when they drew near he saw a large crowd out in front and their carriage
waiting for them, with the horses hitched and the driver sitting up in
front. Mrs. Brown was in the carriage and Frank's father was in front
of the crowd handing out money, first to one and then to the other.
When Frank and his goat came up his father looked at the goat very
sternly.
"See all the trouble that animal has made us!" he said. "I have had to
pay out in damages nearly every cent of cash I have with me, and as
there is no bank in this little village, my letter of credit is worth
nothing here. We must hurry on to Bern as fast as we can, and I want
you to leave that goat behind you. We can't bother with him any more.
Come on and get in."
"But, father," explained Frank, "the goat did not know what he was
doing."
"It does not matter," replied Mr. Brown. "There's no telling what kind
of mischief he will get into next."
"But, father," again urged Frank, "if you've had to pay out all that
money for him you might as well have the goat. There is no use of
losing the goat and money, too."
"Get in the carriage," said Mr. Brown, sharply.
"But, father--" again Frank began to argue. This time, however, Mr.
Brown cut him short, and, picking him up, put him into the carriage with
a not very gentle hand. Then, climbing in himself, he ordered the
driver to start.
Billy had taken his place back where he had been tied the other time,
and he was surprised to find the carriage moving on without him. The
cook, seeing that the goat was to be left behind, started forward to
give the animal a kick, but Billy was too quick for him. Wheeling, he
suddenly ran between the cook's legs and doubled him over. Just behind
the cook stood Hans Zug, and as Billy wriggled out sideways from beneath
the cook's feet, the cook tumbled back against Hans and both of them
went to the ground. Billy stood and shook his head for a moment as if
to double them up again before they got to their feet, but the sight of
the retreating carriage made him change his mind and he ran after it
with Hans and the fat cook chasing him.
The carriage was not going very rapidly, and Billy, after he had caught
up with it, merely trotted along back of the rear axle, so that when the
carriage passed the burgomaster's house, Hans and the cook were not very
far behind. They were bound to catch that goat and punish him for what
he had done, although it is very likely that before they got through
they would have sold him and kept the money. The burgomaster was still
out in front, fretting and fuming, but the stupid policeman was gone.
He had been sent down to the hotel to arrest the foreign boy and his
goat, and he was too stupid to notice them, even with Hans and the cook
paddling along behind. He had nothing in his mind but the hotel to which
he had been sent. The burgomaster, however, recognized the green-tinted
goat as soon as he saw him.
"There he goes!" cried the burgomaster. "Brute beast of a goat! Halt,
I say!" Blowing his little whistle, he, too, so filled with anger that
it made him puff up like a toad, started out after the carriage; and
there they ran, the three clumsy-looking fat men, one after the other,
puffing and panting and blowing, just out of reach of the goat.
[Illustration: There they ran, the three clumsy-looking fat men.]
Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Frank were too intent on getting up the steep
street and out of the town to notice what was going on behind them, but
just now they came to the top of the hill and began to go down the
gentle slope on the other side. The driver whipped up his horses, the
goat also increased his pace, and away they went. The cook, seeing that
the goat was about to escape, made a lunge, thinking that he could grab
it by the tail or the hind legs, but as he did so his feet caught on a
stone and over he went. Hans Zug, being right behind him, tumbled over
him, and the fat burgomaster tumbled over both of them. The burgomaster
was so angry that he felt he surely must throw somebody into jail, so,
as soon as he could get his breath, he grabbed Hans Zug by the collar
with one hand and the cook with the other.
[Illustration: BILLY SAW HIM COMING, SPLASHED AROUND TO THE FAR SIDE OF
THE FOUNTAIN.]
"I arrest you in the name of Canton Bern for obstructing a high
officer!" he exclaimed, and the stupid policeman running up just then,
he turned poor Hans and the cook over to him and sent them to jail.
