"Mamma!" she called, "steh' auf! Es ist Fourteenth Street." The little woman woke up, gathered the umbrellas in her arms, and bustled after the marketmen, her daughter leading the way. He sat as one dreaming. "Ach!" he sighed, and ran his hand through his dark hair, "so rasch!" And he went out after them. LITTLE WILL'S MESSAGE "It is that or starve, Captain. I can't get a job. God knows I've tried, but without a recommend, it's no use. I ain't no good at beggin'. And--and--there's the childer." There was a desperate note in the man's voice that made the Captain turn and look sharply at him. A swarthy, strongly built man in a rough coat, and with that in his dark face which told that he had lived longer than his years, stood at the door of the Detective Office. His hand that gripped the door handle shook so that the knob rattled in his grasp, but not with fear. He was no stranger to that place. Black Bill's face had looked out from the Rogues' Gallery longer than most of those now there could remember. The Captain looked him over in silence. "You had better not, Bill," he said. "You know what will come of it. When you go up again it will be the last time. And up you go, sure." The man started to say something, but choked it down and went out without a word. The Captain got up and rang his bell. "Bill, who was here just now, is off again," he said to the officer who came to the door. "He says it is steal or starve, and he can't get a job. I guess he is right. Who wants a thief in his pay? And how can I recommend him? And still I think he would keep straight if he had the chance. Tell Murphy to look after him and see what he is up to." The Captain went out, tugging viciously at his gloves. He was in very bad humor. The policeman at the Mulberry Street door got hardly a nod for his cheery "Merry Christmas" as he passed. "Wonder what's crossed him," he said, looking down the street after him.