Billy Whiskers - Frances Trego Montgomery (learn to read books .TXT) 📗

he heard the farmer say: "Here he comes now, the one I was telling you about and I don't think you will have any trouble in teaching him anything you want to, for he seems very smart and not afraid of 'Old Nick' himself."

"That is good," said the circus-man, "for a timid goat is no good in a circus where they have to be with all the other animals."

"So," thought Billy, "this is a man from the circus up in town and he is thinking of buying me and making me perform in his circus. Well, I guess not," and he kicked up his heels in their faces and skipped off to the other side of the stream where they could not get him.

"It takes three to make a bargain where there is a goat in the case," said Billy to himself, "and I will give them a good chase if they try to catch me. And should they catch me, I pity the men and animals at the circus when I get there for I shall use my sharp horns to advantage and split a hole in their old tent and come back to Nanny. Now they are looking at Satan, maybe the man will buy him. No, I am afraid he won't for he is shaking his head and pointing at me and here they come. The farmer is holding out his hand as if he had something in it for me to eat. Oh, no, Mr. Farmer, I am too old a goat to be caught with chaff. However, I will stand still on this side of the stream and see what they will do."

And there Billy stood with his head raised waiting for them and he made as fine a picture of a goat as you ever saw, standing on a little green knoll with the silvery stream running at his feet.

The circus-man was delighted with him for he was almost twice the size of any other goat he had ever seen, and he thought how fine he would look dressed up as a professor with his long, silky beard.

By this time the men were directly opposite Billy and he noticed that the circus-man kept his hands behind him all the time, but presently he drew them forward and in one he held a rope with a long loop in it.

"So, ho," thought Billy, "he expects to tie that rope around my neck, does he? Well, let him cross the stream and catch me first."

But while Billy was thinking this the circus-man was making the rope fly round and round his head in a long circle, and soon with a quick twist, the rope straightened out and the loop fell over Billy's head and settled on his neck while he stood looking at them.

Billy was the most surprised goat you ever saw, for it was the first time he had ever seen a lasso thrown and had he only known it, the circus-man had been a cowboy in his younger days and lassoed many head of cattle. When Billy found he was fairly caught, his pride had a fall, for he had thought himself too smart to be caught, and instead of him leading the men a chase and making them cross the brook to get him, they were pulling him off the bank and through the water, making him follow them.

At first he tried to pull back and get away, but he had to give that up, for the rope tightened round his neck and shut off his breath and he was glad enough to follow where they led.

When Nanny saw what had happened she ran up to Billy bleating as if her heart would break for she was very fond of him, and she was afraid they were going to kill him or take him away forever.

"Don't cry, Nanny. I will get loose and come back to-night, or to-morrow night sure, if I can't get loose to-night; so don't take on so. I know my way back and a circus tent is not a hard thing to get out of."

"But, Billy dear, they may tie you as they have now, and then you can't get loose," said Nanny.

"Oh, yes I can, when they leave me alone, I can chew the rope in two."

"But can't I go with you, Billy? I feel so terribly at being left alone and, think of it, we have not been married two weeks."

"What a pretty face that little Nanny goat has," said the circus-man.

"Yes," answered the farmer, "they both came to the pasture one day and joined my goats and have been here ever since. I never knew where they came from, or whom they belonged to."

"Well, here we are at the barn, you must run back, little Nanny; I can't take you with me to-day, though it does seem a shame to separate you two lovers," said the circus-man.

As Billy went through the bars he halted a second to give Nanny a last good-bye kiss; and with the tears streaming down her face, Nanny stood and watched him until they were out of sight.

The circus-man tied Billy to the back of his buggy and whipping up his horse he started for town. Billy had to run fast to keep up and though he got out of breath, he could not stop unless the horse did. The worst of it was the horse kicked up such a dreadful dust that it nearly blinded Billy as it flew up in his face from under the buggy. At last they came to the outskirts of the town, where the circus tents were pitched, and Billy was untied from the buggy and led inside a large tent where cages of wild animals were arranged around the outer edge, while in the center two elephants and four camels were tethered. When he got inside, the circus-man called to one of the men to bring him a strong peg. This he drove into the ground and tethered Billy to it, like all the other animals were fastened. Then he told the man to bring him a bunch of straw for the goat to lie on, and a bundle of hay for him to eat.

