"That's what I am. It's a criminal offense to order a meal, eat it, and not pay for it." Ned did not know what to do. CHAPTER XXIV A QUEER IDENTIFICATION Stumbling through the snow drifts the three chums bore the half-unconscious boy they had picked up in the snow bank. They went as quickly as they could, for they knew the need of haste in the case of a person who had been exposed to the cold and storm. "I wonder who he is?" said Fenn. "Whoever he is he's pretty nearly dead," replied Frank. "I hope we're not too late." As they struggled into the lobby of the hotel with their burden, the night clerk gazed curiously at them. "What the matter?" he asked. "Boy almost frozen," replied Bart. "Send for a doctor!" "Who's going to pay him?" the clerk inquired. "We will!" Bart replied, somewhat indignantly. "That's all right, needn't get mad about it," the clerk exclaimed. "You'll find there's a lot of grafting in New York, and we have to be careful. Here, I'll help you with him." "Take him up to my room," Frank suggested, as the clerk came from behind the desk and assisted in supporting the boy, who was now unconscious. "Mine is the largest apartment," Frank went on, "I can bunk in with one of you fellows." "Telephone for Dr. Smithers," the clerk called to a helper as they placed the boy in the elevator. "He's just around the corner." The lad was put to bed in Frank's room, and the clerk, who seemed a little sorry, for his question about payment, brought in some rubber hot-water bags which were placed about the silent form under the coverlet. "We must thaw him out," he said. "That's the best treatment I know of." In a little while the doctor arrived. He said the clerk had done the right thing and he ordered some hot broth prepared. "Alice ought to be here," remarked Bart. "This would be just in her line." "Wonder who he is?" asked Frank, as the three boys were in Bart's room, for the doctor, and one of the women servants of the hotel, who had volunteered for a nurse, were busy trying to restore the boy to consciousness. "Probably some poor homeless wanderer," replied Fenn. "Tough luck, to be without a home on a night like this." "I only hope Ned isn't in any such plight," spoke Bart. "Why should he be?" asked Fenn. "He had plenty of money when he left home." "You can never tell what will happen in New York," replied Fenn with a wise look, which, though he did not appreciate it, was quite a truthful remark. In about an hour Dr. Smithers came out. He seemed well pleased with what he had accomplished. "I think we'll pull him through," he said, rubbing his hands. "It was a close call. If you had been five minutes later he would probably have been past human aid." "Could he tell you anything of himself, doctor?" asked Frank.