Messenger No. 48

by James Otis

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Pages: 169

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About this book

Jet Lewis has earned money selling newspapers and polishing boots on the streets of New York. An orphan who does not know his own age, he boards with Mammy Showers on East Tenth Street and hopes for steadier pay. A job at the District Messenger Station brings a cap marked 48 and four dollars a week, with board to pay before he can start saving.

At the station he trades jokes with another boy, and his first deliveries bring tips. Then one errand is harder to explain. Two men give him a light satchel and tell him to use a different messenger number; the exchange leaves him carrying a heavy parcel without a signature. The work later takes him beyond the city on a quiet assignment for detective Mr. Harvey, searching for someone named Bob. Wages, lodging and daily reports keep the practical demands of Jet's life close to the developing mystery.