New York City, early 1900s. In the noise and chaos of City Hall Park, twelve-year-old Jimmy Small hawks newspapers with a sharp tongue and sharper elbows. He's got street smarts to spare but not much else, until he finds something far more valuable than lost coins. Dick Box lies bleeding in an alley, unable to remember his own name, let alone who put him there. What follows is a partnership born of desperation and deepened by mystery. Jimmy shelters the confused boy, and together they carve out a life among the newsies and bootblacks of lower Manhattan, dodging bullies, chasing leads, and unraveling the secret of Dick's forgotten past. A well-dressed stranger named Joshua Crosscrab seems to know more than he's saying about Dick's true identity. Each chapter brings them closer to answers, and closer to danger. Frank V. Webster wrote dozens of these adventures for turn-of-the-century boys, and this one still zings with energy. It's a quick, satisfying read that captures the rush of old New York, the bonds of unlikely friendship, and the stubborn refusal to give up when the world stacks the odds against you.
