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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #62020 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62020)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat, by Richard Barnum
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat
- His Many Adventures
-
-Author: Richard Barnum
-
-Illustrator: Walter S. Rogers
-
-Release Date: May 4, 2020 [EBook #62020]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHTFOOT, THE LEAPING GOAT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: Up and down the block Mike drove Lightfoot, giving the
-little boy and his nurse a fine ride.]
-
-
-
-
- _Kneetime Animal Stories_
-
-
- LIGHTFOOT
- THE LEAPING GOAT
-
- HIS MANY ADVENTURES
-
-
- BY
- RICHARD BARNUM
-
- Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Tum
- Tum, the Jolly Elephant,” “Don, a Runaway
- Dog,” “Tinkle, the
- Trick Pony,” etc.
-
-
- _ILLUSTRATED BY
- WALTER S. ROGERS_
-
-
- PUBLISHERS
- BARSE & CO.
- NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J.
-
-
-
-
- Copyright 1917
- by
- BARSE & CO.
-
- Light Foot, the Leaping Goat
-
-
- _Printed in the United States of America_
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER PAGE
- I LIGHTFOOT’S BIG LEAP 7
- II LIGHTFOOT IS HURT 19
- III LIGHTFOOT SAVES A GIRL 30
- IV LIGHTFOOT AND THE WAGON 36
- V LIGHTFOOT IN THE PARK 46
- VI LIGHTFOOT BUTTS A BOY 58
- VII LIGHTFOOT ON A BOAT 68
- VIII LIGHTFOOT ON A VOYAGE 77
- IX LIGHTFOOT GOES ASHORE 85
- X LIGHTFOOT IN THE WOODS 94
- XI LIGHTFOOT MEETS SLICKO 101
- XII LIGHTFOOT’S NEW HOME 110
-
-
-
-
-ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- PAGE
-
- Up and down the block Mike drove Lightfoot, giving the little
- boy and his nurse a fine ride _Frontispiece_
-
- Lightfoot was falling down and down 21
-
- Lightfoot, coming up to get some of the salt which he licked
- from Mike’s hand, did not know what his master was saying 41
-
- “I want to ride in this!” 65
-
- Lightfoot ran close to this water, the boys racing after him 79
-
- “That’s fine!” said Lightfoot. “I wish I could dance” 103
-
- “Mother, Mother!” he cried. “Look! Look! It――it’s
- Lightfoot――come back to us!” 117
-
-
-
-
-LIGHTFOOT, THE LEAPING GOAT
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-LIGHTFOOT’S BIG LEAP
-
-
-Lightfoot stamped his hoofs on the hard rocks, shook his horns, wiggled
-the little bunch of whiskers that hung beneath his chin, and called to
-another goat who was not far away:
-
-“I’m going up on the high rocks!”
-
-“Oh, you’d better not,” said Blackie. “If you go up there you may slip
-and fall down here and hurt yourself, or some of the big goats may
-chase you back.”
-
-“Well, if they do I’ll just jump down again,” went on Lightfoot, as he
-stood on his hind legs.
-
-“You can’t jump that far,” said Blackie, looking up toward the high
-rocks which were far above the heads of herself and Lightfoot.
-
-For Lightfoot and Blackie were two goats, and they lived with several
-others on the rocky hillside at the edge of a big city. Lightfoot and
-Blackie, with four other goats, were owned by the widow, Mrs. Malony.
-She and her son Mike had a small shanty on the ground in the shadow of
-the big rocks. The reason they kept most of the goats was for the milk
-they gave. For some goats, like cows, can be milked, and many persons
-like goats’ milk better than the cows’ kind, which the milkman brings
-to your door every morning, or which is brought to the house from the
-stable or the lot where the cows are milked if you live in the country.
-
-“You can never jump down that far if the big goats chase you away when
-you get on top of the high rocks,” went on Blackie as she looked up.
-
-“Well, maybe I can’t do it all in _one_ jump,” Lightfoot said slowly,
-“but I can come down in two or three if the big goats chase me away.
-Anyhow, maybe they won’t chase me.”
-
-“Oh, yes, they will!” bleated Blackie in the animal talk which the
-goats used among themselves.
-
-They could understand a little man talk, but not much. But they could
-talk and think among themselves.
-
-“The big goats will never let you come up where they are,” went on
-Blackie, who was called that because she was nearly all black. She
-would give milk to the Widow Malony when she grew older.
-
-“Why won’t the big goats let me go up there?” asked Lightfoot. “I know
-it is nicer up there than down here, for I have heard Grandfather
-Bumper, the oldest of all us goats, tell how far he can see from the
-top of the rocks. And nice sweet grass grows up there. I’d like some of
-that. The grass here is nearly all dried up and gone.”
-
-Lightfoot saw, off to one side, a tomato can, and he hurried toward it.
-Sometimes these cans had paper pasted on them, and the goats liked to
-eat the paper. For it had a sweet taste, and the paste with which it
-was fastened to the can was even sweeter.
-
-“That’s just the reason the big goats don’t want you to go up
-where they are,” said Blackie, as Lightfoot came back, looking as
-disappointed as a goat can look, for there was no paper on the can.
-Some one had eaten it off. “The big goats want to save the sweet grass
-on the high rocks for themselves. Some of the best milk-goats are
-there, and they have to eat lots of grass to make milk.”
-
-“Well, I’m going up, anyhow,” said Lightfoot. “At least I’m going to
-try. If they drive me back I’ll get down all right. I’m getting to be a
-pretty good jumper. See!”
-
-He gave a little run, and leaped lightly over a big rock not far from
-the shanty of the Widow Malony.
-
-“Oh, that was a fine jump!” exclaimed Blackie. “I’ll never be able to
-jump as far as you. But I wouldn’t go up if I were you.”
-
-“Yes, I shall,” declared Lightfoot, as he shook his horns again and
-started to climb the rocks. He was very fond of having his own way, was
-Lightfoot.
-
-Lightfoot did not remember much about the time when he was a very
-very small goat. He could dimly recall that he had once lived in a
-green, grassy field with other goats, and then, one day, that he had
-been taken for a long ride in a wagon. He went to a number of places,
-finally reaching the home of the Widow Malony and her son Mike, who was
-a tall, strong lad with a happy, laughing face, covered with freckles
-and on his head was the reddest hair you ever saw.
-
-Lightfoot soon made himself at home among the other goats Mrs. Malony
-kept. At first these goats said very little to him, but one day, when
-he was but a small kid (as little goats are called) he surprised the
-other animals among the rocks by giving a big jump to get away from a
-dog that ran after him.
-
-“That goat will soon be a fine jumper,” said Grandpa Bumper, who was
-called that because he could bump so hard with his horns and head
-that all the other goats were afraid of him. “Yes, he’ll be a great
-jumper,” went on the oldest goat of them all. “I think I shall name him
-Lightfoot, for he comes down so lightly and so easily after he makes
-his leap.”
-
-And so Lightfoot was named. As far as he knew there were none of the
-other goats who were any relation to him. He was a stranger among them,
-but they soon became friendly with him. Among the six goats owned by
-the Widow Malony there were only two who were any relation. These were
-Mr. and Mrs. Sharp-horn, as we would call them, though of course goats
-don’t call each other husband and wife. They have other names that mean
-the same thing.
-
-But though he had no brothers or sisters or father or mother that he
-knew, Lightfoot was not unhappy. There was Blackie, with whom he played
-and frisked about among the rocks. And Grandpa Bumper, when he had had
-a good meal of the sweet grass that grew on top of the rocks, with,
-perhaps, some sweet paste-paper from the outside of a tomato can to
-finish off, would tell stories of his early life. And he would tell of
-other goats, in far-off mountains, some of them nearly as big as cows,
-with great, curved horns on their heads. Lightfoot loved to listen to
-these stories.
-
-There was not much for the goats to do at the home of the Widow Malony.
-They had no work to do except to jump around on the rocks and to eat
-when they were hungry and could find anything they liked, though some
-of the goats were milked. There was more milk than the widow and her
-son could use, so they used to sell some to their neighbors who did not
-keep goats.
-
-But many others besides Mike and his mother kept goats, for all the
-neighbors of the Malonys were poor squatters who lived among the rocks
-on the edge of the big city. They were called “squatters” because they
-did not own the land whereon they built their poor shanties, some
-of them being a few boards covered with sheets of tin from some old
-building. These people just came along and “squatted” on the land. Some
-had been there so long they thought they owned it.
-
-Mrs. Malony and her son were very poor. Sometimes, had it not been for
-the milk of the goats, they would have had nothing to eat. The widow
-took in washing, and Mike earned what he could running errands. But,
-for all that, the widow and Mike were cheerful and tried to be happy.
-They kept their shanty clean, and were clean themselves. And they took
-very good care of the goats. Mike made a little shed for them to sleep
-in when Winter came; and when the grass on the rocks was scarce Mike
-would get a job in the city, cutting the lawn of some big house, and he
-would bring the clipped grass home to Lightfoot and the others.
-
-“Yes, I’m going up on top of the rocks,” said Lightfoot to himself as
-he began to climb upward.
-
-The path to the top was a hard and rough one to climb. But Lightfoot
-did not give up.
-
-“I know I can do it,” he declared, still to himself. “I was nearly up
-once but Mr. Sharp-horn chased me back. I was only a little goat then.”
-
-Lightfoot knew he was much larger and stronger now, and he certainly
-was a better jumper. He really did not know how far he could jump, for
-he had not had much chance. On the lower rocks there were not many good
-jumping places. The ground was too rough.
-
-“Wait until I get up to the top,” thought Lightfoot to himself. “Then
-I’ll do some jumping. I wonder if they’ll chase me back?”
-
-Part way up the rocky path he stopped to look toward the top. He saw
-Mr. Sharp-horn looking down at him, and Lightfoot pretended to be
-looking for some grass that grew in the cracks of the rocks. As he did
-this the widow came to the door of her shanty.
-
-“Mike! Mike!” she called. “Where are you? Sure an’ I want you to be
-takin’ home Mrs. Mackinson’s wash. ’Tis all finished I have it.” And
-then, as she shaded her eyes from the sun, and looked up at the rocks,
-Mrs. Malony saw Lightfoot half way to the top.
-
-“Would you look at that goat now!” she called. “Come here, Mike me boy,
-and see where Lightfoot is. Sure an’ it’s the illigint climber he’s
-gettin’ to be altogether!”
-
-“Yes, Lightfoot’s a good goat,” said Mike as he came around the corner
-of the shanty where he had been trying to fix a broken wheel on a small
-cart he had made from a soap box. “He’s a fine leaper and he’s going to
-be better when he grows up. I wonder what he’s trying to do now?”
-
-“Sure, go to the top of the rocks, isn’t it?” asked Mrs. Malony.
-
-“If he does the Sharp-horns or old Bumper will send him down quick
-enough!” laughed Mike. “They don’t want the small Nannies and Billies
-eatin’ the top grass. You’d better come back, Lightfoot! he called to
-the climbing goat. But if Lightfoot heard and understood he gave no
-sign.
-
-“I’d like to stay and see what happens when he gets to the top,”
-laughed Mike, running his fingers through his red hair.
-
-“Ye’ve no time,” called his mother. “Be off wid this wash now, like a
-good boy. Sure it’s the money from it I’ll be needin’ to get meat for
-the Sunday dinner. Off wid ye now!”
-
-“All right, Mother. Just as soon as I fix the wheel on me cart.”
-
-The Widow Malony did not use the kind of language you, perhaps, talk.
-She made what we would call “mistakes.” Mike had been to school, and he
-could speak more correctly, but he, too, sometimes made mistakes in his
-talk. However that did not so much matter. He intended to work hard so
-he could get money to study, and his mother tried to help.
-
-While Mike went back to fix his wagon, so he could take home the
-basket of clean clothes, Lightfoot, the leaping goat, once more began
-scrambling up the rocks toward the top. Mr. Sharp-horn, who had looked
-over the edge to see the smaller goat climbing up, had moved back to
-eat some more grass, and he forgot about Lightfoot.
-
-“Now none of them is looking, I’ll get to the top,” thought Lightfoot.
-“And when I do I’ll have some fun, and get something good to eat. I
-want some long-stemmed grass. That at the foot of the rocks is dry and
-sour.”
-
-On and on he climbed. Now and then he would stop to kick up his heels,
-he felt so fine, and again he would push his horns against the hard
-rocks to see how strong his head and neck were getting.
-
-“Soon I’ll be able to butt as well as Grandpa Bumper,” thought
-Lightfoot.
-
-Some neighboring children, playing in the yard of their shanty next to
-that of the Malonys, saw Lightfoot kicking and butting.
-
-“Oh look at that funny goat of Mike’s!” called a little girl.
-
-“Sure, he’s a fine goat!” declared her brother. “I wish we had one like
-that. Our Nannie is getting old,” he added.
-
-On and on went Lightfoot, cutting up such funny capers that the little
-boy and girl, watching him, laughed with glee.
-
-At last the goat was close to the top of the rocks, where there was
-a smooth level place and where sweet grass grew. Lightfoot peeped
-carefully over the top. He did not want Mr. Sharp-horn or Grandpa
-Bumper to rush at him the first thing and, maybe, knock him head over
-heels down the rocky hill.
-
-But, as it happened, all the other goats were away from the edge and
-did not see Lightfoot. Up he scrambled and began cropping the sweet
-grass.
-
-“Oh, this is fine!” he cried.
-
-He was eating the grass, when, all at once, Mr. Sharp-horn looked up
-and saw him.
-
-“Well, the idea!” cried that big goat. “The idea of that kid coming up
-here, where only we big goats are supposed to come! He is too young
-for this place, yet. I must drive him down and teach him a lesson.”
-Then lowering his head, and shaking his horns, the man-goat rushed at
-Lightfoot.
-
-Mr. Sharp-horn did not mean to be unkind. But small animals are always
-kept in their own places by the larger ones until they have grown big
-enough to take their own part. That is one of the lessons goats and
-other animals have to learn.
-
-Lightfoot was soon to have his lesson. He was eating away at the sweet
-grass, thinking how good it was, when he heard a clatter of hoofs.
-
-Looking up quickly Lightfoot saw Mr. Sharp-horn running toward him
-swiftly. Lightfoot knew what that lowered head of the older goat meant.
-
-“Go on down out of here!” bleated Mr. Sharp-horn.
-
-“I don’t want to,” answered Lightfoot, and stamped with his forefeet,
-his hard hoofs rattling on the ground.
-
-“But you must go down!” said the older goat. “This is no place for you
-kids. It is for the older goats. Keep on the rocks below.”
-
-“I am old enough to come up here now,” said Lightfoot. “Besides, I am
-hungry.”
-
-“That makes no difference!” cried Mr. Sharp-horn. “Get down, I say!”
-
-He kept on running toward Lightfoot with lowered head. The boy-goat
-thought the man-goat was, perhaps, only trying to scare him, and did
-not turn to run. But Mr. Sharp-horn was in earnest. On and on he came,
-and when Lightfoot turned to run it was almost too late.
-
-However he did turn, and he did run, for he had no idea of being butted
-with those long horns. Before him was the edge of the rocks, and then,
-when it was too late, Lightfoot saw that he had run to the wrong place
-on the edge. There was, here, no path down which he could scramble. The
-rock went straight down, and he must either stand still and be butted
-over the edge, or he must jump.
-
-He gave a bleating cry and straight over the edge of the rocks he
-jumped.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-LIGHTFOOT IS HURT
-
-
-Mr. Sharp-horn, the man-goat, was so surprised at what Lightfoot had
-done in leaping over the edge of the cliff that, for a second, he did
-not know what to do. Indeed Sharp-horn, who was running very fast,
-could hardly stop in time to save himself from sliding over.
-
-“Look out there, Lightfoot!” he called. “I didn’t mean to make you do
-that. I wouldn’t have hurt you very much. Why did you jump?”