All the hot, dusty afternoon Billy followed Mr. Brown's carriage, now up
hill and now down hill, without ever showing himself to them. Whenever
he thought of straying off into the pleasant grassy valleys and striking
out into the world for himself again, he remembered that the Browns were
going to America and that if he went with them he might see his mother
again. He did not know, of course, that America was such a large place,
so, while now and then he stopped at the roadside to nibble a mouthful
of grass or stopped when they crossed a stream to get a drink of water,
he never lost sight of them, but when he found himself getting too far
behind, scampered on and overtook them.
[Illustration: Billy followed Mr. Brown's carriage.]
It was not until nightfall that the carriage rolled into the city of
Bern. Billy had never seen so large a city before and the rumbling of
many wagons and carriages, the passing of the many people on the streets
and the hundreds of lights confused and surprised him. He was not half
so surprised at this, however, as Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Frank were to
find Billy behind their carriage when they stopped in front of a large,
handsome hotel. Frank was the first one to discover him.
"Oh, see, papa!" he cried. "My Billy followed us all the way from the
village; so now I do get to keep him, don't I?"
Mr. Brown smiled and gave up.
"I'm afraid he's an expensive goat, Frank," was all he said, and then he
gave Billy in charge of one of the porters who had crowded around the
carriage.
"Wash the paint from this goat and lock him up some place for the night
where he can't do any damage," he directed the porter.
Billy was glad enough to have the dry green paint scrubbed off his back
and he willingly went with the porter to a clean little basement room,
where he got a good scrubbing. Then the porter went into another room
and brought him out some nice carrots with green tops still on them,
and, leaving a basin of water for him to drink, went out and closed the
door carefully after him. Billy liked the carrots, but he did not like
to be shut up in a dark room, so he soon went all around the walls
trying to find a way out. There was no way except the two doors and a
high, dim window. He tried to butt the doors down but they were of
solid, heavy oak, and he could not do it. In a few minutes, however the
porter came back for his keys, and the moment he opened the door Billy
seized his chance. Gathering his legs under him for a big jump, he
rushed between the man's legs and dashed up the stairs, out through the
narrow courtyard and on the street. The porter, as soon as he could get
to his feet, rushed out after him, but Billy was nowhere in sight and
the poor porter did not know what to do. He did not dare to go back and
tell Mr. Brown that the goat had gotten loose, because he would be
charged with carelessness.
In the meantime Billy had galloped up the street and turned first one
corner and then another, until he came to a street much wider and
brighter and busier than any of the others. By this time first one boy
and then another and then another had followed him, until now there was
a big crowd of them running after him and shouting at the top of their
lungs.
A large dog that a lady was leading along the sidewalk by a strap broke
away from his mistress as soon as he saw Billy and ran out to bark at
him. Billy lowered his head and shook it at the dog. The dog began to
circle round him closer and closer, barking loudly all the while. A man
driving a big dray stopped to watch them; the boys crowded round in a
big ring; men came from the sidewalks and joined the crowd; a carriage
had to stop just behind the dray, then another; a wagon coming from the
other direction could not get through; and presently the street was
filled from sidewalk to sidewalk, the whole length of the block, with a
big crowd of people and a jam of vehicles of all kinds. Policemen tried
to push their way through the crowd and tried to get the blockade
loosened and moving on, but their time was wasted.
In the meantime Billy was turning around and around where he stood,
always facing the dog which now began to dart in with a snap of his
teeth and dart away again, trying to get a hold on Billy. The goat was
too quick, however, and dodged every time the dog made a snap. He was
waiting for his chance and at last it came. The dog, in jumping away
from one of his snaps, turned his body for a moment sideways to the goat
and in that moment Billy gathered himself up and made a spring, hitting
the dog square in the side and sending him over against the crowd.
Billy followed like a little white streak of lightning and, before the
dog could get on his feet, had butted him again.
Such a howling and yelling as there was among that side of the crowd;
Billy and the dog were now among them and they could not scatter much
for there were too many people packed solidly behind them. The dog
yelped as Billy butted him and began to run around and around the circle
with Billy right after him. After they had made two or three circles,
Billy overtook the dog and, giving him one more good one, jumped between
the legs of the crowd and wriggled his way through among carriages and
wagons, under horses and between wheels, until at last he was free from
the crowd.
