_Billy Has a Ride in the Police Patrol Wagon_
After Billy left the policeman hanging on the fence, he walkedthrough street after street trying to find his way out of thetown, so he could go back to Nanny, but the more he looked forthe scattered houses of the suburbs, the more closely they seemedto be built, and he found himself on a street where there werenothing but stores and flats. It was beginning to get dark and hewas getting hungry and tired.
"I'll turn down the next alley I come to and see if I can't findsomeone's back gate open where I can go in and rest," thoughtBilly. He soon found the back yard to a flat and as he stood inthe open gate looking up, he could see by the gas light in thedifferent apartments, the cooks getting supper, and could smellthe sweet odor, to him, of boiled cabbage.
"Now is my chance," he thought, "to get supper and then come backand sleep in this coal shed I see in the corner."
As there were long flights of stairs that connected one flat withthe other, he thought he would commence at the bottom flight andgo to the top, stopping at each flat as he went and picking upanything he saw fit to eat. At the first landing, the cook hadjust been out to the ice-chest to get something for supper andhad neglected to shut the door tightly, consequently it was aneasy matter for Billy to push it open with his nose, and thenhelp himself to the nice, crisp, fresh lettuce and radishes hesaw lying on the shelf. These he ate in a twinkling; next hefound a basket of eggs, these he did not care for, but he didwant the bunch of large carrots back of the basket, so he stuckhis head farther into the chest to reach the carrots and in doingso, his horns ran through the handle of the basket and when hebrought his head out of the chest, the basket of eggs came too.
It slipped down until it hit his forehead and then it turnedover, spilling the eggs on the floor and making a terrible mess.As the eggs broke, each one made a noise like a small papertorpedo, and Billy knew the noise would bring the cook, so hescooted up the stairs to the next landing, where he kept verystill in order to hear what the cook would say when she saw thebroken eggs for he heard her coming out.
"Goodness, gracious, me! The grocery boy has dropped a package ofeggs on his way up stairs. No he hasn't either, for my ice-boxdoor is open and someone has been stealing my things!" he heardher say, and she hurried down stairs to look for the janitor totell him that sneak thieves had been at her ice chest.
When Billy heard her go down the stairs for the janitor, he wentto the upper flat, for fear the janitor would find him if hestayed where he was. Arriving at the upper flat, he saw a line ofnicely-starched, fine linen things,--a baby's cap, two or threehandkerchiefs and a lace tidy. These he chewed up and swallowedfor he liked the taste of starch and they felt quite like chewinggum in his mouth as he ate them. Then he saw a pan of applessetting outside the door and he ate some of those. While eatinghe heard the electric bell in the kitchen ring, which scared thelife out of him at first, but when he looked in the window andfound out what it was, he got over his fright. When the girl leftthe kitchen to answer the bell, Billy thought he would go in andtake a drink from a pan of milk he saw setting on the table. Hehad nearly finished the milk and his whiskers were all wet frombeing in the pan, when he heard a scream and, looking up, he sawthe girl standing in the doorway, screaming: "Fire! police!murder!"
"What a goose that girl is," thought Billy, "to make such aracket, she will have the patrol here and four or five policemenif she don't shut up. Guess I will run into her and butt herthrough the hall and down the front stairs."
Suiting the action to the thought, he started for her but shefled down the hall and ran into a room closing the door afterher. As she closed that door, the janitor opened the front doorwhich was directly opposite and Billy getting there just at thattime gave the janitor the butt instead of the girl and sent himsprawling on the hall floor.
Before he could get up, Billy ran back through the hall to escapedown the back stairs and as he ran he could hear the girlcalling: "Fire! police! murder!" out of the window at the top ofher voice.
Billy hurried down the outside stairs as fast as he could, butthere were so many turns they made him dizzy and as he reachedthe last flight, he heard the janitor above him call to someonein the yard not to let that confounded goat escape through theback gate.
Billy laughed to himself, "I would like to see anyone stop me,"when all unexpectedly, someone hit him on the head with a club ashe made the last turn in the stairs and there before him werethree policemen in a line stopping his way out. He butted andkicked and balked, but to no use; they clubbed him until he wasalmost senseless and then slipped a rope around his neck anddragged him to the patrol wagon that was waiting outside thegate, and with many boosts and pushes they at last succeeded ingetting him into the wagon.
As they drove down the street at break-neck speed, Billy vowed tohimself that if he ever got away from the police, that he wouldgo back and butt that girl into the middle of next week forscreaming, "Fire! police! murder!" until she had brought thepatrol wagon.