-
-But Lightfoot could not answer now. He was falling down through the
-air. Indeed he, himself, hardly knew why he had jumped. He almost
-wished he had not.
-
-Far down below he saw the shanty of the Widow Malony, and he saw the
-hard rocks and ground all around it. Somewhere down there Lightfoot
-would land, and he might be badly hurt. For he was not one of the kind
-of goats that are said to turn somersaults in the air, when they leap,
-and land on their big, curved horns.
-
-“What’s the matter?” called Grandpa Bumper, as he heard Mr. Sharp-horn
-shouting in his bleating voice.
-
-“Lightfoot has jumped over the edge!” called the other goat.
-
-“Oh, my! He’ll be killed!” cried Mrs. Sharp-horn. “You shouldn’t have
-chased him, Sharpy,” for sometimes she called her goat-husband that.
-
-“I――I didn’t mean to make him jump,” went on Mr. Sharp-horn. “I was
-only trying to scare him away from our feeding place. He is too young
-to come up here. I’m sorry.”
-
-“Oh, what a big jump he made!” cried Grandpa Bumper, for he knew it was
-about twenty-five feet from the rocky edge down to the ground below.
-“If he isn’t killed or hurt it will be a wonder.”
-
-Of course all this took place much more quickly than I can tell it.
-It was only a few seconds. Lightfoot was falling down and down, or,
-rather, he had jumped down.
-
-And as he left the edge of the rocks, and looked below, he wished he
-had taken the butting from Mr. Sharp-horn. But it was too late now. And
-then, all of a sudden, Lightfoot did that which gained him the name of
-being a very wise young goat.
-
-[Illustration: Lightfoot was falling down and down.]
-
-Below he saw the tin and board roof of the Malony shanty. It stood
-about fifteen feet high, and Lightfoot thought if he could land on that
-it would shorten his big jump. He would not have to go so far, and then
-he could leap down that much more easily.
-
-So he gave himself a shake and a twist in the air, as some acrobats do
-in the circus, and as cats and goats do when they jump, and, instead of
-heading straight for the hard ground, Lightfoot aimed his four feet at
-the roof of the shanty.
-
-Just then Mrs. Malony came to the door to watch her son going down the
-street with the basket of clothes on his wagon.
-
-“Look! Look, Mike!” called the widow. “Sure it’s a flyin’ goat
-Lightfoot is now. He’s fallin’ down out of the sky!”
-
-And indeed it did look so. But before Mike could answer, Lightfoot had
-landed on the roof of the shanty amid a great clattering of the boards
-and tin that kept out the rain. The roof was flat, and the boards were
-springy, so the goat sort of bounced up and down, like the man when he
-falls into the circus net, though, of course, to a less degree.
-
-And it was this that saved the goat from being hurt. He was shaken up
-a bit and jarred, but he had safely jumped from the top of the rocks
-to the roof of the shanty. From there it was easy to get down, for
-at one side was a shed, with a little lower roof, and when Lightfoot
-had leaped to this he had no trouble in jumping to a soft place on the
-ground just outside the kitchen door.
-
-“Well, of all things!” exclaimed the Widow Malony. “You’re th’
-jumpinest goat I ever had! You’re that light on your feet a clog-dancer
-would admire you. Sure it’s a fine goat you are!”
-
-“We never had any goat to jump the likes of Lightfoot!” cried Mike,
-running back to see if his pet were hurt, for he loved Lightfoot better
-than any of the others. He patted the shaggy coat of the animal, and,
-looking at him, saw that he was not in the least harmed. Lightfoot felt
-a little pain, but he could not tell Mike about it.
-
-“Oh, how did you ever dare do it?” asked Blackie, running up to
-Lightfoot with a piece of paste-paper in her mouth. “Weren’t you
-afraid?”
-
-“I――I guess I didn’t have time to be,” answered Lightfoot. “I didn’t
-think they’d drive me away from up there.”
-
-Mike went on with the washing when he found Lightfoot was not hurt, and
-Mrs. Malony went back in the shanty. From the edge of the rocks above
-the other goats looked down.
-
-“Say, youngster,” called Mr. Sharp-horn to Lightfoot, “I didn’t mean to
-make you do that. Are you hurt?”
-
-“Not a bit,” answered Lightfoot, who was beginning to feel a bit proud
-of himself now.
-
-“That was a wonderful leap,” said Mrs. Sharp-horn.
-
-“Indeed it was!” added Grandpa Bumper. “Of course I have made such
-leaps as that when I was younger, but I can’t any more. For a kid that
-was very good, Lightfoot.”
-
-“He won’t be a kid much longer,” said Mrs. Sharp-horn. Then she said
-something in a low baa-a to her goat-husband.
-
-“Why, yes,” answered Mr. Sharp-horn, “I guess, after this big leap
-he did to-day, Lightfoot can come up among us other goats now. You
-may come up to the top of the rocks whenever you like,” he went on to
-Lightfoot. “We won’t chase you away any more.”
-
-“And may Blackie come up with me and eat the sweet grass?” asked
-Lightfoot, having a kind thought for his little friend.
-
-“Can she climb that far?” asked Grandpa Bumper.
-
-“I’ll help her,” offered Lightfoot.
-
-“Then you may both come,” went on the old grandfather goat who ruled
-over the rest. “Your grass down there is getting pretty dry,” he went
-on. “Come up whenever you want to. And, Lightfoot, don’t try any more
-such risky jumps as that. You might break a leg.”
-
-So, after all, you see, Lightfoot’s big jump turned out to be a
-good thing for him and Blackie. After Lightfoot had rested a bit he
-and Blackie went up to the top of the rocks, Lightfoot helping the
-girl-goat over the rough places, and soon all the Widow Malony’s
-animals were cropping the sweet grass on top of the high rocks.
-
-Lightfoot’s leap was talked about among the goats for many a day after
-that. The goat grew bigger and stronger, and every chance he found he
-practiced jumping until he could do almost as well as Mr. Sharp-horn,
-who was the best leaper of all the goats in Shanty-town, as the place
-of the squatters was called.
-
-Day after day Lightfoot would practice jumping and climbing among
-the rocks, sometimes alone and sometimes with Blackie. One day, when
-he had made a very hard jump from one rock to another, he heard some
-boy-and-girl-talk in the road in front of the widow’s shanty. Looking
-down, Lightfoot saw a small cart drawn by a pony, and seated in the
-cart was a man, and with him were his two children.
-
-“Oh, look, George!” called the little girl, “there’s that nice goat we
-saw when we were going to the circus, the day we got back Tinkle, our
-pony.”
-
-“So it is, Mabel,” answered the boy. “Could we ever have a goat,
-Daddy?” he asked his father as the pony cart stopped.
-
-“Oh, I guess not,” said the man. “Tinkle is enough for you.” Then to
-Mrs. Malony, who came to the front gate, he said: “That’s a fine goat
-you have.”
-
-“Sure an’ you may well say that. You’re the gintleman who went past
-here a few days ago, aren’t you?”
-
-“Yes. I was on my way to the circus, and it was there we got back my
-children’s pony which had been stolen.”
-
-“Well, I’m glad you have him back,” said the Widow Malony, with a
-twinkle in her kind, Irish-blue eyes. “You should have seen Lightfoot
-leap from the top of the rocks to the roof of me shanty one day.”
-
-“Did he really do that?” asked George.
-
-“He did,” and Mrs. Malony told about it.
-
-Meanwhile Tinkle, the trick pony, of whom I have told you in the book
-of that name, was having a little talk with Lightfoot.
-
-“Were you really stolen?” asked Lightfoot, when Tinkle told some of his
-adventures.
-
-“Indeed I was. And did you really jump from the top of those rocks?”
-
-“I did,” answered the leaping goat, holding his head high and feeling
-very proud.
-
-“That’s more than I could do, though I can do circus tricks,” said
-Tinkle. “There’s been a book written about me and my tricks and
-adventures.”
-
-“You don’t tell me!” cried Lightfoot. “But what’s a book?”
-
-Before Tinkle could answer Mr. Farley, the father of George and Mabel,
-called good-by to the Widow Malony and drove on with the children in
-the pony cart.
-
-“Good-by!” called Tinkle to Lightfoot. “If ever you get to the circus
-ask Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, or Mappo, the merry monkey, about me.”
-
-“I will,” promised Lightfoot, “though I never expect to go to a circus.”
-
-“Sure they were nice little children,” said Mrs. Malony, “and it was a
-fine pony cart they had. How would you like to pull a stylish cart like
-that, Lightfoot?” she asked as she went back in the shanty to finish
-her washing.
-
-For many days after this Lightfoot lived around the squatter’s shanty
-learning to leap and do other things that goats have to do in this
-world. And one day he had an adventure that was not exactly pleasant.
-
-Lightfoot was getting to be quite a big goat now, and sometimes he
-wandered away farther than he had ever gone before. Two or three
-streets from where the Malony shanty was built ran an electric car
-line. At first Lightfoot did not know what it was, but the other goats
-told him that people rode in the queer, yellow cars which went rolling
-along in such a queer way on the shiny rails, a bell clanging in front.
-
-One afternoon Lightfoot wandered down to the trolley tracks. An ash
-wagon had passed a little while before, and the goat had seen fall from
-it a tin can with a big, red, tomato-paper pasted on it.
-
-“I’ll get that paper and eat off the paste,” thought Lightfoot.
-
-The can was in the middle of the tracks. Lightfoot began nosing it,
-tearing off the paper and eating small pieces. It tasted very good to
-him.
-
-Suddenly there was the clanging of a bell, and along came a car, headed
-straight for Lightfoot. The goat looked up.
-
-“Bother!” he exclaimed to himself. “You’ll have to wait until I finish
-my lunch,” he went on. “I’m not going to hurry out of the way for you.
-I’m as good as you!” Lightfoot wanted his own way, you see.
-
-But goats have no rights on a trolley track, though Lightfoot did not
-know this. The motorman clanged his bell, and cried:
-
-“Get off the tracks, you goat, or I’ll bump into you!”
-
-Now Lightfoot knew very little indeed about trolley cars. He did not
-know how strong they were. And so, as he stood between the rails,
-chewing the paper from the can, and saw the big yellow car clanging its
-way toward him, Lightfoot stamped his hoofs, shook his horns and said
-to himself:
-
-“Well, do as you please, but I’m not going to move until I finish
-eating. I guess I can butt as hard as you!”
-
-“Get out of there!” called the motorman again. But Lightfoot did not
-understand. The car slowed up a little, but still came on.
-
-“Bump into him, Bill!” called the conductor to the motorman, and the
-next instant the fender of the street car struck Lightfoot’s lowered
-horns, and tossed him to one side over into a ditch full of weeds.
-
-“Oh, dear! I’m hurt this time, sure!” thought poor Lightfoot. “I
-thought I could knock that car off the track, but, instead, it knocked
-me off! Oh, dear!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-LIGHTFOOT SAVES A GIRL
-
-
-For a few seconds after Lightfoot had been tossed into the ditch full
-of weeds the goat could not get up or even move. The trolley car
-clanged on its way down the tracks.
-
-“What happened?” asked some of the passengers.
-
-“Oh, a goat got on the track and the motorman had to knock him off,”
-explained the conductor.
-
-“I hope you didn’t hurt him,” said a little girl sitting in a front
-seat to the motorman.
-
-“No, I didn’t hit him very hard,” answered the motorman. “But I just
-had to get him out of the way. I’d never hurt any animal, for my
-children have a dog and a cat, and I love them as much as they do. The
-goat really butted into me as much as I did into him.”
-
-And this, in a way, was true. If Lightfoot had stood still, and had not
-tried to hit the fender of the car with his horns, he would have been
-easily pushed to one side. But he had to learn his lesson, and, like
-the lessons boys and girls have to learn, all are not easy or pleasant
-ones.
-
-So poor Lightfoot lay groaning in the ditch among the weeds as the
-trolley car went on. At least he groaned as much as a goat can groan,
-making a sort of bleating noise.
-
-“Oh, dear!” he thought. “Never again will I do such a thing as this! I
-will stick to jumping, for I can do that and not be hurt. I wonder if
-any of my legs or my horns are broken?”
-
-Lightfoot, lying on his side in the ditch, shook his head. His horns
-seemed to be all right. Then he tried to scramble to his feet. He felt
-several pains and aches, but, to his delight, he found that he could
-get up, though he was a bit shaky.
-
-“Well, none of my legs is broken, anyhow,” said Lightfoot to himself.
-“But I ache all over. I guess I’ll go home.” Home, to Lightfoot, meant
-the rocks around the shanty of the widow and her son.
-
-As Lightfoot limped from the ditch to the road he passed a puddle
-of water. He could see himself in this, as you boys and girls can
-see yourselves in a looking glass. The sight that met his eyes made
-Lightfoot gasp.
-
-“I’d never know myself!” he said sadly. Well might he say that. One
-of his legs was cut, and some blood had run from it. His side was
-scratched and bruised and some skin was scraped from his black nose.
-“I’m a terrible looking sight,” he said.
-
-He walked along, limping, until he came within sight of the shanty.
-From behind it came Blackie.
-
-“Why Lightfoot!” she cried in surprise. “Where in the world have you
-been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why! what has happened to
-you?”
-
-“I――I tried to butt a trolley car off the tracks,” said the boy-goat.
-“I was eating some pasty paper off a tomato can that fell from an
-ash wagon, when the car came along. I wouldn’t get out of the way
-and――well, it knocked me into the ditch. Oh, dear!”
-
-“I’m so sorry,” said Blackie sympathetically. “Come on up to the top of
-the rocks and you can roll in the soft grass. Maybe that will make you
-feel better.”
-
-“No, I don’t believe I could climb to the top of the rocks now,” said
-Lightfoot. “I am too sore and stiff. I’ll just lie down here in the
-shade.”
-
-“Do,” said the kind Blackie, “and I’ll bring you some nice brown paper
-I found.”
-
-Goats love brown paper almost as much as they do the kind that has
-paste on it and that comes off cans. For brown paper is made from
-things that goats like to eat, though of course it is not good for
-girls and boys any more than is hay or grass.
-
-“Well, what’s the matter with you, Lightfoot?” asked Grandpa Bumper,
-the old goat, as he came scrambling down the rocks a little later to
-get a drink of water from the pail near the kitchen door of the Widow
-Malony’s shanty. “What happened to you?”
-
-“I got in the way of a trolley car,” said Lightfoot, and he told what
-had happened.
-
-“Well, let that be a lesson to you,” said the old goat-man. “You are a
-strong goat-boy, and a fine jumper, but the strongest goat amongst us
-is not able to butt against a trolley car. I once heard of an elephant
-butting a locomotive with his head but he was killed. His name was
-Jumbo.”
-
-“I wonder if he was any relation to Tum Tum,” said Lightfoot, who was
-beginning to feel a little better now.
-
-“Who is Tum Tum?” asked Grandpa Bumper.
-
-“Oh, he is a jolly elephant who lives in a circus. I met a trick pony
-named Tinkle, who once was in the circus, and Tinkle told me about Tum
-Tum.”
-
-“I’m sure I don’t know about Tum Tum,” went on the old goat. “And I
-never saw a circus, though I have heard of them.”
-
-“Maybe I’ll be in one some day,” murmured Lightfoot.
-
-“Well, whatever you do, never again try to butt a trolley car,” advised
-the old goat, and Lightfoot said he never would.
-
-In a few days he felt better, though his bruises and cuts still hurt a
-little. But, with Blackie, he managed to get to the top of the rocks,
-and there, eating the sweet grass and lying stretched out in the sun,
-he was soon himself again and could jump as well as ever. He told the
-other goats about his adventure with the trolley car, and they all said
-he was brave, if he was foolish.
