Billy Whiskers | Page 5

his next meal for he well knew he
would never dare go back to Mr. Biggses after upsetting him in the
geranium bed and causing all the mischief he had there that day. But
being a goat of a cheerful frame of mind and used to looking out for
himself, he did not worry much, and decided he would enter the first
garden he came to, and make a free lunch off the vegetables, or go into
a turnip patch and feast on them for if there was anything he doted on it
was nice, sweet turnips, fresh from the fields.
He had gone some distance, and no patch or garden appearing that was
not enclosed by a high, barbed-wire fence, he commenced to get
discouraged. Feeling hungry and thirsty he was about wishing he had
behaved himself at Mr. Biggses so he could go back, when he came to
a turn in the road and there before him stood a frame building, with the
door open and over the door a large picture of a white Polar bear sitting
on a cake of ice, drinking a foaming glass of soda-water, while in a
circle round him sat little bears, each with a glass of something cool to

drink.
"This is just the place I have been looking for," thought Billy, "where
thirsty animals can get a drink." So in he walked, much to the fright of
a party of picnickers, who were sitting around a little table drinking
soda-water and lemonade, and eating ice-cream.
The man at the soda fountain on seeing Billy was so surprised that he
forgot to turn off the fizz he was putting into a glass of soda he was
mixing, and it foamed up and ran up his sleeve and all over everything.
This caused the young people to laugh, which made the young man
behind the counter mad. He picked up a bottle of ginger-ale and
pretended to throw it at Billy, but alas for his intentions! He raised it
too high; it hit a large bottle of syrup that stood on a shelf behind him,
breaking both bottles at the same time, and instead of hurting Billy, he
got a sticky bath of syrup and a shower of ginger in his own eyes. This
was adding insult to injury, he thought, and this last mishap turned the
laughter of the crowd into a scream of merriment which did not lessen
his anger in the least. He grabbed a broom that stood near by and
jumping over the counter went for Billy, who all this time had been
standing still, doing nothing but looking at the man and waiting for him
to give him a drink of some kind.
[Illustration]
When Billy saw the man jump over the counter with the broom, he
knew he was after him but at the same time he made up his mind that
he would not leave that store until he had had a drink of
something,--man or no man.
So when the man made a lunge at him with the broom, Billy made a
quick rush at the man and planted his head in the middle of the fellow's
stomach sending him sprawling on the floor where he landed in the
midst of a shower of tooth-brushes he had upset as he flew by the show
cases.
This catastrophe frightened the girls and boys who had been sitting

sipping soda and laughing at the man, and there was a mad scramble to
get out but Billy was too quick for them. He wheeled round and butted
the tail end of one fellow's coat so hard that it sent him flying clear
through the open door and out into the road where he landed in a
mud-puddle.
Then he turned and went for the girls who were all huddled together
against the wall, screaming and crying with fright. He walked up to
them. As they saw him coming, they thought their time had come and
threw up their hands to cover their eyes and screamed harder than ever.
But he only took a bunch of green wax grapes off the hat of one of the
girls and commenced to chew it, and he would have left them alone but
one of the boys who was with them came to their rescue and tried to
drive Billy away by giving him a hard blow with a chair he had picked
up. This infuriated Billy and he gave the whole bunch of girls a butt
and then turned and went for the boy, who was holding the chair high
over his head ready to strike. Billy stuck his long horns into the boy's
chest and laid him flat on the floor in an instant. Then he walked up on
him and