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.. meta::
   :PG.Id: 43872
   :PG.Title: Billy Whiskers' Travels
   :PG.Released: 2013-10-02
   :PG.Rights: Public Domain
   :PG.Producer: Al Haines
   :DC.Creator: \F. \G. Wheeler
   :MARCREL.ill: Carll \B. Williams
   :DC.Title: Billy Whiskers' Travels
   :DC.Language: en
   :DC.Created: 1907
   :coverpage: images/img-cover.jpg

=======================
BILLY WHISTERS' TRAVELS
=======================

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      Cover art

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      BILLY WHISKERS'
      TRAVELS

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      BY

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      \F. \G. WHEELER

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      ILLUSTRATIONS BY
      CARLL \B. WILLIAMS

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      THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
      CHICAGO — AKRON, OHIO — NEW YORK

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      MADE IN U. S. A.

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      Copyright 1907
      by
      The Saalfield Publishing Co.

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   CONTENTS

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   CHAPTER

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I.  `Billy Runs Away from Home`_
II.  `He Loses his Mother`_
III.  `Billy Sees his Mother Again`_
IV.  `The Burgomaster is Bumped`_
V.  `The Wooden Goat`_
VI.  `A Celebration with Fireworks`_
VII.  `Billy Finds his Mother`_
VIII.  `An Encounter with the Tiger`_
IX.  `Alone in an Ocean Storm`_
X.  `The Goats Become a Fiery Dragon`_
XI.  `Billy Joins a Happy Family`_
XII.  `Billy Earns his Name`_
XIII.  `A Happy Reunion`_


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   ILLUSTRATIONS

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A Boat was lowered to rescue Billy. (missing from source book)

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`"Grab him, Caspar! Hold him!"`_

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`Billy saw him coming, and splashed around to the far side of
the fountain.`_

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`Billy felt his courage coming back.`_

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`"Well, old fellow, if broken bones are all, we can fix those."`_

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`"Shake hands," said Bobby.`_





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.. _`BILLY RUNS AWAY FROM HOME`:

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   CHAPTER I


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   BILLY RUNS AWAY FROM HOME

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The other kids of the big flock on the pretty Swiss farm
thought that they were having a very nice time, but
Billy did not like it very well.  He could run faster,
jump higher and butt harder than any of the other kids
of his age, and he wanted more room.  Nearly every day he stopped
for a while beside the high fence and looked out through it at the
green slopes that ran up to the mountains.  The leaves looked so
much fresher and more tender there, and the sun so much brighter;
besides, there were rocky places—he could see them—which would
make such fine playgrounds and jumping places.  His wise old
mother shook her head when he told her about these things.

"You are too little yet, Billy," she always said.  "You are not
yet strong enough to be out in the world alone, even if you could get
away from here."

"Just wait till I get big," Billy would say, shaking his head,
and then he would scamper away to slyly nip the whiskers of some
sober old goat, or to romp or play fight with one of the other
youngsters.

He was the most mischievous kid in the flock, and because of
that his mother named him Billy Mischief.  Farmer Klausen, who
owned him, was nearly as proud of him as Billy's own mother
could be.

"That's the smartest and strongest young goat I've got," he
used to brag to his neighbor, fat Hans Zug, but for all that he kept
a sharp eye on Billy and would not allow him to break away from
the flock and escape, as he sometimes tried to do when they were
being driven across the road from one pasture to another.

One day, when Billy was almost a full-grown goat, his chance
came at last.  Farmer Klausen was standing in the middle of the
road to see that none got away, while his boys were driving the flock
over to the lower meadows.  Billy, who came up with the others,
looking as innocent as a goat can look, suddenly wheeled, and with
a hard jump landed his broad head and horns square in the stomach
of his master.  Farmer Klausen gave a yell, threw up both his hands
and went heels over head into the dust, while Billy, scampering over
him, ran as hard as he could for the hills.

Coming down the road toward him was fat Hans Zug with a yoke
across his shoulders from which hung two great pails of goat's milk
which he was taking down to the chocolate factory in the valley.
Slow-witted Hans, when he saw neighbor Klausen's goat getting
away, never thought of setting down his pails, but spread out his
arms and stood square in the middle of the road, waving his hands
and shouting: "Shoo!  Shoo!"  It was a big mistake to think that
he could scare this scamp goat by saying "Shoo!" or by keeping his
fat body in the road, for Billy came straight on with his head down,
and just as Hans thought that maybe he had better step to one side,
Billy gave a mighty leap and doubled Hans up just like he had
Farmer Klausen.

"A thousand lightnings yet again!" yelled Hans as he went over.
The two pails came down
with a thud and a swish,
and goat's milk ran all
over the road and down
the gulleys at the side.
Hans Zug's dog, which
had been sniffing at the roadside to see if he could find the trail of
a rabbit, now jumped out and came at Billy.  With one jerk of his
strong little neck the runaway goat picked the dog up on his horns
and tossed him clear over his head, where he landed plump on top
of fat Hans and knocked the breath out of him for a second time,
just as Hans was getting up.  Then Billy, feeling fine from this
nice bit of exercise, kicked up his heels and galloped on.

.. _`The two pails came down with a thud and a swish`:

.. figure:: images/img-003.jpg
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   :alt: The two pails came down with a thud and a swish

   The two pails came down with a thud and a swish

Just as he reached the woods he turned around and looked back.
Farmer Klausen was on his feet again but had no time to chase Billy,
for he was cracking his long whip and running from one side of the
road to the other to keep the rest of the goats from breaking away.
Billy could hear his loud voice from where he stood.  Hans had
also rolled to his feet and was holding his pudgy hands across his
stomach, where he had been hit, while he looked dumbly at the
rich, yellow milk which was in puddles everywhere.  Thick-headed
Hans was just making up his mind that the milk had really been
spilled when another goat dashed by him, as fast as its feet could
patter.  As it drew nearer Billy saw with joy that it was his mother,
and he waited for her.  When she came close Billy called to her:

"Hurry up!  We are never going back any more."

He kicked up his heels again in pure delight and was about to
plunge into the woods when his mother called on him to wait, and
he did so, though he did not like to do it, for the last of the flock
was now safely in the other pasture, the gate was being closed on
them and Billy knew that in a moment more Farmer Klausen and
his boys and neighbor Hans would be coming after them.

When Billy's mother came up even with him she was panting
so hard that she could not speak, but she did not stop.  She kept
right on running, and he followed, curious to see what she meant to
do.  As soon as they were out of sight of the men, she turned from
the road into the woods, and by-and-by reached a little hollow which
was all overgrown with bushes.  Into this she raced, and Billy, now
seeing what she was up to, scampered lightly along behind, thinking
it to be great fun.  The hollow grew deeper and wider and shadier
as they went on, and at last she turned and scrambled up the dim,
pebbly bank, where she plunged into a dry little cave.  Here she
lay down upon the ground to get her breath, while Billy climbed in
beside her and listened.  Soon he could hear the heavy pat, pat, of
the feet of Farmer Klausen and his boys on the road, which was now
high above them.

"They'll never find us here," he said.

"Don't 'baah' so loud or they will hear us," panted his mother.
"My!  I'm getting too fat to run any more, but if you were bound to
go out in the world, I was bound to come with you.  You're not old
enough even yet to be trusted alone.  But you are right about one
thing; unless they catch us, we're never going back."

Suddenly they both became very still.  The noise of the footsteps
had died away, but there was a slow rustling of the leaves in
the hollow.  Something was coming toward them!

Nearer and nearer to where Billy and his mother lay hidden
came the noise, and soon they saw a dim, dark-gray shape among the
underbrush turn straight up toward them.  It was a large wild boar,
one of the fiercest animals that rove the forests of Europe.  It had
a great, shaggy head and cruel-looking curved tusks nearly a foot
long.  The two goats were in one of his hiding-places, and they
knew that he would not stop to say "Beg your pardon" when he came
up; whatever he had to say would be said with those sharp tusks.
The space was too narrow for them to run out past him.  Billy's
mother was scared, but not Billy.

"The only thing for us to do is to fight," said he, and, jumping
to his feet, he stood at the mouth of the little cave and gave a loud
"baah!" which was to warn the boar that it had better go about its
business.

The boar stopped and looked up at Billy with little wicked eyes,
then he gave a loud snort, and, lowering his head, started to run
straight up the hill toward them.  Billy waited until the boar was
close upon him, then he gave a sudden jump and landed square upon
the fierce animal's back.  The beast squealed and whirled around to
rip Billy with his tusks, but before he could do so Billy himself had
whirled and had hooked the big animal in the side.  There was
another squeal and Billy jumped out of the way.  The animal turned
and dashed after him, but in turning, his side was for an instant
toward the mouth of the cave.  It was just that instant for which
Billy's mother was watching, and with all her might she jumped,
butting him in the side with such force that he went rolling over
and over, squealing and grunting, into the hollow.  Billy was for
jumping down after him but his mother knew better than that.
She knew that it would be only an accident if they could whip this
wicked animal, as the boar was so much the stronger, and that it
was better to run than fight.

"Come quickly!" she cried, springing up the hill.

Billy stood for a moment, hardly knowing whether to follow
her or not, but just then the boar scrambled to his feet and started
after them, snorting and with fire-red eyes.

"Billy!  Billy!" screamed his mother.  "Do as I tell you!"

Even then, Billy, who never had known what it was to be afraid,
wanted to stay and fight it out, but the sight of his mother
scampering up the hill decided him.  He was more afraid that he might
lose her than he was that he could not whip the boar, so he took
after her.  The boar was also a good runner, but he was not nearly
so nimble a climber as the goats and they soon out-distanced him,
gaining the road, where they ran on as fast as they could go.

The road soon came to a narrow place where the trees stopped
and the rocks rose straight up on either side.  They were half way
through this narrow stretch when Billy's mother stopped.

"Goodness!" she exclaimed.  "I forgot about Farmer Klausen
and his boys.  They will be coming back past this way pretty soon,
and if they meet us in here there will be trouble.  We can't turn
back on account of the boar and they will surely catch us."

"Well, then," said Billy, once more showing his bravery, "if
we can't go back on account of the boar, we might just as well go on
ahead and meet whatever comes, as to stand here wasting time.
Maybe if we hurry we can get out before they get to us."

"I'm proud of you, Billy," said his mother.

They started to run on again, but had no more than done so
when, sure enough, they saw a man coming toward them.  It was
fat Hans Zug, and the minute they saw who it was Billy laughed.

"Just watch me roll him over," he said, and started, as hard as
he could go, toward the big round farmer.

When Hans saw Billy coming toward him this time he did not
wave his arms and cry, "Shoo!"  In place of that he put his hands
on his stomach and turned around to run away from this little, white
cannon-ball of a goat.  It was comical to see the fat fellow waddling
along, holding his hands in front of him, but he was making such
slow progress that Billy felt sorry for him and thought that he ought
to help him a little.  It only took a few jumps to catch up with Hans
and then—biff!—he struck him from behind so hard that Hans
almost bounced when he hit the ground.

"A thousand lightnings, yet again!" yelled poor Hans.

He was just grunting his way to his hands and feet again when
Billy's mother came along behind and—whack!—she gave him
another tumble.  This time he did not stop to look in either direction,
but rolled over to the side of the road and, getting to his feet, tried
to claw his way up the steep rocks, feeling almost sure that a whole
regiment of goats of all colors and sizes was after him.

"Ten thousand, a hundred thousand lightnings!" wailed Hans.
Billy, nearly laughing
himself sick,
waited for his
mother, and
when she came
up they both
pranced on.  They had nearly reached the end of the narrow pass
when they saw coming toward them Farmer Klausen and his two
boys.  The boys were running on ahead, quite a little distance in
front of their father, and Billy said quickly:

"You take Chris and I will take Jacob!"

So when they came up to the boys they just dived between their
legs.  Billy upset Jacob easily enough, but Chris was lighter, and
when the fatter goat tried to escape between his legs he simply fell
over on top of her.  Without stopping to think what he was doing, he
grabbed his arms about her middle and hung tight, while she raced
on for dear life.  By this time they were up to the farmer.  Billy
easily dodged him, but it was not so easy for his mother.  With
Chris hanging on her back, Farmer Klausen was able to grab her
by the horns and hold her tight.

.. _`He grabbed his arms about her middle and hung tight.`:

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   :alt: He grabbed his arms about her middle and hung tight.

   He grabbed his arms about her middle and hung tight.

"Billy, Billy!  Help!" squealed his mother, and Billy whirled
around to come back at once.  He flew through the air as if he had
been shot out of a gun, and when he landed against the stooping
Farmer Klausen, that surprised man turned a somersault clear over
Chris and the old goat, then Billy's mother easily shook Chris loose
and away they went again.

As soon as they got through the narrow pass they turned once
more into the woods, which here sloped upward.  They had now
passed the last of the farms, and beyond them lay nothing but wooded
hills and the mountains.  Up and up they scrambled until at last,
near nightfall, they came to a little, grass-grown tableland, watered
by a tiny stream that tumbled down from the mountains, and here,
after taking a long drink, they rested.  After a while they made a
good meal from the tender young grass that grew at the side of the
stream, and lay down again.  Soon they were fast asleep, side by
side.

It was nearly midnight and the moon was shining brightly
overhead, when they were both awakened by a terrific scream, and at
the same moment a soft, heavy body landed upon Billy's back!
Sharp claws struck his hide and sharp teeth sank into the back of his
neck!



.. _`"GRAB HIM, CASPAR!  HOLD HIM!"`:

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   :alt: "GRAB HIM, CASPAR!  HOLD HIM!"

   "GRAB HIM, CASPAR!  HOLD HIM!"





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.. _`HE LOSES HIS MOTHER`:

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   CHAPTER II


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   HE LOSES HIS MOTHER

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It was a mountain lynx that had sprung upon Billy from
the rocks above.  This lynx often came down to the
highest of the goat farms, and had many times annoyed
fat Hans Zug and Farmer Klausen by stealing nice, fat
young kids for his supper.  This time, however, he had met his
match, for Billy's mother no sooner saw the animal light upon her
offspring than she scrambled to her feet, and, with a short, quick
jump, plunged her sharp horns into his side.  The lynx screamed,
and loosing his grip on Billy, turned to fight with the mother goat.
The moment his weight was lifted, Billy, quick as a flash, ripped
at the underside of the beast with his sharp horns.  That made the
animal snarl and loosen his hold upon Billy's mother, and between
them they soon, in this way, gave the lynx more than he had bargained
for, so that presently he fled howling up the steep rocks with
the two goats chasing him as far as they thought it safe.  Then they
came back to their grassy spot, and bathed their hurt places in the
cool, running water.

"Now, Billy, you see what the world is like," said his mother.
"Don't you wish that we were safely back in Farmer Klausen's pasture?"

Billy dipped his scratched hind leg in the water and held it there
while he shook his head.

"No," he said, "this is better.  Only I'm glad that I didn't get a
chance to run away until I was so big and strong."

His mother sighed, but looked at him proudly.

"You are a brave young goat," she said, "and it would be a
shame to keep you shut up in a pen."

In the morning they were a little stiff from their hurts, but Billy
was still eager to travel and see the world, so they went on into the
mountains.  About noon they followed a little ravine down to a
plateau where there was a whole herd of chamois.  These graceful
animals are about the size of a goat, but they are not so heavily built
and are much swifter.  At first the chamois did not want to let the
goats join them, but old Fleetfoot, the leader of the herd, said that
they might stay if they were not quarrelsome, but that they would
have to look out for themselves if hunters came that way.

This little plateau was a beautiful place, all carpeted with grass
and backed up by towering rocks.  At one end was a cliff looking out
over a valley, at the further end of which was a little village.  Billy,
in his eagerness to see the world, ran at once to the edge of the cliff.

"You reckless Billy!" cried his mother, running after him.
"Don't go so close to that
cliff or you will surely
fall over and break
your neck!"

"I'm not
afraid," boasted
Billy, and actually
stood on his hind legs at the very edge.

.. _`Stood on his hind legs at the very edge.`:

.. figure:: images/img-015.jpg
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   :alt: Stood on his hind legs at the very edge.

   Stood on his hind legs at the very edge.

Just then a few loose stones came rolling
down the ravine, and like a flash the
entire herd of chamois were gone, leaping
across a broad chasm to a little ledge upon the
other side, where there was a second path that
led among the rocks.

"Oh, what shall we do?" cried Billy's
mother.  "Here come two hunters with guns, and
we can't jump where they did.  Why, it's twelve
feet across there!"  She was frightened half to
death but not for herself, for she threw herself
squarely between Billy and the hunters.

The hunters were ignorant fellows, and as soon
as they caught sight of the two goats they thought that
these also were chamois, and one of them, lifting his
gun, shot at them, grazing the head of the mother goat.  She toppled
over against Billy, and that knocked him over the cliff.  If it had
not been for a small tree which grew out of the cliff about half
way down, Billy would have been dashed to death, but the tree
broke his fall and so he only lay in the valley stunned, while the
hunters picked up his mother and in great glee carried her away,
thinking they had shot a chamois.

When they got back to their guide he told them their mistake,
and saw, too, that the goat was only stunned; so they gave it to him
and he sold it next day to a man who was buying some extra goats
for Hans Zug, to stock a goat farm in America.

In the meantime poor Billy lay almost dead at the base of the
cliff, where a man found him about an hour later.

"You poor goat!" said the man, looking up at the cliff.  "Did
you fall down from that dizzy height?" and he put his hand on
Billy's sleek coat.  "At least you are not dead," he went on, feeling
Billy's heart beat.  "I'll get you some water."

He took off his little round hat and ran back to where a tiny
waterfall came splashing and tumbling down the cliff, and, filling
his hat full of water, brought it and emptied it on the goat's head.
The cool shower revived Billy so that he raised his head a little, and
by the time the man got back with the second hatful of water he was
able to drink a little.  This revived him still more, and presently
he scrambled weakly to his feet.  He stumbled and swayed and
nearly fell down, but by spreading his feet out he managed to stand
up, and by-and-by he took a few tottering steps.  With each step
he grew stronger, and after another good drink he was able to
follow this kind man across the valley to the little village.

Billy was glad enough to lie down and take a nap as soon as he
got to the man's house, and he did not wake up until late at night.
After his good sleep he felt as strong as ever and thought he would
get something to eat, then see if he could not find his mother.  He
found that he was tied to a fence not far from a little whitewashed
building, under which ran a stream of water, but it did not take long
for him to jerk himself loose.  Going toward the little white
building, he smelled something that reminded him of milk.  He tried to
get in at the door.  It was fastened with a wooden button but Billy
did not care for that.  He went back a little piece to get a run, and
bumped head first into the door, which flew open at once.

"Milk!" said Billy, sniffing around in delight.  "Nice sweet
milk!  I'm sure that kind man would want me to have some."

There was a little board walk down the center of this spring-house,
and on each side of this were a number of crocks setting in the
water, each one of them covered with a plate and containing milk.
A stone was laid on top of each plate to weight the crock down in
the water, and in trying to nose off one of these plates Billy reached
over too far and fell.  He landed right among the crocks, which,
of course, bumped into each other, breaking and overturning and
spilling the milk, and making a great clatter.  At the noise, two
dogs came running down and dashed into the spring-house, where,
seeing something floundering around in the water, they promptly
dived in after it and Billy found himself very busy.  The noise the
dogs made aroused the man and his wife, and they, too, came down;
the noise they made aroused the neighbors on both sides, who came
running over to see what was the matter; a young man, who was
coming home late from calling on a girl, passed by that way and
saw the people from both sides running to this house and thought
there must be a fire, so he ran to the town hall, where the rope of
the fire bell hung outside, and began ringing it as loud as he could,
which aroused everybody in the village.  Hearing the commotion
many got out of bed and came out on the streets to learn where the
fire was.

