The feeling with which Joshua listened to this revelation may be imagined better than described. He followed Sam out of the store, with a very red face.
“I’d like to get hold of the feller that sold me the watch,” he said, elevating his fist.
“Serves you right,” said Sam, coolly, “for not waiting till I was with you. I shouldn’t get swindled easily. I’ve been in the city too long. I know the ropes.”
“You had your pocket picked last evening,” said Joshua.
“That’s true,” Sam was forced to answer--though it was not true. “I was talking with you, and that made me careless. But I shouldn’t be cheated on a bargain. How much did you give for the watch? Forty dollars?”
“Yes,” answered Joshua, wincing.
“Then it’s forty dollars thrown away, for the watch won’t go, and it will never do you any good.”
“I should like to sell it for as much as I gave,” said Joshua, not very honestly. “I might go out to Central Park this afternoon.”
“You wouldn’t catch a greenhorn every day that would let himself be taken in as you were.”
“Do you call me a greenhorn?” added Joshua, angrily.