"but I don't want you to lose anything by me. Here's a dime apiece,
and you can go and get a drink somewhere else."

"You're a trump, Dodger," said Hooker, eagerly holding out his hand.

"I always liked you, Dodger," said Briggs, with a similar motion.

"Now, don't let Tim know you've seen me," said the newsboy, warningly.

"We won't."

And the interesting pair ambled off in the direction of the Bowery.

"So Tim sent them fellers after me?" soliloqized Dodger. "I guess I'll
have to change my office, or maybe Tim himself will be droppin' down
on me some mornin'. It'll be harder to get rid of him than of them
chumps."

So it happened that he used to take down his morning papers to the
piers on the North River, and take his chance of selling them to
passengers from Boston and others ports arriving by the Fall River
boats, and others from different points.

The advantage of this was that he often got a chance to serve as guide
to strangers visiting the city for the first time, or as porter, to
carry their valise or other luggage.

Being a bright, wideawake boy, with a pleasant face and manner, he
found his services considerably in demand; and on counting up his
money at the end of the week, he found, much to his encouragement,