“He’s a crook then?” Brad interposed.
“Sure, they say he’s the brains of a waterfront gang. Guess what he carries around in those paper bags of his’n?”
“Popcorn,” said Dan.
“Guess again. He packs a revolver. Eddie loafs around the waterfront and you hardly ever see him without his little paper bag.”
“I should think the police would pick him up for carrying a concealed weapon,” Brad said.
“Oh, Eddie ain’t dumb enough to go around with the revolver all the time. Mostly you’ll see him munching peanuts or popcorn, and if the cops search him that’s what they find. But if he pulls a job, he slips the revolver into the sack. The cops figure he only has a bag of popcorn.”
“Eddie never has been arrested?” Brad inquired.
“Oh, the cops run him in regular, but they’ve never dug up enough evidence to convict him. Eddie’s a slick one.”
“Who is his companion?” Dan asked.
“Never saw him before,” the newsboy said indifferently. “Some sailor, I guess.”