"When did he do it—just now?"
"Yes," answered Morris, with unexpected audacity. "He looks like a countryman but he is a crook in disguise."
"Come along, my man!" said the policeman, taking Joshua in tow. "You must come with me."
"I hain't done nothing," said Joshua. "Please let me go, Mr. Policeman."
"That's what they all say," remarked Morris, shrugging his shoulders.
"I see, he's an old offender," said the intelligent policeman, who had only been on the force three months.
"He's one of the most artful crooks I ever met," said Morris. "You'd swear he was a countryman."
"So I be," insisted Joshua. "I came from Barton, up Elmira way, and I've never been in the city before."
"Hear him!" said Morris, laughing heartily. "Ask him his name."
"My name's Joshua Bascom, and I go to the Baptist church reg'lar—just write and ask Parson Peabody, and he'll tell you I'm perfectly respectable."