He stood licking the glass for a little while; then his greed getting the better of him, he backed off and gave the glass a quick hard knock with his horns. It broke and flew in all directions and let the pop-corn roll out in a perfect stream. Billy stopped to listen a minute to see if the noise of the breaking glass had brought anyone to see what was the matter, and when no one came, he commenced to eat the salted and buttered corn, and he ate until for once in his life he could say he had had enough. But, oh my! what a thirst it had given him, and he did not know where to get a drink unless he went and stole it out of the elephant's tub of water, but he did not like to go there as the elephant's keeper slept near his charge and he might catch him and tie him up.

Billy was just leaving the tent when he ran into a large tin water cooler. It took but a minute to push the top off with his nose and then he began to drink. But what was the matter with the water? It had turned sour and had round pieces of yellow, sour stuff floating in it; it was his first taste of lemonade, consequently he did not know what he was drinking.

In his disgust at finding no water, he revenged himself by upsetting the water cooler and spilling all the lemonade. Then he walked out and going into the first tent he came to, he found himself in the room of the leading lady who was fast asleep on a cot. At the end of the tent he saw a small table with a looking-glass hanging above it, but when Billy saw his reflection in it, he did not make the mistake of thinking it was another goat like he had once before. He walked up to the table and seeing a stick of red stuff that looked like candy, he ate it, but it turned out to be a stick of red paint that the leading lady used to paint her lips. After tasting her powder, and upsetting her bottle of perfumery, and chewing her blonde wig, thinking it some kind of yellow grass, he walked out without awakening her.

Next he went into a tent that had pictures of snakes of all kinds painted on it. This was the tent occupied by the snake charmers, but Billy knew nothing about large snakes, only little inoffensive garter snakes, so he went in and commenced nosing around in the baskets he saw setting there with blankets in them to see what was under the blankets.

In the first one, he felt something cold and slippery and not to his taste, so he let it alone, thinking it a piece of garden hose; but when he stuck his nose in the next basket something long and slim and pliable stuck its head out and wound itself around his body drawing itself tighter and tighter, until Billy found himself staggering for want of breath. When he was nearly squeezed to death he made a death-like groan which awoke the Indian snake charmer who was asleep in one corner of the tent on a pile of rugs. The man took in the situation at a glance, and came to Billy's rescue, making the snake uncoil itself by playing on a kind of bagpipe, a queer, weird, monotonous piece of music. This charmed the snake and it uncoiled itself from Billy and, swaying its body, crawled toward the snake charmer.

The second that Billy felt its coils slip from his body, he took a long breath and ran from the tent not even stopping to wiggle his head in thanks for his preservation. Once outside, he made his way back to his own tent where he lay down on his pile of straw to snatch a little sleep before daylight, as unconcerned as if nothing had happened.



Billy and the Snakes

The next day after Billy's midnight prowl which was Saturday, there was great commotion among the circus people, for the leading lady accused her rival, the brunette, of coming into her dressing room while she slept and destroying her blonde wig; while the pop-corn man said thieves had been at his stand and broken his glass case and eaten his pop-corn, beside they had spilled all his lemonade that he had intended using the next day; the night watchman was going to be discharged for not attending to his business; then the Indian snake charmer came along and told them the thief had visited his tent but his snakes had frightened him away.

"And he was a big fellow I can tell you. I did not dare tackle him."

"Oh my!" said the leading lady, "and to think he was in my tent and I slept through it all."

"There, I told you I did not touch your old straw colored wig!" said the brunette.

And they all said, "Do tell us all about it, what time of the night did he come, and which way did he go when he ran away?"

"All right," said the snake charmer, with a twinkle in his eye the others did not see, "sit down and I will tell you all about it,—how I was awakened by a groan, and saw standing in the middle of my tent, a huge fellow, with a long, white beard and white, agonized face; for you must know that my boa-constrictor was squeezing him to death."

"Oh, how awful! Weren't you frightened?" said the leading-lady.

"No, because I knew he could not touch me while the snake was coiled around him. At first I thought I would let the boa kill him, but he looked so awful with his eyes sticking out of his head, as the snake squeezed him tighter and tighter, that I felt sorry for him; so I began to play the music I always play when I want the snakes to come to me, and the boa stopped squeezing the goat and came to me."

"Goat, did you say? You mean burglar."

"No, I mean goat, or burglar if you would rather call him so, for your thief was nothing more or less than Billy Whiskers."

"You mean, horrid man to fool us so!" they all said.

And the snake charmer got up and hurried out of the tent for he saw blood in the eye of the champion boxer and he thought he had better get out before the man took hold of him.

Saturday was to be the last day of the circus in Smithville and immediately after the evening performance they were to break camp and move in the night, and be on the road all day Sunday traveling to the next town, where they were booked to give a performance on Monday morning.

Now all this meant quick work and rapid travel, as they could not go by train, there being no railroad to this town, so they had to have their circus horses and wagons move them.

When Billy heard them talking about moving, he thought it would be great fun and looked forward to it with pleasure. But he little knew what was before him.

During the morning performance Billy behaved all right, but in the afternoon he was so excited and anxious to be off that he behaved very badly. He ran around the ring so fast that when the monkey jumped through the paper hoops expecting to land on Billy's back, he was beyond him and the monkey landed on the ground and had to run to catch up. This made the ring-master angry and he hit Billy a sharp cut with his whip, but instead of making him behave better he got worse and worse. He would stand still and shake himself until he nearly made the monkey's bones crack; and when the ring-master hit him, he stood on his hind legs and the monkey had to cling to his horns to keep from falling off. When Billy found he could not throw the monkey, he ran for the pole in the center of the ring that supported the tent, and tried to butt him off but the monkey was too quick for him and dodged every time. At last Billy tried rolling with him, but this the ring-master could not allow as it would ruin the saddle strapped to his back. He gave him a few good cuts with the whip that stung like everything and this turned Billy's wrath from the monkey to him, and like a shot he was up and after the ring-master. He planted his horns in the middle of the ring-master's back and ran him to the edge of the ring where he gave him a butt that sent him flying to the other tent.

Billy was punished for this and told he should have no supper, and he understood what they said although they did not suppose he did.

"All right," he thought, "no supper, no performance, for I won't behave and take my part unless I am fed. But I will find something to eat even if they won't feed me, for a goat can eat almost anything from tin cans to apples."