All this time Billy, the cause of the hubbub, was battling with
the dogs among the milk crocks in the spring-house, and using his
horns right and left as hard as he could, until finally he was able to
jump out between them and on to the board walk.  Out of the door
he dashed, upsetting the man and his wife, butting into the neighbors
and, all dripping with white milk, ran like the ghost of a goat
through the village street, making women and girls scream,
scattering people right and left and being chased by yelping dogs and
halloing men and boys.

Billy easily outran his pursuers, but he never stopped until he
was far out in the country, where he crept under a stone bridge to
rest from his long run.  As soon as he had got his breath, he broke
into a near-by field and made a splendid supper from some nice
young lettuce heads, then he trotted contentedly back under his
bridge and went to sleep.  In the morning, bright and early, he
went back into the market garden and made a fine breakfast from
beet and carrot tops, all sparkling with cool dew.  He enjoyed this
garden very much and would like to have stayed there until all the
nice vegetables were eaten up, but he remembered how Mr. Klausen
had whipped him for breaking into his turnip patch one time, and
made up his mind that it would not be safe to linger in this part of
the country much longer, so he jumped the fence and started again
on his travels.

A little dog was trotting down the road, and as soon as he saw
Billy he began to bark.  To ordinary persons the barking would
have sounded merely like a lot of bow-wows, but in the animal
language it said:

"Where did *you* come from, you big white tramp?  You go
right on away from here or I'll call the police."

Billy wasn't going to take that sort of talk from any dog, big or
little, so he gave one "baah!" lowered his head, and started for that
dog.  The dog suddenly found out that he had very important
business back home, and he started up the road as hard as he could
go, with Billy close after him.  There never was a dog that ran
so hard and so earnestly as that one, and all the breath that he could
spare from running he used in howling, to let the folks at home
know that he was coming.  All at once he was very anxious indeed
to get home in time for breakfast, and Billy was just as anxious to
toss him over a fence before he got there.  Up one hill and down
another went the two, lickaty-split, first a little white streak bent
low in the dust, and then a bigger white streak coming along close
behind in a whirling cloud.  Pretty soon they came in sight of a big
square farmhouse with a wide-spreading roof, and then the little
dog, his tongue hanging away out, gave an extra wild howl and ran
faster than ever.  When they got to the house the dog turned in at
the open gate with Billy right at his heels.  He tore up the path
and around to the kitchen door, up the steps and into the kitchen,
pell-mell, where he dived under the table at which the Oberbipp
family was having breakfast.

Billy did not know where he was going and did not very much
care.  All he knew was that he was chasing that dog and meant
to catch him, so without looking, he followed, too, up the steps
and under the table.  Such shrieking and howling never was heard.
Herr Oberbipp jumped up so quickly that he upset his chair, and
in trying to catch the chair he upset himself, turning a back
somersault on the floor and landing in a tub of soapsuds in which the
clothes were soaking to be washed.  Frau Oberbipp grabbed a loaf
of bread in one hand and a sausage in the other, and never left off
screaming until she was out of breath.  Greta Oberbipp sprang up
on her chair and shook her skirts as hard as she could, while she
helped her mamma scream.  Baby Oberbipp jumped up on the
table at first, but the snarls and howls and "baahs" from underneath
excited his curiosity so much that he soon jumped down to the floor
and looked under the table.  Then he began to dance on one foot
and yell.

"Hang on, you Flohbeis!" he cried, for the dog, now full of
courage because he was under his own table, had grabbed Billy by
the nose.  Shake his head as hard as he might, Billy could not
loosen Flohbeis, or Fleabite, as his name would be called in English,
so he reared straight up, and the table began to dance across the
room toward the father of the family, while Frau Oberbipp and
Greta screamed louder than ever.  Herr Oberbipp was just getting
out of the tub when the table got over to him, and he made a grab
at it when Billy gave an extra strong jump.  The table overturned,
and all the breakfast things, with a mighty crash of dishes, slid on
Herr Oberbipp and knocked him back in the suds again.  By this
time Billy had unfastened the grip of Fleabite from his nose and
had butted that yelping dog into the bottom of the tall clock case;
then Billy started for the door, but Herr Oberbipp was already
yelling to Caspar not to let him out.

"Grab him, Caspar!  Hold him!" yelled the man.  "He is a
nice young goat.  He spoils our breakfast and we make a dinner
of him."

When Billy heard that, he was more anxious than ever to
get out, but Caspar had slammed the door shut, and Billy, seeing
it closed, tried to butt it down.  The door was too strong and Billy
grew desperate.  Caspar ran after him and Billy suddenly turned,
running under Caspar's legs and toppling him over; then he made
for the window, meaning to go through it, sash and all.  But Caspar
had already jumped up, and, as the goat went through a pane of
glass, Caspar grabbed him by the hind legs and held him, while
Billy, fairly caught and pinched in between the window bars, could
only struggle with his fore feet.

Herr Oberbipp in the meantime got himself out of the tub
of water, took the butter out of his hair and the mush out of his
shirt front, untangled himself from the table-cloth, wiped the
coffee from his face and ran outside, where he grabbed Billy by the
horns and pulled him on through the window.  Herr Oberbipp was
a big, strong man, and, holding Billy by the horns, he carried him
at arm's length down to the barn, letting him kick and struggle
all he wanted to, and there he tied the goat in a stall with a good
stout wire, after which he went back to the house and washed himself.
Frau Oberbipp and Greta were still screaming.

The glass had given Billy two or three little cuts, but they did
not amount to much and he had already licked them clean when
Caspar came out with some water and a plate of cold potatoes which
Billy was very glad to get.  While the goat was eating, Caspar
examined the cut places, and, running into the house, brought out
something which he put on the cuts.  It smarted at first, and Billy
tried to butt Caspar for putting it on, but by-and-by he could feel
that the smarts were being soothed and that the cuts were healing by
reason of the stuff that the boy had put on, so he began to see that
Caspar was not such a bad sort after all.  He had something to
worry about, however, when, after breakfast, the farmer came out
and looked the goat over.

"Roast kid is a very fine dish," said the farmer.  "I don't know
to whom this goat belongs, but whosever it is he owes us a meal, so
we're going to roast him."





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`BILLY SEES HIS MOTHER AGAIN`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER III


.. class:: center medium bold

   BILLY SEES HIS MOTHER AGAIN

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: N
   :image: images/img-cap3.jpg
   :lines: 5

Nobody, not even a goat, likes to think of being roasted
for dinner, and so, the minute he heard that, Billy gave
an extra hard tug at the wire, but it only cut his neck
and choked him and would not break.  So he gave it
up and "baahed" pitifully while he looked to Caspar for help.

"Indeed you will not roast this goat," said sturdy Caspar.
"He's my goat; he chased my dog and I'm going to keep him."

Caspar looked up at his father and his father looked down at
Caspar.  Billy looked up at both of them.  Little Caspar and big
Caspar stood exactly alike, both of them with their fists doubled on
their hips and both of them with square jaws and firm lips, and it was
big Caspar, who, proud to see his boy looking so much like himself,
finally gave in.  He laughed and said:

"All right, he's your goat, but you have got to take the
whippings for all the damage he does."

"Very well," said Caspar, "I'll do it," and his father walked
away.

Billy was so pleased with this that he made up his mind to be
very nice to the boy, and when Caspar stooped down to take the
empty plate away, Billy ran his nose affectionately into young
Oberbipp's hand.  Right after breakfast Caspar took off the wire from
Billy's neck, holding a switch in his hand to whip the goat over
the nose in case he tried to butt or run away.  But Billy did neither
of these things.  He followed his new master out in the
yard, and there he was backed up between the shafts of
a little wagon that had been made for
Fleabite.  The dog capered and barked and
made a run or two at Billy, but
the goat only shook his horns at
him and Fleabite ran under the barn.  The dog was jealous.  He
did not like the wagon, but, rather than have the goat hitched up to
it, he wanted to haul it himself.

.. _`He was backed up between the shafts of a little wagon.`:

.. figure:: images/img-026.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: He was backed up between the shafts of a little wagon.

   He was backed up between the shafts of a little wagon.

"It's no use, Fleabite," said Caspar, "you might as well make
friends with him.  Anyhow, you're not big enough to haul this
wagon, and you always lay down in the harness.  You can come
along behind, though.  I'm going to drive in to Kasedorf and show
my goat to cousin Fritz."

At first Billy was afraid that Kasedorf might be the village
where he had torn up the spring-house, and he had very good reasons
for not wanting to go back there, but when they clattered out of the
gate Caspar turned his head in the other direction, and he was very
glad of this.  He was so pleased with his new master that he went
along at a splendid gait, pulling Caspar nicely up one hill after
another.  Fleabite ran along, sometimes behind, sometimes ahead, and
sometimes slipping up at the side and snapping at Billy's nose; but
Billy had only to shake his horns in the dog's direction and Fleabite
would run about a mile before he would take it into his foolish
head to try that trick again.

Pretty soon they went whizzing down a little hill and into a
far prettier village than the first one.  Just as they turned into the
main street, along came a flock of goats driven by two men and half
a dozen boys, and who should Billy see in that flock but his own
mother!  Of course he called loudly to her.  She heard him, and
though she was in the center of the flock, quickly made her way to
the edge, where she kissed him.  She had no time to tell him where
she was going, nor he to tell her all that had happened to him since
he had fallen from the cliff, but it was a joy for each of them to
know that the other was still alive and in good health.

Before they could speak further, a sharp whip cracked over
them and the lash landed on Billy's nose.  He jumped back with the
pain and again the whip cracked.  This time Billy's mother got the
sting of it.  Billy looked around, and there, handling the whip,
was fat Hans Zug!  Billy, mad as a hornet, whirled and was going
to make for Hans, when Caspar, who had jumped out of the cart,
hit him a sharp crack across the nose with his fist, and it pained
Billy so much that the tears came to his eyes and he could not see.
Before he could make another start for Hans or run after his mother,
Hans had passed by, and Caspar's uncle Heinrich, who had come up
in the meantime, had Billy by the horns and was holding him.
Billy struggled as hard as he could to get away.  He wanted to butt
Hans Zug for whipping his mother and himself, and he wanted to
go with his mother if he could, so he was a very sulky goat.

Even when Caspar took him to his uncle's house and gave him
some nice, tender vegetables and potato parings to eat, he was very
sulky as he stood there munching his dinner, so that when Fleabite
came up and stole some of his potato parings he butted that poor
dog plump into a barbed wire fence.  You must not suppose that
Fleabite liked potato parings.  He would not eat them at home,
but he was such a jealous dog that he wanted to eat up Billy's
dinner, no matter what it was.  After dinner Caspar rubbed Billy's
sleek coat until it was all clean and glossy, then he let Fritz have a
ride in the cart.  Fritz drove proudly up into the main street, and
there, standing at the corner, talking to another man, was Hans
Zug!

"Yes," Hans was saying in English to the other man, "I go
me also by America next week.  I got such a brother there what is
making more as a tousand dollars a year mit such a goat farm, and I
take me my goats over.  I got a contract mit another Switzer what
owns the land.  Yess!"

Billy did not wait for any more, but raised up on his hind feet.
Fritz tried his best to hold him back, but he might as well have
tried to hold the wind, and Billy, feeling the tug at his reins, gave
a jump that toppled Fritz over backwards out of the cart.  He gave
one more jump and landed with all his might and main against poor,
round Hans, and as his enemy went down Billy jumped on him and
ran up one side of him and down the other side.  Poor Hans got
up and clasped both pudgy hands on his stomach.

"A thousand lightnings yet again!" he exclaimed as he looked
sorrowfully at his print in the dust.  Hans had been butted that
time for Billy's mother; now Billy whirled and came back to give
Hans one for himself, but this time Hans was too quick for him
and dodged behind a tree, letting Billy butt the tree so hard that it
stunned him, and before the fiery tempered goat could make up
his mind what had happened to him, Caspar came running up and
grabbed him by the horns.  Billy could have jerked away from
Caspar, but he felt that the boy was now the best friend he had, and
he did not want to hurt him, so he let Caspar pat him on his sleek
sides and climb into the cart behind him.

"You'll have to walk, Fritz," said Caspar loftily.  "It takes a
good strong boy to manage this goat."

Billy laughed at this, but when Caspar "clicked" for him to
"get up," he trotted right along without making any fuss about it.

At the next corner a carriage turned into the main street, and
in it, on the seat back of the driver, were a man and a boy, the latter
being of about Caspar's age.

"Oh, papa, do look at that beautiful goat!" exclaimed the boy.
"Please buy him for me, won't you?"

Mr. Brown shook his head.

"I don't mind you having a goat, Frank," he said, "but I can
get you just as good a one when we get back to America.  There is
no use in carrying a goat clear across the ocean with us when there
are so many at home."

"All right," said the boy, obediently, and the carriage drove on.

Poor Billy!  His heart sank.  He had just heard from Hans
that his mother was going to America, and he did hope that this fine
looking man would buy him and take him there, too, so that he
would have more chance to find his mother; but now his chance was
gone.  Was it though?  He was not a goat to give up easily, and
he made up his mind to try once more.

Billy stopped dead still to think it over.  He simply could not
bear to let this man get away without another trial, so suddenly he
whirled, nearly upsetting the cart, and ran after the strangers.  He
soon caught up with them, and then, slowing down, he trotted along
at the side of the carriage, showing off his beauty as much as he
could.

"Oh, papa, there is that beautiful goat again," said the boy.
"How I do wish I could have him!  Of course you can buy me one
in America, as you have promised to do, but they say that there are
no goats in the world so fine as the Swiss goats, and I am sure that
I never saw any so pretty as this one."

The man smiled indulgently at his son and stopped the carriage.

"How much will you take for your goat, my boy?" he asked.

"I don't want to sell him," replied Caspar.  "He's my goat
and I like him."

Just then Billy tossed his fine head and pranced, daintily
lifting his feet.

"See how graceful he is!" exclaimed the boy.  "Do buy him, papa!"

"I'll give you ten dollars for him," said the gentleman, pulling
out his pocketbook.

Caspar caught his breath.  He knew the value of an American
dollar, and ten dollars was equal to more than forty German marks.
It was a great lot of money, too much for a poor boy to refuse.
Caspar drew a long sigh and began to slowly unhitch his goat.  The
driver of the carriage threw him a strap, and with this he tied Billy
to the rear axle of the carriage.

Fleabite, as soon as Billy was safely tied, began to caper with
joy and to snap at Billy's heels, but Caspar, when the man had paid
him his money, grabbed Fleabite and hitched him to the cart.  Then
he ran up and patted Billy affectionately on the flanks, and the
carriage drove away, with Billy following gladly behind in the dust.

Down the village street the carriage rolled until it came to a
quaint little Swiss inn, where it turned through a wide gateway that
led into a brick-paved courtyard.  Here Billy was unfastened from
the carriage by a servant and led back of the inn, where he was tied
by the strap to a post, while Mr. Brown and his son Frank went to
their mid-day meal.  Billy didn't like to be tied; he was not used
to it, so he began to chew his strap in two.  It was very tough leather
but Billy's teeth were very sharp and strong, and he had it about half
gnawed through when a little, lean waiter came from the kitchen
across the courtyard, carrying, high up over his head, a great big
tray piled with dishes of food.  The waiter saw Billy gnawing
his strap in two and thought that he ought to keep him from it.

"Stop that, you hammer-headed goat!" he cried and gave Billy
a kick.

Billy was not going to stand anything like that, so he gave a
mighty jump and the strap parted where he had been gnawing upon
it.  As soon as the lean waiter saw this he started to run, but, with
the heavy tray he was carrying, he could not run very fast and he
looked most comical with his apron flopping out behind him and his
legs going almost straight up and down in his effort to run and to
balance the tray at the same time.

When Billy pulled the strap in two, the jerk of it sent him head
over heels and by the time he had scrambled to his feet again the
waiter was half way to the back door of the inn.  The fat cook, who
was looking out of the door of the summer kitchen, saw Billy start for
the waiter and he started after the goat, but he got there too late,
for the goat caught up with the lean waiter in about three leaps and
with a loud "baah!" sent him sprawling.  The big tray of dishes
came down with a crash and a clatter, and meats, vegetables, gravies
and relishes, together with broken dishes, were scattered all over
the fellow who had kicked Billy, all over the clean scrubbed bricks,
spattered up against the walls and into the long rows of geraniums
that grew in a wooden trough at the end of the house.

Billy turned and was about to trot back when he saw the fat cook
coming just behind him, so he ran right on across the little waiter,
through the mess and to the back door.  Crossing the winter kitchen
he found a big, rosy-cheeked girl standing in his way and made a
dive at her.  With a scream she jumped and Billy's horns caught
in her bright, red-checked apron, which jerked loose.  With this
streaming along his back, he dashed on into a long hall, and there at
the far door whom did he see, just starting into the dining-room, but
his old enemy, fat Hans Zug, who had that morning whipped Billy's
mother and himself.  Billy stood up on his hind feet for a second
and shook his head at Hans, and then he started for him.  Hans saw
him coming.

"Thunder weather!" he cried, and ran on through the door.

He tried to shut the door behind him but he was not in time,
for Billy butted against it and threw it open right out of Hans Zug's
hand.  The long room into which Hans had hurried was the
dining-room, and here were seated, around a long table, a number of
ladies and gentlemen, among them Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their
son Frank, waiting for the dinner that now lay scattered around the
courtyard.  Everybody looked up, startled, when Hans came bursting
through the door closely followed by an angry goat with a
red-checked apron streaming from his horns.  A great many of the
men jumped up and scraped their chairs back, adding to the
confusion, and a great many of the ladies screamed.  Hans, not
knowing what to do, started to run around and around the table with
Billy close behind him and the fat cook close after Billy.  Billy
would easily have caught Hans except that every once in a while
Hans would upset a chair in the goat's road and Billy would have to
jump over the chair.  Sometimes the fat cook would almost catch
Billy and finally did succeed in catching the apron.  When it came
loose in his hand he did not know what to do with it.  He started
to throw it down, he started to stuff it in his pocket, he started to mop
his perspiring face with it, and at last he threw it around his neck
and tied the strings in front to get rid of it, then once more he chased
after Billy, with the red apron flopping out behind him.

At last he grabbed Billy by the tail just as he was going to jump
over the chair, and held on tightly, but Billy's jump had been too
strong for him and the fat cook stumbled head over heels.  Jumping
up the angry cook ran until he again caught the goat, and this time
he fell on top of Billy and then both rolled over and over on the
floor.

"Ugh!" grunted the fat cook.  "Beast animal!"

Billy jumped up in such a hurry that he simply danced on the
fat cook's stomach.  While Billy was doing this, Hans had stopped
for a minute to mop his face and to look wildly around for some
way to escape.  Around and around, around and around the two
raced, poor Hans puffing and blowing and his face getting redder
and redder every minute with the chase.

Some men had been calsomining the wooden ceiling of the
dining-room, but they had quit during meal time.  At one end of the
room stood two step-ladders with some long boards resting across
them, and on these were a number of buckets of green calsomine.
Hans had tried to get out through the doorway, but there were too
many people crowded into it and he knew that if he got into that
crowd Billy would surely catch him, but now he saw the step-ladders,
and running to one of them started to climb up.  Billy, however,
was through with the cook and had taken after Hans again.

Hans, being so fat, was very slow in climbing a step-ladder, and
he had only puffed his way up one step when Billy tried to help him
up a little farther with his head and horns after a big running jump.
Smash! went the step-ladders.  Crash! went the long boards.  The
buckets of green calsomine flew everywhere.  One of them tumbled
down right over Hans' head like a hat that was a couple of sizes too
large for him, and the green paint ran all over his face, down his
neck and over his clothes.  Another bucket of it landed in the
middle of the dining-room table, splashing and splattering all over the
clean cloth and over everybody who sat around it.