-
-It was more than a month after he had been butted into the ditch by the
-trolley car that Lightfoot once more wandered down that same street. He
-felt hungry for some pasty paper from a tomato can, and he wanted to
-see if any had fallen from an ash wagon.
-
-Lightfoot looked up and down the street. He did not see a can but
-he did see a little girl, and she was standing in the middle of the
-trolley track, almost in the spot where Lightfoot had stood when he was
-hurt.
-
-“I wonder if she is going to try to knock a car off the track,” thought
-Lightfoot. And just then, the little girl, who was about four years
-old, turned her back and stooped to pick up her doll, which had dropped
-from her arms to the ground.
-
-As she did so, around the corner of the street, came a trolley car,
-just like the one that had hit Lightfoot. The motorman happened to be
-looking the other way, and did not see the little girl. She was so
-taken up with her doll that she did not hear the rumble of the car, and
-the motorman, still looking the other way, did not ring his bell.
-
-“That little girl will be hurt!” cried Lightfoot “She can never knock
-the car off the track if I couldn’t. I must save her! I must push her
-off the rails.”
-
-Then, with a loud “Baa-a-a-a!” Lightfoot trotted on to the tracks in
-front of the car, and, as the little girl straightened up he gently
-put his head against her back and slowly pushed her from the tracks,
-leaping away himself just in time, as the car rolled right over the
-place where the little girl had been standing.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-LIGHTFOOT AND THE WAGON
-
-
-With a clang of the bell the trolley car came to a stop, the motorman
-putting the brakes on hard. Then he jumped off the front platform and
-ran to where the little girl had sat down in the grass at the side of
-the tracks. She had sat down rather hard, for Lightfoot had pushed her
-with more force than he intended. He was so anxious to get her out of
-the way of one of those clanging cars that once upon a time had hurt
-him so.
-
-“What is it?”
-
-“What’s the matter?”
-
-“What happened?”
-
-The passengers in the trolley car, surprised by the sudden way it
-stopped, called thus to one another as they hurried out. They saw the
-little girl sitting in the grass, holding her doll by one leg. They saw
-Lightfoot, the goat, standing near by as though keeping guard over the
-little girl, and they saw the motorman holding the shiny handle, by
-which he turned on and off the electricity that made the car go.
-
-“Oh, what’s the matter?” asked a small boy who had gotten off the car
-with his mother. “Did the goat bite the little girl?”
-
-“No, my dear. Goats don’t bite. They butt you with their horns.”
-
-“I don’t want any goat to butt me!” and the little boy hid behind his
-mother’s skirts.
-
-Then the little girl, sitting on the grass, made up her mind to cry. Up
-to now she had not quite known whether to laugh or to cry, but suddenly
-she felt that she had been hurt, or scared, or something, and the next
-thing, of course, was to cry.
-
-Tears came into her pretty blue eyes, she wiped them away with the
-dress of her doll and then she sobbed:
-
-“Go away you bad goat you! Go ’way! I don’t like you! You――you tried to
-bite me!”
-
-She had heard the little boy say that. But the little boy, getting
-brave as he saw that Lightfoot did not seem to want to bite, or butt
-either, any one, came from behind his mother’s skirts and said:
-
-“Goats don’t bite, little girl; they butt. My mamma says so, and if you
-is hurted she’ll kiss you and make you all well.”
-
-Some of the passengers laughed on hearing this, and the lady with the
-little boy went to where the little girl was sitting on the grass,
-picked her up in her arms and wiped away her tears.
-
-“There, my dear,” she said. “You’re not hurt. See the pretty goat. He
-won’t hurt you.”
-
-“You’re right there!” exclaimed the motorman. “He saved her from being
-hurt by my car, that’s what he did.”
-
-“What do you mean?” asked the conductor.
-
-“I mean the goat butted the little girl off the tracks, just as the
-lady said goats do. She was standing on the tracks, picking up her
-doll, when my car came along. I wasn’t paying much attention, and I was
-almost on her when the goat saw what the trouble was and pushed her off
-the tracks with his head. He didn’t really butt her, but he got her out
-of the way just in time.”
-
-“He’s a smart goat,” said one of the men who had been riding in the
-trolley car.
-
-“He is that!” exclaimed the motorman. “And now that I look at him I
-remember him. He’s the goat we knocked off the track about two months
-ago. Don’t you remember?” he asked, turning to the conductor.
-
-“Sure enough he is,” agreed the conductor, and he explained to the
-passengers the accident, or adventure, that had happened to Lightfoot,
-as I told it to you before.
-
-“He must have remembered how the car hurt him,” said the lady with the
-little boy, “and he didn’t want the child to be hurt. He is a smart
-goat!
-
-“Does any one know where the little girl lives?” asked the lady. “She
-ought not be allowed to stay here near the tracks.”
-
-None of the passengers knew the child, nor did the motorman or
-conductor. As they were wondering what to do along came Mike Malony.
-
-“Hello, Lightfoot!” called Mike as he saw his goat. And then, as he
-noticed the crowd, the stopped trolley car and the little girl, he
-asked:
-
-“What’s the matter? Is Tessie hurt?”
-
-“No one is hurt, I’m thankful to say,” replied the motorman; “but the
-little girl might have been only for the goat. Do you know her?”
-
-“Sure, she’s Tessie Rooney. She lives near me,” explained Mike. “I’ll
-take her home if you like.”
-
-“I wish you would,” said the lady who had given Tessie a five cent
-piece, which to Tessie was almost as much as a dollar. The child forgot
-all about her tears and what had happened to her.
-
-“Sure I’ll take her home,” said Mike, kindly.
-
-“Do you know whose goat that is?” asked the lady, as her little boy
-whispered something to her.
-
-“That’s mine,” said Mike proudly. “And there’s no better jumping goat
-in these parts.”
-
-“Nor smarter goat either,” said the motorman, and Mike, to his
-surprise, learned what his pet had done.
-
-“Do you want to sell the goat?” asked the lady. “My little boy would
-like him. I have an idea that I could hitch him to a cart and have him
-draw my boy about. Some neighbor’s children have a little pony named
-Tinkle, and they have great fun riding around with him. My boy is too
-small for a pony, but a goat might be good for him. Will you sell him
-to me――Lightfoot I think you said his name was?”
-
-“Well, ma’am, not wishing to be impolite to you, but I can’t sell
-Lightfoot,” said Mike slowly, and he put his hand on the goat’s head.
-“You see I’ve had him ever since he was a little kid, and I like him
-too much to sell him.”
-
-The lady saw how Mike felt about it, so she said kindly:
-
-“Well, never mind, my boy. I wouldn’t want to take your pet away from
-you, any more than I’d want my little boy to lose his, if he had one.
-It’s all right. But you are lucky to have so good a goat.”
-
-[Illustration: Lightfoot, coming up to get some of the salt which he
-licked from Mike’s hand, did not know what his master was saying.]
-
-“Yes’m; I think so myself. Come on now, Tessie. I’ll take you home, and
-if ever you come by yourself on the trolley tracks again I’ll never
-give you another pickaback ride.”
-
-“Oh, then I won’t ever come,” lisped Tessie, her hand in Mike’s. “And
-will you give me a piggy back ride now?”
-
-“Yes,” promised Mike; and amid the laughter of the trolley car
-passengers Mike took the little girl up on his back and trotted off,
-making believe he was a horse. Lightfoot ran alongside, and, seeing
-him, Tessie said:
-
-“Lightfoot pushed me so hard I sat down in the grass, Mike.”
-
-“Well, it’s a good thing he did, Tessie, else you might have been
-harder hit by the car. Now you take my advice and keep away from the
-tracks or, mind――no more pickaback rides!”
-
-A day or so after that Mike, going up to the top of the rocks to take
-some salt to his mother’s goats, saw Lightfoot leaping about, kicking
-up his heels and shaking his horns.
-
-“Sure it’s a fine goat you are intirely, as my dear mother would say,”
-said Mike softly. “And I wish I could do it.”
-
-Lightfoot, coming up to get some of the salt, which he licked from
-Mike’s hand, did not know what his master was saying. Even if he had
-understood the words he would not have known what they referred to.
-
-Mike went on, talking to himself.
-
-“If I only could do it,” he said, “it would be great! I could drive
-home with the washings, and then, maybe, I could earn money with you.
-I wonder if I could make it myself? I could get the wheels, and a big
-soap box――
-
-“No,” went on Mike, after a moment of thought, “that wouldn’t do. It
-would be all right for taking home the washings, but not to give rides
-for money. I’ve got to get a regular goat harness and a wagon. How can
-I do it?”
-
-Now you know what Mike was thinking of. He had heard the lady speak of
-a pony cart, and he wanted a goat wagon for Lightfoot. If he had that
-he could, as he said, drive home with the big baskets of clean clothes
-to his mother’s customers. Then Mike had an idea he could give rides to
-children in the goat wagon, and so earn money.
-
-“But where can I get the wagon and harness?” he asked himself over and
-over again.
-
-At last, when he had talked the matter over with his friend Timothy
-Muldoon, the railroad gate-tender, in his little shanty at the foot of
-the street, Mike got the idea.
-
-“Sure why don’t ye advertise in the papers?” asked Tim, as Mike called
-him. “That’s what everybody does that has anything to sell or wants to
-buy. Advertise for a goat wagon and harness. Sometimes goats dies, and
-the folks that owns them don’t get another, but sells the outfit.”
-
-“But it costs money to advertise,” objected Mike.
-
-“Sure and won’t the paper you work for trust you?” asked the gateman.
-
-“The paper I work for?” repeated Mike, wonderingly.
-
-“I mean the one you delivers for, nights,” for Mike had a paper route
-for an evening paper, the _Journal_.
-
-“They ought to know you there,” went on Tim. “Tell the advertising man
-what you want, and that you’ll pay him when you can.”
-
-“I’ll do it!” cried Mike, and he did. When, rather timidly, he
-explained to the man at the desk in the office what he wanted, and told
-him that he had delivered the _Journal_ for several years, a bargain
-was made.
-
-The man would put the advertisement in the paper for Mike, saying he
-wanted to buy a second-hand goat wagon and harness. He was to pay for
-the advertisement at the rate of two cents each day, for the Widow
-Malony and her son were so poor that even two cents counted.
-
-“And you can easy make up that two cents by getting two new customers
-for the paper,” said Tim, when Mike told him what had happened.
-
-“Yes. But how am I going to pay for the goat wagon and harness in case
-some one has it to sell?” Mike questioned.
-
-“Well, maybe I have a bit of a nest egg laid away,” said Tim, with
-a smile. “I might lend you the money, and when you get rich you can
-pay me. Or whoever sells the outfit might let your mother make up the
-amount by washing. We’ll see about that.”
-
-To Mike’s delight he had two answers to his advertisement. One was for
-a very fine goat wagon and harness, but the price asked was more than
-even Tim would advise paying.
-
-“You can get that, or one like it, when you’ve made a hundred dollars
-on the goat rides,” said the gate-man to Mike.
-
-The other outfit was just about right, Tim and Mike thought, and the
-man who had the wagon and harness for sale said Mrs. Malony could pay
-for it by doing washing and ironing. So, after Mike had paid for the
-advertisement, no more money need be paid out.
-
-“Sure, Lightfoot, now there’ll be grand times for you!” cried Mike as
-he came home one day with the wagon and harness.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-LIGHTFOOT IN THE PARK
-
-
-Lightfoot, the leaping goat, who was cropping the sweet grass on top of
-the rocks from which he had once made his great jump, looked down in
-the yard near the shanty and saw his master Mike busy over something
-new.
-
-“I wonder what that is?” thought Lightfoot to himself, for goats and
-other animals wonder and are curious about things, as you can tell by
-holding out something in your hand to your dog or cat. They will come
-up to it and smell it, to see if it is good to eat.
-
-And so Lightfoot wondered. Mike was good to him, and often brought him
-some lumps of salt, or a bit of carrot or turnip, for though goats like
-to eat grass, and even bits of paper and other queer things, they like
-nice things too, like sweet vegetables.
-
-“I guess I’ll go down and see what it is Mike has,” said Lightfoot to
-himself, and so he started down the rocky path. Though he was a good
-leaping goat he did not want again to try to jump on top of the widow’s
-shanty. That was too dangerous.
-
-“Where are you going, Lightfoot?” asked Blackie, the girl-goat, who
-had been cropping grass near her friend, as she saw him start down the
-rocky path.
-
-“The boy Mike is down there, and he may have something good to eat,”
-answered Lightfoot. “If he has I’ll give you some.”
-
-“You are very kind,” said Blackie, and she followed down after
-Lightfoot, only more slowly, for she was not so good a jumper or
-rock-climber as was he.
-
-Down near his mother’s shanty, Mike was looking at the goat wagon and
-harness he had just brought home.
-
-“It’s almost as good as new, Mother!” cried the Irish boy. “Look at the
-wheels spin, would you!” and turning the wagon on one side he spun two
-wheels around until they went so fast he could not see the spokes.
-
-“Be careful now and don’t break it,” cautioned the Widow Malony.
-
-“Oh, sure ’tis a grand strong wagon!” cried Mike. “It would hold two
-baskets of clothes. And I can ride four boys or girls around in it at
-once, and get pennies.”
-
-“Well, sure an’ it’s the pennies we need,” sighed Mrs. Malony, for she
-found it hard to get along on what she could earn. Mike was getting to
-be a bigger boy now, and he ate more, though his mother never told him
-this. She wanted him to grow strong.
-
-“Give me a bit of salt, Mother,” said Mike. “I want to get Lightfoot
-friendly, so he’ll not be afraid of the harness or wagon, for I’m going
-to hitch him up soon.
-
-“Here he comes now with Blackie,” went on Mike, as he saw the two goats
-coming down the rocky path. “You’re just in time, Lightfoot, though I
-don’t need Blackie to learn to pull the wagon. She wouldn’t be strong
-enough. But I’ll give her some salt.”
-
-The two goats licked the salt from Mike’s hands, and liked it very
-much. Mike turned the wagon right side up, and then took up part of the
-harness.
-
-“I wonder how Lightfoot will act when I put it on him,” thought Mike.
-“He’s never been harnessed.”
-
-While the goat was chewing some sweet chopped carrots which Mrs. Malony
-spread out in front of him, Mike gently slipped a part of the harness
-over the goat’s back. At first Lightfoot jumped a little to one side.
-But, as he saw that there were still more carrots left, and as he felt
-Mike patting him, Lightfoot thought it was all right.
-
-“I guess it’s just a new game that boy Mike is playing,” said the goat
-to himself. “Well, he’s always kind to me, so I’m sure it will be all
-right. Anyhow these carrots are good. Have some, Blackie.”
-
-“I will,” said the other goat. “But what is that queer thing on your
-back, Lightfoot?”
-
-“Oh, some game that boy is playing,” answered the goat. “It won’t hurt
-us, for Mike is always kind,” and he and Blackie went on eating the
-carrots.
-
-“Well, so far so good,” said Mike to himself when he had most of the
-harness on his pet, and Lightfoot had stood still. “Now to get the bit
-in his mouth. That’s going to be harder.”
-
-“Better get Jack Murphy to come over and help you,” said Mrs. Malony.
-“He used to keep goats in Ireland, and he knows a lot about ’em, though
-I don’t know if he ever harnessed ’em to a cart.”
-
-But Mr. Murphy had, as it happened, and, being a neighbor of the
-Malonys, he soon came over when Mike called him and showed the boy
-how to put the iron bit in Lightfoot’s mouth, and run the reins back
-through rings fastened in a part of the harness that went around the
-middle of the goat’s back.
-
-It was not easy to do, and, several times, Lightfoot tried to break
-away. But Mike and Mr. Murphy held him until the harness was in place
-and tightly strapped on.