The man who had tied Billy had scarcely gotten out of sight when he commenced to chew his rope in two and when it dropped apart, Billy walked over and commenced to eat the elephant's food. This the elephant did not like. He told Billy to stop and go eat his own supper, but Billy would not, neither would he take the trouble to explain to the elephant that he hadn't any supper and was expected to go supperless. Now if he had only told the elephant, who had always been a good friend of his, he would gladly have given him half of his supper; but Billy was in a contrary mood and would say nothing, but kept on eating. This provoked the elephant, so he quietly wound his trunk around Mr. Billy and lifting him from the ground, set him on top of the lion's cage that was standing near. Billy was more surprised when he found himself standing on top of the lion's cage than he had ever been in his life, but only for a minute for he jumped down and disappeared through a tear in the canvas of the tent. As he ran away he heard all the animals laughing, though you might have called it the lion's roar and the hyena's call, and above all the racket he heard the head animal keeper asking what all this racket was about; and although they all tried to tell him by each giving his particular call, he was too stupid to understand animal talk, so lost all the fun of the joke.

When Billy came through the side of the tent, he found himself near the tent where the horses and ponies were kept. Smelling corn and oats, he walked in, and while talking to his particular friends, the Shetland ponies, he helped himself to their supper.

While in this tent he became acquainted with a little Mexican Burroetta that was destined to become his closest companion and friend in the future. The Burroetta was just his height, of a mouse color, with a white streak down its spine and four white stockinged feet, but the most peculiar thing about its looks was its exceedingly long ears,—ears that were as long as Billy's horns. It was the cutest, smartest little creature you ever saw, and had most beautiful, large, liquid eyes. It looked as mild as a dove, but was quite deceiving for it was as full of the "old scratch" as Billy himself. It must have been this kindred spirit that drew them together from the first.

That night the people had come to the circus; looked at the animals and passed into the performing tent; several of the things on the programme had been gone through with and it was Billy's turn to perform next and still Billy had not been found.

Every man and woman on the place had been looking for him, but though they had hunted everywhere and inquired of every one if he had seen a large, white goat with long whiskers, no one had seen him and they were about to substitute something else for his performance when one of the men, coming into the ponies' tent for something, saw Billy lying down by the little Burroetta.

"Here Billy, you rascal, come along with me. We have been looking everywhere for you."

And Billy was led off and made to go through his performance. But to-night he was cross and still angry with the ring-master. So when about through with his imitation of the professor, he leaned over and took a mouthful of the leaves of the book and chewed them up. Then he stood up in his chair with his gown and spectacles on, and before anyone could stop him he had jumped down and ran out of the tent, with the spectacles still on his nose and his gown trailing after him.

The excitement and confusion this caused in the circus knew no bounds. And when the children discovered that the astrologer was nothing more or less than an ordinary goat, and that his voice had come from a man, who was a ventriloquist, hid under the platform, their disgust was complete and it broke up the circus performance for that night.

Billy chewed, wriggled and pulled at his gown until he tore it off and then he kicked up his heels and disappeared in the darkness outside; and he was careful to keep in the shadows away from the light, so no one could see him, for he had sense enough to know that he had done wrong and would be punished if caught.



What Billy Did on Sunday

Billy, after running out of the circus, stood in the shadow of a shed under a large tree. From his hiding place he could perceive all that was going on at the circus as it was bright moonlight, beside all the workmen had lights fastened in their caps so they could see without the bother of carrying a lantern around.

First Billy saw them hitch the draft-horses to the animal wagons and vehicles they had for carrying baggage. Then the big tent closed as if it were an umbrella, and it was rolled up and put in a wagon made purposely for hauling it; then all the riding horses with the men and women performers on their backs, started the procession. Next came the cages filled with animals and last the baggage vans and feed wagons.

After they were well on their way Billy trotted on behind keeping well in the shadows. They had been crawling silently along the highways like a huge snake for a long while when all of a sudden the long line came to a sudden halt.

There was great noise and confusion ahead and, of course, Billy's curiosity called him to the front immediately to see what was the matter. In passing the wagons which had been left by their drivers to go forward and find out the cause of the sudden stop, Billy accidentally ran into his friend, Senorita Burroetta, which means Miss Baby Buro, as his friend was called.

"How are you, Betty?" For in their short acquaintance Billy had shortened her name to that. "I did not know you with that pack on your back. Aren't you tired carrying that heavy load?"

"Yes," answered Betty, "and the girth pinches me. They did not get it on straight and every time I step it hurts me awfully."

"Here let me see if I can't fix it," said Billy.

"Oh never mind, I can stand it, for it isn't the first time they have buckled a piece of skin in; beside you could not unbuckle it with your teeth or feet."

"No, but I can chew the girth in two if you don't mind being pinched a little more while I am doing it," said Billy.

So Billy commenced to chew the girth which he could get at easily where it stuck out from Betty's side to pass over the load on her back; and we know better than Betty that Billy was good at chewing rope and straps in two. Soon the girth began to give and Betty swelled herself out and the girth split in two and let the load on her back slip to the ground.

Then the goat and Burro ran ahead to see what all the scolding and loud talking were about. When they got there, they found the elephant had broken down a little bridge that crossed the narrow stream and there was no way to get the wagons over. The elephant, before crossing, had put his forefoot out to try the strength of the bridge and with a little shake the bridge had collapsed and dropped into the water. Had he stepped on it without trying it, he would most likely have been killed for it surely would have gone down with him on it.

The only way now to get across was for the wagons to drive down the steep embankment, through the water and up the other side. This they proceeded to do, but Billy and Betty jumped the space. Then they scampered on ahead after the horseback riders who had gone before.

As they ran they could hear the lion's roar and the hyena's laugh when their cages were driven into the water, and the water rose on them, while the elephants kept up such a trumpeting that it awoke all the country folks who were near enough to hear it, and they thought the Day of Judgment had come and it was Gabriel's trumpet they heard.

A poor, ignorant Swedish family that lived on the bank of the stream by the bridge were awakened by the noise but were afraid to get up and look out of the window to see what all the commotion was about.

