“It has been told so often,” Mr. Graham answered, “that it certainly ought to be true. Not long ago I read of exactly such an occurrence somewhere in Spain, and it was witnessed by several persons. But what is much more likely to happen is that the animals would fight for the possession of the road, and one or perhaps both would be forced over the precipice and dashed to death on the rocks below.
“The goat's power of climbing and his fondness for getting into dangerous places are something remarkable. I have seen in the Alps and also in Algeria the goats browsing on the steep side of a mountain where it would be impossible for a man to climb, and where a single slip or mis-step would send the animal down for hundreds of feet almost perpendicularly. At Constantine in Algeria there is a wall of rock five or six hundred feet high; it is slightly, broken near the top, perpendicular further down, and the goats browse along the broken part, springing slowly from break to break until they can get no farther. Then they slowly ascend the cliff and start out for a new grazing place. The funny thing was that there was plenty of grass elsewhere and they had no occasion to get into such dangerous positions. They seemed to do it for the fun of the thing.”
“You remember they had a goat at the monkey theater,” said Harry, “that climbed upon bottles in the shape of a pyramid, stood on the top of a pole, balanced himself on a table and did other curious things. I wonder somebody doesn't train goats to walk a tight rope, for it must be they could do it.”
“I think I've heard of their doing it,” Mr. Graham remarked, “though I am not positive on that point. I've seen an elephant walk a tight rope, but it was stretched only a foot or so from the ground so that a fall wouldn't injure him.”
