Handsome. I'll teach you that, and a lot of others as well,
if you wish. That is one of the ju-jutsu tricks."

"I've heard about that. It's all right, all right."

"Sure thing. Now, where are we going? Are we to stay here all night,
Handsome?"

"Not quite."

"Tell me what is expected of me, then; where we are going?"

"I am to take you to the chief; to Hobo Harry himself, for he happens
to be here to-night. It is only once in a while that he is here, too;
but it happens that he is to-night. He is to interview you.
Otherwise--that is, if he were not here, you would have to hang around
on the outside until he showed up to pass upon you in person."

"I see."

"He is the only man in the whole bunch who has a right to do that.