Billy, having done more damage than a dozen ordinary goats
could hope to do in a lifetime, now made for the door, and the
people there scattered very quickly to let him through.  Billy himself
had received his share of the green calsomine and he was a queer
looking sight as he darted out and went flying up the street, with an
enemy after him in the shape of the fat cook, who had grabbed down
a shot-gun from where it hung over the mantlepiece in the dining-room
and had started out after him.

The cook was mad clear through and he was going to kill that
goat.  Frank, however, was close after the cook, and being able to
run much the faster, soon caught up with him.

"Wait!" he panted, tugging at the tail of the cook's white jacket.
"Wait!  That's my goat!" he cried.  "Don't you kill my goat!"

"Away with you, nuisance!" cried the cook, jerking loose from
Frank and at the same time pushing him.

Frank fell over backwards, although it did not hurt him, and
while he was getting to his feet the cook took careful aim at the
flying goat and pulled the trigger.





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`THE BURGOMASTER IS BUMPED`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER IV


.. class:: center medium bold

   THE BURGOMASTER IS BUMPED

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: B
   :image: images/img-cap4.jpg
   :lines: 5

Billy Mischief was lucky.  In his excitement the fat
cook had forgotten that the shotgun had not been loaded
for five years.  The cook was so angry that he nearly
burst a blood vessel.  Grabbing the gun by the barrel,
he jammed it, as he thought, butt end on the ground.  Instead of
that, however, he struck his broad foot a mighty thump.

"Thunder and hailstones!" he screamed, and jerking his foot
up he began to hop along on the other leg, making the most ridiculous
faces while he did it.  In spite of the pain that the gun must have
caused the cook, Frank could not help but laugh, and he forgot all
his anger at the push the man had given him.

"What's the matter?" asked Frank when he could catch his
breath.  "Does it hurt?"

The cook did not understand English but he felt that Frank
was poking fun at him, and stopped his dance long enough to shake
his fist at Frank.  He wanted to say something very sharp and
cutting to the boy, but he could not think of anything strong enough,
so, after drawing his breath hard two or three times and screwing
up his mouth with pain, he turned the gun muzzle end down, and,
using it for a crutch, swung along back to the inn, muttering and
mumbling all the way.

Frank laughed so hard that he had to sit down at the edge of the
sidewalk a moment to hold his sides, but all at once he thought of
his goat.  There it was, going up the street, and although little more
than a green and white speck now, Frank bravely took after it.
He probably never would have caught it except that Billy, also
being tired and feeling himself free from pursuit, stopped before a
big house set well back from the street, on a wide, fine lawn.

Now the house in front of which he had stopped was the residence
of the burgomaster, or mayor of the village, a very pompous
fellow who thought a great deal of his own importance, and in the
center of his lawn he had a fountain of which he was very proud.
The water in the base of the fountain was clear as crystal and it
looked very cool and inviting to Billy after his dusty run, and,
besides, the paint on his back felt sticky.  Without wasting any time
about it, Billy trotted up across the nice lawn and jumped into the
fountain for a bath, just as the burgomaster came out of his front
door with his stout cane in his hand.

"Pig of a goat!" cried the burgomaster, hurrying down the walk
and across the lawn.  "Out with him!  Police!" and he drew a
little silver whistle from his pocket, whistling loudly upon it; then,
shaking his cane in the air, he ran up to the edge of the fountain,
the waters of which were turned a bright green by this time.  Billy
saw him coming, but, instead of jumping out of the fountain and
running away, he merely splashed around to the far side of the
basin.  The burgomaster ran to that side of the fountain but Billy
simply splashed around out of his reach.  Then the burgomaster,
up on the stone coping of the fountain, began to run around and
around after Billy, the goat keeping just out of his reach and the
burgomaster trying to strike him with the cane.  At last, after an
especially hard blow, the burgomaster went plunging headlong into
the green water of the basin, where he floundered about like a cow
in a bath tub.

Billy jumped on him and used him as a stepping stone out of the
basin, running back to the street just as Frank and a stupid looking
policeman came running up from different directions.  At first the
policeman was going to arrest the goat, but Frank pointed to where
the burgomaster was still flopping around in the fountain and the
policeman ran to help the burgomaster, who was now dyed a beautiful
green, face and hands and clothes, while Frank took Billy by
one horn and raced back down the street with him.  This was what
Billy liked.  He was a young goat, and, like other young animals,
was playful, and he thought that Frank's racing with him was good
fun, so he went along willingly enough, and when Frank let go of
his horn, he galloped along beside his young master very contentedly.

Frank ran back to the hotel with his goat as fast as he could go,
but when they drew near he saw a large crowd out in front and
their carriage waiting for them, with the horses hitched and the
driver sitting up in front.  Mrs. Brown was in the carriage and
Frank's father was in front of the crowd handing out money, first to
one and then to the other.  When Frank and his goat came up his
father looked at the goat very sternly.

"See all the trouble that animal has made us!" he said.  "I
have had to pay out in damages nearly every cent of cash I have with
me, and as there is no bank in this little village, my letter of credit
is worth nothing here.  We must hurry on to Bern as fast as we can,
and I want you to leave that goat behind you.  We can't bother with
him any more.  Come on and get in."

"But, father," explained Frank, "the goat did not know what
he was doing."

"It does not matter," replied Mr. Brown.  "There's no telling
what kind of mischief he will get into next."

"But, father," again urged Frank, "if you've had to pay out
all that money for him you might as well have the goat.  There is
no use of losing the goat and money, too."

"Get in the carriage," said Mr. Brown, sharply.

"But, father—" again Frank began to argue.  This time, however,
Mr. Brown cut him short, and, picking him up, put him into
the carriage with a not very gentle hand.  Then, climbing in
himself, he ordered the driver to start.

Billy had taken his place back where he had been tied the other
time, and he was surprised to find the carriage moving on without
him.  The cook, seeing that the goat was to be left behind, started
forward to give the animal a kick, but Billy was too quick for him.
Wheeling, he suddenly ran between the cook's legs and doubled him
over.  Just behind the cook stood Hans Zug, and as Billy wriggled
out sideways from beneath the cook's feet, the cook tumbled back
against Hans and both of them went to the ground.  Billy stood
and shook his head for a moment as if to double them up again
before they got to their feet, but the sight of the retreating carriage
made him change his mind and he ran after it with Hans and the
fat cook chasing him.

The carriage was not going very rapidly, and Billy, after he
had caught up with it, merely trotted along back of the rear axle,
so that when the carriage passed the burgomaster's house, Hans and
the cook were not very far behind.  They were bound to catch that
goat and punish him for what he had done, although it is very likely
that before they got through they would have sold him and kept the
money.  The burgomaster was still out in front, fretting and fuming,
but the stupid policeman was gone.  He had been sent down to the
hotel to arrest the foreign boy and his goat, and he was too stupid
to notice them, even with Hans and the cook paddling along behind.
He had nothing in his mind but the hotel to which he had been sent.
The burgomaster, however, recognized the green-tinted goat as soon
as he saw him.

"There he goes!" cried the burgomaster.  "Brute beast of a
goat!  Halt, I say!"  Blowing his little whistle, he, too, so filled
with anger that it made him puff up like a toad, started out after the
carriage; and there they ran, the three clumsy-looking fat men, one
after the other, puffing and panting and blowing, just out of reach
of the goat.

.. _`There they ran, the three clumsy-looking fat men.`:

.. figure:: images/img-044.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: There they ran, the three clumsy-looking fat men.

   There they ran, the three clumsy-looking fat men.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Frank were too intent on getting up
the steep street and out of the town to notice what was going on
behind them, but just now they came to the top of the hill and began
to go down the gentle slope on the other side.  The driver whipped
up his horses, the goat also increased his pace, and away they went.
The cook, seeing that the goat was about to escape, made a lunge,
thinking that he could grab it by the tail or the hind legs, but as he
did so his feet caught on a stone and over he went.  Hans Zug, being
right behind him, tumbled over him, and the fat burgomaster
tumbled over both of them.  The burgomaster was so angry that he
felt he surely must throw somebody into jail, so, as soon as he could
get his breath, he grabbed Hans Zug by the collar with one hand
and the cook with the other.

.. _`Billy saw him coming, and splashed around to the far side of the fountain.`:

.. figure:: images/img-044a.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: BILLY SAW HIM COMING, SPLASHED AROUND TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE FOUNTAIN.

   BILLY SAW HIM COMING, SPLASHED AROUND TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE FOUNTAIN.

"I arrest you in the name of Canton Bern for obstructing a high
officer!" he exclaimed, and the stupid policeman running up just
then, he turned poor Hans and the cook over to him and sent them
to jail.

All the hot, dusty afternoon Billy followed Mr. Brown's carriage,
now up hill and now down hill, without ever showing himself
to them.  Whenever he thought of straying off into the pleasant
grassy valleys and striking out into the world for himself again, he
remembered that the Browns were going to America and that if he
went with them he might see his mother again.  He did not know,
of course, that America was such a large place, so, while now and
then he stopped at the roadside to nibble a mouthful of grass or
stopped when they crossed a stream to get a drink of water, he never
lost sight of them, but when he found himself getting too far behind,
scampered on and overtook them.

.. _`Billy followed Mr. Brown's carriage.`:

.. figure:: images/img-045.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Billy followed Mr. Brown's carriage.

   Billy followed Mr. Brown's carriage.

It was not until nightfall that the carriage rolled into the city
of Bern.  Billy had never seen so large a city before and the
rumbling of many wagons and carriages, the passing of the many people
on the streets and the hundreds of lights confused and surprised him.
He was not half so surprised at this, however, as Mr. and Mrs. Brown
and Frank were to find Billy behind their carriage when they
stopped in front of a large, handsome hotel.  Frank was the first
one to discover him.

"Oh, see, papa!" he cried.  "My Billy followed us all the way
from the village; so now I do get to keep him, don't I?"

Mr. Brown smiled and gave up.

"I'm afraid he's an expensive goat, Frank," was all he said, and
then he gave Billy in charge of one of the porters who had crowded
around the carriage.

"Wash the paint from this goat and lock him up some place for
the night where he can't do any damage," he directed the porter.

Billy was glad enough to have the dry green paint scrubbed off
his back and he willingly went with the porter to a clean little
basement room, where he got a good scrubbing.  Then the porter went
into another room and brought him out some nice carrots with green
tops still on them, and, leaving a basin of water for him to drink,
went out and closed the door carefully after him.  Billy liked the
carrots, but he did not like to be shut up in a dark room, so he soon
went all around the walls trying to find a way out.  There was no
way except the two doors and a high, dim window.  He tried to butt
the doors down but they were of solid, heavy oak, and he could not
do it.  In a few minutes, however the porter came back for his keys,
and the moment he opened the door Billy seized his chance.
Gathering his legs under him for a big jump, he rushed between the
man's legs and dashed up the stairs, out through the narrow courtyard
and on the street.  The porter, as soon as he could get to his
feet, rushed out after him, but Billy was nowhere in sight and the
poor porter did not know what to do.  He did not dare to go back
and tell Mr. Brown that the goat had gotten loose, because he would
be charged with carelessness.

In the meantime Billy had galloped up the street and turned
first one corner and then another, until he came to a street much
wider and brighter and busier than any of the others.  By this time
first one boy and then another and then another had followed him,
until now there was a big crowd of them running after him and
shouting at the top of their lungs.

A large dog that a lady was leading along the sidewalk by a
strap broke away from his mistress as soon as he saw Billy and ran
out to bark at him.  Billy lowered his head and shook it at the dog.
The dog began to circle round him closer and closer, barking loudly
all the while.  A man driving a big dray stopped to watch them;
the boys crowded round in a big ring; men came from the sidewalks
and joined the crowd; a carriage had to stop just behind the
dray, then another; a wagon coming from the other direction could
not get through; and presently the street was filled from sidewalk
to sidewalk, the whole length of the block, with a big crowd of
people and a jam of vehicles of all kinds.  Policemen tried to push
their way through the crowd and tried to get the blockade loosened
and moving on, but their time was wasted.

In the meantime Billy was turning around and around where
he stood, always facing the dog which now began to dart in with a
snap of his teeth and dart away again, trying to get a hold on Billy.
The goat was too quick, however, and dodged every time the dog
made a snap.  He was waiting for his chance and at last it came.
The dog, in jumping away from one of his snaps, turned his body
for a moment sideways to the goat and in that moment Billy gathered
himself up and made a spring, hitting the dog square in the side
and sending him over against the crowd.  Billy followed like a
little white streak of lightning and, before the dog could get on
his feet, had butted him again.

Such a howling and yelling as there was among that side of the
crowd; Billy and the dog were now among them and they could
not scatter much for there were too many people packed solidly
behind them.  The dog yelped as Billy butted him and began to
run around and around the circle with Billy right after him.  After
they had made two or three circles, Billy overtook the dog and,
giving him one more good one, jumped between the legs of the
crowd and wriggled his way through among carriages and wagons,
under horses and between wheels, until at last he was free from the
crowd.

Nobody at the outer edge noticed him getting away because
they did not know what the excitement was and they were all pressing
forward to see.  Just as he left, somebody who could not understand
what else could make such excitement cried, "Fire!"

The cry was taken up, and that made still more confusion.
People began pouring into that block from every direction.  More
wagons and carriages came.  Some one had turned in a fire alarm,
and presently here came the fire engines from three or four directions
at once, clanging and clattering their way to this crowded block.
The city of Bern had never known so much excitement.





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`THE WOODEN GOAT`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER V


.. class:: center medium bold

   THE WOODEN GOAT

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: B
   :image: images/img-cap5.jpg
   :lines: 5

Billy trotted contentedly on, liking all the noise and
hubbub very much but not knowing that he was the
cause of it all.  Blocks away he could hear their shouting,
but he did not care to go back there, for all of that.
He was finding a great many things to interest him in the shop
windows, which were all brilliantly lighted.  Before one of these low
windows he suddenly stopped.  There, just inside the show window,
was a big, brown goat.  Billy did not know it, but this was a wooden
goat, poised on its hind feet and ready to make a spring to butt
somebody.  The Swiss woodcarvers are the finest in the world, and they
carve animals so naturally that one would think they were alive.
If even human beings can be fooled, there was very good excuse for
Billy's believing this to be a real, live goat, particularly as it had
very natural looking glass eyes; besides, its head was separate and
was cunningly arranged to shake a little bit from side to side.

Now it is a deadly insult for one Billy goat to stand on his
hind legs and wag his head at another one.  Billy Mischief for one
was not going to take such insults as that, even though the goat that
gave it to him was much larger and older than himself, so he backed
off into the middle of the street and gave a great run and jump.
Crash! went the fine plate-glass window!  The sharp edges of the
glass cut Billy somewhat and stopped him so that he landed just
inside the window glass.  The other goat was right in front of him,
still insultingly wagging its
flowing beard at him so Billy gave
one more spring from where he
stood and knocked that goat
sixteen ways for Sunday.  It was
the hardest headed goat that
Billy had ever fought, and its
sharp nose hurt his head
considerably, almost stunning him, in
fact, so that he stood blinking
his eyes until the people in
the store had come running
up and surrounded the show window.

.. _`Gave a great run and jump.`:

.. figure:: images/img-052.jpg
   :align: left
   :alt: Gave a great run and jump.

   Gave a great run and jump.

Billy was still dazed
when the manager of the store, a
nervous little man with a bald head, hit him a sharp crack across the
nose with a board.  The pain brought the tears to Billy's eyes and
still further dazed him.  The manager hit him another crack but this
time on the horns, and that woke Billy up.  He looked back at the
broken window through which he had just come but the crowd had
quickly gathered there.  There were less people inside, so suddenly
gathering his legs under him, he gave a spring and went clear over the
manager, kicking him with his sharp hind hoofs upon the bald
head as he went over.  The place was a delicatessen store and Billy
landed in a big tub of pickles.  He did not care much for pickles
anyhow, so he quickly scrambled out of them, knocked over three
tall glass jars that stood on a low bench, and turned over big cakes
of fine cheese.  The manager was right after him with the board and
hit him two or three thumps with it.

Billy was just about to turn around and go for the little
bald-headed man when he noticed at the far end of the store a round,
plump man with his back turned to him.  There seemed something
familiar about his figure and the cut of his short little coat, and it
flashed across Billy at once that here was his old enemy Hans Zug.

Paying no attention to the manager and his little board, he
dashed headlong down the store for the plump man.  Just as Billy
had almost reached him, the man turned around.  It was not Hans
Zug after all, but Billy was going too fast to stop now.  Anyhow,
ever since he had known Hans he had taken a dislike to all fat men,
so he dashed straight ahead.  The man darted behind the counter
and ran up the aisle, Billy close after him.

There never was a fat man in the world who ran so fast as this
one.  Everybody had cleared out of the aisle behind the counter
to make room for them.  Nobody wanted to get in the way of
that heavy man and the hard headed goat.  The man stepped upon
a pail of fish, overturning it, jumped upon the counter and was
over in the center aisle, Billy right after him.  Everybody in the
store was packed in the center aisle, together with a lot who had
come in from the outside when the excitement began, and they all
made way for the fat man and for Billy.  Women were screaming
and men were shouting and laughing.  The manager was still right
after Billy with his little board and thumping him every now and
then on the back, but Billy scarcely knew it, so interested was he in
giving the fat man one for Hans Zug.

The man headed straight up the middle aisle for the door, but,
looking over his shoulder, he found that Billy would overtake him
before he got there, so he sprang over another counter, upsetting a
pair of scales and some tall, open jars of fine olives.  Billy was still
right after him but this time the man fooled him by jumping back
over the counter.  Billy followed up that aisle to the end where
he turned into the crowd, just as the fat man went out on the street.
Here he upset two ladies and a policeman who was just coming in,
and then took after the man who looked like Hans.  He was flying
down the street as fast as he could go.  After Billy came the manager
of the store and two of his clerks, and all of the boys that had
congregated on the sidewalk.

Pell-mell they went, a howling, yelling mob, with the fat man
and Billy in the lead.  The man by this time was puffing like a
steam engine and the sweat was pouring from his face in streams.
His collar was wilted like a dish rag.  He had lost his hat and one
of his cuffs, and he could hardly get his breath.

Policemen, by this time, were coming running from every direction
and one of them, who turned off a side street just then,
thinking the fat man must be a thief, got right in his road and opened up
his arms.  The fat man, who had scarcely any strength left, fell
right against the policeman who was also a very heavy fellow, and
just at that time Billy overtook them and gave the man he was
chasing all that was coming to Hans Zug.  Down in a pile together
went the fat man and the policeman.  The policeman had not seen
the goat and for a moment imagined that the fat man had jumped
upon him and was trying to overpower him, so he pulled out his
club and, though he was underneath, began, in a way that was
comical, to try to pound the fat man.

They lay there, a struggling, wriggling mass, the policeman
with his short arms trying to reach around the big round man on
top of him in order to hit him some place.  Billy Mischief had
stopped and backed up to give his fallen enemy another bump, and
was just in the air after his spring when the manager of the store
caught his hind leg, and he also was dragged on top of the struggling
two on the ground.  The manager held to Billy's leg, however, and
the crowd which had been following them closely now crowded
around them.  The manager scrambled to his feet, still holding the
kicking Billy by the hind leg, and it would, probably have been all
up with the goat if a big, strong man had not at that moment come
up and putting his great arms around Billy, jerked him loose.  Billy
squirmed and struggled, but it was no use.  The big man held him
tightly and began to run.  The store manager got to his feet and
started after them, followed by his two clerks, but the big strong
fellow who was carrying Billy darted down an alley, then through
another alley, and before the pursuers could see where they had
gone, the man darted through the back gate of a high board fence
with Billy, closed the gate after him, ran along the side of a great
building which was blazing with lights, ran down some cellar steps,
opened the door, went in, closed it after him, turned on a light and
set Billy down.

