me.

And I found a large bag thrust into my arms, which Joe had been
carrying and had dropped on the road at the encounter.

By this time a crowd had assembled, the good folk who had been
craning their necks at the windows having swarmed out, now that the
danger was past. And as we thronged up the street a score of voices
poured into the ears of the man Joe had called "captain" the full
tale of the Mohocks' doings.

I walked among them, shouldering the bag. I perceived that Joe had
not recognized me, which was not to be wondered at, seeing that
when he last saw me I was a pale slip of a boy, whereas now I was a
tall brawny youth with cheeks the color of a ripe russet. And Joe
himself was not quite the 'prentice lad I had known. His legs
indeed were no less bowed than of yore; nor was his hair less red;
but the round face appeared rounder than ever by reason of a thick
fringe of whiskers. His body had filled out, and he moved with a
rolling gait that caused him to usurp more than one man's share of
the narrow street.

When we had laid the two ruffians safely in ward, the captain said
to Joe:

"Now we'll go visit Nelly, and 'gad, my limbs yearn for bed, Joe.
This fellow can still carry the bag; 'tis worth a groat."

I grinned, and stepping alongside of Joe, whose head did not reach
much above my elbow, I looked down on him, and said: