Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/181



T was his by right of discovery. For two glorious weeks he had puddled in it, and now, naturally enough, he looked upon it as his own private property.

It was not, to be sure, in his own Alley, but then he had found it first, and it was his by right of occupation. And now, if need be, he was ready to do battle for it, as any son of Adam is ever ready to do for his own, or what he calls his own.

But then it was worth fighting for! It was the most beautiful of mud puddles, three inches deep and four whole feet long. Such things should never have been in a well-ordered city, but every day the watering-cart man who lumbered up and down the Avenue on his great red wagon left the water-hydrant leaking a little, so that the puddle was 169