"There, you fool goat!" exclaimed the man.  "I'll wash the
blood off of you and nobody will know that you have been out."

The big man was the porter and he had brought Billy back to
the little basement room under the hotel.  So ended Billy's first night
in a big city.

All that night, all the next day and night, and all the
following day, Billy was cooped up in that little basement room with
no chance to get out, and with only Frank Brown and the porter
to visit him twice a day.  How he did fret.  The porter kept him
well fed and saw that he had good bedding and plenty of water,
but he gave Billy no more chances to escape and see the city.  He
watched carefully as he opened and closed the door that the goat
should not again scramble between his legs or butt him over.  On
the third evening, however, the porter forgot to completely close the
door which led into the other part of the basement, and you may be
sure that Billy lost no time in finding out what was in there.  The
room next to his led up into the kitchen and it was stocked with
vegetables and all sorts of kitchen stores.

Billy was not very hungry, but he nibbled at everything as he
went along, pulling the vegetables out of place, upsetting a barrel
half filled with flour in his attempt to see what was in it and working
the faucet out of a barrel of syrup in his efforts to get at the sweet
stuff which clung to it.  Licking up all of the syrup that he cared
for, Billy went on to investigate another barrel which lay on its side
not far away, and knocked the faucet out of it.  This, however,
proved to be wine and he did not like the taste of it at all, so he
trotted on out of the store-room into the laundry, leaving the two
barrels to run to waste.

.. _`Pulling the vegetables out of place.`:

.. figure:: images/img-058.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Pulling the vegetables out of place.

   Pulling the vegetables out of place.

Everybody in the laundry had gone up into the servants' hall
for their suppers, and the coast was clear for Billy.  They had just
finished ironing, and dainty white clothes lay everywhere.  From
a big pile of them that lay on a table, a lace skirt hung down, and
Billy took a nibble at it just to find out what it was.  The starch
in it tasted pretty good, so he chewed at the lace, pulling and tugging
to get it within easier reach, until at last he pulled the whole pile
off the table on the dirty floor.

Hearing some steps then, he scampered out through the storeroom
and into another large room where stood a big, brass-trimmed
machine which he did not at all understand.  It was a dynamo,
which was run by a big engine in the adjoining engine-room, and it
furnished the electric lights for the hotel.  Two big wires ran from
it, heavily coated with shellac and rubber and tightly-wound tape
to keep them from touching metal things and losing their electricity.
These crossed the basement room to the further wall, where they
distributed the electric current to many smaller cables.

Billy sniffed at the two big cables at a point where they were
very near together.  They had a peculiar odor and Billy tasted
them.  He scarcely knew whether he liked the taste or not, but he
kept on nibbling to find out, nipping and tearing with his sharp
teeth until he had got down to the big copper wire on both cables;
then he decided that he did not care very much for that kind of
food and walked away.  It was not yet dark enough for the dynamo
to be started, or Billy might have had a shock that would have
killed him.

Hunting further, he found over in a dark corner a nice bed
which belonged to the engineer, and it looked so inviting that Billy
curled up there for a sleep.  When he awoke it was nearly midnight
and there was a blaze of light in the basement.  There was a strange
whir of machinery and he could hear anxious voices.  Billy, of
course, did not know that he had been the cause of it but this is what
had happened:

When the electric current passes through a wire, the wire becomes
slightly heated and stretches a little bit.  In stretching, the
two cables where he had chewed them bare, came near enough
together to touch each other once in a while, and that made the
lights all over the big building wink, that is, almost go out for a
second, and the engineer was very much worried about it.

What interested Billy more, however, was a small, wire-screened
room that stood near to him.  Presently a big cage, brightly lighted,
came down in it with a man and a boy.  It stopped when it got down
into the basement, when the man and the boy stepped out, going
down into the engineer's room.  They were the proprietor of the
hotel and his elevator boy.  Billy, as curious as any boy could have
been, walked into the little cage to see what it was like.  The sides of
it were padded with leather, there were mirrors in it that made it
a place of light, and there was a seat at the back end of it.  At the
front side near the door a big cable passed up through it, and to this
the boy who ran it had left hanging a leather pad with which he
gripped the cable.  Billy could barely reach it with his teeth and
he pulled sharply on it.  It would not come away so he hung his
weight on it, and immediately the cage began to go up.  Billy
was in an elevator and he was taking a ride all by himself.  It
never stopped until it reached the top floor where a safety catch
caught it.  Luckily the door on the top floor had not been carefully
closed, and Billy was able to slide it open with his horns and walk
out into a narrow hall which had a thick velvet carpet upon it and
from which opened many doors and other halls.

.. _`BILLY FELT HIS COURAGE COMING BACK.`:

.. figure:: images/img-060.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: BILLY FELT HIS COURAGE COMING BACK.

   BILLY FELT HIS COURAGE COMING BACK.

Billy trotted along this hallway, liking the soft feel of the
carpet underneath his feet.  As he did so, all the lights about the
building went out and everything was dark.  The cables in the cellar had
at last settled down so that they lay square across each other where
Billy had chewed the covering off, thus making all the electric
current which ran out of the machine on the one side come right back
into it on the other, with the result of burning out the dynamo so
that there could be no more lights from it that night.  This did not
worry Billy any.  Light came in from the street at the far end of the
hall where some white lace curtains fluttered in the breeze.  It
worried a great many people who were still awake in their rooms,
however, and of course they opened their doors to see about it.

By this time Billy had reached the curtains and took a nibble
at one of them, and, found that it was finished with the same starch,
the taste of which he had liked so much in the laundry.  He wanted
it down where he could get a good bunch of it in his mouth, so he
pulled hard, raising up on his hind feet and throwing his weight
upon it.  The curtain gave way at the top but it was not so
convenient as he had expected, for the long, wide curtain came right
down over his back.  He tried to get out from under it and his horns
ran through the open work.  He tried to turn round and his hind
feet ran through other open work places.  He tried to back out of
it and his forefeet got tangled in some more of it.  The more he
tried to get loose from his starched meal, the more tangled up he
got, and at last, growing angry, he began to jump as high in the air
as he could.

In the half darkness, he was a great white figure with a long
trailing white robe behind him, and the first woman he met in the
hall screamed like a steam calliope.  Of course her screams brought
others out into the hall and everybody, even the men, began to run
when they saw this jumping white ghost coming toward them, every
once in a while letting out a loud "baah!"  Many ladies were so
frightened that when they came to their doors, instead of running
into their rooms, they started down the hall ahead of Billy, shrieking
and screaming at the top of their voices.

The noise only confused Billy the more.  The more confused
he grew, the harder he jumped and struggled to get out of the curtain,
until at the very end of the hall, he came to a stairway and went
down it head over heels to the next floor.

Here things were even worse than they had been on the top
floor, for by this time the hubbub above them had brought everybody
out of their rooms, and the crowd was already there.  As soon as
Billy scampered to his feet after his tumble and made another jump
high into the air, they too began running and screaming.

Billy now had gotten into a series of halls that ran the whole
length of the building and had a stairway at each end, so now he
jumped and struggled his way along until he came to a stairway,
tumbled down it, jumped back through another hall full of screaming
people to another stairway, and so on until he reached the ground
floor.  Here the stairway opened into the great, marble-paved, main
corridor of the hotel.  This was just now thronged with men, all
wanting to know why the lights were out and what all the uproar was
about.  Through these men Billy dashed like a hurricane, having
now torn the curtains enough to let his legs have some action.  One
big fellow whom he upset fell on the long trailing end of the curtain,
and the shock nearly tore Billy's horns loose from his head, but the
curtain pulled in two and at last Billy was free except for a few
stray shreds and small pieces that still clung to his legs and horns.

Now he could see where he was going, and, darting out of
the side door, he ran back to where he remembered the cellar steps
into the porter's room to be.  The door was wide open and inside he
found his friend, the porter, with a lantern, looking for him.  The
porter saw at once from the shreds of curtain that Billy had been into
mischief again, but as before, he was afraid to say anything about it
for fear somebody would find out that he had left the door of the
store-room open, so he simply took the shreds of lace curtain off of
Billy to carry away with him, and fixed Billy's bed nicely for the
night.

"Bet you came from the Bad Place sure, goat-beast," said the
porter, shaking his head.





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`A CELEBRATION WITH FIREWORKS`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER VI


.. class:: center medium bold

   A CELEBRATION WITH FIREWORKS

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: T
   :image: images/img-cap6.jpg
   :lines: 5

The next morning, bright and early, the porter came
down to Billy's room with a queer looking box made of
heavy slats.  One side of the box was off and the porter
carried it in his hand.  Setting the box down with the
open side towards Billy, the porter put an extra bunch of carrots in
it, and Billy, never having seen anything like this before, walked
right in and began to eat his breakfast, upon which the porter quickly
slapped on the side of the box and nailed it tight.  Billy did not
realize that he was trapped until the porter and another man whom
he called lifted the box and began to carry it up the stairs.  Then
Billy was angry in earnest.  He jumped and jerked as much as he
could and nearly threw the men down-stairs by his bouncing.  As
soon as they got up on the level ground, however, the porter and
the other man began to shake the crate as hard as they could, so
that, in place of Billy doing the bouncing, he was being bounced
until he had plenty of it and was glad to lie down on the floor of
the crate and hold still, while he was being carried to a big dray that
stood in waiting.

While it was being loaded on the dray, Mr. Brown and Frank
came out in the courtyard to see him.

"Isn't he a beauty, papa?" said Frank.  "And he behaves himself
so nicely, too.  I've been down to see him every other day
and he's just as nice and quiet as he can be."

"I don't know," said his father, shaking his head.  "I don't
believe that a goat able to stir up as much trouble as he did back in
the village where we bought him will be anything but a scamp goat
to the end of his days.  I'm really sorry that I bought him.  It's
going to cost a lot of money, too, to send him by express from here
to Havre and to pay his passage over to America.  I have a big
notion to turn him loose."

When Billy heard that he was frightened, and, turning his
solemn eyes around to Mr. Brown, he "baahed" as pitifully as he
could.

"Just hear that, papa," said Frank, "he wants to go with us.  He
likes us."

"Oh, very well," said Mr. Brown.  "But come, we must hurry
up.  We have only a few minutes to make our train."

As soon as Mr. Brown and Frank had walked away, the driver
of the wagon cracked his whip, the horses started up, and Billy
was rapidly taken to the depot.  Here he was loaded into an express
car, and in a few moments more was headed toward France at as
swift a pace as the engine could pull the train.  The express messenger
in the car, as soon as his work was done, lit a short black pipe
and commenced teasing Billy.  Reaching his hand between the slats,
he suddenly poked Billy in the ribs, and Billy, already nervous from
the rapid motion, jumped straight up off his forefeet.  Of course
his horns hit the top of the box and pained him.  The man laughed
at the funny motion and poked the goat again.  This time, Billy,
afraid to jump up, merely danced, and the man laughed aloud.
Again and again he repeated his trick until the goat was nearly
frantic.  Billy tried to burst out the side of his cage so that he could
get at the man, but the crate was too stout for him to do it any
damage and he only hurt himself by trying, so after a while he gave it up.

At the next stop they made, however, the express agent, while
he was taking on the parcels, slammed a heavy box on top of the
crate.  Billy heard the timbers crack and felt the box giving
end-wise a trifle.  For a moment he was afraid that the heavy box would
break down his crate and squeeze him flat underneath it, but as soon
as the train had started again the messenger moved the box into the far
end of the car and Billy was delighted to find that at last the boards on
one side of his prison were loosened.  The messenger had laid aside
his glowing pipe at this stop, but now he took it up again, although
smoking was against the rules, and came over to tease Billy.  He had
no more than thrust his hand through than Billy lurched his body
sideways as hard as he could against the boards, and out he tumbled.

He was on his feet as quick as a cat and made a jump at the
man.  The express agent dodged him and ran to the far end of the
car, hunting wildly for something with which he might strike the
angry goat.  Billy was up to him before he had time to find anything,
however, and chased him from one end of the car to the other.
At last the man stopped in front of the big
box that he had taken on at the
last station, and waited for
Billy to jump
for him.  When Billy jumped, he
sprang aside and let the goat plunge
head first into the side of the box,
breaking open one of the boards and hurting his head considerably.
By this time the man was at the other end of the car and laughing.
Billy ran after him again, but this time he knew the man's ways.
When he started to dodge back from the other end of the car, Billy
also turned like a flash and was right after him.  This time he got
him and gave him a bump that sent the man sprawling headlong on
the floor.  As the man went down, his arm gave a jerk and his
lighted pipe went through the hole that Billy had butted in the big
box.

.. _`Dodged him and ran to the far end of the car.`:

.. figure:: images/img-068.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Dodged him and ran to the far end of the car.

   Dodged him and ran to the far end of the car.

The man was just scrambling to his feet when a big, blue ball
of fire shot out of the side of the box and scooted along his back.
Billy had wheeled to give the man another dose of his medicine,
but just then a big ball of red fire hit him in the side and he, too,
tried to hunt a corner.  The box was full of fireworks that was being
shipped for a lawn fete, and for the next few minutes there was the
most exciting time that ever happened inside of an express car going
at full speed.

Skyrockets and Roman candles, whistling bombs and silver
fountains, flower-pots and pin-wheels filled the air, spitting and
spluttering, popping about from one end of the car to the other,
bouncing first off of the man and then off the goat.  No place was
safe.  The side of the box was soon burst open by the force of the
explosions, and the fireworks came tumbling out at greater speed
than ever.

Both Billy and the express agent were hit until they were bruised
and burned and sore all over.  Billy had a great deal of his hair
singed off and the express agent's face was as black as a coal-miner's.
The smoke became so thick that they could scarcely see, and it
smarted and blinded their eyes until the express agent thought to
open the side doors when the rapidly rushing wind swept in and
carried away most of the smoke.

Luckily the car did not catch fire, though some of the goods
that were being expressed did.  The agent had a pail of drinking
water in the car and as soon as the fireworks were nearly burned out
he ran around from one place to another using his water sparingly
and beating out the fire wherever he could.

Billy, too, seemed to know that burning things were dangerous,
for when a bundle of rugs began to smoulder he jumped on the
burning places and stamped them with his feet until the fire was
beaten out.  The express agent saw him at this and he at once forgot
his anger at the goat.  Billy went scampering around after that,
stamping out fire wherever he could find a coal.  After all danger
was passed and the express man had tidied up his car, he sat down
puffing and looked at Billy.

"Well, Mr. Goat," said he, "we've had a busy time of it and I
guess we'd better be friends.  Don't you tell on me and I won't tell
on you.  I don't want to let anybody know that I was smoking a
pipe anyhow.  It's against the rules of the company."

"Baah!" said Billy, and that's all the talk they had about it.
After that they had no further trouble except that the express agent
tried to coax Billy back into his crate, but had to give it up as a bad
job.

It was night when the train bearing Billy Mischief drew into
Paris.  Billy could not be coaxed or driven back into his cage, so,
when the train stopped, the express messenger had another man come
in to help him.  Between them they managed, after a hard struggle,
to get Billy in the crate, but as they were trying to fasten the
lid on he burst out of it, jumped out of the car door, ran as hard as
he could and soon was safe from pursuit and alone in the streets of
Paris.

With a natural instinct to hide from the men who wanted to
put him in that close, uncomfortable box, he turned into the alley-ways
and dark, narrow streets and for a long time ran on without
meeting anyone.  But this sort of thing was not very much to Billy's
liking.  He wanted to see all the excitement that there was, so
by-and-by he turned into one of the broad, brilliantly lighted streets,
where he trotted along sedately, minding his own business and
looking around him curiously at the gayly dressed throngs.  A great
many people turned round to look after him and laugh, he trotted
along so solemnly.

All this time there was great excitement at the railroad station.
Mr. Brown had left word that his goat was to be held until the next
night's train to Havre as he intended to spend a day in Paris, but the
express department had no goat to hold, so the matter was reported
to the police department, and within a few moments all the
red-trousered gendarmes of Paris were looking for a mischievous white
goat with freshly singed spots on his shiny coat.

One of these gendarmes, soon after he had received his
instructions, found Billy and a big
stray Tom cat eyeing each
other with every
intention of immediate war.
Billy had never spoken
to a cat before and so
when he saw this
strange animal on the
street he walked
straight up to it and said
"baah!"  He intended to mean
something like our
"Good evening.  It's
pleasant weather,
isn't it?" but Billy's
voice at best was not a
very gentle one and his long horns
looked threatening, so the big cat arched his back and bristled his
hair and stuck his tail straight up.  Billy did not know much about
cats but he could easily see that this one meant fight, so he shook
his head angrily.  They were standing in front of one of the pleasant
Paris sidewalk cafés and a great many ladies and gentlemen were
seated at little round tables under the broad awning.

.. _`Billy and a big stray Tom cat eyeing each other.`:

.. figure:: images/img-072.jpg
   :align: left
   :alt: Billy and a big stray Tom cat eyeing each other.

   Billy and a big stray Tom cat eyeing each other.

Just as the gendarme recognized Billy by his singed coat, the
cat let out an ear-splitting "meow!" and, jumping up, scratched
Billy's face with the sharp claws of both his forefeet; then it sprang
up on one of the empty tables and down on the other side.  Billy,
smarting with the pain, jumped after him, upsetting the chairs on
the other side with a crash.  The express department had offered
a good reward to whoever should find Billy, so the gendarme took
after the goat, overturning some more chairs.  The cat darted here
and there and everywhere among the little round tables and
Billy right after him.  The cat ran under a table at which were
sitting two gentlemen and two ladies, and Billy, now so angry that he
did not notice where he was going, forced his way right after him,
upsetting the table, spilling the glasses and bottles upon it into the
laps of the ladies and making a tremendous noise.  Table after table
they overturned in this way.

Another gendarme, attracted by the hubbub, came up and saw
Billy.  He, too, gave chase, adding to the confusion.  Everybody
began to shove back their chairs.  All of the people were either
talking or laughing or screaming at the top of their voices.  Waiters
came running, and one of them, a little excitable man with a funny
little black mustache, tried to head Billy off.  All he got for it was
a good bump right in the middle of his big white apron and he
landed back against another waiter who was bringing a big tray full
of glasses.  The two of them went to the floor together in a noisy
pile of tables and chairs, and Billy dashed right on over them.  This
time, the cat, which was bewildered by the crowd and had scarcely
known which way to run, found an opening to the street.  Having
a clear track, he would easily have gotten away from Billy except
that just at that moment a third gendarme saw the cat and the goat
coming and jumped square in the road of them.

The cat had tried to dart around him but the gendarme's legs
came right in his road, so the cat began to climb the gendarme, and
Billy, coming up just then, made a dive head first at the cat, catching
it just as the animal reached the gendarme's lower vest button.  The
gendarme sat right down with a grunt to think things over, while
the cat sprang for the top of a high fence and was over with a whisk
of his tail.  Billy could not climb the fence so he ran back a piece
and tried to butt it down, but he could not do it.  By this time the
gendarme he had knocked down was on his feet again, and two others
came running up.

There were now five of the red-trousered little police soldiers
after him, and things began to look very lively for Billy.  They
tried to surround him but he ran through them, and all five of them
chased after him up the street.  At nearly every block they were
joined by another gendarme, so that before he had gone very far
Billy was heading quite an army of French soldiers.  To escape
he turned down a dark street.  They were digging a wide ditch
across this dark street and the lights they had placed there as danger
signals had been taken away by some mischievous boys.  Billy, who
could see well in the dark, perceived this ditch as he came to it and
leaped lightly over it, but the excited gendarmes who were following
him could not see it, and the whole crowd of them fell headlong
in the ditch, which, fortunately, was not yet deep enough to hurt them
much.

