Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/24

The Loom of Destiny he slumbered on the comfortable iron door over the hot-air shaft of the World building, where the heat blew out through the iron grating in a most delicious way. There, no matter how cold it was, he was as contented and as much at home as the most luxuriously cotted child on Fifth Avenue. And what was more, he was not afraid of the dark, and the night had no terrors for him. Dinney, like all self-respecting members of the profession, had an honest and outspoken contempt for fixed quarters of any sort, and openly scoffed at the Newsboys' Home. Another point to be remembered was that with sleeping apartments at the World building, Dinney was always on hand for the morning papers, which, as very few in the great city ever guessed, came up long before the sun itself.

In the summer, Dinney had the habit of going about and nosing out sleeping-places at his own sweet will. Often, it is true, he had to fight for them, but that fact only made him enjoy them all the more.

So, since Dinney could sell as many as 12