-
-“Now see if you can drive him about,” said Mr. Murphy, when Mike had
-hold of the reins and the bit was in Lightfoot’s mouth. The goat was
-shaking his head about, trying to get rid of the piece of iron between
-his teeth. It did not really hurt him. It just felt queer. But it was
-firmly held by straps, and Lightfoot could not shake it loose.
-
-“I can’t drive him without first hitching him to the wagon,” said Mike,
-for as yet the goat had not been put between the shafts of the little
-cart.
-
-“Don’t hitch him to that yet,” advised Mr. Murphy. “Sure he might run
-away and break it. Just drive him about the yard by the reins and run
-after him.”
-
-“He may run away with me,” laughed Mike.
-
-“Well, that can’t be helped. Maybe he will. But he’ll soon get used to
-the harness and behave. Lightfoot is a wise goat.”
-
-But even wise goats don’t like it the first time they are put in
-harness, and Lightfoot was no different in this way from others, though
-he was such a good jumper. When Mike took hold of the reins and called
-to Lightfoot to “gid-dap,” the goat, who was now big and strong,
-started off with such force and suddenness that Mike was almost jerked
-from his feet.
-
-“Run!” called Mr. Murphy. “Run with him, and along after him, Mike. Try
-to turn him to the right and the left so’s he’ll know how to mind the
-reins when he’s fast to the wagon. Run after him!”
-
-Mike, holding fast to the reins, ran, and the goat ran too. And, being
-a good runner, Lightfoot easily kept ahead of Mike. It was all Mike
-could do not to let go the reins.
-
-“Run!” called Mr. Murphy. “Run faster, Mike!”
-
-Mike tried but he stumbled over a stone and fell. However, he kept hold
-of the reins, winding them around his wrists and as Lightfoot kept on
-going he pulled Mike all about the yard.
-
-“Bless an’ save us!” cried Mrs. Malony coming to the door of her
-shanty. “What’s happenin’?”
-
-“He’s teaching Lightfoot to pull to harness,” said Mr. Murphy.
-
-“Hum! It looks more like Lightfoot was teachin’ _Mike_,” said the
-widow. “Won’t Mike be hurt?”
-
-“Not a bit. Many a time in th’ old country I’ve been dragged by a goat.
-It’s good for one.”
-
-Around and around the yard Lightfoot dragged Mike, the chickens and
-ducks scattering in all directions, the old rooster flying up on the
-fence and crowing with all his might.
-
-At last Lightfoot, finding he could not get the iron bit out of his
-mouth, and could not shake off the harness, and looking back and seeing
-Mike being dragged about on the ground, thought:
-
-“Well, I guess I’m tired. I seem to be held fast no matter what I do.
-I’ll quit.”
-
-And that is just what Mike wanted, for he was tired of being pulled
-about in this fashion.
-
-“Well, I guess he’s learned that part, anyhow,” said Mr. Murphy. “Now
-we’ll hitch him to the wagon.”
-
-While Mr. Murphy was bringing up the wagon, and Mike was holding
-Lightfoot, Blackie came up and asked:
-
-“What was all that for, Lightfoot?”
-
-“Oh, I guess it was a new kind of game. I can’t say I like it though. I
-had rather jump on the rocks,” answered Lightfoot.
-
-“No, it was not a game,” said Grandpa Bumper, coming up just then.
-“You are being taught to let yourself be harnessed up to draw a cart,
-Lightfoot, and here they come with the cart now.”
-
-“What does that mean?” asked the leaping goat. “Will it hurt?”
-
-“No, not if you behave yourself. Once I was a cart-drawing goat, and
-I worked in a nice park. I’ll tell you about it so you’ll know what to
-do.”
-
-And when the cart was brought up, and the shafts, one on each side of
-Lightfoot, were being fastened with straps, the younger goat stood very
-still, listening to Grandpa Bumper tell, in goat language, just what it
-all meant.
-
-“Why, he seems to like it,” said Mike as he fastened the last strap.
-“He didn’t try once to get away, Mr. Murphy.”
-
-“I guess he’s getting used to it,” said the kind Irishman.
-
-But if he and Mike had known, it was what Grandpa Bumper had said to
-Lightfoot that made the young goat stand so still and allow himself to
-be hitched to the cart.
-
-“Well,” said Lightfoot to the old goat when the harnessing was
-finished, “it may not be so bad after all. I guess I’ll be good and not
-run away. I’ll pull the cart nicely.”
-
-“It will be best, I think,” said the old goat.
-
-So, when Mike took his seat in the cart, and pulled on the reins,
-calling to Lightfoot to “Gid-dap!” the goat started off, pulling the
-little wagon as though he had done it all his life.
-
-“Oh, this is great!” cried Mike. “I never thought he would learn as
-easily as this.”
-
-“He is a smart and sensible goat,” the Irishman said. “Now look out if
-he gets going too fast.”
-
-But Lightfoot did not seem to want to run away. He trotted along up and
-down the street, soon learning to turn to the right or the left as Mike
-pulled the reins.
-
-Once or twice Lightfoot started to run swiftly, but Mike pulled back on
-the reins, and the iron bit in his mouth, pressing on his tongue and
-teeth, told Lightfoot that he must go more slowly.
-
-In a few days he had become used to the cart and harness and Mike could
-drive him anywhere. The other goats came to the top of the pile of
-rocks and looked down at Lightfoot. Many of them wished they could be
-harnessed up, for Lightfoot got many extra good things to eat from
-Mike, who liked his driving goat very much. Lightfoot was now a driving
-goat as well as a leaping one.
-
-“And now it’s time, I guess,” said Mike one day, “to see if I can
-earn money with my goat and wagon.” He had taken a number of baskets
-of clean clothes home to his mother’s employers, and, no matter how
-heavy the basket was, Lightfoot had no trouble in pulling it, with Mike
-sitting on the front seat of the cart.
-
-Mike made his wagon nice and clean, put a strip of old carpet in the
-bottom, and started one day for a part of the city where rich folks
-lived. Along the streets there, on pleasant afternoons, nurse maids
-would be out walking with the children of whom they took care. When he
-got to this place Mike drove his goat wagon slowly up and down.
-
-It was not long before a little boy, well dressed, who was walking
-along with his nurse, cried:
-
-“Oh, Marie! See the wonderful goat wagon! May I have a ride in it?”
-
-“No, no, Master Peter. It is not to ride in.”
-
-“Yes, it is! I want a ride! Will you give me a ride, boy?” he called to
-Mike.
-
-“You must not ask for rides,” said Marie, the maid. “The boy sells
-rides――that is, I think he does,” and she looked at Mike and smiled.
-
-“Yes,” answered Mike, “my goat wagon is for hire.”
-
-“Then I want a ride!” cried little Peter. “I want a ride, Marie!”
-
-“But we must ask your mamma,” said the maid. “Come, she is just going
-out in the car. We will ask her.”
-
-Mike saw a richly dressed lady getting into a big automobile in front
-of a fine house. Peter ran to her and said something. The lady beckoned
-to Mike, who drove his wagon toward her.
-
-“Do you hire out your goat wagon for rides?” asked the lady.
-
-“Yes’m,” said Mike.
-
-“And is he perfectly safe?”
-
-“Yes’m. I drive him myself. I won’t let him run away.”
-
-“Then I think you may have a ride up and down the block, Peter. Marie,
-here is money to pay the goat-boy. But be careful, won’t you?” she
-cautioned Mike.
-
-“Oh, yes’m,” he promised. He helped Peter into the goat wagon, on to
-one of the three rear seats, Marie getting in also. Then Mike started
-Lightfoot off down the street at a gentle trot.
-
-“Oh, I love this!” cried Peter. “When I grow up I’m going to drive a
-goat wagon!”
-
-“Oh, Master Peter!” cried Marie.
-
-“Well, I am,” he said. “It’s ever so much more fun than making an
-automobile go. Anybody can do that.”
-
-Up and down the block Mike drove Lightfoot, giving the little boy and
-his nurse a fine ride. Then the other children wanted rides, and their
-parents or nurses, seeing how gentle the goat was, and how well Mike
-managed him, let their boys and girls get in the cart. Mike was kept
-busy all the afternoon giving rides to the little tots, and when he had
-finished he had nearly two dollars, in ten- and five-cent pieces, for
-some children took more than one ride.
-
-“Talk about your luck!” cried Mike as he drove toward his shanty, a
-happy smile on his freckled face. “I’ll soon be rich.”
-
-“Look at that, Mother!” he cried, as he poured the money from his
-pocket on to the table. “That’s what Lightfoot earned for us to-day!”
-
-“Thanks be!” exclaimed Mrs. Malony. “Sure an’ the money will come in
-handy, for I have the grocer to pay to-night. Tell me about it, Mike
-darlin’.”
-
-And Mike told, while Lightfoot, unharnessed, ate a good supper, and
-then told the other goats of his new adventures.
-
-For several weeks Mike went about the different streets of the city
-giving rides to children, and hardly a day passed that he did not make
-a dollar or a little more. Of course when it rained he could not do
-this. And then one day Mike came home with bright eyes and a laughing
-face.
-
-“What do you think, Mother dear!” he cried. “I have a regular job with
-Lightfoot!”
-
-“What is it, Mike?”
-
-“I’m to drive him and the goat wagon in the park, and the man is to
-give me ten dollars a week. That’ll be better than going about the
-streets. I’ll get paid regular. Hurray!” and Mike hugged and kissed his
-mother.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-LIGHTFOOT BUTTS A BOY
-
-
-When Mike had quieted his joy and happiness down a bit, he explained
-to his mother how it had come about. It seemed that as he was driving
-Lightfoot about, hitched to the cart, and giving a number of children a
-ride on a quiet street, a man had come up to Mike.
-
-“I have a goat stand in the park,” the man explained. “I own a number
-of goats and wagons, and hire boys to drive them. Would you like to
-sell me your goat and wagon? I need another.”
-
-“But I told him I wouldn’t sell Lightfoot,” Mike explained. “Then he
-wanted me to hire my outfit to him at so much a week, but I wouldn’t do
-that, for I wouldn’t let anybody but myself drive my goat.”
-
-“That’s right,” agreed Mrs. Malony, who was almost as fond of Lightfoot
-as was Mike himself. “What did the man say then?”
-
-“Well, he wanted to know if I’d come to the park and drive the goat
-myself. He said he’d give me eight dollars a week, but I said I could
-earn more than that working for myself. Then he raised it to ten
-dollars and I took him up.”
-
-“But how does _he_ make any money out of it?” asked Mrs. Malony.
-
-“Oh, he keeps all I take in over ten dollars, and I guess it will be
-more than that lots of times, for big crowds of children go to the park
-these Summer days. Then, too, we don’t give such long rides as I’ve
-been giving. They charge only five cents a ride in the park, and I
-charge ten sometimes, but then I go all around a big block.
-
-“But I think it’ll be a good thing for us, Mother. Ten dollars a week
-is a lot of money. Of course I’ll have to buy the feed for Lightfoot
-out of that, and a bit of lunch for myself.”
-
-“Sure, I can put that up for you in the morning,” said the widow with a
-smile. “It’s great, Mike my boy! Sure we’ve had good luck ever since we
-got Lightfoot.”
-
-The next day, bright and early, Mike drove his goat and wagon to the
-big park which was in the upper part of the city, not far from where
-the squatters had built their shanties on the rocks.
-
-“Well, I see you are on time,” said the man who had the privilege of
-managing the goat wagons in the park. No wagons other than those he
-permitted could come in to give the children rides, so if Mike had not
-accepted his offer the boy could not have done a park business on his
-own account.
-
-“Yes, Lightfoot and I are all ready,” said Mike.
-
-In a little while the other goats were brought from the stable in the
-park where they were kept, and harnessed to small wagons. The wagons
-were better painted than Mike’s, but were no cleaner nor larger. And as
-a friend of his mother’s had given her a strip of bright red carpet,
-Mike put this in the bottom of his goat cart, so that it looked gay and
-cheerful.
-
-“Huh! Got a new boy, it seems,” said one of the small drivers, as he
-noticed Lightfoot and Mike.
-
-“Yes, an’ if he tries to take away any of my customers he’ll get in
-trouble,” said another, shaking his fist at Mike.
-
-“Here, you boys! No quarreling!” said the manager of the goat wagons,
-a Mr. Marshall. “You’ll all do as I say, and I won’t have any picking
-on this boy. Business isn’t any too good, and I want you all to do your
-best.”
-
-Mike said nothing to the other boys, but he was not afraid to take his
-own part.
-
-The other goats looked at Lightfoot, and one, hitched to the wagon
-driven by the boy who had spoken a bit crossly to Mike, said to
-Lightfoot:
-
-“Where did you come from?”
-
-“From the high rocks,” answered Lightfoot.
-
-“Do you mean the mountains?” asked another goat.
-
-“I don’t know, but it’s over that way,” said Lightfoot, and he pointed
-with his horns in the direction of Mike’s home.
-
-“Oh, he means the rocks by the squatters’ shanties!” exclaimed the goat
-who had first spoken. “Why, we can’t have anything to do with goats
-like that! We give rides to well born children. This goat comes from a
-very poor home indeed.
-
-“What right have you got to come here among us?” he asked Lightfoot.
-
-“I don’t know anything about it,” said Lightfoot. “I was driven here,
-and I’ll do my best to give good rides to the children. I may not have
-come from the mountains, but the rocks where I live are very high and
-sweet grass grows on top. Can any of you jump from the high rocks down
-on top of the widow’s shanty?”
-
-“Thank you, we don’t live near shanties,” said another goat. “We live
-in the park stable.”
-
-“Just the same that was a good jump,” remarked a quiet goat, with short
-horns. “I was over that way once. I think I know the place you mean,”
-he went on to Lightfoot, and Mike’s goat was glad to know he had one
-friend.
-
-“Well, he may be a good jumper but I don’t believe he can butt hard
-with his horns and head,” said the ill-tempered goat, who was called
-Snipper from the habit he had of snipping off leaves and flowers in the
-park.
-
-“I once nearly butted a trolley car off the tracks,” said Lightfoot,
-“and I did shove a little girl out of the way of the car.”
-
-“Pooh! That’s nothing,” sneered Snipper. “Let’s see how hard you can
-butt,” and he rose up on his hind legs and aimed his head and horns at
-Lightfoot.
-
-“Look out, Lightfoot!” cried Mike. But the new goat was ready for
-Snipper. Rising on his own hind legs, Lightfoot butted the other goat
-so hard that he nearly fell over backward into the cart.
-
-“Good! Well butted!” cried the kindly, short-horned goat. “That was
-fine!”
-
-“You wouldn’t say so if you felt it,” bleated Snipper.
-
-“Well, it was your own fault. You started the quarrel,” went on the
-friendly goat.
-
-“I can butt better than he can, and I’ll show him too, next time,”
-grumbled Snipper, rubbing his head against a tree.
-
-“Say!” cried the boy who had spoken roughly to Mike, “if your goat
-doesn’t leave mine alone I――I’ll do something to you!”
-
-“Oh, no, you won’t,” said Mike. “I’m not afraid of the likes of you.”
-
-“Here, boys, stop your quarreling,” said the man. “Get ready now, some
-children and their mothers are coming. Perhaps they may want rides.”
-
-Along the path that led to the goat stand came a number of boys and
-girls. Seeing them, the boys in charge of the goats called:
-
-“Here you are for a ride! This way for a ride! We’ve got the best goats
-in the park! Only five cents a ride!”
-
-The children stopped. Some begged their fathers or mothers to let them
-have a ride. One man, with a boy and girl consented.
-
-“Which wagon and goat do you want?” asked the father.
-
-For a moment the tots were undecided.
-
-“Here, take mine! It’s the best!” cried the boy whose goat had been
-butted by Lightfoot. For a moment the children seemed about to get into
-that wagon, then the little girl cried:
-
-“Oh, see what a pretty red carpet is in this wagon!” and she ran over
-to Mike’s. “I want to ride in this!”