Billy turned now into another well-lighted street.  Here again
he found a gendarme who, as soon as he saw and recognized Billy,
started out to stop him.  He went like a streak between this fellow's
legs.  Now he began to wonder why all of these little fellows in the
red trousers were such enemies of his, and when, at the end of the
block, he saw three of them standing in a row, he got angry.
Shaking his head, he determined to give the big one in the middle the
hardest bump he had ever given to anyone in his life.  Lowering
his head and shaking it, he went on as if he had been shot out of a
cannon, and, as he drew near, gave a mighty jump and butted the big
gendarme right in the stomach.

Alas for Billy!  In place of the soft human figure that he
thought he was butting, it turned out that the gendarme in the middle
was printed in glowing colors on paper and pasted against a solid
brick wall, as an advertisement for a play then performing at one
of the theatres.  The two gendarmes who had happened to stand
alongside of it were real, however, so when Billy dropped back
stunned from his hard jolt the two real gendarmes promptly
arrested him, and it was a very sick and sorry goat that was shortly
afterwards returned to the Express Department to be held for the
Havre train.





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`BILLY FINDS HIS MOTHER`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER VII


.. class:: center medium bold

   BILLY FINDS HIS MOTHER

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: P
   :image: images/img-cap7.jpg
   :lines: 5

Poor Billy, forced back into his crate and nailed up
again, began to think he did not like traveling very well.
So far he had been in two cities and so far he had seen
neither one of them by daylight, while everywhere he
went he got hurt.  All that night and all the next day, he moped
in his crate with a sore head.  On the following night he was
bundled into an express car, and giving up in despair, lay down and
went to sleep.

When he awoke it was daylight and he was being taken off
the train in Havre where the Browns were to take the boat for
Cherbourg and then for America.  This was the first time that Frank
had seen Billy since they left Bern and when he and Mr. Brown
walked up to the crate after it had been taken off the train, Frank's
heart was filled with pity.  There were raw places on Billy's head,
his fine shiny coat had the black marks of fire on it, and altogether
he was as woe-begone and miserable a looking goat as ever was seen.
Of course the Browns did not know anything of the adventures that
Billy had been through, but Frank was a boy who did not like to see
animals suffer and he was very angry.

"Just see, papa," he cried, "how they have abused my poor goat,
shut up in that tight crate all this time!  I'm sure he's not so bad a
goat as you thought.  He has been imposed upon.  Please let me
take him out of that crate and lead him by a rope.  I know that he
will come along nicely."

Billy "baahed" gratefully at this, and with some reluctance Mr. Brown
allowed the goat to be taken out of the crate, let Frank secure
a rope and tie him on behind the carriage which was to take them to
their steamer.

It was not Billy's fault that the knot was an ordinary single bow
hitch, and Billy did not know, when he nipped at the little end
which stuck out, that he would loosen the whole knot and let himself
free, but that is exactly what happened.  For a time he trotted along
nicely behind the carriage, but, as they reached the wharves, Billy
saw a sight that filled him with eager interest.  Near a big cattle
boat was an enormous pen filled with goats which were soon to be
loaded on the boat, and Billy at once ran down to this pen, which
was about a block away.  His heart beat high with hope as he neared
it, and when he came close up to the bars he began to "baah" as loud
as he could.

From inside the pen came an answering bleat.  Billy's mother
was there and she had recognized his voice!  She crowded close up
to the bars and soon she and Billy were affectionately rubbing noses
through the little spaces between the boards and telling each other
all that had happened to them since they had become separated.
How Billy did wish that he could get inside the pen and go to
America with her!  He trotted
around and around the high
fence trying to find a
weak place where he
could break in, but
the pen was built
strong enough to make
all such trials useless,
so after every round
Billy would have to come back to where his mother stood waiting
and tell her of his failure.  After he had made a third trial and
came back up to her the wise old goat struck a happy idea.

"Just stand where you are, Billy," she said, "and by-and-by
maybe one of the drivers will come this way and think that you
belong in here with us.  Then he will let you in and we will go on
board together."

She had scarcely more than finished speaking when the lash of
a sharp whip that had whizzed through the air hit Billy on the
flank.  Looking up, he saw a young man opening a gate for him to
be driven through.  The young man had no whip, however, so
Billy turned in the other direction to see where the stinging blow
had come from.  Standing only a few feet away from him was a
short, wide man with a whip in his hand, and Billy started for him
with a snort.

.. _`The lash of a sharp whip.`:

.. figure:: images/img-079.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: The lash of a sharp whip.

   The lash of a sharp whip.

"A thousand lightnings yet again!" exclaimed the fat man, who
was none other than our old friend and Billy's old enemy, Hans Zug.

Hans knew better this time than to run when he had a way so
much easier to escape.  With all the speed that his pudgy body
would let him have he climbed the bars of a high pen just in time to
escape the hard bump that Billy jumped up to give him.  Sitting
on the top bar, Hans whirled his whip around his head and lashed
Billy across the back.  Wild with rage, Billy tried to reach his
enemy, but he could not jump high enough, and Hans, laughing
till he shook like a bowl of jelly, reached down and lashed Billy
once more.  Feeling that with all his strength he certainly ought to
jump high enough to reach his tormentor, Billy tried to leap again
and again, but every time all he got for his pains was a whack with
the long whip.

At last, however, Hans made his big mistake.  After whipping
poor Billy until he was tired, Hans laughed so heartily that he fell
backwards off the fence, and you'd better believe that Billy's mother
made him welcome.  She met him with her hard head while he was
on the way down.  Hans dropped his whip and grabbed for dear
life at the fence, and he caught hold with both hands just at the
right height to make a good mark for Billy's mother.  That strong
and sturdy old goat bumped him twice for every lash that he had
given Billy, and every time she bumped him, Hans Zug grunted and
yelled.  He clawed his feet desperately to get a foothold on the bars
to climb up, but every time he would get one foot placed Billy's
mother would give him another terrific bump and he would lose
his footing.

Billy, on the outside, ran backward and forward, hoping for
Hans to get to the top and fall over on his side of the fence, and
poor Hans was in an awful predicament.  At last, seeing that Hans'
comical struggles were not going to put him over where Billy could
get at him, that anxious youngster ran to where the young man was
still holding the gate open a little way, and ran inside, upon which
the gate closed sharply behind him.  He made his way rapidly
among the other goats and quickly ran up beside his mother.  He
watched her motion, jumping when she jumped, and they both butted
Hans together so hard that, with a mighty grunt, he went way up in
the air, both his feet landing at once on a bar higher than the one he
had been trying to catch.

.. _`They both butted Hans.`:

.. figure:: images/img-082.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: They both butted Hans.

   They both butted Hans.

Billy and his mother both laughed, but
they were so delighted and so excited that
the next time they tried to bump Hans their
horns clashed, they stumbled and fell
back, and in that moment Hans
Zug climbed up out of reach.

When he got to the top of the fence he lay down straddle
of it, clinging with both hands and feet to the topmost bars for
safety.

"Hasenpfeffer and pretzels!" groaned poor Hans, panting for
breath, while the big drops of sweat rolled off his cheeks.
"Thunderclaps and sunstrokes!  Oh, my poor trousers!"

He had good reason to say that last, for the sharp horns of the
two goats had ripped his trousers' legs until they were in shreds, and
there were some sharp red marks on his legs, too.  Billy Mischief
and his mother only capered in joy.  What did they care about poor
Hans trying to get his breath on top of the fence?  They were
together, and together they were going to America!

It was not long until the gate of the pen was opened and all the
goats were driven out through a fenced runway across a fenced
gangplank and through a wide, dark doorway into the hold of the cattle
ship.  Billy and his mother found themselves in a long, low
compartment, dimly lighted by little round windows close under the
ceiling.  The goats were driven up to the forward end of the boat
and put on both sides of the center aisle, behind strong, high bars.
By this arrangement Billy and his mother were separated, in spite of
all they could do to keep together, and could only stand close to the
bars looking sorrowfully at each other across the aisle.  They soon
quit this, however, because of a new interest.  Some surprising
passengers came to join them.  First, six big camels were driven in,
two by two, and fenced off next to the goats; then a herd of small
elephants followed these and then came a vast number, of snarling,
growling animals in strong cages; lions and tigers and other fierce
wild beasts.  An American circus that had been traveling in Europe
was on its way back home.

At last the ship was loaded and began to move out of its slip
toward the ocean.  The wild animals had been nervous and noisy
before, but as soon as the ship began to move they became still
more excited.  The elephants trumpeted, the tigers snarled, the
hyenas set up their screeching cry, the lions roared.  It was a perfect
pandemonium of shrieks and howls and yells, and for the first time
in his life Billy trembled with fear.  It was not for long, however.
Billy was a brave goat and a smart goat, and he knew that so long
as those fierce animals stayed in their cages they could not hurt
anything.  The only thing that bothered him was that he remembered
how he had broken out of his own crate in the railroad train.

This was the worst trip Billy ever made.  The animals were
never quiet for more than a minute at a time.  There would be a lull
when none of them would make any noise, and Billy would lie down,
hoping for a moment of rest.  All at once some animal would grunt,
the next one would grumble, the next one would growl, the next
one would snarl, and by that time they would all be at it; then
suddenly the hyenas would begin.  Then one of the fiercer animals
would begin to roar and the old hubbub would begin all over again,
winding up always with the lions' deep and terrifying "Hough!
Hough!  Hough!"

Billy got tired of it by-and-by, and thought that he would like
to go away into some quiet corner and rest.  A great many of the
goats had been thinking the same thing, and one after another they
had been trying the stout boards, some of them attempting to push
them out or break them and some trying to pry them loose with their
stout horns.  None of them, however, had the patience and strength
and determination of Billy, and at last, down in one corner, he found
a board that did not seem so strongly fastened as the others, and on
this board he began prying cautiously with his horns.  Billy would
pry carefully until he was tired, then lie down and rest a while,
then go at it again.  For nearly an hour he worked at it and at last
he was rewarded by having the board come loose.  He squeezed out
through it and the board sprang back into place.  Another goat
tried to follow but he did not know the trick, and in place of pulling
with his horns, pressed against the board, so Billy was the only one
to get loose.

Billy trotted between the long rows of animals, being very careful
to keep in the exact center of the aisle and as far away from all
of them as he could.  One of the elephants reached out his long trunk
and caught Billy by the tail, but it was only a playful nip, and, after
jerking Billy back a little piece, the elephant let him go.  Billy
looked around at the big gray beast and saw by his twinkling eyes
that it was only in fun, so, kicking up his heels, he trotted on with a
friendly "baah!"  The lions and tigers and the leopards snarled
and howled at him as he went past, while the hyenas laughed—if
the terrible noise they make can be called laughing.

.. _`One of the elephants reached out his long trunk.`:

.. figure:: images/img-086.jpg
   :align: left
   :alt: One of the elephants reached out his long trunk.

   One of the elephants reached out his long trunk.

Down toward the middle of the ship was a steep stairway up to
an open doorway that led out on the deck, and up this Billy climbed
with ease.  It was delightful, after that close, stuffy place, to stand
on the cool, breeze-swept deck.  The
steamer was making good headway
now and all around was the
ocean; the shore was only a
low, hazy line, away out
there at the edge of the
water.  Billy was interested in
the gaily colored circus
wagons, some
of which, crowded out of the lower hold, were grouped on the big,
bare after-deck, and Billy did not notice, until up very close to him,
that a big, fat man was leaning over the rail.  It was Hans Zug,
and although the ship was riding easy and the ocean was very calm,
Hans was already beginning to feel very sorry that he had not staid
on solid land.

"Ach, I am so sick!" groaned poor Hans.  "I wish I could die,
yet!  I should feel me so much better!"

"Now it would be a kindness to cheer Hans up a little bit and
make him forget his misery," thought Billy.  Lowering his head
and backing off a little way, he gave a run and bumped Hans a good
one which he felt he still owed him for the whipping of the morning.
He struck harder than he knew, and Hans, a big part of his heavy
body already lying far out over the rail, got such a boost that he
lost his balance and went bumping down the side of the ship into the
water.

"Man overboard!" shouted the first mate, who was up on the
bridge, and immediately the ship was in great commotion.  Sailors
came tumbling up out of another stairway and Billy thought it was
time for him to make himself scarce.  He did not care to go back
into the hold, so he ran in among the circus wagons and hid.  The
ship stopped and turned round.  A small boat was hastily lowered
and the sailors in it began rowing like mad to where Hans had gone
down.  Poor Hans did not know how to swim, but when a boy he
had learned to float, and now, turning on his back, he kept his hands
down to his sides and his face turned up.  When the sailors got there
with the row boat his fat round face was bobbing along above the
little waves like a pumpkin in a pond.

"Ach, those dear mountains at home!" wept Hans, when they
pulled him into the boat.  "How I should wish I was back in Switzerland
again.  I said it that I wanted to die, but it iss not, aindt it?
Thank you, gentlemens!  Thank you!"

A little rope ladder was let down and Hans, all dripping, his
clothes clinging around him and making him look like a wet
balloon, climbed up on the deck.

"Where is that fire and brimstone goat?" he cried, having now
had time to get over his fright and his seasickness enough to be
angry.  "When I find him I throw him in all the ocean what iss!
Yes!"

Billy kept as still as he could, but one of the sailors saw his stubby
tail and pointed him out.  Then the chase began.  Billy dashed
around and around the deck with Hans and the sailors close after
him, and at last, when they were almost upon him, he came to the
open door of the hold.  Seeing no other way to escape, he was about
to dash down this and had already placed his forefeet on the topmost
stair, when he saw two great greenish-yellow eyes close to him,
staring up at him out of the dimness.  One of the tigers had broken
loose from his cage and had come slinking up the stairs, and Billy
stood face to face with him!





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER VIII


.. class:: center medium bold

   AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: B
   :image: images/img-cap8.jpg
   :lines: 5

Billy felt his heart beat hard and fast, and for a moment
his knees trembled under him.  He backed slowly up
to the solid deck and the great flaming eyes slowly crept
up after him.  Billy still backed away.  The men who
had been chasing him were now very close, but one of them saw the
tiger's head coming up on the deck, and he yelled to the others, who
immediately pressed back.  As soon as he felt the firm deck floor
under him and could see the animal's head as well as his eyes, Billy
felt his courage coming back to him.  He knew that he had to
stand and fight.  He felt that he could never run fast enough to get
away from this powerful animal, and that before he could even
turn and start to run the tiger would be upon him.

Slowly Billy backed away with his sharp horns lowered, and
slowly the tiger came out on the deck, crouched down until his body
almost touched the boards, his tail, full of hard muscles, waving
slowly like a red and yellow snake.  The men were panic-stricken and
scattered in all directions, seeking places of safety wherever they
could find them.  Poor Hans Zug was the slowest of all.  In his
fright he stumbled over his own feet and fell three times to his hands
and knees in trying to get away, and then he tried to hide himself
behind a slim iron rod that ran up from the deck to the bridge, for he
was too much paralyzed with fear to pursue his hunt any further for
some safe hiding-place.

The tiger was not in a very big hurry about making his spring.
He did not like the looks of Billy's horns, although he knew that
he was much stronger and more powerful than the little white goat.
Still they came on, Billy backing away and the tiger creeping
toward him until they were almost where Hans Zug stood trembling
so hard that his teeth chattered.  Suddenly the tiger, with a swift
spring, went up in the air, intending to jump clear over Billy's long
horns and land upon his back, but Billy, himself as watchful and as
careful as the tiger had been, sprang aside just as the tiger jumped,
jerking his head sharply upward as the tiger went over him.  One
of his horns caught in the tiger's under side and ripped a big gash
in him.  Billy immediately sprang in the other direction, and the
tiger, now fiercer than ever, wheeled quickly.  This time his sharp
claw caught Billy's shoulder as Billy jumped aside, tearing a big
patch of Billy's hide loose.  The pain staggered Billy and made him
feel faint, but he knew it would never do to give up.  The animal
men now came running up from the rear hold, where some of the
other animals were being fed, and one of them had a pistol, but the
two animals were jumping about so swiftly that he could not be sure
of shooting the tiger without shooting Billy, so he waited to see how
the fight would turn out.

Time after time the tiger tried to get hold of Billy, but the goat
was too quick for him, though each time they met one or the other
of them got a mark.  At last Billy felt that he was nearly whipped.
The two animals were now facing each other for another spring.
The tiger, too, was suffering from the last hook that Billy had given
him but he was fresher than the goat.  Billy swayed on his feet.
The light seemed to turn into darkness before his eyes and he felt
as if he were sinking down, down on a soft bed, but he kept his head
bent in the tiger's direction.  He felt, rather than saw, the tiger
spring once more, and in spite of his weakened condition he braced
himself up and gave one more sharp, hard toss of his strong neck.
His horn caught the tiger right behind the front shoulder blade and
pressed deeply in.  This time he had found a vital spot.  The tiger
rolled over on his side, and, after a quiver or two, lay still.  He
was dead, but Billy did not know it, for the brave little goat had
sunk to the floor with the tiger and lay as motionless as his dead
enemy.  The animal men came running up first, the one with the
revolver in front of the others.  Holding his revolver pointed
straight to where he knew it would reach the animal's heart, he
approached as slowly and cautiously as a cat creeping up to a mouse
hole, felt the tiger's side and pronounced him really dead.  Two of
the men dragged the tiger away and the others crowded around the
poor goat.  At first they thought that he too was dead, but when they
examined him they found that his heart was still beating slowly.
One of them ran to bring water and another to get bandages.

When Billy woke up his wounds had been nicely washed, ointment
had been applied to them, and bandages were carefully bound
over them.  The men were patting him gently and saying what a
fine, brave goat he was and what a splendid fight he had made of it,
and one big gruff voice, which Billy found out afterwards belonged
to the captain, said:

"Well, this goat is not to be tied up any more.  He shall have
the freedom of the ship."

Billy moved his legs feebly and tried to get up, but not feeling
quite strong enough yet, he sank back and found that his head was
lying on somebody's knee.  And now came the biggest surprise of all,
for when Billy looked up to see who it was, here it was Hans Zug who
was holding him!

"Ach, such a fine little goat, yet," Hans was saying, patting
Billy's neck gently, while the great tears rolled down his round
cheeks.  "Such a brave little goat, yet.  Thunder weather!  He can
butt me overboard once again if he should to like it!  Aindt it?"

.. _`"WELL, OLD FELLOW, IF BROKEN BONES ARE ALL, WE CAN FIX THOSE."`:

.. figure:: images/img-092.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: "WELL, OLD FELLOW, IF BROKEN BONES ARE ALL, WE CAN FIX THOSE."

   "WELL, OLD FELLOW, IF BROKEN BONES ARE ALL, WE CAN FIX THOSE."

Billy was the hero of the ship.  It did not take him long to
get well, and on the third day he was trotting around the deck as
unconcerned as if he had never had a fight in his life.  His
bandages were off and only a little, red-edged scar on his shoulder
remained to show how bravely he had fought the tiger.  Hans Zug
never was through praising him, but nevertheless, every time he
went to speak to Billy he came toward him from behind, for Billy
still had a way of shaking his head at him that made Hans feel like
climbing a ladder.  On the first day that he could go around
unbandaged, nobody seemed to be able to pat Billy enough, but, true
to his name, Billy could not long stay out of mischief.

