Billy, in the meantime, had been resting and laying his plans. As soon as he saw that he was fastened by a rope instead of a chain he began to be hopeful and his spirits rose, though he greatly regretted the loss of time.
He commenced chewing away at his tether before the Grant family had driven out of the front gate and never stopped until the rope fell apart. This took fully half an hour. While he was doing this, you can imagine his surprise and guilty fear at seeing through a crack in the side of the barn the whole Treat family driving by. He hadn’t expected that they were going to the Circus—hadn’t wanted them to, in fact, for he knew that he would have to keep dodging them if they were there, and he more than suspected that there would be excitement quite enough without this added anxiety.
But since they were to be present, he was glad that he had seen them for he would now be on his guard. After cutting the rope that held him with his sharp teeth, the next thing was to get out of the barn. This was no easy matter, and Billy had about decided that it would be necessary to butt right through the side of it when he discovered a small door fastened on the inside by a wooden latch. By raising the latch with one horn he was able to release and so open the door.
After getting out, he first thought that he would pay off Farmer Grant for all the mean things he had done to him, but just as he was about to begin with spoiling his garden, he heard the clock in the house begin to strike and so stopped to count.
“Ten o’clock,” said he, “and six miles to go. I haven’t time now to do a good job, so I’ll wait until I come back and then I’ll fix him or my name is no longer Billy Whiskers.”
Poor Billy, little he knew what was in store for him!
He soon found that he could no longer travel in the road. There were too many people constantly passing, all going toward Springfield, doubtless to attend the Circus. Almost everybody either called to him, passed comments on his appearance, or wondered where so fine a goat could be going all by himself.
“This is bad enough,” thought Billy, “but it will be worse if somebody overtakes me who knows who I am. As like as not he would try to capture me and then my fun would be spoiled. No, the only thing now to do is to take to the fields. I’ll get there some way but it is harder work than I ever thought.”
He soon found a place where the bars were down, and turned aside into the fields.