d attract particular attention from any person within
whose range of vision he might come, was frantically trying to force a
passage.

Seth stepped back to a partially sheltered position beneath the
stairway of the overhead bridge, and awaited the coming of his friend.

"Out swellin', are you?" the boy with the red hair asked, as he
finally approached, panting so heavily that it was with difficulty he
could speak. "Goin' to give up business?"

"I got rid of my stock quite a while ago, an' counted on givin' Snip a
chance to run in the park. The poor little duffer don't have much fun
down at Mother Hyde's while I'm workin'."

"You might sell him for a pile of money, Limpy, an' he's a heap of
bother for you," the new-comer said reflectively, as he stroked the
dog's long, silken hair. "Teddy Dixon says he's got good blood in
him----"

"Look here, Tim, do you think I'd sell Snip, no matter how much money
I might get for him? Why, he's the only relation I've got in all this
world!" and the boy buried his face in the dog's white hair.

"It costs more to keep him than you put out for yourself."

"What of that? He thinks a heap of me, Snip does, an' he'd be as sorry
as I would if anything happened to one of us."

"Yes, I reckon you are kind'er stuck on him! It's a pity, Limpy,
'cause you can't hustle same's the rest of us do, an' so don't earn as
much money."

"Snip has what milk he needs----"

"An' half the time you feed him by goin' hungry yourself."

"What of that?" Seth cried sharply. "Don't I tell you we two are the
only friends each other's got! I'd a good deal rather get along
without things than let him go hungry, 'cause he wouldn't know why I
couldn't feed him."

"A dog is only a dog, an' that's all you can make out of it. I ain't
countin' but that Snip is better'n the general run, 'cause, as Teddy
Dixon says, he's blooded; but just the same it don't stand to reason
you should treat him like he was as good as you."

"He's a heap better'n I am, Tim Chandler! Snip never did a mean thing
in his life, an' he's the same as a whole family to me."

As if understanding that he was the subject of the conversation, the
dog pressed his cold nose against the boy's neck, and the latter cried
triumphantly:

"There, look at that! If you didn't have any folks, Tim Chandler, an'
couldn't get 'round same as other fellers do, don't you reckon his
snugglin' up like this would make you love him?"

"He ain't really yours