Soon tiring of pacing the long decks, he went below in the cook's
galley and began to hunt for dainties.  He had learned by this time
that people were very curious about things to eat.  When they saw
a goat helping himself, something was almost sure to happen to the
goat and he could not understand it.  You see, he could not know
that everything belonged to somebody.  All that he knew about it
was that if you saw anything you wanted, and was lucky enough or
strong enough or quick enough to get it, it was all right.
Accordingly, he watched the cook, and when the cook's back was turned
Billy grabbed a fine, big bunch of celery and trotted off with it.
When he got in a dark corner he ate it and it was so fine that he
wanted more.  He went back into the cook's galley but could not
see any.  Then he went into a little, dark room that opened into it
and found himself in a place full of the nicest things to eat he had
ever seen in one pile.  There were carrots and radishes and peas and
fine, crisp, tender lettuce and all sorts of green stuff which had been
brought aboard for the captain's table.  Billy ate until he could
hold no more, and then he happened to think that his mother would
like some of that nice celery, so he picked out an extra fine bunch and
trotted off with it.  No one saw him and he made his way down into
the hold where his mother was crowded in the pen with the other
goats.  He gave her the celery and while she was eating it he told
her all that had happened to him and how much the ship's crew
thought of him, and how even Hans Zug had become his friend.

"My, that was fine!" said his mother as she finished the last of
me celery.  "It is the nicest thing I have had to eat since we left
home."

"Ho!" said Billy.  "That is nothing.  We cabin passengers
have some of the finest things in the world to eat.  What you need
now is a bunch of tender lettuce to finish off with, and I'll go get
you some," and he hurried off, leaving his mother very proud of his
rise in the world.

Billy trotted boldly through the cook's galley, and the cook,
who knew all about Billy's fight, tossed him some carrot tops as he
passed.  Billy was not at all hungry, but he ate the carrot tops just
out of politeness, then he went on into the store room and picked
out a nice big head of lettuce for his mother.  He was just going
out of the cook's galley with it when the cook turned round and saw
him.  Right away the cook forgot what a hero Billy was, and angry
that Billy had taken some of his precious lettuce, cried:

"Hey!  Drop that, you bobtailed thief!" and threw a skillet at
Billy.  It hit the goat in the side with a thump, but Billy never
stopped.  He only ran on until he had gained the hold where his
mother was and had given the nice, cool lettuce to her, when he
turned round to hurry away.

.. _`Threw a skillet at Billy.`:

.. figure:: images/img-095.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Threw a skillet at Billy.

   Threw a skillet at Billy.

"Wait a minute, Billy!" she called after him.  "I want to talk
to you."

"I haven't got time," Billy called back over his shoulder.  "I've
got a little business with the cook."

When Billy got back into the cook's galley, the cook was over
in a corner reaching up for some baking powder that he kept on a
high shelf.  He was stretched out just right for a good bump and
Billy gave it to him.

"Great Scott!" cried the cook, and jumped up until his head
bumped the shelf.  He quickly turned around but Billy had backed
off and now jumped for him again.  This time the man put out his
hands and caught Billy by the horns firmly enough to keep the bump
Billy gave him in front from smashing him.  Billy, however, jerked
away and backed off for another bump, and the man, jumping up,
grabbed the shelf with the foolish notion of climbing up out of range.
He could not have been in a better position for another bump
behind, so Billy gave him that one and he dropped loose from the shelf,
yelling for help with all his might.  In dropping, he turned around,
and this time Billy landed with all his weight right in the middle of
the man's appetite.

By this time the cook had lost his head so that all he could do
was to spread his arms and legs like an old-fashioned, jointed doll
and yell for help.  Several men came running down the ladder and
the foremost one was Hans Zug with his whip.  Hans had just been
over to straighten out a fight in the goats' pen, and when he saw
one of his goats butting the cook, he never stopped to think that it
was the same Billy he had been petting and praising, so he hauled
off and gave Billy a mighty slash with his sharp leather whip.  Billy
got through with the cook in a hurry!

So Hans Zug, who had been following him around and patting
him on the back and calling him nice goat and fine goat and brave
goat, was ready to start in again, was he?  Well, Billy would show
him!  Like a flash he wheeled and was after Hans.

"Donnervetter!" cried Hans, and turned to run.

The men who had followed him down the steps were in the way,
however, and Hans ran square into them.  A second later Billy ran
into Hans with enough force to send him sprawling among the men,
and four or five of them went to the floor grunting, with Hans on
top.  Before Billy could back off for another stroke Hans turned
quickly and was just in time to grab Billy by the fore legs.  At the
same moment the cook caught Billy by the hind legs, and these two
carried him upstairs to the deck.

"Over he goes," yelled the angry cook.

"Sure!" said Hans.  "He done it to me.  Ein! swei! drei!"

As Hans counted his one, two, three in German, they gave three
mighty swings, and with the last one they let go.

Splash! went Billy into the sea!





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`ALONE IN AN OCEAN STORM`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER IX


.. class:: center medium bold

   ALONE IN AN OCEAN STORM

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: P
   :image: images/img-cap9.jpg
   :lines: 5

Poor Billy!  Once more he had lost his mother!  He
looked for the ship to turn round and send out a boat
as it had done when Hans fell overboard, but it did
nothing of the sort.  Instead, it steamed straight ahead.
In the excitement nobody had noticed that Billy had been thrown
into the water.

The cook got a life preserver and threw it over after Billy,
thinking it a good joke, then the cook went below and Hans stood at
the stern railing shaking his fist at the poor goat.  Billy swam as
long and as hard after the boat as he could, but it was no use; he
could not begin to keep up with its great speed.  Presently,
however, he came to where the life preserver floated.  It was a big
circular one and Billy put his front paws upon it.  His weight made it
tip on edge and Billy was surprised and delighted to find that it held
him up in the water, making the work of swimming much easier.
In trying to get his legs further into it he slipped once or twice, but
finally in his struggles his head and horns went through it, and,
after swimming and wriggling a little bit, he got his front shoulders
through and there it clung round him, holding him up splendidly.
It was too small to pass backwards over his body, and it could not
get off over his head on account of Billy's horns.

It was a lucky thing for Billy that this happened, for that night
a terrific storm came up.  The wind shrieked and howled, the
lightnings glared, the thunders rolled, and great foam-capped waves,
some of them nearly as high as a house, broke over Billy, one after
another, nearly drowning him and sometimes almost crushing him
by their weight.

In all his life Billy had never passed such a terrific night as
this, but through it all the big life preserver held him up and
carried him safely through.  Many times there seemed to come a lull
in the storm and Billy began to breathe easier, thinking that he would
get a little rest, but the storm would break out again with new fury
each time, until, when morning came, the poor goat was battered
and bruised and nearly dead.  With the dawn, however, the storm
calmed down.  The skies began to clear, the waves grew smaller,
and the wind, shifting by-and-by to the opposite direction from that
in which it had been blowing all night, beat back the waves and
smoothed them down until by ten o'clock the ocean was quiet, only
ruffled by gentle swells over which Billy and his life preserver
bobbed in comfort, although he was very tired and beginning to
get hungry.

Ever since the sky had cleared he had seen smoke away off
where sea and sky seemed to join.  Billy
knew what smoke meant.  Wherever
there was smoke there were people, and
wherever there were people there was
food, so he started toward it, swimming
a little bit and resting a long while
between times.  The smoke grew blacker
and presently he saw a little speck under
the smoke.  It grew larger and larger,
and by-and-by he was able to make out
that it was a big ship coming in his
direction.  Poor Billy swam harder than
ever then, and fortunately for him the
ship was coming almost straight toward
him.  Still more fortunately, the
captain, sweeping the sea with his
glass, made out the life preserver
holding up something white, and
immediately thought it must be a
woman in a white dress.  He
altered the direction of the ship slightly
so that it came nearer to Billy, and had
ordered a boat to be lowered before he
made out that it was only a goat, otherwise he might have passed on
by.  The boat, however, was already lowered, so he let it go.

.. _`The ship was coming almost straight toward him.`:

.. figure:: images/img-101.jpg
   :align: right
   :alt: The ship was coming almost straight toward him.

   The ship was coming almost straight toward him.

The ship was a big passenger steamer, and by this time scores of
passengers were thronging to the rails to see what the excitement was
all about, and when the boat was drawn up, Billy, a comical looking
sight with his big life preserver around him, was placed on the deck.
A boy among the passengers at once ran forward with a shout.

"Why, it's my Billy goat!" he cried.  "Papa, come and look!
See the singe marks on his back?"

Billy "baahed" joyfully.  He rather liked Frank and was very
glad that he had found a friend.  The captain himself, interested and
amused, had joined the crowd by this time.

"Your goat?" he asked Frank, in amazement.  "Do you always
keep your goats out at sea in life preservers?"

"Not always," laughed Frank.  "In fact, this is the only goat I
have.  We lost him in Havre.  The last I saw of him he was tied
to the back of our carriage with a rope.  When we got down to the
wharf he was gone.  Then we went down to Cherbourg, where papa
had some business, caught your ship the next day and here we are.
How Billy ever got here from Havre, I don't know, but here he is
and he's my goat."

"Well, according to the law of the sea," said the captain with
a twinkle in his eye, "he is salvage now and belongs to the men there
who picked him up.  Of course I have a share in the salvage too, but
I'll take a cigar for mine."

Mr. Brown, laughing, gave him the cigar and then gave the
sailors some money, and Billy was taken below to a large, white,
clean room where some fine blooded horses were hitched in roomy
stalls.  Here he was given a big bowl of warm milk and a bed of
clean straw, both of which he was very glad to get.  As soon as he
had drunk the bowl of milk, he felt so good and warm that he lay
down and went sound asleep.

When Billy woke up he saw something that made him gasp
with surprise, and at first he thought he must be dreaming.  Right
beside him, sleeping peacefully, an empty bowl that had contained
milk just in front of it, lay another goat.  It was his mother!  Billy
was so overjoyed that he did not know what to do.  He licked her
face gently and when she opened her eyes he capered around till the
horses in the stalls near by thought that he must have gone crazy.
Billy's mother was no less happy and when they had calmed down
Billy told her how Hans Zug had thrown him overboard, how he had
suffered through the storm and how the ship had picked him up.

"You were lucky, I guess, that he threw you over," said his
mother.  "We got into that same terrible storm and our ship struck
upon the rocks and broke to pieces.  I do not know what became
of the other goats or of Hans Zug.  Of course all the circus animals
in the cages went down.  I was swimming about in the water when
some sailors in a boat grabbed me and took me with them.  They
said that they had not had time to get provisions and that they might
have to eat me.  I would have jumped overboard when I heard this
but they had already forced me under one of the seats in such a way
that I could not scramble out.  The storm was still upon us and the
waves spun us around like a top, and two or three times we thought
we were gone.  By morning, however, the storm calmed down and
we were safe, although some of the men had been swept overboard by
the big waves that broke over us.  All day long we drifted about.
One of the men had brought along a box of crackers and another
one had got some dried beef.  A keg of water was already in the boat
so that there was nearly enough for everybody for breakfast, and
when the noonday meal came, one of the men wanted to kill me, but
the others would not let him.  They wanted to save me, they said,
until the next day.  It was nearly dusk when this ship saw us and
stopped to take us on board.  If this ship had missed us I suppose
that to-night would have been my last."

Billy shuddered.

"Well," said he, "at any rate we are together again, and this time
I suppose that we will stay together.  If you are rested enough
come on and let us look around the ship."

First the two goats trotted side by side past the big clean stalls
of the horses and all around the room they were in, then they made
their way to the stairway that led up to the deck.  They were about
to climb this when Billy spied the open door of a little closet, scarcely
large enough to put his head in.  Full of curiosity, he went up to
it and stuck his nose inside.

"Oh, come here, mother!" he suddenly cried.  "Here is a rope
with a very strange taste.  I had some of it in a big hotel in Bern
and I did not care for it very much, but it has such a queer taste that
you must eat some of it."

The rope Billy meant was not exactly like the ones he had
chewed in Bern, for those were single big wires with a covering to
keep them from touching.  This rope in the little closet was not a
solid one but was a big bundle of tiny wires, each one covered with
a queer tasting sheath.  The wires ran from the pilot's room and the
captain's room to the engineer's room and to the other working
rooms of the ship, and, by the use of little push buttons were
intended to direct the movements of the mighty floating palace.

"Why, this is quite a treat," said Billy's mother, taking a big
bundle of the wires in her mouth.  Another little closet just like this
one stood alongside of it and Billy saw that the door of this was
also slightly ajar.  He pushed it open with his nose, and inside he
found another bundle of wires.  These ran from the passengers'
cabins to the steward's cabin, and the electrician had just been fixing
them, carelessly leaving the doors unfastened.

"Why, here's another bundle!  I'll try some of them myself,"
remarked Billy, so both the goats got to work at once.

Billy's mother had only chewed at her rope of wires a little
while when the coverings began to come off and the wires to touch.
Instantly things began to happen.  The first wires that touched gave
the engineer a signal to stop and instantly the mighty ship began to
slow up.  Within a short time it had come almost to a standstill and
the first mate, up in the pilot room, immediately took down his
telephone and called up the engineer.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing, sir," said the engineer.  "You gave the signal to stop
and we stopped."

"I did no such thing," said the mate.  "At any rate, start up
again and we'll investigate."

Just then came another signal, and with a great jangling of
bells the big engines began to turn and the ship wheeled square
around.  There was another jangling of bells, and, shaking with
the force of the mighty engines, the ship began to pick up speed,
headed straight back for France.  Again the first mate called up the
engineer.

"What are you doing?" he asked.  "Are you crazy?  Why have
you tacked about?"

"Had orders, sir," said the engineer.

"You lay her northwest by north at once.  Put the second
engineer in charge and report to me immediately."

"Aye, aye, sir," said the engineer and started up to present
himself to the first mate.

The ship was swung back on her proper course and had gone
straight a little way, when all at once the whistles began to blow and
bells to ring, and with this the captain came running up to the pilot
room.  The first mate already had his telephone off the hook and
was screaming down to the engineer.

"What are you doing, sir?" he demanded.  "I thought I told
you to report to me at once!"

"This is the second engineer, sir," repeated the voice.  "The
chief engineer has just gone up to report to you, sir."

"Well, why did you blow a landing whistle out here in mid-ocean?
Can't you obey orders?  Are you crazy, too?  Are you all crazy?"

"I had the signal and obeyed orders, sir," said the second engineer.

By that time the captain came bursting into the pilot room,
while Billy Mischief and his mother were chewing wires.

"Are you a plum idiot?" demanded the captain.  "Can't you
be left in charge of this ship?  Have you been drinking?  First you
stopped the ship, then you put back for France, then you turn again,
and now you blow a landing whistle."

At that moment the fog horn began to sound, although the
sea was almost as bright as day with a round moon shining
overhead and the stars studded thick in the sky.

The captain himself grabbed the telephone.

"I want to know who's doing all this!" he demanded.  "Who's
in charge there?"

"I am, sir; the second engineer," answered the voice.

"Put your assistant in charge and report to me in the pilot room
at once."

Just then the chief engineer came in.

"What does all this mean?" roared the captain.

"I don't know, sir," said the engineer.  "I got signals to stop,
then to put about, then to come back on the course, all of which I
did."

"I don't want you to attempt to put this on to me," said the
mate.  "I haven't touched a button for an hour.  There has been
no necessity.  We have been going straight on our course."

.. _`"SHAKE HANDS," SAID BOBBY.`:

.. figure:: images/img-108.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: "SHAKE HANDS," SAID BOBBY.

   "SHAKE HANDS," SAID BOBBY.

All this while the steward had been going nearly crazy.  The
bells were ringing from every cabin on the ship, and the waiters were
running about the place like mad.  First one bell, then another
would ring, and always when the waiters went to those cabins they
were told that nothing was wanted and were abused for waking
people up.  That part of it was Billy Mischief's work and he did
as much to put the ship in an uproar as had his mother.  The sound
of the fog horn and the stopping and starting of the ship, the
whistling and the clanging of the bells, kept everybody awake that had
been awakened by the waiters, and hastily throwing on clothing, the
passengers began to hurry out on to the decks to find out what was
the matter.

The steward came hunting the captain, right after the second
engineer.

"This ship is bewitched," he cried, wringing his hands, and he
told the captain of all the trouble he was having with false alarms.

Everybody looked at everybody else as if they thought that the
others had all better be in the asylum, and it was just at that moment
that Billy Mischief, down in the hold, turned to his mother and
said:

"Oh, come on!  I don't like this stuff very well, anyhow," and
leaving the little closets to themselves, they trotted innocently
upstairs not knowing all the trouble they had made.





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`THE GOATS BECOME A FIERY DRAGON`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER X


.. class:: center medium bold

   THE GOATS BECOME A FIERY DRAGON

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: N
   :image: images/img-cap10.jpg
   :lines: 5

Not stopping on the lower deck, they went on up until
they reached the main saloon deck.  It was ever so much
wider and nicer than the deck of the cattle ship, and just
now it was crowded with passengers who had hastily
dressed themselves and had come out on deck to see what was the
matter with the ship and its queer actions.

"Oh, there's my goat!" said a boy who was standing at the rail
just at the head of the stairway.

It was Frank Brown and, walking up to Billy, he patted him on
the neck.  A bright faced young man who was with Frank also
stooped over and patted Billy.

"Whose goat is this other one?" he asked, turning to pat Billy's
mother, who, being jealous like most animals, crowded up to get
her share of the attention.

"I don't know," said Frank.  "It was picked up from a wreck;
but the two goats seem to be very chummy."

Frank was looking along the deck at the long row of excitable
passengers, and suddenly he began to laugh.

"I wish we could play some sort of a trick on all these people,"
he said.

The young man's face lit up with a smile as he gazed at the
nervous and worried looking passengers, then all at once he laughed
aloud.

"I've got it!" he cried.  "Bring your goats and come into my
cabin quickly.  It's just inside here."

So Billy, willingly enough, was led by the horns into the young
man's cabin, and his mother followed after.  As soon as they had
reached the cabin the young man rang the bell, and when the waiter
came to him the young man gave him a check and sent him after a
trunk which was soon brought up.  Opening it, the young man took
out an enormous dragon's head made of papier maché and painted
in bright colors.  It was a fierce looking head and almost filled the
trunk.  It had a great, double row of gleaming white teeth, red lips,
a red tongue that worked out and in, immense saucer-like eyes and
winged ears, while a "scary" looking spine started from the top of
its nose and arched high over its neck.  The balance of the trunk
was filled with a long, thin, sack-like arrangement which was painted
green and red and yellow, and which was to represent the dragon's
body.

"You know I told you," said the young man, "that I am the
property man of a big spectacular show company, and this is a new
dragon that I have just had made.  It is intended for men to get
inside of to walk it across the stage.  We'll put the goats in it and
start them along the deck, and then we'll see some fun."

Neither Billy nor his mother wanted to get inside that strange
looking thing, but the two boys suddenly slipped the big head over
Billy and there was no way for him to get out.  Then, catching
Billy's mother by the horns, they dragged her to the second slit and
put her inside.  The young man quickly straightened up the ridges
and the long, scalloped, folding side fins of the body, while Frank
held the head tightly and let the goats prance inside.  The young man
opened the door and looked out.  The passageway was clear and they
soon gained the deck.  The young man lit a match and stooped down
for a moment.  Instantly the big eyes were lit up with red.  Red
flames came out of the tip of the tongue and smoke rolled out of the
nostrils.

They headed the dragon up the deck before anybody noticed it,
and as soon as the goats were let go they started to run in their efforts
to get away from this heavy, dark thing that surrounded them.  The
young man put his hands to his mouth, and making a megaphone
of them, gave a tremendous roar.  Instantly everybody looked, and
when they saw this great, red-eyed and fire-breathing monster coming
toward them there was a grand scamper.  A great many of the passengers
thought that a sea serpent had got aboard and they did not
care to see it any closer.  Away they went, making as much noise as
a Sunday school picnic, with the fiery dragon right after them.
Around and around the deck they chased and the two poor goats
were as scared as any of the women on board.

