world and he wouldn't have missed a meal. Nor would he have needed to steal; stealing was the way of people without brains. He held a contempt for thieves; particularly those of the "petty larceny" variety.
"Say!" whispered a surly voice in his ear.
Tony looked up into a rat face topped by a dirty, rumpled checked cap.
"Well?" he said coldly.
"Some of us are goin' out and knock over some gas stations," answered the other boy hoarsely. "Want to come along?"
"No."
"It'll be an even split all round."
"No, I said. I ain't riskin' a pinch for a coupla bucks."
"Aw, there'll be more'n that, Tony. All them places got fifty, sixty bucks layin' around. An' there'll only be about four of us."
"Screw!" snarled Tony. "Before I paste you one."
The other boy hurried away, muttering to himself. To the other boys who loafed around this pool room, Tony was a puzzle. They never became intimate with him the way they did with each other. Somehow it just never occurred to them to