At last the brave husband by coaxing and threatening succeeded in getting his wife out of bed. As she had never been to a circus in her life or seen anything but the picture of wild animals, she was nearly frightened to death at what she saw passing in the moonlight, and ran back to bed and put her head under the covers and would not speak a word, though her husband threatened to kick her out of bed. Poor woman, she could not tell him what she saw, for she did not know the name of the animals.

At last her husband got up courage enough to go to the window and look out as his wife had, but he stayed less time than she did for just as he got there the lions gave a mighty roar and all the animals followed suit, for the lions' cage was passing through the water and they did not like the cold water crawling up their legs and of course they thought they were going to be drowned; while the Swedish workman thought he was going to be chewed up alive, and flew back to bed with teeth chattering and held on to his wife for protection; and had a lion really come after them he would probably have thrown his wife at the lion's head for him to eat, while he made good his escape.

All this time Billy and Betty were trotting along side by side gossiping about people in the circus, and all the time it became lighter and lighter as it was getting nearer sunrise.

About five o'clock they saw, away in the blue distance, a tall church steeple and they knew they must be nearing the town where the circus was to be held.

As they came nearer they could hear the sound of the church bell ring out on the stillness, calling the people to early morning mass, and soon they could see the people going to church, and the mothers take their children by the hand and pull them into the church as they did not want them to see anything so wicked as a circus procession on Sunday morning.

Billy noticing this, said, "Let us give the children a treat. When the people are all in the church we will walk in and see what it looks like inside."

The two mischief-makers hung around out of sight, until the people had stopped going in, then they walked boldly into the vestibule. Here they saw a marble basin filled with clear, cool-looking water. They stopped and drank it, not knowing it was the holy water the Catholics cross themselves with before entering church.

The church aisle was separated from the vestibule only by two green baize doors. These Billy and Betty pushed open with their noses and while the organ was playing and the priests were kneeling, Billy and Betty walked the whole length of the middle aisle, side by side, as if they were a bridal couple. When they arrived at the altar, Billy stopped and commenced to eat some roses that were in a vase on the altar steps.

The congregation sat stupefied with horror to see these animals in church and directly behind the kneeling priest and choir boys. The music made Betty lonesome and she threw up her head and let out such a loud, mule-like bray that it frightened the kneeling priest and he jumped up as if shot for he thought he had heard Balaam's ass bray; but when he turned and saw standing behind him a live burro and a goat, his astonishment knew no bounds and he stood gazing at them with open mouth, while the choir boys laughed and giggled and thought it a good joke.

Soon the ushers and deacons came to their senses enough to come forward and try to drive the beasts out. But when Billy saw them coming he ran up the altar steps into the pulpit, and Betty ran through the first door she saw open, which proved not to be the outer door but one which led into the room where the choir boys dressed.

When Betty appeared there, the boys laughed and screamed and drove her out into the church again, and kicking up her heels she ran out of the church, braying for Billy. When Billy saw her go he ran down the altar steps, upsetting a near-sighted deacon who was coming up to help drive him out, and bleating to Betty that he was coming he rushed through the door.

They trotted along side by side down the street until they came to a beautiful place surrounded by a tall, iron fence. Through the fence they could see a large, brick residence with a cupola on top. On one side of the house was the flower garden, while on the other a fruit patch and vegetable garden. And oh, how good the fresh, green lettuce and beet tops looked to these tired, hungry travelers.

"Let us go in and help ourselves," said Billy.

"We can't get through the fence," said Betty, "and it is too high to jump."

"You remind me of Nanny, for she was always finding objections and obstacles to everything I wanted to do."

"Well, who in the world is Nanny? I should like to know," said Betty.

"Why haven't I told you about her?" asked Billy.

"No, you have not, Billy Whiskers, and I should like to know right away."

"Well, I will tell you, Senorita Burroetta, and you need not be so cross about it either. She is my wife and a sweeter, dearer little wife no goat ever had before!"

Betty stopped stock still in the road and glared at Billy for a second, before she could speak from astonishment. Then she said: "Billy Whiskers you are a gay deceiver and you know you never told me you were married and I am sure I always thought you were a bachelor."

"I am very sorry if it makes any difference to you, but I never told you because we have been so busy talking of other things and I have not had a chance."

"Oh, very well then," said Betty, "I will forgive you if you did not mean to keep it from me."

So the two made up and commenced to look for a gate or way to get into the garden. At last they saw where an iron bar or two of the fence had been broken, making quite a good-sized hole and through this they squeezed themselves and were soon having a feast off of Deacon Jones's prize cabbages, lettuce and beets, while the family, including the Deacon, were at church.

They were still eating when they heard the iron gates shut with a clang and looking up they saw the Deacon coming toward them, swinging his cane in frantic anger, showing that he had already forgotten his Sunday-school lesson: "Let not your angry passions rise."



Billy, with a mouthful of carrots, started to run toward the stables, trusting to find a way out and Betty with a twist of her body and a squeal followed after him.

They were just going into the barn, the door of which was standing open, when a little, yellow dog ran out at them and commenced to bark and bite at Betty's heels. She let one foot fly out quickly behind and Mr. Doggie went rolling over in the dirt, and at that minute Billy spied a little open gate that led into the orchard and through this they both ran with the Deacon and dog still after them.

When they got to the other side of the orchard they came to a rail fence. This Billy took at one jump, breaking the top rail as he went over, and it was a good thing he did for it helped Betty get over as she was not as high a jumper as Billy.

They were over the fence and a good way down the road before the deacon got to the fence, and then he was so out of breath from running that he gave up the chase, called off his dog, and throwing two or three stones at them, turned and walked slowly back to the garden to see what damage they had done.

Billy and Betty wandered around all day and at night went to sleep in a straw stack on the outskirts of the town.



What Billy Did on Monday

All day Sunday the circus people worked to get their tents up and everything in shape for the Monday's performances, and when at night they went to look over the animals to see if all were there they missed Billy and Betty.

"Now there will be the dickens to pay," said the animal keeper, "if that goat can't be found for he has been the means of bringing more children to the circus than anything else we have had for them."

"I will eat my shirt off if I know where to look for him! You can bet your life he is a good one on a hide."

"You and I will have to go hunt him, John, so go saddle two horses and we will start out. He must have turned into some of the lanes we passed on our way here, and coaxed Betty off with him. They could easily get away without being noticed when the bridge broke down. You search the town and I will take the road and lanes."

While the men were looking for the two runaways, they were quietly grazing along the road that led to the town.