It had been twice around the deck when the red powder that the
young man had lighted in its tongue began to die out, so the young
man grabbed it just as it passed the place where they had started it
off and, quickly turning it in toward his cabin, was struggling with
the now thoroughly frightened goats.  He got the dragon safely into
his room, but, as soon as it was lifted off of Billy and his mother,
those frightened goats made a dash for the door and out on deck.
Their only idea was to run as fast as they could to get away from
that dreadful thing, so when the passengers saw them coming, they
thought that some other sort of a monster was loose and they began
to run again.  Some of the men stopped to see what it was, however,
and more than one of them had his revolver in his hand ready to
shoot.  One of them, in fact, had his finger on the trigger and was
going to pull it when another man suddenly called out:

"Wait a minute!  They're only goats."

The men caught the goats as they were struggling to get through
and the captain, who had been everywhere trying to stop the panic,
now came up.  The second mate came up also, and when he saw the
two goats he was very angry and called one of his men.

"Here," said he, "take these animals down where they belong
and tie them up with wires or chains so that they can't gnaw
themselves loose.  If I see them again before we get to New York there's
going to be trouble for somebody."

So Billy and his mother, their fun all over, were taken back
down in the hold and tied up tightly, and it was the last time they got
loose until they landed in America.

"At any rate," said Billy's mother, "we are together."

"I don't know how we can stay together, though," said Billy,
shaking his head.  "I belong to Frank Brown and, so far as I can
tell, you don't belong to anybody.  If you only did, maybe
Mr. Brown would buy you, although I don't believe he wants any more."

And Billy was right about Mr. Brown's not wanting any more goats.

The day they landed Frank Brown went to claim his goat.  Billy
and his mother were still together, but as Frank was about to take
Billy away a woe-begone looking little fat man came rushing up.

"Those should been my goats yet!" he exclaimed.

"Your goats?" said Mr. Brown, rather angrily.  "Why, man,
that one with the singed spots on his back we have just brought over
with us from France."

"It makes me nothing out!" exclaimed the man.  "They should
been my goats!  I know them both like it was mine own brother and
sister, yes!  I know the biggest one by such a black spot on her
forehead and the other one by such singed places like vat iss on his back.
So!  I should bring them both over from Havre, and our ship got
such a wreckness in the big thunder weather, and Ach, I could cry
mit weeping.  My name is Hans Zug and I am a poor man.  Yes!
I had more as two hundred goats and these two is all what I got
now, and if you take them away I don't got any.  No!"

One of the sailors from the cattleship who had been taken on
board with Billy's mother came up just then and said that Hans
was telling the truth.  Mr. Brown looked perplexed.

"It's true," he said, "that we got this goat out of the ocean.  It
is scarcely possible that two goats should be burned exactly alike and
this one either slipped loose from our carriage in Havre or was taken
away from us there by this man.  I have already paid twice for it;
once in Europe, once on the ocean, and now I am expected to pay
for him a third time in America.  Frank, get your goat and come on!"

Poor Hans did not know what to say or do.  Mr. Brown was
evidently rich and powerful and Hans was afraid he might get
himself into trouble.  He looked so miserable, however, that
Mr. Brown relented, and taking out his pocket-book, handed Hans some
money.

"Here," he said, "I'll buy this goat again and then I'll be
tempted to hire somebody to hang it, only I'm afraid some butcher
would sell it to me a fourth time for mutton."

Frank giggled at this and his father, too, cleared up his anger
in a laugh.  Then Billy, in spite of all his mother's bleatings, was
led away from her.  Within an hour he was put in a baggage car
of a train for the West where the Browns lived.  This time he was
not crated, but was tied to a ring with a stout rope.

Up to the time that the train began to start he struggled and
pulled, hoping to get away and run back to join his mother, but it
was no use.  The train pulled out, and every minute Billy was
carried farther and farther away from the one goat in the world that
was dear to him.  He was a very sad goat and he would have been
sadder still if he had known that his real misfortunes had only begun.
All through that afternoon he chewed at the stout rope, trying to
get it loose, and all that night whenever he woke up he began to
gnaw at it, not knowing, of course, how far he was being carried
away, nor how impossible it would be for him ever to get back to
New York, over hundreds of miles of ground, across rivers, through
tunnels and over ferries, or even find his mother if he ever did reach
New York City.

By morning he had his rope nearly gnawed through.  Not long
after daylight the train stopped at a little station and the baggage
doors on both sides of the car were standing open when the train
pulled out.  Billy gave a tug at his
rope and then another one.  It came
loose, and, giving a short run, he
jumped out of the door.  The train by
this time was going at a good
speed, and Billy landed in the
gravel of a steep embankment,
rolling over and over.  After the train
went on he lay quite still, for he
had fainted.  Poor Billy had broken
a leg.

.. _`Poor Billy had broken a leg.`:

.. figure:: images/img-118.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Poor Billy had broken a leg.

   Poor Billy had broken a leg.

After a long time he crawled
painfully up to the country road
that crossed the railroad track and
led into the village they had just
passed.  He dragged himself along
this road
quite a way
toward the village,
but the pain was
too great for him
to continue very
far, so presently
he crawled to the
side of the road and lay down in the cool grass.  He tried to nibble
a bit at this but he was too sick, and finally he stretched himself out
and closed his eyes.  More and more, now, he missed his mother,
and felt that if she could only be there to lick his wounds his leg
would get well again, but now he felt that there was no hope for
him.  All he could do was to close his eyes and die.





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`BILLY JOINS A HAPPY FAMILY`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER XI


.. class:: center medium bold

   BILLY JOINS A HAPPY FAMILY

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: W
   :image: images/img-cap11.jpg
   :lines: 5

Whoa!" cried a brisk, cheery voice.

Billy slowly opened his eyes.  There on the road
above him a pretty Shetland pony stopped suddenly
and shook his saucy looking head, while a boy a little
bigger than Frank Brown jumped down from a little cart full of
grass and ran to the pony's head.

"Now stand still, Dandy, till we see whether our friend here by
the roadside needs any help," went on the boy.  "It's a fine looking
goat, Dandy, but he looks sick."

Dandy danced his front feet up and down and rubbed his nose
affectionately against the boy's neck, while a beautiful collie came
rushing up and capered and danced around them both, giving little,
short, sharp, playful barks.

"Steady now, King, steady," said the boy.  "That's no way to
make a noise when there are sick people around.  Behave yourself,"
and patting the dog's silken coat with a hearty thump, he turned to
see what he could do for Billy.

The dog reached the goat first and Billy shivered as he felt the
dog's muzzle touch him.  He jerked his head and began to gather
his limbs to get up and defend himself, when the dog whined a little
and he felt that the touch was a friendly one.

"Why, you poor goat!" said the boy, as he saw the bruised and
bleeding leg.  "I wonder how you ever broke such a pretty, fine
limb as that.  Well, old fellow, if broken bones are all, we can fix
those."

He passed his hand gently down Billy's neck to his fore flanks,
where it rested for a moment.  Billy felt better right away.  He
liked this young fellow.  He had never heard a voice or felt a touch
that seemed to do him so much good.  A tiny little stream ran across
the road not far ahead, and, taking a bright little pail from his cart,
the boy ran to this stream and came back with some water.  He
carefully bathed Billy's leg with his handkerchief and then, wetting
the handkerchief thoroughly, he tied it around Billy's leg.

"That will do for a little bit," said the boy, "and now we will
just take you right home and fix you up properly."

He stooped down to pick Billy up, and Billy, just as the pony
had done to the boy's neck, rested his nose affectionately on the boy's
bare arm.  They were strong arms, too, and with but very little
trouble they lifted Billy up and laid him in the cart on the bed of
soft, springy grass, King barking joyous circles around them all the
way.

"It's lucky for you, old fellow," said the boy, as he gave Billy
a light pat and climbed back to his seat, "that I happened to be
out cutting some feed for my pets."

The dog, King, sprang up on the seat beside the boy and sat
there looking as grave as an owl.

"Get up, you Dandy!" said the boy.

The saucy little pony stopped to prance for just a minute to show
how good he felt, and then away he darted.  The road was smooth,
the little cart was supplied with good springs and the grass kept
off the jar still more, so that the ride was a very easy one.  Just at
the outskirts of the village the boy sprang down again and opened
a wide gate.  Billy raised up his head a little to look after this
splendid fellow.  He wore a gray sweater, a pair of overalls, and a straw
hat, and he was in his bare feet.  His nose tilted up a little at the
end and his face was all covered with freckles, but he was tall and
straight, his yellow hair curled from under his hat and his blue eyes
were bright and kind, and Billy thought he had never seen any human
being in this world so fine and handsome.  As soon as the gate was
opened, the busy little pony darted through it and, without a word
from the boy, stopped until his driver could close the gate and take
his place again.  Two other dogs came running down to meet them.

"Hello, Curly!  Hello, Spot!" called the boy, and he patted
each of the dogs on the head before he climbed back up on his seat
and took the reins.

Back a little way from the road sat a small, white house with
green vines and bright red flowers clambering all over the wide
front porch.  The ground in front of the house was glowing with
flower beds; everything looked neat and clean, and as if happy,
contented people lived there.  The road from the gate led right past this
house, and back by the kitchen the boy stopped with a "Whoa!"  A
pleasant looking woman came out of the kitchen door, and in her
hands she held up a cooky.

"Just out of the oven, Bobby boy," she said, and came up to the
wagon to hand it to him.  He reached down and patted her cheek
and with the same hand took the hot cooky.

"Look in the wagon, mother," he said smiling.

"Well, Bob Sanders!" she cried.  "Another animal!  I don't
know what your father will say."

"Oh, but look, mother!" said the boy, turning round to show her.
"I picked him up at the side of the road and see, he has broken a
leg."

"Oh, the poor goat!" said Mrs. Sanders, her voice as full of
sympathy as Bobby's own.  Billy liked her voice too.  The sound of
it seemed to do him good in the same way that Bobby's voice had.
"I'll go right in and get him some milk," she added.

"No, I'd rather you wouldn't, mother," said Bobby.  "I'll give
him a drink of water out at the barn, but I don't want him to eat
anything just now.  I have got to set that leg and it's likely to be
very painful for him.  If he ate anything it might make him very
sick.  After it is all through, I'll make him a little mash and feed it
to him."

"All right, Bobby, you know best," said his mother, and she
stood there watching them until Bobby and his wagon had disappeared
through the gates of the barnyard and behind the barn.

When Bobby jumped out of the wagon, chickens came squawking
and running to him, and clustered around his feet so he could
hardly walk without stepping on them; down from the gable of the
barn whirred some pigeons, which circled about his head and one
of them lit on each shoulder, while another one tumbled off in trying
to get a foothold.  Bobby laughed, and, stooping down, stroked the
feathers of some of the chickens and then he reached up and took
one of the pigeons in each hand.

"Go, Flash!  Go, Rocket," he called, pitching each one of them
into the air as he spoke, and after circling about him they flew back
to their perch under the eaves of the barn while Bobby unhitched
Dandy.

No sooner was that surprising pony unhitched than he ran back
to the pump.  There was a little water standing in the bucket under
the spout, but Dandy upset this at once, and then turned the bucket
right side up again with his nose.  There was a leather loop nailed
firmly to the pump handle and, gripping this with his teeth, Dandy
jerked his head up and down until he had pumped a bucket of water,
which he drank with great relish.  Then he trotted into the barn
where Bobby presently carried the goat.

He gave Billy a drink of cool, fresh water and then, after preparing
splints and bandages and getting everything ready, he set the
broken bone in Billy's leg with cool, firm hands.  Poor Billy!  It
hurt him far worse than it had hurt to break his leg, but after Bobby
had put some ointment on the leg and wrapped it up in soft bandages
and had bound the stiff boards on it to keep it firm while the bone
was healing, it felt a great deal better.  Billy's bed was made of
some sweet smelling hay right in front of Dandy's stall, just where
a cool breeze could blow across him, and after Bobby had gone away,
Billy closed his eyes in comfort.  Next to being back on Farmer
Klausen's farm with his own mother, this was the nicest place he had
ever been in his life.

After a long nap, Billy woke up to find Dandy clattering into his
stall.

.. _`After a long nap, Billy woke up.`:

.. figure:: images/img-127.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: After a long nap, Billy woke up.

   After a long nap, Billy woke up.

"Whew, but I'm hot!" said Dandy.  "How do you feel?"

"Pretty good," said Billy, "only my leg does throb and hurt."

"No doubt," replied Dandy.  "I know when Queen had her
leg broken she told me how it hurt her.  You must get around and
see Queen and her babies as soon as you are able, although I expect
by that time they will be in here, tumbling around you.  They are
the cutest little puppies I ever saw in my life."

"I shall be glad to," said Billy, "but just
now I'm only thinking about one thing.  I'm hungry."

"That's good," laughed Dandy, "you'll get
something to eat all
right.  Nobody
stays hungry around
here.  Bobby will be here
with something to eat
soon.  He's the best
boy in the world.  As soon as you get well enough, he'll teach you
to do tricks."

"Tricks?" said Billy in surprise.  "I never heard of them.
What are they?"

"Oh, you'll find out," said Dandy.  "I can do a few of them
myself.  I can waltz on my hind legs, and stand on my head, and
roll a barrel, and now I'm learning to stand on a globe and roll it
backwards and forwards."

"My, but you are smart!" said Billy.  "And does he ever whip
you if you don't do them right?"

Dandy laughed and tossed his head.

"No indeed!" said he.  "Bobby never had a whip in his hand.
We're all of us glad to do anything he tells us."

"If you know how, stupid," croaked a new voice, and Billy
looked up to see a tame black crow sitting in the window.

"Stupid yourself, Tarwings," said the pony, but it was in a
friendly tone.

"You must have good times here," said Billy, sighing as he
thought of all the places of trouble he had seen in his travels.

"We do," replied Dandy.  "Of course it isn't all play.  Now I
just came in from hoeing the corn."

"You mean that Bobby hoed the corn while you pulled the hoe,"
croaked the crow.  "Don't mind what he says, Mr. Goat.  He'll
make you think that he does it all around here," and then, laughing
hoarsely, the crow flapped his wings and flew away.

Dandy laughed heartily.

"He thinks he's a great mischief maker, but nobody gets angry
at what he says.  He doesn't mean a bit of harm by it."

Just then Bobby came in with a pail of warm mash for Billy.
The goat hardly knew whether he liked it at the first taste, but as he
ate more of it and felt it warming him up inside, he began to realize
how good it was, and after he had eaten all that Bobby thought it
wise for him to have just then, he lay very contented and lazy while
Bobby rubbed Dandy's smooth coat with a cloth.

Later in the evening a pretty, little red and white cow came into
the barn and turned into her stall beside Dandy's.  She was properly
introduced to Billy, and the crow made so much fun of their politeness
that he laughed until he fell out of the window, where he lay
on the hay with his legs sticking up until he was quite through
cackling.

"Yes, I heard all about your case," said Tiny, the cow.  "King
came out in the pasture to tell me about it.  You were very unfortunate,
but after all you were very lucky that you got to come here,
where nobody ever even gets cross."

A sharp yelp behind her heels made Tiny jump half out of her
hide, and then King, laughing at the trick he had played on her,
sprang from behind her and over her stall to inquire about Billy.
It seemed strange to Billy to have a dog come near him without
getting ready for a fight, and he could not get over the surprise of
being in a place where everybody seemed to get along so nicely.  He
could not understand it at all until Bobby came in again, and then
he reflected that all these animals were simply trained to the kindness
and gentleness that was in their master.  Before he went to sleep
that night Billy had some more mash and a few tender mustard
plants to eat, and he slept like a top until morning.

Those were tiresome days for Billy.  He did long to get out and
play with the other animals, but he knew that he must first let his
leg heal, so he stood it as patiently as he could.  Bobby came to see
him at least two or three times a day and rebandaged his leg as often
as was needed.  The leg healed rapidly, and at last Bobby said one
morning:

"Well, old fellow, be good two more days to make sure and
we'll let you out."

Those were the most welcome words that Billy had heard in a
long time, and he licked Bobby's hand for saying them.  After Bobby
went away he began to wonder how he should put in those two long,
long days, but before he had time to fret about it he heard a whole
chorus of little yelps, and here came Bobby with King and Queen
and half a dozen pretty baby collies.

"Here, old fellow," said Bobby, "I brought you some playmates.
Introduce them, King, and amuse our friend Billy all you can."
Bobby took Dandy from his stall to hitch him up and go into
the village for some lumber, leaving Billy in good company.  Such
puppies as those were!  They nipped at him, they pulled his tail,
they clawed his beard, they hung on his horns, they sprawled all
over him and came tumbling down on all sides, little, awkward, white
and brown bunches of down.  There was no chance for Billy to get
blue or fretful, for those puppies kept him laughing all the time.
Their awkward antics would have made anyone laugh.  For the two
whole days that Billy had to stay bandaged up for safety's sake, those
puppies kept him amused, and when on the third day his splints were
taken off and he was allowed to walk out-doors with only a cloth
bandage wrapped around his leg, the puppies scampered out after
him.

Billy blinked his eyes when he got out-doors again.

My, what a fresh, pretty, green world this was, to be sure!  How
good it was to be alive!  How good it was to be in such a fine home
as this!





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`BILLY EARNS HIS NAME`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER XII


.. class:: center medium bold

   BILLY EARNS HIS NAME

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: T
   :image: images/img-cap12.jpg
   :lines: 5

The first day Billy was allowed to walk around for only
an hour.  The second day he was allowed out for two
hours, and by the end of that week he was turned loose
without a bandage of any sort on his leg, as well as
ever.  And how he did enjoy his freedom!  He had all the chickens
to get acquainted with, including the two little black bantam roosters,
Spunk and Saucebox, who would jump up on Bobby's finger and
crow whenever they were told to do so.  A dozen pigeons he had
to meet, and four dogs—a pair of pointers, Ponto and Patty, and a
pair of greyhounds, Hurricane and Lightning,—none of which had
been in the barn to see him while he was sick.

It was while he was meeting all these new friends that he felt
something suddenly swoop on his head, just between his horns, while
something sharp dug into his hair.  The other animals to whom he
had been talking began to laugh and a hoarse voice from between his
horns joined in the merriment.  Then Billy knew that Tarwings was
taking one of his surprising ways of saying good morning.

"Of all the animals here you're the only one that hasn't given me
a ride," said Tarwings, "and now I think I'll take it.  Get up!"
He grabbed his beak into the hair on Billy's forehead and spread his
jet-black wings.

"Oho!" said Billy, "I'll give you a ride you won't like."  So he
started forward, but all at once lay down and rolled over.  Tarwings
was too quick for him, however, for as Billy went over he flew up in
the air a foot or two, and as Billy came back on his feet there was the
crow again, holding tight with beak and talons, and laughing more
than ever.  The pony and the cow were both loose in the barnyard
and they enjoyed the joke on Billy as much as the dogs or the chickens
or pigeons.  Billy was the only one in the barnyard who did not seem
to see the fun.  His next attempt to get rid of Tarwings was to run
straight at the fence and butt it, but once more the crow was too
quick, and Billy only got a hard bump for his pains, while the crow
settled down on his head again.

"You're the best of all," laughed the crow.  "You put so much
more spirit and spunk into your work.  I believe I'll ride with you
always after this."

"All right," said Billy, "this time I'll give you a good ride."  So
Billy began to go in a circle around and around the barnyard.
All the time he had his eye on a thick clump of gooseberry bushes
over in one corner, and as he ran he gradually widened the circle
until one trip was right close up to those bushes.  On the next circle,
just as he came to them, he suddenly wheeled and dived head first in
among them, and this time he caught Jimmy Tarwings.  The sharp
branches scraped the crow off of Billy's back and mussed up his
feathers till he looked as if he had been in a cyclone.  The thorns
scarcely bothered Billy's tough hide and he quickly made his way
out of the bushes, to join his particular friends, Dandy and King.
This time it was Billy's laugh.

