"Fire, fire, fire!" called the voice again, followed by a laugh and Billy, looking up, saw a green poll-parrot swinging on a rope overhead, that commenced to call: "April fool, April fool!" as loud as she could.
"How I do hate parrots and monkeys! I dare you to come down here, you disagreeable, impertinent, pea-green, old maid of a bird!" bleated Billy.
He had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when something struck him on the back and began to pull his hair out by the roots. It was Miss Polly who had dropped like a torpedo and who was screeching, pecking and clawing him at a great rate. She was in a bad humor that day as they had forgotten to feed her her accustomed crackers and coffee.
As soon as Billy got over his surprise, which was in a second, he lay down and rolled. This knocked Polly off but the minute he stopped she flew onto his back again and pecked him until the blood ran. The second time she lit on his back he thought of a way to get even. He saw the elephant's tub of water a little way before him and with two bounds he was by its side and before Miss Polly was aware of what was up, she found herself doused in the tub, and when she came up from under the water there was no goat in sight.
As Billy went out of the tent he ran into the animal keeper who was just coming in.
"Ho, ho! Master Billy, not so fast. I was coming to look for you, for we are about to start and you have a way of turning up missing just when you are most wanted." As he said this he caught hold of the piece of rope around Billy's neck that Billy had broken when he took his somersault, and said: "Come along with me. I am going to put you for once where you can't get out, no matter how hard you bite, chew or kick."
"I wonder what he is going to do with me," thought Billy.
But he soon found out, for the man led him to a vacant cage that a wild cat had died in the day before, and made him walk up an inclined board into it.
"Heavens!" thought Billy, "I'll never get out of here unless I die and am carried out like the wild cat was, and if I don't die I know I will go crazy, shut up in a little cooped up place like this, with only room enough to take one step and not enough to turn around unless you turn yourself in sections."