Now Billy got tired of the quiet and said, "Come Betty, let's go into the town and see the sights and have some fun, and maybe we can find a grocery store where there are good things setting outside to eat, or a fruit stand," for Billy had not forgotten how luscious the pears and peaches had tasted that he had stolen from a fruit stand one day.

This was agreeable to Betty and the two trotted along side by side toward the town. Presently they came to a large sign-board on which pictures of the circus were posted. There Billy spied himself pictured as trotting along with the monkey riding on his back and jumping through the paper hoops.

At sight of the monkey Billy got mad, as usual, and before Betty knew what he was going to do, he ran up to the fence and commenced trying to butt it down, calling to Betty to come help kick it over.

They were thus employed when a farmer came along the road and, seeing them, took out his whip and drove them off.

They ran along before him for a while and then dropped back until he had passed them. As soon as he had passed, Billy spied on the back of his wagon a large basket of celery with the tops sticking out over the edge.

"Look, Betty, look!" cried Billy, pointing his nose in the direction of the wagon. "Let's follow on behind and eat up his celery. It will be a good joke on him." And the two scampered after the farmer and soon caught up, for he was driving slowly; and he could not see them for the things that were piled up high behind him.

When the two rascals caught up to the wagon they ate all the celery they wanted, which was more than half of it, as it was deliciously juicy and tasted fine. They had had no breakfast except some dusty grass that grew beside the road.

While they ate the farmer whistled low to himself and planned how he would sell his celery to the grocery man; and then, with the money, go to the circus, and see the wonderful astrologer that was neither goat nor man who was advertised to perform. He little guessed that the "Wonderful Astrologer" was at that moment eating up his celery and making it doubtful whether he would have any left or not.

Billy and Betty were still eating when a dog spied them and ran out from his yard after them. Billy turned and tried to hook him but the dog was too quick. He dodged, but in trying to escape from Billy he got too near Betty's heels and she gave him a kick in the side that sent him rolling over into the dust, yelping, and before he could get up Billy helped him up by sticking his horns under him and tossing him over the fence.



The owner of the dog saw this and ran out calling for the farmer to stop or he would have him arrested for allowing his goat to hook his dog. The farmer stopped to see what all the row was about, and while the owner of the dog was shaking his fist in the farmer's face, and the farmer was trying to explain that the goat and mule, as he called Betty, did not belong to him, Billy and Betty sneaked off and disappeared down a side road and to their surprise found themselves facing the circus tents.

If they went forward the circus people would catch them, and if they went back, the angry man and farmer would be after them. As they stood discussing which way to go, it was decided for them, for the animal keeper on his horse turned into the lane behind them and drove them to the circus in double-quick time with his long whip.

All the way there he scolded them as he tried to crack them with his whip, and it was no fun being hit with it as it seemed to take a piece of flesh out each time it struck.



Betty ran in among the Shetland ponies where she belonged and Billy dodged into the first tent he saw with the flap open. For a wonder it turned out to be the one where he belonged, and in less time than it takes to tell it Billy found himself chained beside the elephant.

"There, Master Billy, I guess you won't chew yourself loose in a hurry again, and have me chasing all over the country for you," said the animal keeper.

And to make up for his past bad behavior Billy performed better the next day than he had at any time.



What Billy Did on Tuesday

Tuesday turned out to be a dismal, cold, rainy day and Billy was glad enough to stay quietly in the tent. He thought it would be a good chance to become better acquainted with the animals in the cages and he decided to call on them all by beginning at one cage and visiting each in order until he had completed the circle.

He could not stay where he was, for Nancy, the old maid camel, made him nervous; she talked so much, and when she was not talking she chewed her cud like an old maid chews gum.

"How can you stand her?" Billy whispered to the elephant.

"Oh, I have got used to it," said the elephant, "and I don't hear her half the time, and when she gets too bad I just pull the flops of my ears down tight to my head, and I can't hear a word. And then I set my trunk to wobbling and make it nod 'yes' half the time and 'no' the other, and I find it answers quite well."

"But how do you know when to say 'yes' and when to say 'no'?" Billy asked.

"I don't mind if I do answer wrong part of the time, and if I get too much off she stops talking altogether and that pleases me better, so you see it answers very well."

"But don't you get tired leading such an inactive life?" asked Billy.

"I used to," answered the elephant, "when I was younger, and before my mate died. But since she died and I have rheumatism I don't seem to care much, for without her there would be nothing to do if I did run away; beside your climate is so cold, and your forests so skinny and bare looking there would not be any fun living in them."

"Our forests skinny and bare looking, did you say? You don't know what you are talking about. I guess our forests are as nice as yours in India, and not half so full of snakes and chattering monkeys, to say nothing of the nasty crocodiles and hippopotamuses that you have in your rivers; and vines growing all over the trees and from one tree to another, so thickly you can't walk without making a path for yourself by breaking them down."

"Oh, but that is just what I like," said the elephant, "and the air is so hot and moist you feel fine, while here you are either all dried up with heat or shivering with cold."

"Well, every one to his taste, I suppose," and he walked over to the hyenas' cage to make their acquaintance, out of curiosity, as he knew little about hyenas.

"My, aren't they homely, sneaky, shifty-eyed looking things!" thought Billy. "I would not like to meet one alone after dark, but still I hear they are cowardly and wait until one is dead before they try to eat him up. I don't think I will make a long call, for they grin and laugh too much, and their laughter has no mirth in it. It is just a loud guffaw." So he only stayed a few minutes and then went on to a beautiful white llama's cage.

"Good morning, Miss Llama," said Billy very politely, for he wished to get in the good graces of the beautiful Miss Llama whom he admired very much for her long, silky, white hair and mild, brown eyes.

"Good morning, Mr. Whiskers," she replied. "How do you find yourself after our Saturday night's trip?"

"Very well," said Billy, "but I am afraid you must have had a bad shaking up where the bridge was broken, if you had to go down that steep embankment to cross the creek."

"You are right; it was steep," said the llama, "and I was nearly scared to death when I felt the water running into my cage and I had just given myself up as lost when it commenced to recede, and I was thrown on my knees by the cage being pulled with a jerk up the opposite bank. How did you get across?"

"Oh, easily! I just jumped across from one pier of the bridge to the other," said Billy. "I met a friend of mine and we went off and had a fine time. How I wish you could get out of that cage, so you could go with us sometime!"