"Caw, caw!" cried the crow presently, limping out from the
bushes.  He was a sorry looking sight, but the other animals did not
have much pity on him, for he was such a mischief and it was fun
to see him caught at his own game, so they simply capered around
and laughed at him.  Bobby, who had just come out in time to see
Billy plunge into the gooseberry bushes, also stopped to laugh, but
when the crow flew to him he quit at once, and smoothing down the
feathers, examined Tarwing carefully to see whether he had any
serious hurt.

"Serves you right, old fellow," said he, holding the bird close
up to his cheek.  "If you will indulge in rough play, you may
expect to get hurt now and then.  Come here, Dandy!"

Dandy came running to him and Bobby quickly hitched him up.
Bobby was a busy boy and a thrifty one.  He had bought an acre
of ground just behind the barnyard on credit a long time ago, and had
paid for it out of the proceeds of the garden truck which he had
raised on it.  He sold eggs and chickens in the village and raised
squab which he sent to the near-by city.  Besides this he sometimes
used Dandy and his wagon for light hauling, turning an honest penny
wherever he could.  As Mr. Sanders ran the mill in the village and
was doing very nicely in a business way, Bobby was free to keep all
his money for himself and to do with it as he pleased, for he had long
ago proved that he could be trusted with money.  To-day he had a
little hauling to do and he drove Dandy out to the road with a cheery
good-bye to his happy barnyard family.

Bobby left the barnyard gate slightly ajar and he had no more
than gone when Billy, as full of curiosity as ever, managed to swing
the gate and push it wide open, then he darted out followed by all
the chickens, which immediately scattered to the flower beds and
vegetable garden to scratch and eat the tender leaves.

Mrs. Sanders had just hung out her clothes.  Nice white linen
always had struck Billy as being a fine thing to chew on.  He liked
it almost as well as boys and girls do chewing gum.  Of course when
he saw some hanging down for his especial benefit, it was no more
than polite for him to walk up and take a nibble.

Just as he reached up for it, however, Jimmy Tarwings swooped
down on Billy's back to give him a scratch with his talons and a nip
with his bill, and Billy, not expecting it, of course gave a jump and
his head ran right through the neck of one of Mr. Sander's undershirts,
where he stuck.  Of course Billy struggled to get away and
of course Jimmy Tarwings, seeing that Billy was fastened, jumped
on his back again and began to claw him with his sharp nails.

.. _`Jimmy Tarwings swooped down on Billy's back.`:

.. figure:: images/img-136.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Jimmy Tarwings swooped down on Billy's back.

   Jimmy Tarwings swooped down on Billy's back.

"Get up!" croaked Jimmy.  "I'm ready for another ride now.
Get up, goat!"

Billy ran backwards but the undershirt stuck on his horns and he
could not get it off over his head.  He ran forward and it stuck
on his shoulders.  One of the clothes-props came down and the line
sank still lower, so that he had a better chance to struggle, which he
did.  Another clothes-prop came down and now a great many of the
nice, white clothes lay dragging on the ground.  Billy, goaded on by
the crow, gave another terrific lunge, and this time the line came
loose at both ends and the whole string of clothes dragged on the
ground after the galloping goat, while Jimmy Tarwings spread his
wings and shrieked with joy.  He was having the ride of his life.

Around the house and past the kitchen Billy tore, scattering
chickens right and left and followed by all the dogs, yelping and
barking and thinking it the greatest fun that had happened in a long
time.  Around to the front of the house went the queer procession
and straight through Mrs. Sanders' pet geranium bed, all scarlet with
beautiful blossoms that Billy's samples of wet clothing mashed down
flat.

Mrs. Sanders was just opening the front door to scrub off her
porch when she saw her clothes making such a queer trip.  Of course
she ran out, but just as she stooped to catch the line a flapping sheet
whipped around her foot and gave her a jerk that sent her rolling
over in the grass, while the rest of the string of clothes swept on
over her, some of the wet garments dragging right across her face.
She was not hurt a bit and she even had to laugh at what a
ridiculous figure she must have cut if anybody had been looking, but
nevertheless she took after Billy and her clothes again.  Billy, by
this time, had made a circle which wiped out a pansy bed and now,
frantic to get away from this strange harness and from his tormentor,
the crow, he made a dash for the open front door.  The line of
clothes caught on the front step, but now Billy was going so fast
that the undershirt tore and let him kick himself free.  Moreover,
as it passed on over his back it caught Jimmy Tarwings, and for
the second time that morning swept him from Billy's back.  This
time he was in a worse fix than before, for the wet garment, in
springing back, rolled him up in a tight wad and thumped him
back on the steps.

Billy dashed straight on toward an open door across the room.
He was so confused that he did not see exactly where he was
going and did not dodge the center table quite in time.  He ran
against one leg of it, and over the table went with a crash, throwing
a big lamp over and spilling it on the sofa, drenching it with oil
and breaking a lot of choice china bric-a-brac that Mrs. Sanders
had collected.

Out through the kitchen Billy hurried with the dogs, Mrs. Sanders
right after him.  The kitchen door was closed but the
window was open, so Billy gave a jump through it, and here he made
more trouble, for on a low, wide shelf, just outside the kitchen
window, Mrs. Sanders had placed some pies which she had just
taken from the oven.  Billy landed on this shelf and upset it,
throwing all the pies upside down on the ground, while the dogs came
pouring out of the window in such haste that some of them turned
somersaults when they reached the gravel.  Even the collie puppies
had toddled behind on this chase, and now they could be heard
yelping in the kitchen and wishing that they would hurry and grow
up so that they too could jump through windows.  Billy began to
think it was time for him to get away from there, so he whirled
again for the front of the house, ran with all his might down to
the gate and jumped square over it into the road outside.

"Fine!" said a cheery voice that Billy recognized at once.
"That was a great jump.  I guess I'll have to make a high jumper
out of you."

Billy stopped, ashamed of himself.  For a minute he had been
wanting to run away from this kind friend of his, but all at once
he made up his mind to stay right where he was and take a whipping
if he had to have it, and, as all the dogs piled out of the gate
after him and set up a yelping and capering around Bobby and
Dandy, Billy stood among them, his head hanging down, feeling
very cheap.  Bobby, who had forgotten something and come back
for it, was a little puzzled, until he looked up to the house and
saw his mother sitting on the front porch holding up her line of
draggled, dirty clothes, while Tiny, the cow, was calmly eating
up her nasturtium bed, unnoticed.  Then Bobby understood.

"You're a bad goat," he said to Billy, shaking his finger at
him.  "I have been puzzling what to name you, but now I know,"
and by some strange accident he landed on the very name that
Billy's mother had given him long before.  "I'm going," he said,
"to call you Billy Mischief."

Billy had to behave himself splendidly to make the Sanders
family forget that morning's mischief, but at last Mrs. Sanders
remembered that she had seen Jimmy Tarwings on Billy's back when
he was running with the clothes fast to his neck, and so they blamed
it on the crow.  They were used to blaming mischief on that busy
bird, so that a little more or less did not matter much to him.

And now Billy's education began.  Every day, for an hour or
so, Bobby taught tricks to the pets.  The first time Billy saw this he
scarcely knew his new friends, they were so different and so much
in earnest.  First of all, Bobby, who had been training his animals
for a long time, placed a row of boxes in front of the barn.

"Dandy!" he cried, and the pony ran quickly to the big box
in the center and stood upon it.  "King!  Queen!" Bobby cried,
and the two dogs jumped upon the boxes, one each side of the pony.
"Ponto!  Patty!" and the next box on each side was filled.  "Curly!
Spot!  Hurricane!  Lightning!" and the next four boxes, two on
each side, were occupied.

This disposed of all the dogs except the six little collie puppies,
and Bobby next called the names of these, one at a time.  Of course
the puppies did not know what to do, but as soon as Bobby had
called the name of one of them he set that one up on its box so that
it would soon learn to know where it belonged.

"Jimmy!" called Bobby, and down from the barn fluttered
Jimmy Tarwings and sat on the pony's head.  Then Bobby gave
a peculiar low thrilling whistle, and with a whirl and a rush the
pigeons came circling and fluttering down, each one landing on a
head of one of the dogs.  "Spunk!  Saucebox!" Bobby called, and
the two bantams jumped up, one on each of his outstretched hands.
Two of the pigeons settled down on each of Bobby's shoulders and
one on top of his head.  The two bantam roosters started to crow
as loud as they could and that was the signal for the pony and all
the dogs except the puppies to stand up on their hind feet, while
the crow and the pigeons fluttered their wings.  "Down!" said
Bobby, and they all settled back upon their haunches.  Bobby
dropped his arms and the bantam roosters fluttered to the ground.

Next Bobby brought out a barrel and called Dandy.  The pony
came running and with a little jump landed right on top of the
barrel, rolling it forwards and backwards, without Bobby helping
him in any way or even coming near him.  Then Bobby took a
mouth harp from his pocket and began to play a lively little waltz
tune, upon which Dandy jumped on top of a little platform that
Bobby had built and standing on his hind feet, began to waltz.

"On your head, now, Dandy," called Bobby, and the pony, after
much struggling, managed to stand on his head for a moment.  This
was a new trick that Bobby had been nearly a year in teaching him,
but now he was almost able to do it without trouble although it was
very, very difficult.  This was not all of the tricks that Dandy could
do, for he could spell his own name and Bobby's and some others
by pawing printed cards around, and could pick out colors when
told to do so, and could answer questions by nodding his head, and
count up simple figures by pawing with his foot, but his master did
not ask him to do all these tricks this time.  Bobby was as considerate
of his animals as if they were human friends.

Bobby next called King and Queen and they came with a rush,
jumping upon the platform and sitting with their fore legs up, happy
and eager.  Bobby put the empty barrel, which was open at both
ends and scraped smooth inside, on the platform.  Then King and
Queen got one on each side of it and rolled it backward and
forward, then they both jumped on top of it, one facing one way and
the other the other, and rolled it, King walking backwards and
Queen walking forwards.  When it was at the very edge of the
platform King walked forwards and Queen walked backwards and
rolled it the other way.  Then, at Bobby's command, they stopped
it in the middle of the platform where King stood toward one end
of it, tilting the other end up while Queen pushed that end so that
it stood upright.  Then King and Queen jumped into it, both at
once from opposite directions, tilting the barrel over and coming
out side by side, a very difficult trick and one that had taken Bobby
a long while to teach them.  Then he threw them a light rubber
ball, and King, taking it in his teeth, would toss it and Queen would
catch it.  Then she would toss it back.  They were ready to do still
more tricks, but Bobby never put them through all that they knew
at one time, not wishing to tire them.

"Ponto and Patty!" he called, and the two pointers took the
places of the collies.  They stood on rolling globes, turned
somersaults and jumped straight up in the air to catch a piece of red
leather that Bobby had hung from a light, horizontal bar which
he kept putting higher and higher for them.  They did other tricks,
and then the greyhounds did some very wonderful high jumping.
The terriers waltzed and turned back springs and walked a tight
rope.  The pigeons, at Bobby's command, wheeled in the air, two
by two, by four's, in single file, and in fact went through a regular
drill just above Bobby's head.

It was a finer performance than those usually seen in traveling
shows.  Bobby had taught all these pets of his just for his own
amusement and they seemed to enjoy it just as much as he did, and after
each one had done his part, Bobby always had some little delicacy
for him; a lump of sugar for the pony, little pieces of meat for the
dogs, some special seed for the pigeons, and he had a pat on the
head and a loving word for all of them.

"All over!" he cried at last, and the patient animals ran scampering
from their boxes.  "Now, Billy Mischief," said Bobby, turning
to our friend, the goat, "come on, and we'll learn a stunt or two
ourselves."

Billy came willingly enough when his name was called and when
Bobby patted his hands on the boards, Billy jumped upon the
platform.

"Shake hands," said Bobby.

Of course Billy did not know what this meant, but Bobby caught
hold of one of his fore feet and lifted it up, shaking it gently, then
he set it down and patted Billy on the flanks.  "Shake hands," he
said again, and this time he tapped Billy on the leg.  Still Billy
did not know what to do, so Bobby once more picked up his foot
and shook it, then patted him on the shoulder.  A dozen times
Bobby patiently did this, until at last when he said, "Shake hands!",
and tapped Billy gently on the leg, Billy lifted up his hoof and
laid it in Bobby's hand to be shaken.

"Good boy," said Bobby, patting him and, reaching in his
pocket, he drew out some tender lettuce leaves which he had found
Billy liked better than anything else.  That was all for that morning.

The next morning Bobby only had to say, "Shake hands!" twice
until Billy lifted up his hoof, and before that lesson was over he
only needed the words and did not even need to be tapped on the
leg.  For two or three days longer that was all the lesson he got,
because it does not do to try to teach animals too many tricks at
once.  It only confuses them, but Billy, once started, was very quick
to learn.  Soon he could do as many tricks as the best of them, and
had his box right alongside his friend Dandy's.  Some of the tricks
that he had learned were brand new ones.  They had never been
seen in a show or anywhere else, and how Billy did like the work!
How he did like Bobby and all his animal friends, and how he did
like this peaceful happy place!





.. vspace:: 4

.. _`A HAPPY REUNION`:

.. class:: center large bold

   CHAPTER XIII


.. class:: center medium bold

   A HAPPY REUNION

.. vspace:: 2

.. dropcap:: O
   :image: images/img-cap13.jpg
   :lines: 5

One evening Bobby and his father were standing at the
front gate talking when a dusty, red-faced, little fat
man came trudging along the road with a white goat
dragging at his heels.  He was a queer looking figure
and he seemed to be very much worried as he came up to them.

"Mister," said he to Mr. Sanders, "could you told me where
I should get such a job yet?"

"I don't know of any place," said Mr. Sanders.  "Where are
you from?  What countryman are you?"

"I been a Switzer," said the man.  "I got no money, no job,
no anything, only this one dumb-headed goat."

Mr. Sanders smiled as he looked from the man to the goat,
both of them woe-begone tramps.

"Rather queer," he said, "to be tramping around the country
with a goat.  Where did you get it?"

"That should be all of my troubles, yet," said the man mournfully.
"When I start von Switzerland I have more as two hundred
goats what I have bought for a partnerships to a man for a goat
farm back there about four hours' walk.  I have such a wrecks
by my ship and I lose me all but this one dumb-headed goat.  Well,
I have my ticket by the railroad to where this man should have the
goats.  I promise him some goats, I got one left, I come all the
way von New York und take it to him and what you think?  He
won't have any.  Because I don't bring him the more as two
hundred goats what I promise, he won't take even this one dumb-head,"
and he scowled at the poor goat at his heels as if it had been the
cause of all of his woe.

"How much will you take for your goat?" suddenly broke in Bobby.

"Oh, Bobby boy, you don't want another goat?" objected his
father.  "You've got the place overrun now."

"Oh but, father, I want a team," said Bobby.  "I've been wishing
for one to put on the other side of Billy when I'm having them
do stunts, besides hitching them up to a cart that I am making.  They
will make a fine team."

"Don't you think you could find better ways than that to spend
your money?" said Mr. Sanders.

"I don't think so," said Bobby.  "If I can get it at the right
price, it's a good investment.  How much will you take?" he asked,
turning to the man.

"I take me ten dollars," said the man.

"Too much," said Bobby.  "It's more than I think the goat is
worth and more than I care to pay."

"How much then?" asked the man.

"Seven dollars," answered Bobby.  "I don't want to dicker
with you or I would have offered you less.  That is the most I can
pay."

"Take the goat yes!" said the man.  "It's a dumb-head, anyhow.
I belief me."

Bobby opened the gate joyfully and patted the goat on the neck.
The goat, tired and dusty, felt grateful for that touch just as Billy
had felt and when Bobby said "Come on," it followed gladly.

"I'll bring you the money right away," said Bobby.  "Come
on," he called again to the goat, and ran back to the barn.
Running into Billy's stall, he said: "Billy, my boy, I've brought a new
friend for you and I want you to be good to this stranger."  With
that the strange goat came in after him and Billy leaped up with a
bleat of joy.  The new goat was his mother!

Bobby ran back to the house to get his money, leaving the two
goats together, and they had so much to tell each other at once that
neither one of them heard very much what the other was saying,
until Billy happened to pay attention to where his mother was
explaining how she had just been sold to Bobby.

.. _`Neither one of them heard very much what the other was saying.`:

.. figure:: images/img-150.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: Neither one of them heard very much what the other was saying.

   Neither one of them heard very much what the other was saying.

"Wait a minute," said Billy, "did you say that man was out
there now?"

"Yes," answered his mother.  "Bobby just went to get him
some money."

"Wait right here a minute," said Billy.  "I owe him something
for throwing me overboard into the sea, and I always like to
pay my debts."

Out of the barn he ran, through the gate, down the drive, and
cleared the road gate with a pretty jump.  Then he wheeled to
where the fat man, the money in his pocket, was saying good-bye
to Bobby and his father.  Billy had no time to say anything just
then; he just ran with his head down.  The fat man turned and
saw Billy coming and started to run toward the village, going so
fast that he fairly waddled sideways, but there was no use for him
to run.  Like two freight cars bumping together, Billy landed on
fat Hans Zug just once.

"A thousand lightnings yet again!" yelled Hans.

Billy did not stop to answer him.  He just trotted back, jumped
over the gate and hurried on to the barn to talk to his mother, about
this splendid, contented home that was to be theirs for a long time
to come.  And we could not say good-bye to them in a happier place.

.. vspace:: 4

.. class:: center white-space-pre-line

   \*      \*      \*      \*      \*      \*      \*      \*

.. vspace:: 4

.. class:: center large bold

   The

.. class:: center x-large bold

   Billy Whiskers Series

.. vspace:: 2

.. class:: center medium bold white-space-pre-line

   By
   Frances
   Trego
   Montgomery

.. vspace:: 2

The antics of frolicsome Billy Whiskers,
that adventuresome goat Mrs. Montgomery writes
about in these stories make all the boys and girls
chuckle—and every story that is issued about
him is pronounced by them "better than the last."

.. vspace:: 2

.. class:: center medium bold

   TITLES IN SERIES

.. vspace:: 1

.. class:: noindent white-space-pre-line

\1. Billy Whiskers
\2. Billy Whiskers' Kids
\3. Billy Whiskers, Junior
\4. Billy Whiskers' Travels
\5. Billy Whiskers at the Circus
\6. Billy Whiskers at the Fair
\7. Billy Whiskers' Friends
\8. Billy Whiskers, Jr., and His Chums
\9. Billy Whiskers' Grandchildren
\10. Billy Whiskers' Vacation
\11. Billy Whiskers Kidnaped
\12. Billy Whiskers' Twins
\13. Billy Whiskers In an Aeroplane
\14. Billy Whiskers In Town
\17. Billy Whiskers at the Exposition
\18. Billy Whiskers Out West
\19. Billy Whiskers in the South
\20. Billy Whiskers In Camp
\21. Billy Whiskers in France
\22. Billy Whiskers' Adventures
\23. Billy Whiskers in the Movies
\24. Billy Whiskers Out for Fun
\25. Billy Whiskers' Frolics
\26. Billy Whiskers at Home
\27. Billy Whiskers' Pranks

.. vspace:: 2

.. class:: center white-space-pre-line

   BOUND IN BOARDS
   COVER IN COLORS
   PROFUSE TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
   FULL-PAGE DRAWINGS IN COLORS

.. vspace:: 2

.. class:: center bold

THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY—AKRON, OHIO

.. vspace:: 3

.. _`back cover`:

.. figure:: images/img-bcover.jpg
   :align: center
   :alt: back cover

   back cover

.. vspace:: 6

.. pgfooter::
