It did not seem to him that he had much more than closed his eyes when he was aroused by one of the keepers who said to his helper that it was time to prepare the big goat for the evening performance, that the manager had said that he was to be given a bath.
At first Billy was far from pleased at being disturbed. He was still sleepy, and he felt that about the last thing he wanted then was a bath.
Just at that moment he happened to glance at his right side and saw how gray with dust he was. He knew too by past experiences how much good a bath would do him. It was worth more than a night’s rest, he had often said. More than that, Billy was very proud of his appearance, as we all know, and he now felt not a little ashamed that he had been seen in the ring in the afternoon in such an unkempt condition.
“If they call me handsome with all this dirt on me, what will they think when I am spick and span?”
So Billy decided to make no trouble, but to submit to the bath without a rumpus.
It was lucky he did for otherwise he would have been kidnapped and there is no telling what might have become of him.
This is the way that it happened. Billy thought that the voice of the man who awakened him sounded familiar but he couldn’t remember at the time where he had heard it before. When his helper called him Mike he knew in a minute when and where. This was the very same man who had been looking for him when he was hiding in the big pine box after creating such a disturbance by jumping off Jumbo’s back onto the freaks’ platform.
Not thinking that Billy Whiskers knew enough to understand what they were saying, they talked freely and made their plans while his bath was in progress.
“You were right, Mike, in thinking this big goat a very valuable piece of property,” said Jim, for that was the helper’s name. “I only wish we had found him.”
“Yes, if we had, and could have hidden him away for a day or two, we could have sold him to the manager for a big pile of money.”