"You don't wish it more than I do, and it always makes me weep, when we are driven along the sweet smelling roads, to think that I can't get out and must be shut in here for life."

"It really is a shame, for you are too pretty to be shut in a cage. Are you sure you can't break some of those bars some night and get out?"

"I am sure," said the llama, "for I have tried time and again."

"Well, Billy Whiskers, you are the 'consarnedest' goat I ever knew, and how in the 'dickens' you managed to break that chain is more than I can tell," Billy and Miss Llama heard someone say behind them and looking round they saw the animal keeper.

"So, so; you simply pulled up the stake you were tied to when you found you could not chew your chain in two, did you? Well, come along with me; you have been idle long enough, and we are going to teach you some new tricks."

When Billy heard this his heart sank for he disliked the ring-master and was afraid they would make him stand on his hind-legs and walk. Had he only known it, that was the easiest thing he would have to do. He was led to the performing ring and there stood the hated ring-master facing a line of animals standing in a straight line reaching from one side of the ring to the other. In the middle stood the elephant, with the summer house, as Billy called it, on his back; next him stood a camel; next the camel a giraffe; next the giraffe a horse; next the horse, a zebra, and last a little Shetland pony. On the other side of the elephant were more animals standing in the same order.

"What in the world can they want of me," thought Billy, but he soon found out for they dressed him up as a clown in a white suit with red spots on it and tied a mask on his face and a pointed clown's cap on his head. Then they led him to where the pony stood and made him walk up a step ladder, onto a little platform, strapped to the pony's back. From this he was made to walk up another step onto a similar platform on the zebra's back; here he was made to stop and make a bow and so on until he had reached the little summer house on the elephant's back. This he was made to enter and sit upright on a little seat that was inside while the elephant started forward and walked out of the ring carrying Billy with him.



After this he was dressed as a workman, with a pipe in his mouth and a hod of mortar strapped to his shoulder, and made to walk part way round the ring on his hind legs. Then he was allowed to rest and was given a bunch of carrots to eat. While he was eating these Betty was brought in hitched to a little low wheeled cart. Then a great Dane dog was brought in hitched to a similar cart. After that a man pulled in another cart like the other two and hitched Billy to that. The carts were painted red, white, and blue and trimmed with flags. Soon three little dogs dressed as ladies were carried in, put into the carts with the reins over their necks. Then the goat, burro, and dog were put neck to neck, ready to start on the race that was to begin when the ring-master cracked his whip.

At the signal the dog got started ahead, but half way around the ring Billy passed him; the next time around, the dog was again ahead, when slow little Betty balked in the middle of the course and both the goat and dog ran into her upsetting the carts and spilling out the little lady dog drivers. None of them were hurt and the little dogs ran around stepping on their silk petticoats and getting their hats askew, they enjoying the upset by barking and making all the noise they could.

"Well, boys, you want to do it better at the regular performance," said the ring-master, as the animals were led from the ring.



What Billy Did on Wednesday

Wednesday, Billy was not tied up and after wandering around the circus and visiting the different animals and stopping to chat with Betty, he decided to watch his chance and slip into town.

This was not hard for him to do and he soon found himself on the main street. At first he walked quietly along looking into the windows, but presently he saw before him a well-known figure, that of the ring-master.

"Now is my chance," thought Billy, "to get even with him for giving me all those cuts with his whip. I'll just give him a butt and land him in the middle of that mud puddle, and I am going to do it so hard he will hear his spine crack and I guess he won't hit me with his whip again very soon."

So Billy started quietly on a run, going on his tiptoes so the ring-master would not hear him until it was too late to get out of the way. Just as Billy got to him the man raised his arm to doff his hat to a pretty girl, and the next thing he knew he was flying through the air with his hat in his hand. Still holding his arm extended, he landed in the deep puddle of muddy water in the middle of the street, while the young lady threw up her hands and fled.



It is needless to say that Billy immediately disappeared down a side street. Here he ran into a livery stable where a dog fight had been going on in the back yard. Two ferocious bull-dogs, had fought so wickedly that their jaws had had to be pried apart.

One of the dogs had a chain around its neck and its owner was going to lead it off when one of the livery men saw Billy and called out:

"Wait a minute Mr. Pride, here's a Billy goat I bet can lick your dog. Let us turn them loose in the yard and have another fight."

"Why, man what are you talking about? My dog would make just one grab at the goat's throat and kill him."

"I am not so sure of that," replied the man, "but I am mighty sure he will lick your dog if he is the goat I think he is, for I believe he is the trained goat from the circus."

"Let's have a fight," said the other men that were standing around. "It will be great sport to see the goat lick the dog that can whip every other dog in town."

"So you think the goat can lick my dog, do you? I'll bet one or all of you twenty dollars that he can't."

"It is a go!" said two or three. Then the man that had proposed the fight said: "It is all well enough to have a little fight for fun but I hate to see your dog killed, as he may be."

"Oh, don't you worry about my dog. Leave all your worrying for the goat."

All this time the dog had been pulling at his chain and straining to get at the goat, while Billy quietly walked around inspecting things, chewing anything he could find.

"Won't I fix that conceited dog!" said Billy to himself. So he allowed himself to be driven into the back-yard. Here the men formed a circle with Billy in the center; then the man unfastened the chain from the dog's neck. With a rush he went for the goat, who quickly stood on his hind legs, lowered his head and met the dog's onslaught with his horns, running one of them into his chest, which sent the blood spitting out. Then the dog tried to get behind Billy for another charge but Billy wheeled and met him again as before and no matter which way the dog tried to approach him, Billy was always head foremost with his long, pointed horns sticking straight out to meet him.

The dog was getting more and more furious at each failure and at last he made a blind plunge at the goat, but, as before, Billy was too quick for him and this time he sent the dog yelping back to his master.

"Here! what do you mean by shutting our goat up?" they heard someone say and turning around they saw one of the men from the circus who had been sent out to look for Billy as it was nearly time for the performance to begin.

"We did not shut him up. He walked in of his own accord; but you should have been here a minute sooner and you would have seen the prettiest fight you ever saw in your life, between your goat and the bulliest bull-dog of the town."

"I am sorry I did not see it; but perhaps we can have another sometime."

