This train was the fast night express and made but one stop between Duluth and Minneapolis, so when the train was out of the suburbs and rolling along through the quiet country, the mailman turned the lights down low and threw himself on a cot at the side of the car and was soon fast asleep. He never awoke until the train whistled for St. Paul. Then he was up and on his feet and ready to open the door the minute the train stopped. As he was removing the inner bar that fastened the door, he thought he heard a noise behind him, but he did not bother to look around to see what it was. Imagine his surprise when the door slipped open to see two big white goats leap past him and run down the platform and disappear in the crowd!
“Well, I’ll be hanged! How in the world did those goats get in my car and me not know it?”
As Billy and Nannie stood outside the station wondering what they would do next, who should they see coming down the street but Stubby and Button.
“Nannie, do my eyes deceive me, or is that really and truly Stubby and Button I see coming toward us?”
“It really is!”
“Well, well, well! Of all that is wonderful, where in the world did you come from? The last we saw of you, you were in the circus train bound for Bismarck, North Dakota, and at this minute we were wondering how we could get to you the quickest way.”
“Yes,” spoke up Nannie, “we were debating which would be the safest and easiest, to try stealing a ride on a train or foot it. But my, I am glad you are here! Come here until we rub noses!”
“This beats any luck we have had for some time,” answered Stubby.
“I should say so,” agreed Button, “as we left the circus on purpose to come back and look for you two! As you did not come on and we were to be carried further West the next morning which would separate us more and more every day they traveled, we determined to escape and come back to St. Paul in the hope of meeting your circus when it broke camp and came back here. But we expected to have the dickens’ own time to find you. Now we are all together again, I say we take a look at this city and try to get a little fun out of it, for so far our trip has had very little pleasure in it. Then after we have had all the hilarious times we care for, we can continue our journey west to the Pacific Coast.”