-
-“So do I,” said her brother, and they got in. Mike was pleased and
-happy, but the other boy, whose name was Henry, scowled.
-
-“I’ll fix you for that,” he muttered to Mike, but Mike did not care. He
-started Lightfoot down the park road and the goat drew the delighted
-children swiftly and carefully.
-
-Thus it was that Mike and Lightfoot began their work in the park.
-From then on, for several weeks, Mike would take his goat and cart to
-the stand every morning, and all day long he would drive parties of
-children up and down. Lightfoot was growing stronger and more used to
-harness and cart, and he could soon pull as well as the best goat in
-the park.
-
-Every Saturday night Mike took home ten dollars to his mother, and this
-was the best of all. Of course Mike took in more than this from the
-children who paid him for their rides, but all over ten dollars went
-to Mr. Marshall. Out of the ten dollars Mike paid for hay and oats for
-Lightfoot, for now that he had work to do, the goat could not live on
-grass alone.
-
-The other goats accepted Lightfoot for a friend now, and even Snipper
-was on good terms with him, for they all saw that Lightfoot was as
-strong as any of them and could take his own part. But Henry, the boy
-who drove Snipper, did not make friends with Mike.
-
-“I’ll get even with him some day,” he said.
-
-[Illustration: “I want to ride in this!”]
-
-And this is how he did it――not a very fair way, I should say. One noon
-Mike took the harness off Lightfoot, and, putting a rope around the
-goat’s neck, tied the other end to a tree, so Lightfoot would not stray
-away, as he had once or twice, meaning nothing wrong. Mike’s mother had
-not had time to put up his lunch that morning, so Mike went down to a
-little restaurant in the park, intending to get a glass of milk and
-some sandwiches.
-
-“Now behave yourself, Lightfoot, while I’m gone. I’ll soon be back,”
-said Mike.
-
-Lightfoot wiggled his little stubby tail. Whether he understood or not
-I can not say. He went on cropping grass, after he had eaten his hay
-and other fodder.
-
-In a little while Henry came along. He saw Lightfoot tethered all by
-himself, the other goats having been taken to the stable. Henry looked
-about, and, seeing no signs of Mike, took up a stick, and, going toward
-Lightfoot, said:
-
-“I’ll teach you to butt my goat! You won’t do it after I am through
-with you!”
-
-Then, with the stick, he fell to beating Lightfoot. At first Mike’s
-goat did not know what to make of this. He looked up and seeing that
-it was one of the goat-boys, but not Mike, thought maybe it was a new
-kind of game. But as the blows from the stick fell harder and harder
-Lightfoot knew that it was no game.
-
-Whack! Bang! Whack! Henry beat the stick on Lightfoot’s back.
-
-Lightfoot tried to get away, but the rope held him. Then, suddenly the
-goat became angry, and you can not blame him. He knew he had strong
-horns and a strong head, given him by nature to butt with and defend
-himself.
-
-“And I’m going to butt that boy who is beating me with the stick!”
-thought Lightfoot. Before Henry knew what was happening Lightfoot
-rushed straight at him with lowered head, and the next thing Henry knew
-he found himself falling backward head over heels in the grass. The
-goat had butted him down good and hard.
-
-For a moment Henry lay dazed, hardly knowing what had happened. Then,
-all of a sudden, Lightfoot felt sorry.
-
-“My master would not want me to do this,” he said to himself. “Maybe he
-will punish me when he comes back. I know what I’ll do; I’ll run away.”
-
-With a strong jump, and a leap, Lightfoot broke off, close to his
-neck, the rope that held him. And then, before Henry could get up, off
-through the bushes in the park bounded Lightfoot. He had run away.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-LIGHTFOOT ON A BOAT
-
-
-The park where Lightfoot, the leaping goat, had worked with Mike for
-several weeks, giving rides to children, was quite a large one. There
-were many paths in it, and driveways. There were also patches of woods,
-and places where the bushes grew in tangled clumps, making many hiding
-places.
-
-“I’d better hide myself for a while,” thought Lightfoot, for, though he
-was a tame goat, he still had in him some of the wildness that is in
-all animals, even your pussy cat; and this wildness made him want to
-hide when he thought himself in danger. And the danger Lightfoot feared
-was that he would be beaten with a stick for knocking over the boy who
-had tormented him.
-
-“I’ll hide under these thick bushes,” said the goat to himself, when
-he had run quite a distance from the stand in the park where the small
-wagons were kept.
-
-The bushes were thick, but with his strong head and horns Lightfoot
-soon poked a way for himself into the very middle of them, and there he
-lay down upon the ground to rest. For he had run fast and was tired.
-His heart was beating very hard.
-
-Though he did not know it, Lightfoot had done just as a wild goat would
-have done――one that lived in a far-off country who had never seen a
-wagon, a harness or a squatter’s shanty. He had hidden himself away
-from danger.
-
-And, with beating heart, as he crouched under the bush, Lightfoot
-wondered what he would do next.
-
-“I can’t go back to the park and help Mike with the wagon, giving the
-children rides,” thought Lightfoot. “If I do that boy with the stick
-will be waiting for me. He’ll be angry at me for knocking him down.
-That little girl wasn’t mad at me for knocking her off the trolley
-tracks; but then that was different, I guess. And maybe Mike will be
-angry with me too. I’ll be sorry for that.
-
-“He won’t give me any more lumps of salt, nor sweet carrots. I won’t
-see Blackie again, nor Grandpa Bumper. I’ll never jump around on the
-rocks any more and see the Sharp-horns. Well, it can’t be helped, I
-suppose. I must do the best I can. I’ll stay here for a while and see
-what happens.”
-
-So Lightfoot remained in hiding, and when Mike had finished getting his
-little lunch in the restaurant he came back to reharness his goat to
-the wagon, ready to give the children rides in the afternoon.
-
-“Why, where’s Lightfoot?” asked Mike in surprise, as he came back and
-saw the broken rope where he had tied his pet. “Where’s my goat?”
-
-“How should I know?” asked Henry in a cross sort of voice. “He butted
-me over on my back a little while ago.”
-
-“You must have done something to make him do that,” quickly cried Mike.
-He looked at the end of the broken rope. At first he thought Henry
-might have cut it on purpose to let Lightfoot get away, but the ends of
-the rope, frayed and rough, showed that it had not been cut, but broken.
-
-“Have any of you seen Lightfoot?” asked Mike of the other boys. But
-they had all been to dinner themselves and had not seen what had
-happened. The other goats, too, had been taken to the stable for the
-noon meal.
-
-Only Henry had seen Lightfoot run away, and he felt so unkindly toward
-the goat and Mike that he would not tell. Mike ran here and there,
-asking the park policemen and other helpers if they had seen his goat,
-but none had. Lightfoot had taken just the best possible time to run
-away――noon, when every one was at dinner. And now the goat was safely
-hidden in the bushes.
-
-“Well, I’ve just got to find him,” said Mike to himself, as he looked
-at the goat’s harness hanging on a tree, and at the wagon with its
-strip of bright red carpet. “I’ve just got to find Lightfoot!”
-
-Telling Mr. Marshall what had happened, and promising to come back with
-Lightfoot as soon as he could find him, and take up again the work of
-giving children rides in the park, Mike set off to find his pet.
-
-Along the paths, cutting across the grassy lawns, looking under clumps
-of bushes, asking those he met, Mike went on and on looking for
-Lightfoot. Now and then he stopped, to call the goat’s name. But though
-once Lightfoot, from where he was hiding, heard his master’s voice he
-did not bleat in answer, as he had always done before.
-
-“He is looking for me to whip me,” thought Lightfoot, “and I am not
-going to be whipped!”
-
-Poor Lightfoot! If he had known that Mike would not whip him, but would
-have petted him, and given him something nice to eat, the goat might
-have come out from the bush where he was hiding and have trotted up to
-Mike. Had Lightfoot done this he would have saved himself much trouble.
-But then, of course, he would not have had so many adventures about
-which I will tell you.
-
-After calling and looking for Lightfoot, even very near the bush under
-which the goat was hidden, but never suspecting his pet was there, Mike
-walked farther on. He had not given up the search, but now he was far
-from the place where Lightfoot was hiding.
-
-Lightfoot stayed under the bushes and listened. He did not hear any
-one coming toward him, and he began to think he was now safe. He was
-beginning to feel a bit hungry again, so he reached out and nibbled
-some of the leaves.
-
-“My! That tastes good!” he said to himself. “It’s better even than the
-grass that grows on top of the rocks at home.”
-
-Then, all of a sudden, Lightfoot felt homesick. He thought of the fun
-he had had with Blackie and the other goats, and he wanted to go back
-to them.
-
-“I think I’ll do that,” he said. “Maybe, after all, Mike will not let
-that other boy beat me. But I’ll wait until after dark.”
-
-The sun sank down in the west. The children and their nurses went home
-from the park. The goats and wagons were taken to the stable. Mike
-came back from his search.
-
-“Well, did you find your goat?” asked Mr. Marshall.
-
-Mike shook his head sadly.
-
-“No, I didn’t,” he answered. “But I’ll look again to-morrow.”
-
-“If you don’t find him pretty soon,” went on the man, “I’ll have to get
-another goat and wagon.”
-
-Mike felt sadder than ever at this for he knew the money he had been
-able to earn with Lightfoot was much needed at home. And it was with a
-sorrowful heart that Mike told his mother what had happened.
-
-“Never mind, Mike me darlin’,” said the good Irish woman. “Maybe
-Lightfoot will come back to us some day.”
-
-At dark Lightfoot crept out from under the bush. The lights were
-sparkling in the park, and he thought he could easily find his way back
-to Shanty-town. Mike had driven him from there to the park and back
-many times.
-
-But the darkness, even though there were lights here and there,
-bothered Lightfoot. He soon became lost. He did not know which way
-he was going. Once, as he crossed a green lawn in the park he saw,
-standing under a lamp, a policeman with a club. Lightfoot did not know
-what a policeman was but he knew what a club was used for――to beat
-goats.
-
-“But he sha’n’t beat me,” thought Lightfoot, so he kept in the shadows
-and got safely past. On and on he wandered, trying to find his way back
-to the rocks where he had spent so many happy months. But he could not
-find them, and at last he became so tired that he crawled under some
-bushes and went to sleep.
-
-It was morning when Lightfoot awakened. He found he was in a strange
-place. It was a place of many streets and with big cars running back
-and forth on shining rails. But they did not run as did trolley cars.
-Instead a big engine pushed them and pulled them. Though Lightfoot did
-not know it, he was near a railroad yard.
-
-He came out from under the bush to look for something to eat. He saw
-an empty can with a piece of paper on it that he knew was covered with
-paste. He wanted that paper very much. But as he crept out to get it a
-boy picking up coal from the tracks saw him and cried:
-
-“Oh, fellers! Look at de goat! Let’s chase him!”
-
-And chase after Lightfoot they did, shouting and throwing lumps of
-coal. Lightfoot had no mind to be caught, so he ran across the tracks.
-The boys shouted at him, the men in the railroad yard yelled at him,
-and when he crossed the tracks the engines tooted their whistles at
-him. Altogether Lightfoot was very much frightened.
-
-On and on he ran. Some of the boys were getting closer now, for
-Lightfoot could not run over the shiny rails as easily as they.
-
-“I’m going to get that goat!” cried the boy who had first seen
-Lightfoot.
-
-Lightfoot heard the boy’s shout, though he did not understand the
-words. The goat knew he must run faster and faster, and he did. He came
-to a place near the line of the railroad tracks where he could see
-some water. He knew what water was, for he drank it, and also, when it
-rained hard, there was a little pond and a stream that formed on top of
-the big rocks, so he was used to seeing large puddles.
-
-Lightfoot ran close to this water. The boys, racing after him, saw, and
-one cried:
-
-“Oh, de goat’s goin’ t’ swim!”
-
-But Lightfoot was not going to do that. He was only looking for a
-good place to hide. Pretty soon he saw it. Floating on the water was
-something that looked like a little house. Smoke was coming from a
-stovepipe in the roof, and beyond the house, and seeming to be a part
-of it, were two big, long black holes.
-
-“Those holes would make a good place to hide,” thought Lightfoot.
-
-He ran up alongside of them and looked down. There was nothing in
-them, and no one was in sight. The boys chasing after him were behind
-some freight cars just then and could not see the goat.
-
-“I’ll hide down there,” said Lightfoot to himself. “It isn’t as far to
-jump as it was from the top of the rocks to the roof of the shanty.
-I’ll hide there.”
-
-Down into the dark hole, near the funny little house, leaped Lightfoot.
-And where do you suppose he was now?
-
-He was down in the bottom of a canal boat, down in the big hole, in the
-hold, as it is called, next to the cabin, or little house. In the hold,
-though it was empty now, is loaded the cargo the boat carries――hay,
-grain or coal.
-
-For the first time in his life Lightfoot was on a boat.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-LIGHTFOOT ON A VOYAGE
-
-
-With a heart that beat hard and fast after his long run, Lightfoot, the
-goat, crouched down in a dark corner of the hold in the canal boat.
-
-“My!” thought poor Lightfoot as he curled up in as small a space as he
-could. “I got away from them just in time. I hope they don’t find me.”
-
-He listened with his ears pointed forward, just as a horse does when
-he hears or sees something strange. There was a sort of thumping noise
-somewhere in the canal boat, near the wooden wall or partition against
-which Lightfoot was resting himself.
-
-There was a rattling of dishes and pans, and then Lightfoot heard the
-noise of coal being put in the stove. He knew that sound, for in the
-shanty of Widow Malony he had often heard it before, when Mike or his
-mother would make a fire to cook a meal.
-
-And pretty soon Lightfoot smelled something cooking. He sniffed the air
-in the dark hold of the canal boat. It was not the smell of such food
-as Lightfoot cared to eat, for it was meat and potatoes being cooked.
-And though he did like a cold boiled potato once in a while, he did not
-want meat.
-
-“I wonder what is going on here?” thought the goat.
-
-If he had known, it was the noises in the cabin-kitchen of the canal
-boat――the captain’s wife was getting dinner. For on these canal boats,
-of which there are not so many now as there used to be, the captain and
-his family live in a little house, or cabin, where they eat and sleep
-just as if the house were on land. Instead it is on a boat, and the
-boat is pulled by horses and mules from one city to another, bringing
-to port coal, grain or whatever else they are loaded with.
-
-Lightfoot remained hiding in the dark hold, listening to the noises in
-the kitchen cabin, and smelling the good smells. Then Lightfoot heard
-voices in the cabin. It was the captain of the boat speaking to his
-wife.
-
-“We’ll soon pull out of here,” he said.
-
-“Where are you going to voyage to now?” asked the captain’s wife.
-
-“To Buffalo,” he answered. “I’m going there to get a load of grain and
-bring it back here.”
-
-[Illustration: Lightfoot ran close to this water, the boys racing after
-him.]
-
-“Are you going to take the boat out empty?” asked the woman, as she set
-a dish of potatoes and meat on the little table in the cabin.
-
-“No,” he answered, “we are going to travel a little way in the boat,
-then we will take on a load of coal. We will carry that a hundred miles
-or so, and then when we take that out the boat will be empty again,
-and, after it is cleaned, we will go on to Buffalo and get the grain.
-We will start soon.”
-
-Lightfoot heard all this through the wooden wall, but he did not know
-what it meant. He looked about the hold as well as he could. He could
-see no one in it. It was like being in a big, empty barn.
-
-Then Lightfoot heard the sound of some boys’ voices calling, and as
-he remembered the boys, with the lumps of coal, who had chased him he
-shrank farther back into a dark corner.
-
-Lightfoot could hear the patter of running feet. He did not want the
-boys to find him. He heard them calling again.
-
-“Say, Mister, did you see a goat around here?” asked one of the boys.