"Never!" said the dog's owner very emphatically. "I doubt if he lives through this."

"Well, good-bye, boys; come and see Billy Whiskers perform in the circus this afternoon and you will see as good a performance as fighting, and I'll give all passes who bet on him this time.

"Billy, I would not have given much for your skin after the ring-master got through with you if it had not been for this fight; but now I think he will forgive you for the butt you gave him this morning, since you whipped Mr. Pride's dog for he hates Mr. Pride because he forbade him calling on his daughter."



What Billy Did on Thursday

Thursday there was no performance as the circus was to break camp and move to the next town where they were to take the train for a large city. Here they would meet the rest of the circus which had been divided up into small bands and sent into the country, like the one Billy was now with. When they met in the city, all the companies joined forces.

The elephant told Billy to wait and see what elegant performances they gave when they were all together. "Why!" he said, "we have three rings with acting going on in each one at the same time, and all the performers wear their best clothes and try their best to outshine each other; beside we have three or four times as many animal side-tents as we do now.

"When we meet I will introduce you to my chum who is the oldest and largest elephant in the circus business. He is a fine fellow and tells a good story, and one could listen for hours to him telling of his adventures and experiences while in the jungle and traveling in this country. But it nearly makes him weep when he tells of how he was once the pet elephant of a Prince of India and how the Prince would never ride any other but himself when hunting or riding in the royal processions. 'Only think of the come-down,' he used to add, 'from having a Prince of the royal blood on your back to a common circus rider in gaudy skirts! Then my blankets and trappings were of velvet, studded with real precious stones. Now they are velveteen with glass to imitate the precious jewels. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! That I should ever live to see this day.'"

Here the elephant's conversation was cut short by someone screaming, "Fire, fire!"

"Where? where?" called Billy who was all excitement in a minute and he started to run in the direction he heard the voice come from, but alas for Billy! He forgot he was tied until he came to the end of his rope and it gave him a quick jerk which sent him head over heels, breaking the rope.

"Gee whiz! I nearly broke my neck. Blame their old rope!"



"Fire, fire, fire!" called the voice again, followed by a laugh and Billy, looking up, saw a green poll-parrot swinging on a rope overhead, that commenced to call: "April fool, April fool!" as loud as she could.

"How I do hate parrots and monkeys! I dare you to come down here, you disagreeable, impertinent, pea-green, old maid of a bird!" bleated Billy.

He had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when something struck him on the back and began to pull his hair out by the roots. It was Miss Polly who had dropped like a torpedo and who was screeching, pecking and clawing him at a great rate. She was in a bad humor that day as they had forgotten to feed her her accustomed crackers and coffee.

As soon as Billy got over his surprise, which was in a second, he lay down and rolled. This knocked Polly off but the minute he stopped she flew onto his back again and pecked him until the blood ran. The second time she lit on his back he thought of a way to get even. He saw the elephant's tub of water a little way before him and with two bounds he was by its side and before Miss Polly was aware of what was up, she found herself doused in the tub, and when she came up from under the water there was no goat in sight.

As Billy went out of the tent he ran into the animal keeper who was just coming in.

"Ho, ho! Master Billy, not so fast. I was coming to look for you, for we are about to start and you have a way of turning up missing just when you are most wanted." As he said this he caught hold of the piece of rope around Billy's neck that Billy had broken when he took his somersault, and said: "Come along with me. I am going to put you for once where you can't get out, no matter how hard you bite, chew or kick."

"I wonder what he is going to do with me," thought Billy.

But he soon found out, for the man led him to a vacant cage that a wild cat had died in the day before, and made him walk up an inclined board into it.

"Heavens!" thought Billy, "I'll never get out of here unless I die and am carried out like the wild cat was, and if I don't die I know I will go crazy, shut up in a little cooped up place like this, with only room enough to take one step and not enough to turn around unless you turn yourself in sections."

"Well, Billy, how do you like being caged?" asked the animal keeper.

"Yes, you vicious beast, you, how do you like being shut up where you can't butt and send people flying into mud-puddles and chew up their wigs, etc.?" asked the ring-master who had joined the animal keeper.

"Oh, it is you, is it? Well, you just wait until I get out of here and see where I will butt you next time, and the animal keeper, too," bleated Billy, but neither of them understood what he said.

When they left him alone Billy tried every way he could think of to break out, but he could make no impression on the iron bars, chew as he would,—in fact, he broke one of his teeth trying. Then he tried butting out the ends of the cage, but it was of no use. Next he stood on his hind legs and tried to push the roof off with his long horns, but to no effect; so he lay down tired and broken-hearted on the hard bottom of the cage and gave himself up to the blues.

He was lying there quietly, apparently asleep, when a man brought him a bundle of hay to eat, a bucket of water to drink and a pitch-fork of straw to lie on.

Billy did not move when they brought the things, pretending to be asleep, but he was rudely awakened out of his supposed sleep by the man sticking the prongs of the pitch-fork into him to make him get up so he could spread the straw on the bottom of the cage. He felt too disheartened to eat, especially food which he detested, but thought he would take a drink as he was very thirsty, but at one smell of the bucket he turned up his aristocratic nose for he detected the bucket had not been washed since it had been used by some of the other animals for he could smell and see their hairs on the rim; so he lay down more disgusted than ever. Poor Billy's confinement was going to be hard for him. He had roamed the fields and towns, master of himself, too long to take to being shut up easily.

At last Billy fell asleep and only awakened when they hitched the horses to the wagon-like cage he was in to draw it to the depot. Just before they started he heard a man say: "Here, you forgot to put up the sides on that cage with the goat in."

Then the man brought wooden sides and fastened them onto the cage over the iron bars. This left Billy only a little iron barred opening near the top, at one side, to get air through.

"I shall surely smother," thought Billy. "Oh, this is horrible! I feel as if I were buried alive."

At that minute the horses started up and poor Billy went down on his knees with a sudden jerk.

"How I wish Nanny was here to comfort me," thought Billy. "She was always so patient and cheerful." How like a man that was for Billy to forget all about Nanny while he was free and having a good time, but the minute he was in trouble to think of her and be willing to have her shut up if he could only see her.

After several hours of hard traveling they stopped, and Billy knew they must be at the depot for he heard the engines whistling and the bells ringing, and he was very glad of it for his knees were all skinned from slipping on the floor from one end of the cage to the other when they went up or down hill, for it was impossible to stand, so he had to lay down and make the best of it.

