“Come on!” cried Ted. “We’ve got to get him! What made him run out of the stall?”
“I did; but I didn’t mean to,” explained the man. “I was taking him some more water, for he seemed very thirsty, when I stumbled and dropped the pail. The water splashed all over him, and he got scared, I guess. He gave his head a yank, broke the strap and ran out.
“I ran after him, but I couldn’t catch him. Then you opened the gate, and there he goes!”
“But we’ve got to get him!” cried Ted, who was all right again after being knocked down by Nicknack. “We’ve got to get him. Come on!”
He and the hired man ran down the road after the goat. They were glad to see, a little distance down, that Nicknack had now stopped and was nibbling the grass.
“Now we can get him,” declared Ted.
“You’d better go up to him yourself,” said the hired man. “He might be mad at me, thinking I spilled that water on him purposely. You go up to him, and I’ll stay back.”
So Teddy, holding out his hand, walked toward Nicknack, calling gently:
“Come here, Nicknack! Come here, nice goat!”
The goat stopped nibbling the grass and looked up. He seemed to know Ted, and did not run any farther. The hired man hid behind a tree so the goat would not see him.