-
-“Goat? No, I didn’t see a goat.” It was the canal boat captain talking.
-“Get away from here now! I’m going to start the boat soon, and if you
-don’t want to be taken away on her you’d better go ashore.”
-
-“Come on, fellers!” cried the boy who had first seen Lightfoot. “That
-goat ain’t here. He must have run up along the canal,” and away ran the
-boys, which was just what Lightfoot wanted.
-
-Up above him Lightfoot could see the glimmer of daylight, for the
-hatches, or covers of the hold, were off, now that it was empty. When
-the boat was loaded with grain the covers would be put on, but they
-were not needed for coal, since water does not harm that.
-
-“Well, I seem to be down in a sort of big hole,” thought Lightfoot, as
-he looked up. “It was easy enough to jump down, but I don’t know that
-I can jump out again. However, I don’t want to do that now. I want to
-stay where I am so those boys can’t get me. But I wish Mike were here
-with me.”
-
-Lightfoot was beginning to feel a little lonesome, but there was so
-much that was new and strange all about him that he did not feel
-homesick long. He kept on walking to the other end of the canal boat.
-
-Then he sniffed the air. He heard noises which he knew were made by
-horses, and then he caught the smell of hay, oats and straw.
-
-“I must be near a stable,” said Lightfoot. “But I don’t understand it.
-What does it mean?”
-
-He walked on a little farther and soon he came to another wooden wall.
-Behind it he could hear horses, or mules, he did not know which,
-chewing their food and stamping about in their stalls. Lightfoot
-thought this was queer.
-
-But those of you who have seen canal boats know what it was. Each boat
-has to carry on it several teams of horses or mules to pull the boat
-along, since one pair of horses would get tired if they pulled all the
-while.
-
-A canal, you know, is a long ditch, or stream of water, going from one
-city to another. Men cut the ditch through the earth and then let the
-water flow in so boats will float.
-
-Along the side of the ditch of water is a little road, called a
-“towpath,” and along this the horses walk, pulling, or towing, the
-canal boat by a rope that is fastened to the boat at one end and to the
-collars of the horses at the other end. In fact the horses pull the
-canal boat along the water much as Lightfoot pulled the goat wagon in
-which the children rode.
-
-Years ago there were many canal boats, but now, since there are so many
-railroads, the canals are not so often used, for it is slower traveling
-on them than on the railroad trains, which go very fast.
-
-“Well, I certainly am in a queer place,” thought Lightfoot. “I don’t
-know whether I am going to like it or not. Still it is better than
-being beaten with a stick, or having boys chase after you with lumps of
-coal.”
-
-He listened to the horses stamping about in their stalls, and chewing
-their food. Then there were more noises, and the sound of men calling:
-“Gid-dap there!” Next came the pounding of horses’ hoofs on wooden
-planks, and the voices of men shouting.
-
-“What in the world is going on?” thought Lightfoot.
-
-“Hello, in there, you horses. What is going on, if you please?” he
-called.
-
-He could hear that the horses stopped chewing their oats; and one said
-to another:
-
-“What is that?”
-
-“I don’t know,” was the answer. “It sounded as if somebody were in the
-hold.”
-
-“That’s just where I am,” said Lightfoot.
-
-“Who are you?” asked a horse.
-
-“Lightfoot, the leaping goat,” was the answer. And then Lightfoot told
-something of himself and the adventures he had had so far――of why he
-ran away from the park, and, to get away from the boys, of having
-jumped down into the boat.
-
-“Well, if you’re there,” said a horse on the other side of the wall,
-“you’re likely to stay for some time. It is too high for you to jump
-out.”
-
-“I see it is,” answered Lightfoot, “even though I am called the
-leaping goat. But what will happen to me?”
-
-“You are going on a voyage now,” was the answer of the horse. “That
-noise you heard was the captain leading some of the horses out of our
-stable, here on the boat, over a board, called a gangway, to the canal
-towpath. Very soon they will begin to pull the boat along the canal,
-and, after a while, it will be our turn. You are going on a voyage,
-Lightfoot.”
-
-“Is a voyage nice?” asked the goat.
-
-“You had better wait and see,” was the answer.
-
-“I wish I could come in your stable,” said Lightfoot. “I would not take
-up much room.”
-
-“You would be welcome,” said a horse, “but there is no way for you to
-get in unless you can get out of the hold, on to the towpath and come
-down the plank. Some day maybe you can do that.”
-
-“I hope so,” said Lightfoot, who was now getting very hungry.
-
-Just then the captain called:
-
-“All aboard! Cast off the lines!”
-
-And the next thing Lightfoot knew was that the boat began slowly to
-move. It had started up the canal. Lightfoot was on a voyage, though
-where he was going he did not know.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-LIGHTFOOT GOES ASHORE
-
-
-Lightfoot, down in the hold of the canal boat, felt the craft slipping
-through the water easily. He was being carried with it.
-
-“Well, this is not so bad, for a start,” thought the goat. “It is much
-easier than riding in a wagon, as I once did.”
-
-When Lightfoot was a small goat, before he had come to live with Mike
-and his mother, he remembered being taken from one place to another,
-shut up in a box and carried in a wagon. The wagon jolted over the
-rough road, tossing Lightfoot from side to side and hurting his side.
-The motion of the canal boat was much easier, for there were no waves
-in the canal, except at times when a steam canal boat might pass, and
-even then the waves were not large enough to make the _Sallie Jane_ bob
-about. _Sallie Jane_ was the name of the boat on which Lightfoot was
-riding.
-
-“This is a nicer ride than I had in the wagon,” thought Lightfoot,
-“only I don’t know where I am going. But then,” he thought, “I didn’t
-know where I was going the other time. However, I came to a nice
-place――the shanty where Mike and his mother lived, and maybe I’ll go to
-a nice place now. Anything is better than being beaten with a stick and
-chased by boys with lumps of coal to throw at you.”
-
-Then Lightfoot began to feel more hungry. From somewhere, though the
-exact place he did not know, he could smell hay and oats.
-
-“I guess it must be from the stable where the horses are that I was
-talking to,” he said to himself. “I’m going to ask them if they can’t
-hand me out something to eat. It isn’t any fun to be hungry, even if
-you are on a canal boat voyage.”
-
-So Lightfoot went to the end of the boat where the stable was, and,
-tapping on the wall with his horns, waited for an answer:
-
-“What is it, Lightfoot?” asked one of the horses, for he had told them
-his name.
-
-“If you please,” said the goat, “I am very hungry. Could you not kindly
-pass me out some of the hay or oats that I smell?”
-
-“We would be glad to do so,” said a kind horse, “only we can not. There
-is no opening from our stable into the hold where you are. If you
-could jump out you could get right in where we are.”
-
-“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said Lightfoot. “It is pretty high to
-jump. But I’ll try.”
-
-Lightfoot did try to jump up, but he could not. It is easy to jump
-down, but not easy, even for a goat, to jump up.
-
-“I can’t do it!” sighed the goat. “And the smell of your hay and oats
-makes me very hungry! Why is it I can smell it so plainly if there is
-no opening from your stable to where I am?”
-
-“I don’t know,” answered one horse.
-
-“No, but I do!” whinnied another. “Don’t you remember, Stamper,” he
-said to the horse in the stall next to him, “on the last voyage this
-boat was loaded with hay and grain? Some of that must be left around in
-the corners of the hold. That is what Lightfoot smells so plainly.”
-
-“So it is,” said the first horse. Then he called: “Lightfoot, look and
-smell all around you. Maybe you will find some wisps of hay or some
-little piles of grain in the dark corners of the hold where you are. If
-you do find them, eat them.”
-
-“Thank you, I will!” called Lightfoot.
-
-Then he began to walk around in the big hollow part of the canal boat,
-sniffing here and there in corners and cracks for something to eat. He
-could smell hay very plainly, and as he went toward a corner, in which
-some boards were piled, the smell was very much stronger. Then, all of
-a sudden, Lightfoot found what he was looking for.
-
-“Oh, here’s a nice pile of hay!” he called, and the horses in their
-stalls heard him.
-
-“That’s good,” one of them said. “Now you will not be hungry any more,
-Lightfoot.”
-
-“No, I guess I won’t,” said the goat. “At last, after I have had some
-bad luck, I am going to have some good.”
-
-Then he began to eat the wisps of hay which had lodged in the corner
-of the canal boat when the cargo had been unloaded a few days before.
-There was hay enough for more goats than Lightfoot, but the men who
-unloaded the canal boat did not bother to sweep up the odds and ends,
-so the goat traveler had all he wanted.
-
-After Lightfoot had eaten he felt sleepy, and, lulled by the pleasant
-and easy motion of the canal boat, he cuddled up in a corner near the
-horse-cabin, and, after telling his unseen friends what had happened to
-him, he went to sleep.
-
-How long he slept Lightfoot did not know, but he was suddenly awakened
-by hearing a rumbling sound, like thunder.
-
-“Hello! What’s this?” cried the goat, jumping up. “If it’s going to
-rain I had better look for some shelter.”
-
-“Oh, it isn’t going to rain,” said a voice from the horse stable.
-“Those who have been pulling the boat are tired and are coming down the
-plank into their stalls. We are going out to take their places. It is
-our turn now.”
-
-“Oh, I see,” returned Lightfoot. “But how do you horses get on shore?
-Do you swim across the canal?”
-
-“No, though we could do that,” said Cruncher, a horse who was called
-that because he crushed his oats so finely. “You see,” he went on,
-“when the captain wants to change the teams on the towpath he steers
-the boat close to the shore. Then he puts a plank, with cross-pieces,
-or cleats, nailed on it, so we won’t slip, down to our stable, and we
-walk up, go ashore, and take our places at the end of the towline. The
-tired horses come in to rest and eat.”
-
-“Then is the boat close to the shore now?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“Yes, right close up against the bank,” answered Cruncher as he made
-ready to go out on the towpath.
-
-“Oh, I wish I could get ashore,” said Lightfoot. “I like you horses,
-and I like this boat, because it saved me from the boys who were
-chasing me, but still I had rather be out where I can see the sun.”
-
-“I don’t blame you,” said Nibbler, who was called that because he used
-to nibble the edge of his manger. “Sometimes I get tired of this dark
-stable. But then, twice a day, we go out in the air to pull the boat.”
-
-“Do you think I could get on shore?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“Well, if you could jump up out of the hold, where you are, you could,”
-said Cruncher, his hoofs making a noise like thunder on the planks as
-he walked up. “If you can do that you can go ashore.”
-
-“I’m going to try,” said Lightfoot, and he began jumping up as high as
-he could to get out of the deep hole into which he had leaped.
-
-But, jump as he did, Lightfoot could not get out of the hold. It was
-like being down in a deep well. If he had been a cat, with sharp claws
-to stick in the wooden sides of the boat, or a bear, like Dido, the
-dancing chap, Lightfoot might have got out. But as he was neither of
-these, he could not.
-
-Again and again he tried, but it was of no use. Then he felt the boat
-moving again, and he knew it was being pulled along the canal by the
-horses.
-
-“There is no use jumping any more,” thought Lightfoot. “If I did jump
-out now I would only land in the water. I must stay here until I can
-find some other way to get out.”
-
-Lightfoot found more hay and a mouthful of grain in one of the corners
-of the boat, and after he had eaten he felt better. But still he was
-lonesome and homesick.
-
-Pretty soon it grew dark, and Lightfoot could see the stars shining
-over head. He cuddled up in a corner, among some old bags, and went to
-sleep.
-
-For three days Lightfoot traveled on in the canal boat. All he could
-see were the dark sides of the hole in which he was. He could talk to
-the horses through the wooden walls of their stable, but he could not
-see them.
-
-Now and then the boat would pull up to shore, and the tired horses
-would come aboard while the others would take their turn at the
-towrope. All this while Lightfoot lived on the hay and grain he found
-in the cracks and corners of the canal boat. Had it not been for this
-the goat would have starved, for neither the captain nor his wife knew
-Lightfoot was on board, and the horses, much as they wished, could not
-pass the goat any of their food.
-
-One day the boat was kept along the shore towpath for a long while.
-Lightfoot tried again to jump out but could not. Then, all at once he
-heard a very loud noise. It was louder than that made by the hoofs of
-the horses, and the goat cried:
-
-“Surely that is thunder!”
-
-He saw something black tumble down into the hold at the end farthest
-from him.
-
-“No, it is not thunder,” said Cruncher. “The captain is loading the
-boat with coal. Don’t be afraid.”
-
-“I’m not afraid,” said Lightfoot. “Only coal is very black and dirty
-stuff.”
-
-“Yes, it is,” agreed Nibbler. “But it may be a good thing for you,
-Lightfoot.”
-
-“How?” asked the goat.
-
-“In this way,” said Nibbler. “I have seen this boat loaded with coal
-before. They fill the hold as full as they can, and they don’t put the
-covers on.”
-
-“But if they fill it full,” said Lightfoot, “they will cover me with
-the coal, and then how can I get out?”
-
-“I’ll tell you,” answered Nibbler. “They will not fill all the boat at
-once. It takes about two days. And when half the boat is full the coal
-is in a pile in the middle, like a hill. You can climb up the side of
-the coal-hill, Lightfoot, and then you will be out of the hold. You can
-scramble up on top of our stable-cabin and from there you can easily
-jump to shore.”
-
-“Oh, that will be fine!” cried the goat.
-
-“Do you think you can walk up the hill of coal in this boat?” asked
-Cruncher.
-
-“Surely I can,” Lightfoot said. “I could climb up the rocky, rocky path
-back of the cabin, and surely I can climb up the coal hill.”
-
-All that day men with wheelbarrows dumped coal into the hold of the
-canal boat. It made a black dust, and Lightfoot kept as far away from
-it as he could.
-
-“It is a good thing I am going to get out,” he said. “For the coal will
-soon cover up all my hay and grain and I would starve.”
-
-Lightfoot waited until after dark, so no one would see him. Then he
-scrambled up the sloping sides of the pile of coal in the middle of the
-canal boat until he could jump to the edge and so to the roof of the
-stable cabin.
-
-“Good-by, kind horses,” he called to Cruncher and the others. “I am
-sorry I can’t stop to see you, but I had better go ashore.”
-
-“Yes, while you have the chance,” said Nibbler.
-
-Then, with a nimble leap, Lightfoot jumped from the canal boat to the
-towpath. He had gone ashore.
-
-“I wonder what adventures I’ll have next,” he said to himself as he
-wiggled his way into the bushes at the edge of the path.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-LIGHTFOOT IN THE WOODS
-
-
-Without stopping to look back at the canal boat from which he had
-escaped, Lightfoot ran on through the bushes, and soon found himself in
-some woods. He was afraid some one from the boat might run after him,
-and take him back there.
-
-“Not that it was such a bad place,” thought the goat, as he went in and
-out among the trees; “but it is no fun to be in a place from which you
-can’t get away when you want to. If it had not been that they made a
-little hill of coal in the boat maybe I’d never have gotten away.
-
-“I liked those horses, though I never saw them, and the hay and grain
-in the cracks was good eating. Still I had rather be out here and free.”
-
-No one except the canal horses knew Lightfoot had been on the boat. The
-captain and his wife had not seen him jump down into the hold, nor had
-the boys picking coal. They only imagined the goat might be somewhere
-near the boat when they asked about him, but they really had not seen
-him get aboard.
-
-Lightfoot ran on a little farther and then, thinking he was safe,
-hidden behind a bush, turned and looked back. He was on a side hill
-that ran along the canal, and he could look down on the towpath. He saw
-a team of horses hitched to a long rope, which, in turn, was fast to
-the canal boat.
-
-“There are my kind friends, the horses,” thought Lightfoot. “But I
-don’t know which ones they are. I wish I could stop and speak to them,
-but it would not be safe. Anyhow I said good-by to them, and thanked
-them.”
