Billy Whiskers | Page 3

the remainder of the day,
except chewing up the dish-rags which were hung on the lilac bush to
dry, and all the flowers off the oleander.
The next day was his unlucky day, maybe because it was Friday. It
happened in this way, Mr. Wagner had some extra nice strawberries,
which he had taken special pains to pick and fix up, intending to send
them to a friend in town. He told the boys that they could take the goat
cart and drive into town, with the berries and some nice lettuce for his
friend, and get the mail on the way back.
The boys were delighted at the prospect of driving Billy in the new cart.
They packed the things in nicely, and hitching Billy up, drove out of
the lane in fine style, on a fast trot. Everything went well until half-way
to town, when Jimmy Brown sicked his dog on the goat, and then the
trouble commenced.
[Illustration: IN TWO MINUTES, HE HAD SENT THE DOG
FLYING OVER THE FENCE.]

Billy Whiskers made a plunge for the dog, missed him, but gave the
cart a quick jerk, which spilled the boys and the berries out in great
shape, and then the scrimmage began. The boys went for Jimmy Brown,
and the goat for the dog, dragging the overturned cart with him, and in
two minutes, he had sent the dog flying over the fence, with his sharp
horns. He then proceeded to walk quietly back to where the
strawberries and lettuce were lying in the road, and commenced eating
them, as if nothing had happened at all. All this time the boys were
pulling each other's hair, and rolling over in the dust, in a regular
pitched battle. Billy having eaten all he cared for, walked off and lay
down in the shade to rest, still dragging the cart after him. He was just
losing himself in sleep, when he was jerked to his feet in a hurry; the
cart was straightened; and before he knew what he was about, he was
being driven toward home as fast as his legs could go, and from the
conversation he learned that they had taken their departure so hurriedly
because they had seen Jimmy's big brother coming down the road, and
they did not care to stop and fight him too. Arriving at home, with dirty,
bloody faces; clothes torn, and no letter of thanks from the people the
berries had been sent to, the boys were afraid to go in so they decided
that the best plan would be to cry and howl and limp, as if they were
nearly dead, to excite their mother's sympathy; so that she would be too
frightened to scold them. They made the small holes larger in their
clothes, rubbed a little more dirt on their faces, and squeezed a little
more blood out of their scratches; and screaming at the top of their
voices, they drove into the lane. The ruse was a success, for first came
Kate, the cook, to see what was the matter; then John, the hired man;
and last mother and father, from out of the garden where they had been
examining the damages which Billy had done two nights before.
All mother said was, "That goat has to be sold, Silas Wagner, I told you
that trouble would come when you brought that long whiskered animal
home."
And the next day the goat was sold.
[Illustration]

Billy Whiskers Makes Trouble
The day after Billy Whiskers was sold to the Biggses he was shut in a
small yard to keep him out of mischief. Feeling lonesome, he thought
that he would jump the fence and look around a little. He was getting
cross-eyed looking through the palings of the fence which were very
close together, so suiting the action to the thought, he vaulted over the
fence, landing in a kettle of scarlet dye, that had been left there to cool.
When he got out of the kettle the fore-part of him was scarlet, and the
hind, white, but he did not mind that, so after shaking the drops from
his eyes and beard, he was as ready to explore as if nothing had
happened.
[Illustration]
Seeing the kitchen door open, he went up the steps softly and looked in.
He could see no one in the kitchen, and smelling some nice sweet-cakes,
which had just been taken out of the oven and placed on the table, he
walked cautiously across the floor and began to eat them. From the
floor he could only reach a few, so he mounted a chair, and from that
stepped onto the table. As he did so, he stepped into a large loaf cake
with frosting on it. While kicking that off, and