One night as a group of us lolled about a camp fire I was asked to join a gang of yeggs then about to start out on a trip. I accepted the invitation, and the following two years saw me risking life and liberty in the most dangerous of all the underworld pursuits. The life of a yegg is a life of stirring adventures. In the majority of cases each crime means a fight for a getaway. The yegg keeps to his class and is a strict observer of caste. He hates work as he hates the police, and carries his hatred further to those who do work. The yegg is a rough worker and dresses in the jungles (outside the city) to suit his calling. His greatest passion is drink; he will “slop up” (get drunk) whenever the opportunity is offered, except, of course, in the immediate[Pg 80] pursuit of some easy money. Unlike the dip (pickpocket) who has a “skirt” (woman) always near him, the yegg seldom bothers about them. His recreation is gotten from the state of mind which alcohol produces. He lives in the present and cares not a cent what the morrow may bring forth.

Yeggs, as a class, have certain characteristics differentiating them from the rest of the underworld. Loyalty to one another is preeminent in their make-up. Though the yegg has been known to kill in making his getaway, he never degenerates to the cruelty of the stick-up man. He never tortures, nor do I know of any guilty of crimes against womanhood. On the other hand, if a life should stand between him and liberty, he would unhesitatingly take that life. I know of no instance where a life has been taken simply because that life stood between the yegg and money.

To cite an instance of the loyalty of the yegg, I will............