-
-As Lightfoot looked, the team pulling the canal boat turned around a
-curve in the towpath and were soon out of sight. Then, once more, the
-goat turned and went on into the woods.
-
-“Well, I shall not be hungry here, anyhow,” thought Lightfoot. “There
-are more bushes and trees here than in the park where Mike used to
-drive me about, hitched to the little wagon. I wonder if I am allowed
-to eat these leaves.”
-
-Lightfoot looked around. He saw no policemen or park guards, such as he
-had seen when he was in the other place, and, as he felt a bit hungry
-after his run, he nibbled some of the green leaves. They had a good
-taste and he ate many of them. No one called to him to stop, and no one
-hit him with a stick.
-
-“This is a good place,” thought Lightfoot.
-
-As with most animals, when he had eaten well, the goat felt sleepy, and
-picking out a smooth grassy place beneath some trees he cuddled up, and
-was soon asleep.
-
-How long he slept Lightfoot did not know, but when he awakened he had
-a feeling that he wished he was back with Mike again, drawing children
-about the park. Whether Lightfoot had dreamed about his shanty home
-amid the rocks I do not know. I do not know whether or not animals
-dream, but I think they do.
-
-At any rate Lightfoot felt lonesome. He missed the cheerful whistle of
-the Irish boy, and he missed, too, the nice combing and rubbing-down
-that his master, Mike, used to give him every morning in order to keep
-his coat in good condition.
-
-Some of the goats that lived on the rocks had coats very rough with
-tangled hairs, to say nothing of the burrs and thistles that clung to
-them. But Mike kept Lightfoot slick and neat, brushing him as a groom
-brushes his horses.
-
-“But I don’t look very slick now,” thought Lightfoot, as he turned his
-head and saw a lot of burdock burrs on one side, while the other side
-carried a tangle of a piece of a briar brush. “I must clean myself up a
-bit,” thought the goat.
-
-By twisting and turning about, using first one hind foot and then the
-other, as a cat scratches her ears, Lightfoot managed to get rid of
-most of the things that had clung to him as he tore his way through the
-bushes. Then he walked on again, until, feeling thirsty, he began to
-sniff the air for water. For goats and other animals can smell water
-before they can see it, though to us clean water has no smell at all.
-
-Lightfoot soon found a little spring in the woods, and from it ran a
-brook of water, sparkling over the green, mossy stones.
-
-As Lightfoot leaned over to get a drink from the spring he started back
-in surprise.
-
-“Why!” he exclaimed to himself. “Why! There’s another goat down there
-under the water. He’s a black goat. I’m white.”
-
-Lightfoot thought for a moment as he drew back from the edge of the
-spring. Then he said to himself:
-
-“Well, if it’s only another goat I needn’t be afraid, for we will be
-friends.”
-
-He went to the spring again and looked down into the clear water.
-Again he saw the black goat, and he was just going to speak, asking
-him how he felt, what his name was, where he came from and so on, when
-Lightfoot happened to notice that the black goat moved in exactly
-the same way, and did the same things that he, himself, did. Then he
-understood.
-
-“Ha! Ha!” laughed Lightfoot to himself. “How silly I am! That is only
-my reflection in the spring, just as if it were a looking glass. But
-what makes me so black on my face, I wonder?”
-
-Then he remembered.
-
-“It’s the black coal dust, of course!” he cried. “It must have stuck to
-me all over, but I brushed some of it off when I went to sleep in the
-grass. Now I must wash my face.”
-
-He glanced once more into the spring looking glass, and saw that indeed
-he was quite dirty from the coal dust. Taking a long drink of the cool
-water he went below the spring to the brook, and there he waded in and
-splashed around in the water until he was quite clean. This made him
-feel hungry again, and he ate more leaves and grass.
-
-“And now,” said Lightfoot, as he noticed the sun going down in the
-west, and knew that it would soon be night, “it’s time for me to think
-of what I’m going to do.”
-
-Lightfoot was not afraid to stay out alone in the woods all night. He
-had spent many a night on the rocks, though of course the other goats
-had been with him then. But he was a bigger and older goat now, and he
-was not afraid of being alone. Of course a little kid might have been,
-but Lightfoot was a kid no longer.
-
-“I’ll stay here to-night, I think,” said the goat after a while. “It
-is good to be near water so you can drink when thirsty. I’ll stay here
-to-night and in the morning I’ll try to find my way back to Mike.”
-
-Lightfoot slept well that night, for it was not cold, and in the
-morning, after he had eaten some leaves and grass and had drunk some
-water he started out to find the Malony shanty near the rocks.
-
-But a goat is not like a dog or a cat, some of which can find their way
-home after having been taken many miles from it. So, after wandering
-about in the woods, and finding no place that looked like his former
-home, Lightfoot gave up.
-
-“It’s of no use,” he said. “I guess I am lost. I must have come farther
-in that canal boat than I knew. Well, the woods are a good place to
-stay. I shall not be hungry here.”
-
-Lightfoot wandered on and on for several days. Once some boys, who were
-in the woods gathering flowers, saw the goat behind some bushes.
-
-“Oh, let’s chase after him!” called one, and they ran toward Lightfoot.
-
-But the goat leaped away and soon left the boys far behind. If one of
-them had been Mike, Lightfoot would have gone to him, but Mike was not
-there.
-
-One day as Lightfoot was wandering through the woods, wishing he were
-back in his home again, for he was lonesome, having no one to talk to
-but the birds, he heard a noise in the bushes.
-
-It was a smashing, crashing sort of noise, as though made by some big
-animal.
-
-“Maybe it is one of the canal horses,” thought Lightfoot. “I hope it
-is. They’ll be company for me. Maybe one of them ran away.”
-
-He looked through the underbrush and saw a big, shaggy, brown animal,
-standing on its hind feet. With its front paws it was pulling berries
-from a bush and eating them.
-
-“Excuse me,” said Lightfoot in animal language. “But could you tell me
-the way to the Widow Malony’s shanty?”
-
-The big animal stopped eating berries, looked up at the goat in
-surprise and asked, in a sort of growly voice:
-
-“Who are you?”
-
-“I am Lightfoot, the leaping goat,” was the answer. “Who are you?”
-
-“I am Dido, the dancing bear, I am glad to meet you. Come over and have
-some berries,” and Lightfoot went.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-LIGHTFOOT MEETS SLICKO
-
-
-Lightfoot and Dido stood looking at one another for a few seconds. It
-was the first time the goat had ever seen a bear, for though there were
-wild animals in the park where Mike used to drive him, Lightfoot had
-never been taken near the bear dens. But it was not the first time Dido
-had seen a goat.
-
-“Do you like raspberries?” asked Dido, pulling a branch toward him with
-his big paw and stripping them off into his big red mouth.
-
-“I don’t know,” answered the goat. “I never ate any.”
-
-“Help yourself,” invited Dido. “Just reach out your paw and with your
-long claw-nails strip off the berries into your mouth.”
-
-“But I haven’t any paw,” said Lightfoot.
-
-“That’s right, you haven’t,” observed Dido reflectively, scratching his
-black nose. “Well, you have a mouth, anyhow, that’s one good thing.
-You’ll have to pick off the berries one by one in your lips. You can do
-that.”
-
-“Yes, I think I can do that,” answered Lightfoot, and he did. At first
-the briars on the berry bush stuck him, but he soon found a way to keep
-clear of them. Dido did not seem to mind them in the least.
-
-“Did you say you were a dancing bear?” asked Lightfoot of his new
-friend, when they had eaten as many berries as they wanted.
-
-“Yes, I can dance. Wait, I’ll show you,” and in a little glade in the
-woods Dido began to dance slowly about.
-
-“That’s fine!” said Lightfoot. “I wish I could dance.”
-
-“Can you do any tricks?” asked Dido. “I can play soldier, turn
-somersaults and things like that.”
-
-“I can draw children about the park in a little cart,” said the goat,
-“and I am a good jumper, I’ll show you,” and he gave a big jump from a
-log to a large, flat rock.
-
-“You _are_ a good jumper,” said Dido. “That is much farther than I
-could jump. Some of the men in the circus could jump farther than that,
-though.”
-
-“What do you know about a circus?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-[Illustration: “That’s fine!” said Lightfoot. “I wish I could dance.”]
-
-“I used to be in one,” answered Dido. “In fact I may go back again. I
-am out now, traveling around with my master who blows a brass horn to
-gather together the boys and girls. And when they stand in a circle
-around me I do my tricks and my master takes up the pennies in his hat.
-It’s lots of fun.”
-
-“Where is your master now?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“He is asleep, not far away, under a tree. He lets me wander off by
-myself, for he knows I would not run away. I like him too much and I
-like the circus. I want to go back to it.”
-
-“I met some one who was in a circus,” said Lightfoot.
-
-“Who?” the dancing bear asked.
-
-“Tinkle, a pony,” answered the goat.
-
-“Why, I know him!” cried Dido. “He is a jolly pony chap. He draws a
-little boy and girl about in a cart.”
-
-“That’s right,” said Lightfoot. “I did the same thing for the children
-in the park. Oh, how I wish I were back with my master, Mike,” and he
-told about his adventures, and the dancing bear told his, speaking of
-having been put in a book, like Tinkle.
-
-“Do you think you could tell me the way back to the shanty at the foot
-of the rocks, where I made my first big jump?” asked Lightfoot of Dido,
-after a while.
-
-The bear thought for a minute.
-
-“No,” he answered slowly, in animal talk, “I don’t believe I could,
-I’m sorry to say. I have traveled about in many places, but if I have
-gone past the shanty where the Widow Malony lives, I do not remember
-it.”
-
-Just then came through the woods a sound like:
-
-“Ta-ra! Ta-ra! Ta-rattie tara!”
-
-“What’s that?” asked Lightfoot, in surprise.
-
-“That’s my master, blowing the brass horn to tell me to come back,”
-answered Dido. “I must go. Well, I’m glad to have met you. And if you
-ever get to the circus give my regards to Tum Tum, the jolly elephant,
-and Mappo, the merry monkey.”
-
-“I will,” promised Lightfoot. “I have heard Tinkle, the trick pony,
-speak of both of them. Good-by!”
-
-“Good-by!” called Dido, and, with a wave of his big paw, stained from
-the berries he had pulled off to eat, he lumbered away through the
-woods to his master who was blowing the horn for him.
-
-“Well, I had a nice visit,” said Lightfoot to himself as he ate a few
-more berries. “Dido would be good company, but I can not travel with
-him, as I can do no tricks. I wonder if I shall ever find my own home
-again.”
-
-On and on through the woods wandered Lightfoot. Now and then he would
-stop to nibble some grass or leaves, and again to get a drink from
-some spring or brook. When he was tired he would stretch out under a
-bush or a tree and go to sleep. Then he would wander on again.
-
-The second night in the woods found him far from the canal, and
-much farther from the park and his home near the big rocks. He was
-completely lost now, and did not know where he was. But it was not so
-bad as if a boy or a girl were lost. For Lightfoot could find plenty to
-eat all around him. He had but to stop and nibble it. And, as it was
-Summer, it was warm enough to sleep out of doors without any shelter,
-such as a barn or a shed.
-
-One day as Lightfoot was eating some blackberries in the way Dido, the
-dancing bear, had taught him, he heard a noise in the bushes as though
-some one were coming through.
-
-“Oh, maybe that is the dancing bear!” exclaimed the lonesome goat. “I
-hope it is.”
-
-An animal presently jumped through the bushes out on the path and stood
-looking at Lightfoot; but at first glance the leaping goat saw that it
-was not Dido. It was a small white animal, with very large ears, one of
-which drooped over, giving the animal a comical look.
-
-“Hello!” exclaimed Lightfoot in a friendly voice. “I don’t believe I’ve
-seen you before.”
-
-“Maybe not,” was the answer. “But I’ve seen you, or some one like you.
-A boy, in whose woodshed I once lived, had a goat like you.”
-
-“Was his name Mike?” asked Lightfoot eagerly. And then he knew it could
-not be, for he knew his Mike had no such animal as this.
-
-“No, his name was not Mike,” was the answer. “But what is your name?”
-
-“Lightfoot.”
-
-“Mine’s Flop Ear, and I’m a rabbit. A funny rabbit some folks call me.
-I’m in a book.”
-
-“This is queer,” said Lightfoot. “You speak about being in a book. So
-did Dido, the dancing bear.”
-
-“Oh, did you meet Dido?” cried Flop Ear, looking at Lightfoot in a
-funny way. “Isn’t he the dearest old bear that ever was?”
-
-“I liked him,” said Lightfoot.
-
-“And he’s almost as jolly as Tum Tum, the jolly elephant. Tum Tum is in
-a book, too.”
-
-“What’s all this about being in a book?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“Well, I don’t exactly understand it myself,” answered Flop Ear. “But
-I know children like to read the books about us. Tell me, have you had
-any adventures?”
-
-“I should say I had!” cried Lightfoot. “I ran away, and I was on a
-canal boat, and I climbed a hill of coal and――”
-
-“That’s enough!” cried Flop Ear, raising one paw. “You’ll find
-yourself in a book before you know it. Then you’ll understand without
-my telling you. Would you like to have a bit of cabbage?”
-
-“I should say I would,” cried Lightfoot. “I’ve been living on grass,
-berries and leaves――”
-
-“Well, I brought some cabbage leaves with me when I came for a walk
-this morning,” said Flop Ear, “and there’s more than I want, and you
-are welcome to them.” From the ground where he had dropped it Flop Ear
-picked up a cabbage leaf and hopped with it over to Lightfoot. The goat
-was glad to get it, and while he was chewing it he told the rabbit
-of running away from the park. In his turn Flop Ear told how he had
-been caught by a boy and how he had gnawed his way out with the mice,
-meeting Grandma Munch in the woods.
-
-“And so I’ve lived in the woods ever since,” said Flop Ear.
-
-“Could you tell me how to get out of the woods and back to my home with
-Mike, near the rocks?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” answered the rabbit.
-
-The rabbit and the goat talked in animal language for some little
-time longer, then Flop Ear said he must go back to his burrow, or
-underground home.
-
-“And I’ll travel on and see if I can find my home,” said Lightfoot.
-“I’ve been lost long enough.”
-
-For two or three days more Lightfoot wandered about in the woods. He
-looked everywhere, but he could not find his home near the rocks. One
-afternoon, as he was asleep under a tree, he was suddenly awakened by
-feeling something hit him on the nose.
-
-“I wonder if it’s going to rain?” said Lightfoot, jumping up suddenly.
-Then something hit him on his left horn and bounded off. Lightfoot saw
-that it was an acorn, many of which he had seen in the woods.
-
-“I guess it fell off a tree,” he said.
-
-“No, it didn’t. I dropped it,” said a chattering voice in the air. “I
-am lonesome and I wanted some one to talk to. So I awakened you by
-dropping an acorn on your pretty black nose. Excuse me.”
-
-“But who are you and where are you?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“I am Slicko, the jumping squirrel,” was the answer, “and I’m perched
-on a limb right over your head.”
-
-Lightfoot looked up, and there, surely enough, was a little gray animal
-with a very big tail, much larger than Lightfoot’s small one.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-LIGHTFOOT’S NEW HOME
-
-
-Leaving Lightfoot and Slicko talking together in the woods, we will go
-back a little while and see what is happening in the shanty near the
-rocks, where Mike Malony lived with his widowed mother. Mike came in
-one day, after a long search through the park. Though it was several
-weeks since Lightfoot had run away the boy never gave up hope that,
-some day, he would find his pet.
-
-“Well, Mike me lad, did you hear anything of your goat?” asked Mrs.
-Malony.
-
-“No, Mother,” was the answer, “and I don’t believe I ever shall.
-Lightfoot is gone forever.”
