“You don’t mean it!” said the cook. “And why are you looking for him here when you took him away with you only two days ago? You don’t mean to tell me that the slippery old rascal has escaped from camp again?”
“No; he did not escape from camp, because we never succeeded in getting him within miles of it. We hadn’t gotten ten miles from here when we broke down and that pesky old goat escaped.”
“Oh, you are fooling! He could not escape one General, three officers and a smart chauffeur like you!”
“Oh, couldn’t he? You don’t know that old goat if you think that. He could escape a whole regiment if he wanted to.”
“And why do you come looking for him here?”
“Because we found him here and as he seemed to be having a pretty good time with the dogs, we thought he might come back.”
“Oh, you did, did you? Well, you reasoned well, for he did come back, and I tried to catch him so I could claim the thousand dollars reward. You see my right arm is in a sling, don’t you? Well, it is all on account of trying to capture that same old goat.”
“You don’t mean to tell me that he really is here? Divide the thousand dollars with me and I will help you catch him again.”
“Never again do I monkey with that goat! I once swore I would not, and nothing would induce me to try it again. Would you like to know what he did to me and how I broke my arm?”
“Yes, I would.”