Billy Jr. Has Some New Experiences.
ON his way back to Knob Hill, Billy passed a magnificent mansion with shades down and the gas lighted inside.
“Now, what in the world is the matter with the people who live there?” he mused; “are they lunatics that they close the curtains, shut out the sunshine, and then light the gas at three o’clock in the afternoon? And what is that long tunnel-like, canopied passage that extends from the curbing to the front door? I believe they call it an awning. It is not raining, what do they want it for? I must get nearer and see about it.” So Billy walked to the side opening in the awning and looked in. The front door of the house was wide open and he could hear the strains of a mandolin orchestra from within, while the perfume from many flowers was wafted to his nostrils. Not a person was in sight.
“How strange,” thought Billy, “to leave a front door wide open and no one to watch it! Guess I will walk up and see how it looks inside.” Accordingly he walked bravely up to the door and looked in.
Such gorgeousness he had never even dreamed of. There were flowers and palms in bewildering profusion. There were draperies and furniture of Oriental magnificence, and hundreds of electric bulbs with shades of varied colorings which lit up the scene, while soft, dreamy music made one feel as if he were indeed in fairyland. As in a dream Billy walked up the broad flight of stairs leading to the second floor and from the first room to the right he could hear voices and subdued laughter, while from an adjoining room came the admonition, “Girls, stop chattering and finish dressing, for your guests will soon be here.” Then Billy knew that an afternoon reception was to be held here and that was why the shades were drawn and the gas lighted; for it is not fashionable to have sunlight at these affairs. Complexions and gowns look better by gaslight.
When Billy heard the voices, he turned and walked into the front room. This apartment was furnished in keeping with the magnificence of the parlor floor. White woodwork, mahogany chairs and table, a high four-poster bed with satin and lace coverings, silver toilet articles on the dresser, silver and cut glass vases everywhere filled with pink roses and white hyacinths, and again, a multitude of soft-tinted lights which enhanced the beauty of everything the eye rested upon.
BILLY GAVE ONE LEAP WHICH CARRIED HIM AHEAD OF THE DOG.
“The scent of the flowers reminds me of the clover in the meadows. I must have a taste of them.” So Billy tasted and then ate one entire bouquet, for the flavor was so fine he could not stop at one bite. Then, beginning to feel the effects of his wearisome escapade with the boys, and lulled by the warmth, light, perfume, and music surrounding him, he jumped up in the middle of the beautiful bed, and stretched himself out on the exquisite pink satin and lace coverlet preparatory to enjoying a good rest. Nothing was too good for the use of Billy Jr.
When the first guests entered the room they scarcely glanced at the bed, going first to the mirror to adjust their hair and repowder their noses. Suddenly, one of the ladies dropped the comb with a clatter, her eyes nearly dropping from their sockets and her face blanched with surprise and fear, for, reflected in the mirror, she saw two long horns suddenly raised from what she had supposed to be a black fur coat, and, screaming at the top of her voice, she turned and stood staring with open-eyed wonder at the sight before her. Her screams brought the entire household scrambling to the scene. She could not explain but dropped into a chair, completely overcome. Words, however, were needless, for there stood Billy in the middle of the great four-poster, self-convicted, and quite as surprised as any of the onlookers. For a moment he did not know which way to turn, but finally, seeing a door opposite the one in which the people all stood, he jumped for that and from there made his escape into a small room which connected with the hall. Down the steps he went, upsetting the fat butler with whom he came in contact on his way down and, without pausing to offer his apologies, hastened into the street and hurriedly left the neighborhood.
The goat episode was the main topic of conversation that afternoon among the fair five hundred, and Billy would have been flattered could he have heard himself described as “fierce-looking as a lion and as large as a bear.”
After Billy Jr. left the house where the reception was being held, he wandered around not knowing where to go. He began to feel lonesome and hungry and almost wished he had stayed with the firemen and old One-horn, even if his life with them was a monotonous one.
Presently, all thought of lonesomeness and hunger was driven from his mind by the sight of some boys coming around the corner whipping a large St. Bernard dog that was hitched to a little cart. When they saw Billy, they cried:
“Oh, see the dandy goat. Let’s catch him and hitch him up to your cart, Ned, and have a race. What do you say, is it a go?”
“You had better let them catch you, stranger,” barked the dog, “or they will club and beat you when they do get you.”
“Not until I have given them a chase,” bleated the goat, and with that he stood as if he were going to be an easy catch, until they tried to put their hands on him. Then he stood on his hind legs and whirled round and round like a circus-goat, facing them all the time between the whirls, so the boys did not know how to get hold of him in this position, besides they were afraid he would butt or kick them.
All this pleased the dog immensely and he laughed until his sides shook. Presently, Billy Jr. heard cart-wheels on the sidewalk and he knew Ned was returning with his cart. As the boy approached, Billy Jr. converted his hind legs, which he had been using as stilts, into kickers. Then with a bleat that meant “Oh, no you don’t,” he jumped over the low iron fence beside which he was standing and disappeared round the corner of a big brown-stone house that stood in the middle of a large yard, while, of course, all the boys came tagging after. Hero, the St. Bernard dog, forgetting the wagon he was hitched to, jumped too, breaking loose as he went over the fence.
