Aramis and Porthos were patrolling in the district where all the fruit and vegetable vendors were selling their wares. This was normally a very quiet assignment, almost boring, so the two were trying to outdo each other with remembered exploits.

Suddenly, their pleasant day was broken into by a scream of pain, sounding like a small child. Aramis began running in the direction of the sound, increasing speed as he heard the scream again. Porthos was right behind him

Rounding a corner, they stared for one moment at the shocking sight before their eyes. One of the vendors, someone whose stall they had patronized in the past, was beating a small boy, who looked to be only 5 or 6. The child was lying on the dirt, his arms stretched over his head, trying to protect his face from the stick the vendor was wielding. He was now making small moaning sounds. Almost more shocking was the crowd of people standing around watching, doing absolutely nothing to intervene as a grown man terrorized the small boy.

Aramis, the first to reach the vendor, grabbed the stick out of his hands and hit him with it, before laying hands on the man himself. Reaching back his fist, he was prepared to hit the man again, before he realized he was imitating the violence. His hand slowly lowered back to his side, but he didn't let the vendor go.

Meanwhile, Porthos had picked up the stick discarded in disgust by Aramis,and slammed it over his knee, breaking it into pieces before flinging it down the alleyway behind him.

"What exactly did you think you were doing?" Aramis asked the vendor in a low, dangerous voice. "If it was because he was stealing a piece of your fruit, all you had to do was take the fruit back, not his back with it," anger barely in check as he spoke.

"I wanted to teach him a lesson, teach all the little thieves around here a lesson," the vendor replied.

"Look at him!" Aramis told him. "His ribs are sticking out! He can be no more than 5 or 6. He may not even have parents. This may be the only food he will have for some time. I know it's stealing, but he was probably desperate." He was still simmering, but at the same time trying to think of a way to peacefully diffuse the situation. Then, an idea came to him.

Raising his voice, he looked around the crowd still watching the proceedings.

"Does anyone with a cart need a few errands done, any work that this boy could do to earn enough for a few pieces of fruit?" he asked. He saw a lot of feet shuffling, but no one spoke up.

"Imagine if something had happened to you, and you had a young son who was starving because he suddenly had no parents to provide for you. None of you has anything he could do to help him to be able to eat?" looking into the faces in the crowd.

Finally, one middle-aged man stepped forward and said, " I need someone to go get some more produce for my cart. I don't dare leave it to do myself, and I don't have enough to keep business open much longer today. I will hire him."

Aramis stooped down to bring the young boy to his feet, then pointed to the man who just spoke. "This man will give you food if you do some chores for him. Is that all right with you?"

The little boy looked from Aramis to the man a few times, then slowly nodded his head. Aramis led him by the hand over to the man, who smiled at him, then took his hand himself. Aramis nodded his head to the man, then turned and headed back to the vendor who had caused the trouble.

Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, he said, "If I ever hear of anything like this happening again, I will personally come and seek you out, and you will not get off so easily. Is that understood?"

The man reluctantly nodded his head, not making eye contact.

Porthos moved over to the vendor's other side, laying his hand on his shoulder and saying, "And if he doesn't, I will, and I have a bigger temper," causing the man to try unsuccessfully to back away from the two Musketeers.

"All right, all right, I get it. I won't cause any more trouble," he told them. They let him go, turned around, and walked away.

"I don't think any of those vendors is going to step out of line again," Porthos said with a chuckle, throwing his arm around his friend's shoulders, as they went back to their assignment.