Nobody at the outer edge noticed him getting away because they did not
know what the excitement was and they were all pressing forward to see.
Just as he left, somebody who could not understand what else could make
such excitement cried, "Fire!"
The cry was taken up, and that made still more confusion. People began
pouring into that block from every direction. More wagons and carriages
came. Some one had turned in a fire alarm, and presently here came the
fire engines from three or four directions at once, clanging and
clattering their way to this crowded block. The city of Bern had never
known so much excitement.
*CHAPTER V*
*THE WOODEN GOAT*
Billy trotted contentedly on, liking all the noise and hubbub very much
but not knowing that he was the cause of it all. Blocks away he could
hear their shouting, but he did not care to go back there, for all of
that. He was finding a great many things to interest him in the shop
windows, which were all brilliantly lighted. Before one of these low
windows he suddenly stopped. There, just inside the show window, was a
big, brown goat. Billy did not know it, but this was a wooden goat,
poised on its hind feet and ready to make a spring to butt somebody.
The Swiss woodcarvers are the finest in the world, and they carve
animals so naturally that one would think they were alive. If even human
beings can be fooled, there was very good excuse for Billy's believing
this to be a real, live goat, particularly as it had very natural
looking glass eyes; besides, its head was separate and was cunningly
arranged to shake a little bit from side to side.
Now it is a deadly insult for one Billy goat to stand on his hind legs
and wag his head at another one. Billy Mischief for one was not going
to take such insults as that, even though the goat that gave it to him
was much larger and older than himself, so he backed off into the middle
of the street and gave a great run and jump. Crash! went the fine
plate-glass window! The sharp edges of the glass cut Billy somewhat and
stopped him so that he landed just inside the window glass. The other
goat was right in front of him, still insultingly wagging its flowing
beard at him so Billy gave one more spring from where he stood and
knocked that goat sixteen ways for Sunday. It was the hardest headed
goat that Billy had ever fought, and its sharp nose hurt his head
considerably, almost stunning him, in fact, so that he stood blinking
his eyes until the people in the store had come running up and
surrounded the show window.
[Illustration: Gave a great run and jump.]
Billy was still dazed when the manager of the store, a nervous little
man with a bald head, hit him a sharp crack across the nose with a
board. The pain brought the tears to Billy's eyes and still further
dazed him. The manager hit him another crack but this time on the
horns, and that woke Billy up. He looked back at the broken window
through which he had just come but the crowd had quickly gathered there.
There were less people inside, so suddenly gathering his legs under him,
he gave a spring and went clear over the manager, kicking him with his
sharp hind hoofs upon the bald head as he went over. The place was a
delicatessen store and Billy landed in a big tub of pickles. He did not
care much for pickles anyhow, so he quickly scrambled out of them,
knocked over three tall glass jars that stood on a low bench, and turned
over big cakes of fine cheese. The manager was right after him with the
board and hit him two or three thumps with it.
Billy was just about to turn around and go for the little bald-headed
man when he noticed at the far end of the store a round, plump man with
his back turned to him. There seemed something familiar about his
figure and the cut of his short little coat, and it flashed across Billy
at once that here was his old enemy Hans Zug.
Paying no attention to the manager and his little board, he dashed
headlong down the store for the plump man. Just as Billy had almost
reached him, the man turned around. It was not Hans Zug after all, but
Billy was going too fast to stop now. Anyhow, ever since he had known
Hans he had taken a dislike to all fat men, so he dashed straight ahead.
The man darted behind the counter and ran up the aisle, Billy close
after him.
There never was a fat man in the world who ran so fast as this one.
