“I could never have got such a bargain if I had stayed in the country,” thought Joshua. “I don’t believe I should have had a watch until I was thirty years old. The old man is awful mean. If he had treated me right, I shouldn’t have had to help myself; that’s certain.”

Joshua congratulated himself that, though he now possessed a hundred-dollar gold watch and chain, purchased at less than half price, he still had left considerably more than five hundred dollars. When he purchased the watch, his first thought was to sell it almost immediately, and so realize something by the speculation. But, being well provided with money, he decided, on the whole, to keep it, for the present, at least, and not to sell unless he should stand in need of money. That would not probably be for a long time, as five hundred dollars seemed quite a fortune to him. Besides, in a short time, probably, he would get a place, with a salary large enough to pay his expenses.

Joshua wandered about the park a short time, but returned to his boarding house in time for lunch. Here he met Sam Crawford. The latter looked with surprise at the watch and chain so ostentatiously displayed by his friend.

“Where did you get that watch and chain?” he asked.

“I bought it,” said Joshua, in a tone of importance. “I made a pretty good bargain, too.”

“At what jeweler’s shop did you buy it?” asked Sam, rather vexed that Joshua should have made so important a purchase without consulting him. If any money was to be spent, he wanted to have something to do with it.

“I didn’t buy it at any jeweler’s,” answered Joshua. “If I had, I couldn’t have got it so cheap.”

“Didn’t buy it at a jeweler’s!” repeated Sam, suspiciously. “Where did you buy it, then?”

“I bought it of a man I met in Central Park.”

“A man you knew?”

“No; a stranger--a man from the country.”

“Let me see the watch,” said Sam, abruptly.

He took it in his hands, and looked at it, but, not being a professional, he could not tell whether it was genuine or not.

“I shouldn’t wonder if you had got swindled,” he said, handing it back. “How much did you pay for it?”

“Forty dollars. The man said it was worth a hundred,” said Joshua, beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“Of course, he would say so,” returned Sam, contemptuously. “They always do. What made him sell it to you so cheap, then?”

“He found it in the park, and had to go out of the city very soon.”

Sam shook his head.

“You ought not to have bought a watch without my being with you. If you are swindled, it is your own fault. I don’t believe it is gold.”

“It looks like gold,” said Joshua, soberly. “How shall I find out?”

“Come out with me, when I go back to the store. We’ll stop at a jeweler’s on the way, and he will tell us.”

It must be confessed that Joshua ate his lunch in a state of painful suspense. Forty dollars was a good deal to lose. Besides, it was, or would be, mortifying to feel that he had been swindled. The watch and chain looked all right. He could not help thinking that it was gold, after all.

When lunch was over, he went out with Sam. Two blocks distant, there was a small jeweler’s shop. Sam led the way in, and he followed.

“Give me the watch,” said Sam.

He handed it to the clerk behind the counter.

“Will you tell me what this watch and chain are worth?” he asked.

The clerk took it, and, after a slight examination, said, with a smile:

“I hope you didn’t give much for it.”

“It does not belong to me. My friend purchased it this morning. Is there any gold about it?”

“A little--on the outside. It is covered with a thin coating of gold. I will tell you in a moment what is underneath.”

“It is a kind of composition,” he announced, after a pause.

“How much is the whole thing worth?”

“Three or four dollars, at the outside. The works are good for nothing. It won’t keep good time. If you want a really good gold watch, I will show you some.”

“Not to-day,” said Sam. “I may be getting one soon; then I will call on you.”

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.

“Of course, you’re a little green,” said Sam. “I was myself, at first,” he added, in a conciliatory manner. “But you’ll soon get over it. Only don’t buy anything of importance unless I am with you. That will be your safest way for the present.”

Joshua did not reply, but he reluctantly decided that perhaps he would do better to follow Sam’s advice. Evidently, the city was full of snares and swindlers of which he had no idea, and it wouldn’t do for him to lose forty dollars very often. He felt unhappy whenever he thought of his loss. He had been in the city only twenty-four hours, yet it had cost him in the neighborhood of fifty dollars. He decided henceforth to beware of plausible strangers, especially if they professed to hail from the country.

We must now return to Stapleton, where Mr. Drummond was still nursing his indignation at the audacity of his son, whom he had never supposed daring enough to rob his strong box. Mrs. Drummond essayed to say one word in defense of Joshua.

“He is a vile, young scoundrel!” exclaimed the angry father. “Mark my words, Mrs. Drummond--he will end his days on the gallows.”

“How can you say such dreadful things, Mr. Drummond?” said the mother. “Remember, he is your son!”

“I am ashamed to own that I am the father of a thief.”

“He would not have taken the money if you had not kept him so close. Twenty-five cents a week is very small to give a boy of Joshua’s age. All of his companions get more.”

“It was more than he deserved, the idle vagabond!”

“You are very hard upon him, Mr. Drummond,” said his wife.

“I have reason to be. I suppose,” he added, with a sneer, “you justify him in robbing his father of his hard earnings?”

“You know I do not; I only say that, if you had treated him more generously, this would never have happened. You certainly might have afforded him a dollar a week. The poor boy used to feel mortified, because he never had a cent in his pocket.”

“I work hard for my money, Mrs. Drummond, and you needn’t expect me to waste it on an idle young rascal, who wants to live without work.”

“He was willing to work. He has told me more than once that if you would let him go to the city he would get a place in a store, and work cheerfully. He was tired of Stapleton.”

Mr. Drummond’s attention was excited.

“So he was very anxious to go to the city?” he said, inquiringly.

“Yes; he used often to speak to me of wanting to go there.”

“Then that’s where he is now,” said his father. “I might have known it. All the idle vagabonds who are too lazy and shiftless to earn an honest living in the country go to the city. My mind is made up. I shall go to New York to-morrow, Mrs. Drummond. Now, go and lay out a clean shirt for me. I shall start for the city by the early train.”

“If you find the poor boy, don’t be harsh with him, Jacob,” pleaded the mother.

“If I find him,” said Mr. Drummond, significantly, “I’ll give him a lesson that will cure him of thieving for a long time, I can tell you that!”

Mrs. Drummond turned away, with a sigh, to obey her husband’s request. She did not justify Joshua in his course, but she was a mother, and could not help making some excuse for her son. She felt that her husband had treated him too much like a young boy, not having sufficient consideration for the fact that in age he was now bordering upon manhood.

The next day, Mr. Drummond was one of the passengers by the early train which left Stapleton for New York.