"I never pitied caged animals before," thought Billy, "but I did not know what they had to endure or I should."

After a great deal of commotion, swearing and fussing on the part of the men outside, Billy's cage was at last on board and the train started.

"Mercy!" thought Billy, "aren't they going to give me a drink of water or something fresh and cool to eat? Do they expect me to eat that dried up, tasteless, weedy hay this hot day; and as for the water, that got upset the first hill we went up. Oh, dear! and to add to the rest of my troubles I have got a cinder in my eye, along with this horrible dust that is blowing in that stuffy little window and I know I am going to be smothered to death. Oh, if Nanny were only here, to lick this cinder out of my eye! It smarts so I wish I had hands instead of feet for once in my life so I could get it out. I wonder if people ever think how inconvenient it is not to have hands sometimes."

And poor old Billy commenced to cry softly to himself. It was a good thing he did for he soon cried the cinder out and when his eye stopped hurting, he got some of his spunk back again and began to plan some way of getting out of his cage.

At twelve o'clock at night they reached the city and were driven through the silent streets to a vacant lot where all the circus bands were to meet. And here I will leave Billy until next morning.



What Billy Did on Friday

When Billy's little band of circus people joined the others they found everything in order as they were the last company of the six traveling bands to join the main one.

There was one huge tent with three rings in it where the performances would be given; opening into this was another large one where the animals were exhibited and branching out of this were three others,—one where the horses and ponies were kept; another used as the dressing room, and still another where the circus people took their meals, while scattered around were ten or a dozen side-shows.

The cage Billy was in had hardly been put in place when the sides were taken off and he found himself in the large animal tent with the cages arranged round the edge and his old friend the elephant tethered just outside with the other elephants from the different bands, and his elephant friend was talking to his chum, the elephant he had told Billy about, that told such good stories. Billy thought he must be telling one now for they were both laughing, but you might have thought they were trumpeting had you heard them.

Billy bleated to the elephant and he raised his head and looked in all directions to see where Billy was but he could not see him, until Billy told him where to look.

"Goodness gracious me! Is that you, Mr. Billy, shut up in that cage? I never expected to see you in a place like that."

"Neither did I ever expect to find myself in one like this," Billy answered, "and what is more, I would rather be dead than stay here. But I will get out yet, don't you fear."

"I bet you do, Mr. Whiskers, for you are a good one at getting out of scrapes as well as getting into them. Let me introduce you to my friend and chum, Prince Nan-ka-poo, as he is called on the show bill."

After the introduction Billy's friend said: "Don't look so down hearted. I will get the Prince to tell us one of his funny stories so we can have a good laugh. He has just been telling me a capital one."

But before he had time to tell it a man came along with a hose and began to wash out Billy's cage and souse him with water, squirting it in his eyes just to tease him, which Billy thought was a little too much as it was like kicking a fellow when he was down and could not help himself.

"Just wait, Mr. Man with the hose, until I meet you when I get out of here, and if I don't make your body ache, then my name is not Billy Whiskers. I am going to give you a butt and hook that will send you half way up a telegraph pole!"

While he was fuming about this, another man came along and gave him a nice, cool drink, and as he saw he had not eaten any of the hay he gave him a bunch of carrots and a bundle of nice grass. This Billy appreciated and said to himself: "That's a nice man. I'll do him a favor some time if I ever get the chance."

Billy had not stopped eating when a man came along with a bucket in his hand with something black in it and a large flat brush. When he got to Billy's cage he commenced to unlock the door and to Billy's surprise he climbed in and shut the door after him.

"Well, I wonder what is up now," thought Billy.

"I don't want to interrupt your breakfast, Master Billy, but this job has to be done before the circus begins this morning. Just go on eating while I turn you from an ordinary white goat into a black one. Hereafter you are to be known as the wild goat with three horns from Guinea. If you don't believe me, read the printed sign outside tacked to your cage, but do not be alarmed, this black stuff is not paint and it will wash off easily, for it is only charcoal and some other mixture. You see our black goat died and as we have it advertised, we are going to fix you up to represent it and the people won't know the difference for the public are easily fooled. And for your third horn—this came off of a Mexican steer."

The man took from his pocket a long horn and glued it onto Billy's head between his other horns, only with the curved point forward instead of backward. How Billy wished for a mirror to see himself when the man had finished!

"I must look like Satan, Mr. Windlass's goat," thought Billy.

Billy did not get fixed any too soon for the people now began to crowd into the circus to see the animals before the performances commenced and they passed around the ring before the animals' cages, talking and giving them peanuts, pop-corn and apples. He heard some one say when in front of his cage:

"Oh, my! Look at this queer looking goat with three horns—don't he look fierce?"



"Let's read the card on his cage and see what it says about him. It says he was caught in the mountains of Guinea and that he is very ferocious. He looks it, doesn't he? How would you like to have him hook you?" Billy heard one little boy say to another. "Isn't this funny, the card says he kills his prey with his two sharp pointed horns and then hooks the other one into his prey and carries it off."

"Is that what the card says? Well, if that isn't the biggest lie I ever heard!" thought Billy. "I'll bet the ring-master made that up, like the one about my being an astrologer. Oh, he is a dandy, he is! But when I come to think of it, I don't mind if they do fool the people, if they are so easily gulled as that; and I guess I will help them carry it out by behaving fierce and kicking around when anyone looks into my cage."

After the people had all passed into the main tent, the wind began to blow a perfect hurricane and the rain came down in sheets while one peal of thunder followed another in such quick succession that one would hardly have time to die away before another was upon it; rolling and booming like heavy pieces of artillery. The lightning was so vivid and bright that it made Billy wink at every flash.

Presently a fiercer, stronger volume of wind hit the big tent and it collapsed burying all the people under it, while the same gust swept on and picked up the tent Billy was sheltered in and carried it off, upsetting cage after cage of animals as it flew up and soared over their heads.

Billy's cage was among those upset, but before it went over the wind picked it up, carried it a few feet and then dropped it, smashing in the wooden side and setting Billy free. For once the old saying came true: "That it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good." With a swish of his stubby tail Billy was off down a side street, and as he ran he could hear above the peals of the thunder and the rushing of the wind, the lions roaring and the elephants trumpeting for fear amid the confusion and excitement of the collapsed tents,—the circus that Billy had escaped from for good.



