[Bigloo-lib-devel] in the hall now and in another minute it will be

[Cassata B. <fer...@fu...>]

Ore likely," replied his
son. "Now put the ladder down the well, and I'll go down and fasten the
rope around the goat's body while you and Dan fix
a brace to put the pulley on to pull him up," said Mr. Noland, ignoring
his son's remark. The hired man lowered the ladder into the well, but it
had scarcely touched the bottom and found a secure footing when Billy
climbed up the

rungs as nimbly
as a cat. This act made Mr. Noland's eyes fairly pop out of his head,
while all the rest stood with open mouths. None of them had ever seen
any animal as large as Billy climb

a ladder.
You see Billy's old circus stunts stood him in good stead once in a
while. When he traveled with the circus, the

clowns had taught him to climb a ladder halfway to the top of the big
circus tent. "I claim this goat
as my own," said Nellie's brother. "And I the cat!" said Nellie quickly.
"But where do I come in?" said their father. Just then Stubby barked,
and Mr. Noland said, "Well, I'll take the dog and I think I have the
best of the bargain at that, for he can almost talk. If it had not been
for the dog, neither of you would have had a pet. It was he that led us
to this

abandoned well." "You forget, father, that the cat showed you the way
too," said Nellie.
"I think the best thing we can do now is to go home and get some supper
and also give
our new-found
friends some food. I'll wager that they are hungry. They must have come
a long way,
for I never saw any of them around here before, and I know every
dog and cat
in the town. I won't say goat, for no one owns a goat," said Nellie's
father. So it happened that the Chums were given a good supper
and beds of straw in the woodshed
and then left to themselves
for the night. At least that is what all of them thought, but the day

being the Fourth of July made a difference for just
as they were dropping off to sleep the stick of a Roman candle fell on
the woodshed and burned a hole through
the roof. Some sparks fell down and set fire to the straw on which
the Chums were sleeping and in a few minutes straw, woodshed and
all were in a blaze, and they only
escaped with their lives because they were high
jumpers and thus able to escape through the little window in the side of
the shed. Billy was