Read Billy Whiskers: The Autobiography of a Goat Page 8

  _Billy and Nanny Get into Mischief_

  When next we see Billy, he and Nanny are lying peacefully in themoonlight fast asleep. After running away from Mike, Nanny showedBilly the way into the country, for she knew the road well, asshe had had to draw a can of milk to town every morning.

  When they were once out of town Billy said:

  "Now, Nanny, we must find a nice meadow somewhere in which we canget some grass to eat and water to drink and then you must tellme all that has happened since last I saw you. But first we mustget as far away from the road Mike will have to take to get homeas we can, or he will find us."

  So they turned off at the first cross-road they came to andhurried on until they found the fine, green pasture where we nowsee them.

  The next day they were in this same pasture enjoying themselveswhen they saw some boys coming toward them. At first they thoughtthe boys were looking for them; but soon discovered from theirconversation that the boys were going swimming in a little lakeat the end of the meadow near the woods. They passed close by thegoats without paying any attention to them.

  One boy had a bag of pop-corn he was eating and Billy smelling itcommenced to long for some. The firemen had bought salted andbuttered pop-corn for him every day, and the smell of this madehim hungry and he determined to get the bag from the boy.

  "But how can you, Billy?" asked Nanny, when he told her he wasgoing to get the pop-corn.

  "I'll tell you; when they leave their clothes on the bank and goin swimming I will steal up and eat what is left in the bag, andanything else I find in their pockets."

  "How are you going to get anything out of their pockets withouthands?"

  "Why, I will eat pocket and all if I smell anything in there Ilike," answered Billy.

  "Billy Whiskers, you are the most determined goat I ever heardof," said Nanny. "If you want anything you are going to have it,no matter how you have to get it."

  "I guess you are right, Nan. But if you had ever tasted saltedand buttered pop-corn you, too, would have it if you had to hookall five of those boys into the lake to get it. Come along, andwe will go over near the lake so when they go into the water wecan go through their clothes and I will give you your first tasteof a town delicacy in the shape of pop-corn."

  Billy and Nanny soon arrived at the bank of the lake where theboys had gone in swimming, and behind a clump of bushes theyfound the boys' clothes.

  Billy lost no time in smelling out the bag of pop-corn but alas!when found, it was empty. Billy's disappointment knew no boundsand he began to vent his spleen on the clothes that were lyingaround by hooking and stamping on them. When throwing a coat upin the air on his horns two nice red apples rolled out of one ofthe pockets. After eating one of these and allowing Nanny to eatthe other, he felt a little less angry and commenced to smellaround for something else equally as good.

  All this time they could hear the boys shouting and splashing inthe water, oblivious of the mischief that was being done to theirclothes, for they could not see the goats through the bushes.

  "Oh, Billy, come here!" called Nanny, "and see what I have found.It smells awfully good but I don't know what it can be."

  Billy went and after smelling the coat pronounced the good smellto come from a piece of gingerbread in one of the pockets.

  "How do you know?" asked Nanny.

  "Well, I guess if you had eaten as many pieces of gingerbread asI have you would not forget the name. When I lived at Mr.Wagner's, his boys used to give it to me often."

  But the trouble was to get it out of the pocket now that it wasfound. Billy threw the coat up in the air, shook it in his mouthand did everything else he could think of, but the gingerbreadwould not fall out, so when the coat turned wrong side out andthe pocket lay exposed he ate pocket and all, forgetting to saveany for Nanny.

  "Oh, Nanny, forgive me, I forgot to give you some and you foundit, but don't care for it did not taste very good and I feltsomething hard go down my throat and I think I must haveswallowed a jack-knife also.

  "Here is something good, Nanny. A white shirt with starchedcuffs. You take one sleeve and I will take the other and I knowyou will like the starchy taste."

  The goats were standing there each chewing on a cuff when theyheard the boys coming and it happened that they both heard thenoise at the same time, but turned to run in opposite directionswhich tore the shirt from top to bottom and when the boys firstsaw the goats they were scampering off with a piece of shirtwaving from their mouths.

  The boys started after them but the rough ground the goats wererunning over hurt the boys' feet so they had to give up andcontent themselves with throwing stones at the two runaways.

  When the boys went to see what damage had been done they foundone boy minus a pair of trousers, another a shirt and all therest had lost their collars and cuffs to say nothing of thepockets that were missing.

  But the boy whose trousers were gone was in the worst fix, as theothers could go home without any collars and the boy minus ashirt could button his coat up tight to his neck and no one wouldknow he had no shirt on. But alas for the trouserless boy! Whatwas he to do? At last they hit on a plan. He was to take one ofthe boys' coats and stick his legs in the sleeves and button thecoat tightly in front and tie it on round his waist with astring. This he did, but when he had to walk he could only takethe very shortest of steps. This, with the comical picture hemade, sent the boys into peals of laughter, and they rolled onthe ground and held their sides for pain from laughing when hestubbed his toe and fell head over heels, or when he tried toclimb a fence.