"Hay," thought Billy, "after nice tender young grass and turnips! Well, I won't stay here long, that is one sure thing. I wonder if I can understand a word of what these heathen, foreign animals say, but I expect I can read their minds, if I can't understand their tongues for most animals are mind readers and mind is the same the world over, though their thoughts are not the same."

While Billy was thinking this, the circus-man and the other man left the tent and Billy was startled by the elephant sticking his trunk up to Billy's mouth and asking him to speak through it, as he was a little deaf and used his trunk as an ear trumpet. He was just going to introduce himself to the elephant and ask the elephant's name in return, when one of the camels in a weak, weary voice asked the same question he had been going to ask the elephant; so he introduced himself to the camel and she in return presented him to all the other animals that were within hearing distance. She did not introduce him to any of the beasts in the cages, as she said the animals that were loose looked down upon the caged ones and seldom spoke to them. The name of one of the camels was Miss Nancy, and she was a regular old maid of a camel, who did nothing but gossip and ask questions.

"Have you ever performed in a circus or traveled with one before?" she asked Billy. When hearing that he had not, she rolled up her eyes, a habit she had, and exclaimed: "Poor uneducated beast, what you have missed, never to have been taught to perform in a circus." This was a calamity in her eyes. She could not remember ever being anywhere else, as she had been born in a circus in this country shortly after her mother had been brought here from Persia.

"I am so glad I was not born in Persia, for had I been I should have had to carry heavy loads and cross the burning desert with very little water to drink. While now, all I have to do is to march in the processions and then stand and look wise while the boys feed me peanuts as they walk into the circus to see the performance. Oh, you will like being with us when you get used to the confinement," she said.

"For mercy sakes! Nancy, do keep still and give some one else a chance to talk," said her mother.

Just then the lion roared and when he roared, all the other animals stopped talking for he was still looked upon as king of the beasts although he was caged. They all stood a little in awe of him for fear he would break through his cage and chew them up, as he threatened to do so many times when they did not stop talking immediately when he roared.

This time he roared to know who the new comer was and if he was an American relative of his, for as Billy had a beard like the lion's, only much longer, the lion thought he must be an American lion.

"Come over here, near my cage, Mr. Beardy, where I can see you," said the lion.

"I can't," said Billy, "my rope is too short."

"Oh, very well," he roared back, "I will see you in the procession, to-morrow, for I hear you are to march back of my cage."

The lion's keeper came in to see what the lion was roaring about and in passing Billy he stopped to get a good look at him, and presently he was joined by another man, who Billy found out took the part of the clown and who was expected to walk by Billy's side in the procession while a monkey rode his back.

"You are a pretty fine looking goat, old fellow, and I expect we will become great friends. Here is a lump of sugar to begin our friendship with, or do you prefer tobacco?" said the clown.

"He seems like a nice man," thought Billy, "but I never thought to see the day when I would march in a procession with a monkey on my back and a clown at my side, and I don't know whether I will allow him to ride or not, but I guess I will behave for awhile and see what life is like under a circus tent."

The next day dawned bright and fair and there was great commotion throughout the circus, getting ready for the eleven o'clock procession that was to march through the streets. Early in the morning, Billy was led into the sawdust ring, and a peculiar saddle like a little platform was strapped to his back. This the monkey was to dance on, dressed as a ballet girl, with yellow, spangled skirts, a satin bodice and a blue cap with a feather in it on his head.

When Billy first saw the monkey in this dress walking on his hind legs toward him to get on his back, he had a good mind to toss him up to the top of the tent, he felt so disgusted; but his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to wait and see what they expected him to do next. He soon found out. They wanted him to trot around the ring, and not jump when the ring master cracked his long lashed whip at him, while the monkey danced on his back and jumped through paper rings, as the lady circus riders do.

"This is very easy," thought