Everybody had cleared out of the aisle behind the counter to make room
for them. Nobody wanted to get in the way of that heavy man and the
hard headed goat. The man stepped upon a pail of fish, overturning it,
jumped upon the counter and was over in the center aisle, Billy right
after him. Everybody in the store was packed in the center aisle,
together with a lot who had come in from the outside when the excitement
began, and they all made way for the fat man and for Billy. Women were
screaming and men were shouting and laughing. The manager was still
right after Billy with his little board and thumping him every now and
then on the back, but Billy scarcely knew it, so interested was he in
giving the fat man one for Hans Zug.
The man headed straight up the middle aisle for the door, but, looking
over his shoulder, he found that Billy would overtake him before he got
there, so he sprang over another counter, upsetting a pair of scales and
some tall, open jars of fine olives. Billy was still right after him
but this time the man fooled him by jumping back over the counter.
Billy followed up that aisle to the end where he turned into the crowd,
just as the fat man went out on the street. Here he upset two ladies and
a policeman who was just coming in, and then took after the man who
looked like Hans. He was flying down the street as fast as he could go.
After Billy came the manager of the store and two of his clerks, and all
of the boys that had congregated on the sidewalk.
Pell-mell they went, a howling, yelling mob, with the fat man and Billy
in the lead. The man by this time was puffing like a steam engine and
the sweat was pouring from his face in streams. His collar was wilted
like a dish rag. He had lost his hat and one of his cuffs, and he could
hardly get his breath.
Policemen, by this time, were coming running from every direction and
one of them, who turned off a side street just then, thinking the fat
man must be a thief, got right in his road and opened up his arms. The
fat man, who had scarcely any strength left, fell right against the
policeman who was also a very heavy fellow, and just at that time Billy
overtook them and gave the man he was chasing all that was coming to
Hans Zug. Down in a pile together went the fat man and the policeman.
The policeman had not seen the goat and for a moment imagined that the
fat man had jumped upon him and was trying to overpower him, so he
pulled out his club and, though he was underneath, began, in a way that
was comical, to try to pound the fat man.
They lay there, a struggling, wriggling mass, the policeman with his
short arms trying to reach around the big round man on top of him in
order to hit him some place. Billy Mischief had stopped and backed up
to give his fallen enemy another bump, and was just in the air after his
spring when the manager of the store caught his hind leg, and he also
was dragged on top of the struggling two on the ground. The manager
held to Billy's leg, however, and the crowd which had been following
them closely now crowded around them. The manager scrambled to his
feet, still holding the kicking Billy by the hind leg, and it would,
probably have been all up with the goat if a big, strong man had not at
that moment come up and putting his great arms around Billy, jerked him
loose. Billy squirmed and struggled, but it was no use. The big man
held him tightly and began to run. The store manager got to his feet
and started after them, followed by his two clerks, but the big strong
fellow who was carrying Billy darted down an alley, then through another
alley, and before the pursuers could see where they had gone, the man
darted through the back gate of a high board fence with Billy, closed
the gate after him, ran along the side of a great building which was
blazing with lights, ran down some cellar steps, opened the door, went
in, closed it after him, turned on a light and set Billy down.
"There, you fool goat!" exclaimed the man. "I'll wash the blood off of
you and nobody will know that you have been out."
The big man was the porter and he had brought Billy back to the little
basement room under the hotel. So ended Billy's first night in a big
city.
All that night, all the next day and night, and all the following day,
Billy was cooped up in that little basement room with no chance to get
out, and with only Frank Brown and the porter to visit him twice a day.
How he did fret. The porter kept him well fed and saw that he had good
bedding and plenty of water, but he gave Billy no more chances to escape
and see the city. He watched carefully as he opened and closed the door
that the goat should not again scramble between his legs or butt him
over. On the third evening, however, the porter forgot to completely
close the door which led into the other part of the basement, and you
may be sure that Billy lost no time in finding out what was in there.
The room next to his led up into the kitchen and it was stocked with
vegetables and all sorts of kitchen stores.
