"Oh, I fetched it all, even the parson's, 'n' he told me a blessin' went with hisn," responded Jess.
And then Winn, more light-hearted than ever before in his life, hurried the old man into a carriage.
"We are to keep in hiding," he said, "until my friends say the word, and then I'll take you to the stock exchange and we will see our stock sold."
"I don't see no use in hidin' in this 'ere jumble o' humanity," asserted Jess, as their vehicle became entangled in a street blockade, "the puzzle on't here 'ud be to find anybody ye wanted."
"It's best that we hide, however," replied Winn. "If Weston caught sight of either of us, he would know our errand here at once."
"I don't cac'late he'd 'member me," said Jess, "though I'd recklect them gray stun'sls o' hisn out o' a million."
And Winn, contrasting the old man's present raiment with what he usually wore, concluded he was right.
But that evening, when Page and Nickerson were ushered into the room where Jess was held in (to him) durance vile, there was a scene.
"I'm powerful glad to meet ye, gentlemen," Jess asserted, shaking the hand of each in a way that made them wince, "I'd a sorter cac'lated brokers had horns 'n' claws the way ye're spoken on, but ye look purty harmless. I suppose ye air brokers," looking from one to the other, "an' which sort air ye, bulls or bears?"
"Either one or the other, as occasion serves," answered Page, laughing heartily. "We get together and toss or claw one another, according to the market, and when the fracas is over, count our cash and go out and drink to each other's good luck."