“No, I will in just a minute. But say, before we go any further let’s settle it that whether you or I find the goat, we will own him equally between us. If we decide to sell him, we’ll share and share alike.”
“I’m agreed to that. It’s my guess that it will take the two of us to handle and train him. I never saw such a jump in my born days as he made off that elephant’s back. He must be as strong as an ox. We’ll have to starve him down a bit, probably, before he will be manageable.”
“Yes, that’s right. Hurry up now and see what’s in that box. The old man will be calling us in a minute.”
“I’ll have to go right now,” thought Billy, “for I won’t be captured by that precious pair of scamps if I can possibly help it. As like as not they would want to put me in a cage, and I haven’t forgotten what that means if the stories of the wolf and the lion can be believed. It’s awfully unlucky, though, for now I am here there are a whole lot of things I want to see. The only thing for me to do is the minute one of them stoops down to look into this box, to jump at him with all my might, knock him flat, and make a bee line just as fast as I can go for the entrance. It’s good-bye Circus for me,” sighed Billy, and he prepared for the attack.
For once in this eventful day luck was with him. Just as the man called Mike was coming around--Billy could hear him--where he could look in at him, someone called and both his pursuers started on the double quick to get back to their posts, one saying to the other that they would try it again a little later.
“Saved again!” Billy would have shouted had he dared to make any noise, but he didn’t.
“I must get out of here now as quick as ever I can for they will be back in a few minutes. When I am mixed up in the crowd, the chances are that they will not find me. Even if they do I will be in no worse fix than if caught in this old box. One thing sure, no man will ever grab me by the horns again like Farmer Grant did. With my head free I am not so easy to catch and hold.”
With this he crept out of his place of concealment and was soon on the other side of the tent, gazing with all his might at the many strange animals which the different cages contained.
He stopped to talk with a number of them, but their stories were all more or less like those of the wolf and the lion. Every one of them told Billy that he would be glad to exchange places with him, and not a few warned him to take care and on no account let any of the keepers capture him. Whatever else you do, they all agreed, keep out of this show for it’s slavery of the very worst kind.