As Billy rounded the corner of the house, he ran into the laundress, who was carrying in her arms a big basket of clothes piled so high that she could not see what hit her, until she found herself flat on the ground with her basket overturned beside her.
“Now, see what yees have done wid yer ugly black goat a-goin’ and upsetting all me clane clothes, and the missis that particular as never was. Bad luck to yez. Take him away,” she called, as she saw Billy coming toward her again. Billy expected to run round the house and come out on the street, but he was unable to do so, as the opposite side of the yard was enclosed by a high fence which he could not jump; and here the boys cornered him. He was going to butt them and get away, but the St. Bernard barked to him to let himself be caught and then they could have a race and see which could run the faster.
When Hero proposed this he, of course, thought he could beat Billy and not half try, or he would not have suggested it. Billy Jr., on the other hand, was sure he could beat Hero, so he let himself be caught and led into the front yard where he was soon hitched to Ned’s cart, while Hero was re-harnessed and hitched to another by Will, his master.
Soon the dog and goat were ready for the race and they were led into the middle of the street, Ned and Will each in their respective carts, and the other boys standing around ready to follow them when they started. A boy stood at the head of each animal, letting go when the word was given. Both the goat and the dog started at such a pace that the boys lost their hats and came near being thrown backwards out of their carts. Billy gave one leap which carried him ahead of the dog and jerked the cart along on its back wheels. Away down the street they sped, dodging wagons whose drivers stopped and stuck their heads out at the sides to see the fun. Hero, who was fat and short winded, seeing that he would have to do his best, ran with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, panting for breath, while Billy Jr., who was slender and in fine condition, closed his mouth and ran swiftly as an antelope, coming out way ahead.
“Hurrah for you, Billy! I shall take you home with me and keep you, for I consider you a good friend and you shall have the best supper you have had in a long while.” Billy Jr. bleated his thanks and added that it could not be given to him any too quickly, as he was both hungry and thirsty. “Before I go I want to tell Hero that I would like to have another race with him some other day when he is in better trim, for I beat him too easily this time.”
Hero thought Billy was bragging about his victory, so he said the reason he had not beaten was because his collar was so tight that he could not get his breath. “Besides,” he added. “Will is much heavier than Ned.”
“Oh, if you think that is the reason,” said Billy Jr., “come out to-morrow and I will run you a race without any carts for a couple of miles instead of one, and then we shall see who will win.”
This was all the conversation they had, for Ned led Billy off, fearing the other boys might want to take him away from him. They said he had no more right to the goat than they had, as he was evidently a stray goat.
“That’s all right,” said Ned, “but none of you fellows have a wagon, so I guess I will keep Billy until his owner turns up and claims him, and I am ready to fight the first boy who meddles or tries to take him away from me.” This settled the matter, for Ned could whip any of the boys in that gang.
Billy Jr. stayed with Ned for about a week and every day they had a race, or the boys played they were firemen and harnessed Billy to their hook-and-ladder wagon and made him pull it to where they played the fire was. After a day or two, Billy thought this was too much like work; there was no fun in it for him, besides Hero would not speak to him since he had beaten him in every race they had run, so he decided to go away and look for another home.
It was three nights after this before he found a chance to slip out, as he was shut in the stable every night in one of the box stalls. This night the coachman forgot to latch the sliding door to his stall, so when the man went to supper Billy pushed it open and slipped out into the coach-house where, as luck would have it, he found the door open into the alley, and out of it he went, not stopping or turning around until he reached the stable where Hero lived. He would not have stopped here, but Hero smelled goat as he passed and barked to Billy, “Is that you, Billy Jr., out at this time of the night? You must be running away.”
“You are right, I am running away and I’m never coming back, so good-bye, Hero; when I see you again I expect you can beat me, for by that time I shall be so old that any dog can do so.”
“You impudent goat, I shall not wish you good luck after that remark.”
Billy, chancing to look back down the alley, thought he saw a boy running in his direction and, for fear it might be Ned, he hurried on and turned out of the alley into the first street he came to. He had gone but a few feet when he saw one of the boys that always played with Ned coming in his direction, so he dodged into the next alley and hid behind a garbage box until the boy had crossed out of sight, then he came out and began to look for some friendly stable that he could enter. It was beginning to storm and soon the rain came down in torrents. Vivid lightning flashes were followed by loud rumblings of thunder, and although Billy was a hardy goat, still he was deathly afraid of thunder storms. He quickened his pace, passing stable after stable, but all were closed to keep out the rain and not even a back yard gate was open so he could run in and get under a wood-shed or porch.
It grew darker and darker each moment; the lightning became more frequent and more vivid, until poor Billy was all in a tremble. Suddenly he spied an over-turned packing box lying close to a stable, with just room enough for him to squeeze in between. “Well, this is better than nothing,” he thought, so he squeezed himself in and was about to lie down when he heard a low growl, and the next flash of lightning revealed to him another occupant of the box—a little yellow dog with a stubby tail and blazing eyes.