"Have you got any?" asked Billy.
"I guess I have. Come right along to the store with me."
"Come on, Joe. Keep your skate on. Don't limp any more'n you can help."
But both he and Joe cut a queer figure as they followed Uncle Josh up the street; for when a boy makes one of his legs longer than the other, and slips and slides on that foot, it makes a good deal of difference in the way he walks.
Everybody knew Uncle Josh, and although he was a deacon and a very good man, everybody expected to see a smile on his face, and to hear him chuckle over something when they met him. So nobody was half so much surprised as Joe and Billy were, and their surprise did not come to them until they reached the store. But it came then.
"Skates for these boys," said Uncle Josh, as they went in. "One for each foot, all around. Straps too."
That was it, and now the boys were doing more chuckling than Uncle Josh himself.
"Billy," asked Joe, "do you know what to say?"
"Why, we must thank him."
"Yes, I s'pose so. But that doesn't seem to be half enough."