Smash, bang, roll and tumble! the cart has hit the tree and two boys are rolling over each other in the dust, while two goats go scampering off into the thick bushes that line the road.
Mike recovered himself first and started in hot pursuit of the runaways while Tim sat still on a stone and rubbed his head and nose which was bleeding profusely.
"Hurry, Nanny, hurry," Billy called as he disappeared from sight down a deep ravine. Poor Nanny was so frightened at what she had done, she could not hurry or begin to keep up with Billy, who made great leaps from rock to rock; so she ran under a thorn-apple tree and trusted to its low drooping branches to hide her.
But Mike was too close on her heels. He saw the moving of the branches and knew one of the goats was hiding there. She made a futile attempt to escape but the thorns ran into her so that she gave up and meekly let herself be led back to the cart.
"I have one of them," Mike called out as soon as he came in sight of Tim.
"Which one?" said Tim.
"Nanny," said Mike.
"I'll bet ye it wasn't that old one; he's a foxy old customer, he is, and I'll bet me red shirt ye'll never set your eyes on him again. Devil take me if I care if ye don't after the wetting and bloody nose he's given me," said Tim.
"You hold Nanny, while I go look for Billy, Tim."
"All right and joy and good luck go with ye, but mark me words ye never will find him when you're looking for him. Better come home with me, and if he ever comes back he'll come back to-night to see Nanny of his own accord," said Tim. "I know the ways of goats better than ye do."