Billy Finds Nanny

As Billy trotted down the side street, the cyclone still raged and blew loose boards and papers in every direction, but he kept on until he found himself out of the town and on the high road.

"Why, how good it seems to get away from the smelly old circus and be free again. Who cares for the wind and weather when one is free? This rain will wash the black stuff off my coat that circus fellow put on; and now I think of it, I'll just walk up to that board fence and butt off this old horn that they glued to my head: that will be the end of the Wild Goat from Guinea."

Suiting the action to the words, he walked up to the fence and hooked the curved part of the horn over the rail, pulled back, and the horn came off easily without pulling out any hair as the rain had softened the glue. As it fell inside the fence, Billy kicked up his heels, whisked his stubby tail, and started down the road at a fast trot. As he ran, he made up his mind he would find Nanny once more, even if he had to spend the rest of his life looking for her. You know from past experience that if Billy made up his mind to do a thing, that he did it; for Billy's strong points were bravery, perseverance and stick-to-ativeness. These are good qualities for boys and girls to have as well as goats.

It was a good thing that Billy had these qualities, or he never would have found Nanny again. For one whole month he hunted for her, going up one road and down another, being stoned by boys and chased by men as he tried to steal a meal out of their gardens. Some times he wandered into a yard to get something to eat, and they set the dogs on him, but this they always wished they had not done, for he invariably turned and ripped the dogs open with his long horns.

In this way he traveled, sleeping by the wayside in all kinds of weather, until even he was beginning to get discouraged. When one day he happened on a road that looked familiar to him, and the further he traveled, the more familiar it became, until he came to a bridge with a red house beside it. Then he knew where he was for he recognized the house and the scenery around as the place where the bridge had broken down when the elephant had attempted to cross it. His joy knew no bounds for now all he had to do to get to Nanny was to follow this road to the town and then take another to the other side of town which would lead him to his little wife Nanny.

When he thought of dear, patient, little Nanny, a tear rolled down his cheek; but he shook it off in a hurry for the next minute the thought came to him, what if Nanny had given him up as lost and married another? The thought made him mad; and for three or four miles he ran like a steam-engine, snorting with rage as he went, and vowing to himself that if it were so, he would split her new husband open with his long horns, as he had the dogs he had met by the way.

In the meantime, while Billy had been away, poor, lonely, little Nanny had never forgotten her old Billy, though all the young Billy Goats in the herd tried to make her do so, and each and all had wanted her to marry them, but she said "no" and remained faithful to her Billy.

She had one thing to comfort her however, and that was two beautiful little Kids that had been born to her some time after the circus-man had taken Billy away. With these she spent all her time, and they repaid it by being very fond of her; and it was a beautiful sight to see the three playing together in the green meadow down by the stream.

So Billy thought the next day, when, after traveling all night, he at last came to the farm and looking through the fence saw Nanny lying in the grass with the two little kids jumping over her and kissing her nose.

"Two very fine looking kids," thought Billy. "I wonder whose they are."

Then his old heart stood still for his next thought was: "She has forgotten me, is married again and these are her children."

This thought made him feel sick and faint, and his knees shook under him, so he dropped on the grass with his nose through the rails of the fence, and there he lay for a long while, but he never took his eyes off the three in the pasture.

"I will lie here and see if it is so," thought Billy, "and if it is, I will go away and never let her know that I came back."

As he looked, old Satan, the minister that had married them, came up to speak to Nanny, and Billy felt his blood beginning to boil for he thought:

"If she is married to that old widower, and I am afraid she is, for one of those kids is as black as Satan himself, I can't stand it! I shall stay to make myself known just long enough to kill him."

Soon, however, Satan walked off, as it was getting dark, and the goats began to find cozy places for themselves for the night. But Billy lay still and watched, though he was very thirsty and hungry, not having eaten anything all day, as he had been too anxious to get back to see if Nanny was married again.

He watched her wash the kids' little faces for the night with her soft tongue and give them a good-night kiss on their little noses before they cuddled down to sleep beside her. It made Billy groan with lonesomeness to see it all, and he lay there broken in spirit and wished he could die, and closed his eyes to shut out the sight.

But he could not keep them closed. He had to open them to look once more on Nanny's sweet, patient face. As he did so, he noticed that the moon was just rising; and as it came up, Nanny rose also and stepping carefully so as not to waken her babies, she walked toward the fence where Billy was.

Closer and closer she came with her pretty, sweet face showing plainly in the moonlight. Billy scarcely breathed, he was so excited, wondering if she would recognize him, and what she would say when she saw him.

She came straight to the fence and stuck her nose through the rail just above Billy's head before she saw him.

When she did, her eyes dilated with surprise, and then with a bleat of joy, she called:

"Billy! My Billy! Have you come back!" And she commenced to cry as if her heart would break for joy.

No words can express Billy's joy when he felt her tears on his face and her warm nose kissing his cold one, and all Billy could say was, "My darling, you are not married to Satan after all, are you?"

This made Nanny laugh and she called him a silly, old goose.

But what was the matter with Billy? He felt as strong and young as Nanny herself, and had forgotten his thirst and weariness of a few moments ago. Being only a goat, he did not know that happiness is the greatest elixir of life yet discovered.

"Wait a second, Nanny. I can't have this old fence between us," and Billy backed off, gave a spring and was over the fence beside Nanny in no time.



"Oh! Billy, how good it seems to have you back again. Now I have a great surprise for you. Come and see our two beautiful children. One is as white as snow and her I call Day. The other is as black as a coal, and him I call Night. They are twins, and two smarter, healthier kids you never saw.

"Night is very mischievous and reminds me of you all the time. Ever since you have been gone, I have walked to the fence every night and looked and waited for you to come back and it nearly broke my heart when night after night went by and you did not come."

Billy and Nanny walked over to where their babies were, and Billy assured her that they were the most beautiful kids his eyes had ever rested on, and he felt himself swelling with pride as the father of such handsome kids.

Nanny led Billy to the stream and while he was quenching his thirst and eating a little of the sweet grass and mint that grew on its bank, they told each other all that had happened since they parted.

I will leave Billy and Nanny here, and my next book will be about Day and Night, Billy and Nanny's kids.

THE END.



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