VIII.
TWO ARRESTS.
ALLAN, angry and chagrined, did as he was told and led the line; and very soon a crowd began to gather again. Even some of the boys who had most wisely taken to their heels, seeing that the policeman had his hands full, ventured again into close quarters, and made audible remarks to Pete and his companion.
They scarcely had gone a block when at least a hundred ragged boys and girls of the quarter were following behind or running ahead to shout the news into the alleys. Recruits came running from Mulberry Square. A man with a push cart drew near to the curb and kept abreast of the procession. It seemed to Allan that at least a thousand women were craning their necks out of windows or crowding eagerly in doorways. His face reddened, and he did not know where to look. He certainly felt very angry and resentful, and yet, when people peered at him, he wondered whether they did not think he looked guilty of something.
“What did they do?”
“They were caught lifting.”
“Three of them.”
“They tapped a till.”
“They got the whole gang.”