Billy was not very hungry, but he nibbled at everything as he went
along, pulling the vegetables out of place, upsetting a barrel half
filled with flour in his attempt to see what was in it and working the
faucet out of a barrel of syrup in his efforts to get at the sweet stuff
which clung to it. Licking up all of the syrup that he cared for, Billy
went on to investigate another barrel which lay on its side not far
away, and knocked the faucet out of it. This, however, proved to be
wine and he did not like the taste of it at all, so he trotted on out of
the store-room into the laundry, leaving the two barrels to run to
waste.
[Illustration: Pulling the vegetables out of place.]
Everybody in the laundry had gone up into the servants' hall for their
suppers, and the coast was clear for Billy. They had just finished
ironing, and dainty white clothes lay everywhere. From a big pile of
them that lay on a table, a lace skirt hung down, and Billy took a
nibble at it just to find out what it was. The starch in it tasted
pretty good, so he chewed at the lace, pulling and tugging to get it
within easier reach, until at last he pulled the whole pile off the
table on the dirty floor.
Hearing some steps then, he scampered out through the storeroom and into
another large room where stood a big, brass-trimmed machine which he did
not at all understand. It was a dynamo, which was run by a big engine
in the adjoining engine-room, and it furnished the electric lights for
the hotel. Two big wires ran from it, heavily coated with shellac and
rubber and tightly-wound tape to keep them from touching metal things
and losing their electricity. These crossed the basement room to the
further wall, where they distributed the electric current to many
smaller cables.
Billy sniffed at the two big cables at a point where they were very near
together. They had a peculiar odor and Billy tasted them. He scarcely
knew whether he liked the taste or not, but he kept on nibbling to find
out, nipping and tearing with his sharp teeth until he had got down to
the big copper wire on both cables; then he decided that he did not care
very much for that kind of food and walked away. It was not yet dark
enough for the dynamo to be started, or Billy might have had a shock
that would have killed him.
Hunting further, he found over in a dark corner a nice bed which
belonged to the engineer, and it looked so inviting that Billy curled up
there for a sleep. When he awoke it was nearly midnight and there was a
blaze of light in the basement. There was a strange whir of machinery
and he could hear anxious voices. Billy, of course, did not know that
he had been the cause of it but this is what had happened:
When the electric current passes through a wire, the wire becomes
slightly heated and stretches a little bit. In stretching, the two
cables where he had chewed them bare, came near enough together to touch
each other once in a while, and that made the lights all over the big
building wink, that is, almost go out for a second, and the engineer was
very much worried about it.
What interested Billy more, however, was a small, wire-screened room
that stood near to him. Presently a big cage, brightly lighted, came
down in it with a man and a boy. It stopped when it got down into the
basement, when the man and the boy stepped out, going down into the
engineer's room. They were the proprietor of the hotel and his elevator
boy. Billy, as curious as any boy could have been, walked into the
little cage to see what it was like. The sides of it were padded with
leather, there were mirrors in it that made it a place of light, and
there was a seat at the back end of it. At the front side near the door
a big cable passed up through it, and to this the boy who ran it had
left hanging a leather pad with which he gripped the cable. Billy could
barely reach it with his teeth and he pulled sharply on it. It would
not come away so he hung his weight on it, and immediately the cage
began to go up. Billy was in an elevator and he was taking a ride all
by himself. It never stopped until it reached the top floor where a
safety catch caught it. Luckily the door on the top floor had not been
carefully closed, and Billy was able to slide it open with his horns and
walk out into a narrow hall which had a thick velvet carpet upon it and
from which opened many doors and other halls.
[Illustration: BILLY FELT HIS COURAGE COMING BACK.]
Billy trotted along this hallway, liking the soft feel of the carpet
underneath his feet. As he did so, all the lights about the building
went out and everything was dark. The cables in the cellar had at last
settled down so that they lay square across each other where Billy had
chewed the covering off, thus making all the electric current which ran
out of the machine on the one side come right back into it on the other,
with the result of burning out the dynamo so that there could be no more
lights from it that night. This did not worry Billy any. Light came in
from the street at the far end of the hall where some white lace
curtains fluttered in the breeze. It worried a great many people who
were still awake in their rooms, however, and of course they opened
their doors to see about it.