-
-“Oh, don’t say that, Mike! He may come back. And if he doesn’t, can’t
-you take one of the other goats and train it to drag a cart?”
-
-“No,” said Mike, with a shake of his head, “I couldn’t do that. The
-other goats are for giving milk, and the like of that, but they
-wouldn’t be like Lightfoot for drawing the children. No goat will be
-like Lightfoot to me. I’ll have to get work at something else, I
-guess, Mother.”
-
-“I’m afraid you will, Mike me boy,” said his mother, and now as she
-was a bit sad, she was not smiling at her freckle-faced and red-haired
-son. “Our money is almost gone, and we need more to buy something to
-eat. Lucky it is we have no rent to pay. You had better look for a job,
-Mike.”
-
-Mike did, but work was not to be had. Meanwhile the money which the
-Widow Malony had put away was getting less and less. Mike came in one
-day, tired, and feeling very unhappy, for he had walked far looking for
-work without finding it. He had even tried training one of the other
-goats to draw a cart, but they did not seem able to learn, being too
-old, I suppose. Blackie had been sold to bring in a little money.
-
-“Well, maybe better luck will come to-morrow, lad. Don’t give up.
-Whist!” she cried. “There’s the letter man’s whistle. Sure he can’t be
-comin’ here!”
-
-“But he is, Mother!” cried Mike. “Maybe it’s some of the men I gave me
-name to, sendin’ for me to give me work.”
-
-With trembling hands Mrs. Malony opened the letter. When she had read
-it she cried:
-
-“Th’ saints be praised, Mikey me lad. Our troubles are over now! Our
-troubles are over now!”
-
-“How?” asked Mike.
-
-“Sure I’ve been left a farm, Mike! A farm with green grass and a house,
-and cows and a place to raise hay and a horse to haul it to market.
-Read!”
-
-Mike read the letter. It was true. A cousin of his mother, who had
-known her in Ireland, had died and left her his farm, as she was his
-nearest relative. The letter was from the lawyers saying she could
-claim the farm and live on it as soon as she pleased.
-
-The troubles of the Widow Malony and her son were indeed over as far
-as money was concerned. They sold what few things they had, even the
-goats, for it would be hard to carry them along, and then, bidding
-good-by to the other squatters, they moved to the farm that had been
-left them. It was many miles from the big city, out in the country.
-
-“Sure ’tis a grand farm!” cried Mike as he saw the snug house in which
-he and his mother were to live. “’Tis a grand farm entirely. And would
-ye look at the river right next door! I can go swimmin’ in that and
-sail a boat.”
-
-“’Tis no river, Mike, me boy,” said his mother. “That’s a canal, same
-as the one that runs near the big city where we come from, though I
-guess you were never over that far.”
-
-“No,” said Mike, “I was not. A canal; eh? Sure it’s a funny thing. A
-river made by men,” and he sat down to look at it.
-
-But there were many things to do on the Malony farm, and Mike and his
-mother were happy in doing them, for now they saw better times ahead of
-them.
-
-“Sure this would be a fine place for Lightfoot,” said Mike as he sat
-on the steps one day and looked across the green fields. “He’d be fair
-wild with th’ delight of it here,” and his face was a bit sad as he
-thought of his lost pet.
-
-It was about the time that the farm had been left to the widow and her
-son that Lightfoot met Slicko the jumping squirrel in the woods as I
-have told you.
-
-“And so you were lonesome! And that’s the reason you awakened me by
-dropping a nut on my nose?” asked Lightfoot of Slicko.
-
-“Yes,” was the answer. “And I guess you are glad it wasn’t Mappo, the
-merry monkey, who tried to wake you up that way.”
-
-“Why?” asked Lightfoot.
-
-“Because Mappo would likely have dropped a cocoanut on your nose, and
-that’s bigger and heavier than an acorn.”
-
-“Well, I guess it is,” laughed Lightfoot. “I’m glad you didn’t do that.
-But why are you lonesome?”
-
-“I am looking for a rabbit named Flop Ear to play with,” answered
-Slicko. “He and I used to have jolly times together. We were both
-caught, but we were both let go again, and since then we have lived in
-these woods. But I haven’t seen him for some days.”
-
-“I met him, not long ago,” said Lightfoot. “Did he have one ear that
-drooped over in a queer way?”
-
-“Yes, that was Flop Ear,” answered the squirrel. “Please tell me where
-to find him. I want to have some fun. We have both had many adventures
-that have been put in books, and we like to talk about them.”
-
-“So you have been put in a book, too,” said Lightfoot. “It is getting
-to be quite fashionable, as the ladies in the park used to say. I’d
-like to be in a book myself.”
-
-“Perhaps you may be,” said Slicko. “I’ll tell you how I got in after I
-have some fun with Flop Ear. Please tell me where I can find him.”
-
-“I left him over that way,” and Lightfoot pointed with his horns.
-
-“Thank you. I’ll see you again, I hope,” and Slicko was scampering away
-with a nut in her mouth when Lightfoot called after her:
-
-“Can you tell me where to find a canal? I was carried away on a canal
-boat, and I think now, if I can find the canal, I can walk along the
-path beside it and get to my own home. I am tired of wandering in the
-woods.”
-
-“There is a large brook of water over that way,” said Slicko, pointing
-with her front paw from the tree. “I have heard them call it a canal.
-Maybe that is what you are looking for.”
-
-“Oh, thank you. Maybe it is,” said Lightfoot. “I’ll know it as soon as
-I see it again.”
-
-Leaving the jumping squirrel to frisk her way among the tree branches,
-Lightfoot set off to find the “brook” as Slicko had called the canal.
-It did not take him long to find it, for it curved around in a half
-circle to meet the very woods in which the leaping goat then was.
-
-“Yes, it’s the same canal,” said Lightfoot, as he saw coming slowly
-along it a boat drawn by two big-eared mules. “Now all I have to do is
-to follow the towpath, and I’ll soon be at the big city again, and I
-can then find my way back to the shanty on the rocks, and Mike.”
-
-Lightfoot might have reached the city had he walked the right way along
-the canal bank, but he hurried along away from the big city instead of
-toward it. Day after day he wandered on, and whenever he saw any men or
-boys he hid in the trees or bushes along the towpath.
-
-“I wonder when I shall come to the city,” thought Lightfoot, who was
-getting tired.
-
-On and on he went. He did not stop to speak to any of the canal horses
-or mules. When he was hungry he ate grass or leaves, and when he was
-thirsty he drank from woodland brooks or from the canal, where the
-banks were not too steep.
-
-One day Lightfoot came to a place where the canal passed through a
-little village. The goat could see people moving about, some on the
-banks of the canal.
-
-“This does not look like the big city,” said the goat. “I think I will
-ask one of the canal horses.”
-
-He stepped from the bushes out on the path, and was just going to
-speak to a horse, one of a team that was hauling a boat loaded with
-sweet-smelling hay in bales, when a boy, who was driving the team, saw
-the goat and cried:
-
-“Ha! There is a Billie! I’m going to get him!” and he raced after
-Lightfoot. But the goat was not going to be caught. Along the towpath
-he ran, the boy after him. Lightfoot knew he could easily get away, but
-then, right in front of him, came another boy with a long whip. This
-boy, too, was driving a team of horses hitched to another canal boat.
-
-“Stop that goat!” cried the first boy.
-
-“I will,” said the other, holding out his whip.
-
-[Illustration: “Mother, Mother!” he cried. “Look! Look! It――it’s
-Lightfoot――come back to us!”]
-
-Lightfoot did not know what to do. He did not want to run into the
-woods on one side of the path, for fear he would be lost again. Nor
-could he swim if he jumped into the canal. And then he saw, right in
-front of him, a bridge over the water.
-
-“That’s my chance,” thought the goat, and lightly he leaped to one
-side, getting away from both boys, and over the bridge he ran. The boys
-did not dare leave their horses long enough to follow.
-
-Over the bridge and down a country road on the other side of the canal
-ran Lightfoot. He saw some cows and sheep in the fields on either side
-of the road. Then he saw a little white house with green shutters. In
-the front yard, picking some flowers, was a woman. Lightfoot looked at
-her.
-
-“I wonder――I wonder,” said Lightfoot slowly to himself, “where I have
-seen that woman before, for I am sure I have.”
-
-The woman kept on picking flowers. Lightfoot stood near the gate
-watching her, but she did not see him. Pretty soon she called:
-
-“Mike, bring me the watering can. The flower beds are dry.”
-
-“All right, Mother, I will. Sure if I had Lightfoot back again I’d make
-a little sprinkling cart and have him draw it. It’s a grand place for
-goats――the country farm.”
-
-Lightfoot pricked up his ears. He could not understand it. But that
-name Mike――that voice――
-
-He walked into the yard. The woman picking flowers looked up. Mike
-came along with the sprinkling can, and when he saw the goat he nearly
-dropped it.
-
-“Mother, Mother!” he cried. “Look! Look! It――it’s Lightfoot――come back
-to us!”
-
-“Lightfoot?”
-
-“Sure! Look at the likes of him as fine as ever――finer! Oh, Lightfoot,
-I’m so glad!” And this time Mike did drop the watering pot, splashing
-the water all about as he ran forward to throw his arms around the
-goat’s neck while Mrs. Malony patted him.
-
-And so Lightfoot came to his new home. By mistake he had gone the wrong
-way, but it turned out just right. He could not tell how glad he was to
-see Mike and his mother again, for he could not speak their language.
-But when Lightfoot met the horses, the cows and the pigs on the farm
-the widow and her son owned, the goat told them all his adventures,
-just as I have written them down in this book.
-
-“Lightfoot has come back to me! Lightfoot has come back!” sang Mike. “I
-wonder how he found this place?”
-
-But Lightfoot could not tell. All he knew was that he was with his
-friends again, and on a farm, which he thought much nicer than the
-park, pretty as that was.
-
-The leaping goat soon made himself at home. He was given a little stall
-to himself in the stable with the horses, who grew to like him very
-much.
-
-Mike had brought with him from the city the goat wagon, and many a fine
-ride he had in it, pulled along the country road by Lightfoot, who was
-bigger and stronger than before.
-
-“I wonder what Blackie, Grandpa Bumper and the other goats would think
-of me now?” said Lightfoot one day as he rolled over and over in a
-green meadow where daisies and buttercups grew.
-
-But as the other goats were not there they could say nothing. And so
-Lightfoot had his many adventures, and he was put in a book, just as he
-hoped to be, so I suppose he is happy now.
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
- Transcriber’s Notes:
-
- ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
-
- ――Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently
- corrected.
-
- ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
-
- ――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat, by Richard Barnum
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat, by Richard Barnum
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat
- His Many Adventures
-
-Author: Richard Barnum
-
-Illustrator: Walter S. Rogers
-
-Release Date: May 4, 2020 [EBook #62020]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHTFOOT, THE LEAPING GOAT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="cover" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="600" height="750" alt="cover" title="cover" />
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_frontis" style="width: 393px;">
- <img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="393" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_56">Up and down the block Mike drove Lightfoot, giving
-the little boy and his nurse a fine ride.</a></div>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p class="noi subtitle"><i>Kneetime Animal Stories</i></p>
-
-
-<h1>LIGHTFOOT<br />
-THE LEAPING GOAT</h1>
-
-<p class="noi subtitle">HIS MANY ADVENTURES</p>
-
-<p class="p2 noic">BY</p>
-
-<p class="noi author">RICHARD BARNUM</p>
-
-<p class="noi works">Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Tum<br />
-Tum, the Jolly Elephant,” “Don, a Runaway<br />
-Dog,” “Tinkle, the<br />
-Trick Pony,” etc.</p>
-
-<p class="p2 noi works"><i>ILLUSTRATED BY</i></p>
-
-<p class="noic"><i>WALTER S. ROGERS</i></p>
-
-<p class="p4 noic">PUBLISHERS<br />
-<span class="noi adauthor">BARSE &amp; CO.</span><br />
-NEW YORK, N. Y.            NEWARK, N. J.</p>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p class="noic">Copyright 1917<br />
-by<br />
-BARSE &amp; CO.</p>
-
-<hr class="r20" />
-
-<p class="noic">Light Foot, the Leaping Goat</p>
-
-<p class="p6 noi works"><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
-
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
-<col style="width: 20%;" />
-<col style="width: 70%;" />
-<col style="width: 10%;" />
-<tr>
- <th class="smfontr">CHAPTER</th>
- <th class="tdl"></th>
- <th class="smfontr">PAGE</th>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">I</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Lightfoot’s Big Leap</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">7</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">II</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Lightfoot Is Hurt</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">19</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">III</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Lightfoot Saves a Girl</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">30</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">IV</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Lightfoot and the Wagon</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">36</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">V</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Lightfoot in the Park</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">46</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">VI</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Lightfoot Butts a Boy</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">58</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">VII</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Lightfoot on a Boat</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">68</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">VIII</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Lightfoot on a Voyage</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">77</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">IX</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Lightfoot Goes Ashore</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">85</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">X</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Lightfoot in the Woods</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">94</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">XI</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">Lightfoot Meets Slicko</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">101</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdrt">XII</td>
- <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Lightfoot’s New Home</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">110</td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations">
-<col style="width: 80%;" />
-<col style="width: 20%;" />
-<tr>
- <th class="tdl"></th>
- <th class="smfontr">PAGE</th>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_frontis">Up and down the block Mike drove Lightfoot,
-giving the little boy and his nurse a fine ride</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p021">Lightfoot was falling down and down</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">21</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p041">Lightfoot, coming up to get some of the salt
-which he licked from Mike’s hand, did not know what his master was saying</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">41</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p065">“I want to ride in this!”</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">65</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p079">Lightfoot ran close to this water, the boys
-racing after him</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">79</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p103">“That’s fine!” said Lightfoot. “I wish I could
-dance”</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">103</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p117">“Mother, Mother!” he cried. “Look! Look! It—it’s
-Lightfoot—come back to us!”</a></td>
- <td class="tdrb">117</td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span></p>
-
-
-<p class="noi title">LIGHTFOOT,<br />
-THE LEAPING GOAT</p>
-
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT’S BIG LEAP</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Lightfoot stamped his hoofs on the
-hard rocks, shook his horns, wiggled the
-little bunch of whiskers that hung beneath
-his chin, and called to another goat who
-was not far away:</p>
-
-<p>“I’m going up on the high rocks!”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, you’d better not,” said Blackie. “If you
-go up there you may slip and fall down here
-and hurt yourself, or some of the big goats may
-chase you back.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, if they do I’ll just jump down again,”
-went on Lightfoot, as he stood on his hind legs.</p>
-
-<p>“You can’t jump that far,” said Blackie,
-looking up toward the high rocks which were
-far above the heads of herself and Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>For Lightfoot and Blackie were two goats,
-and they lived with several others on the rocky<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span>
-hillside at the edge of a big city. Lightfoot
-and Blackie, with four other goats, were owned
-by the widow, Mrs. Malony. She and her son
-Mike had a small shanty on the ground in the
-shadow of the big rocks. The reason they kept
-most of the goats was for the milk they gave.
-For some goats, like cows, can be milked, and
-many persons like goats’ milk better than the
-cows’ kind, which the milkman brings to your
-door every morning, or which is brought to
-the house from the stable or the lot where the
-cows are milked if you live in the country.</p>
-
-<p>“You can never jump down that far if the
-big goats chase you away when you get on top
-of the high rocks,” went on Blackie as she looked
-up.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, maybe I can’t do it all in <em>one</em> jump,”
-Lightfoot said slowly, “but I can come down in
-two or three if the big goats chase me away.
-Anyhow, maybe they won’t chase me.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, yes, they will!” bleated Blackie in the
-animal talk which the goats used among themselves.</p>
-
-<p>They could understand a little man talk, but
-not much. But they could talk and think
-among themselves.</p>
-
-<p>“The big goats will never let you come up
-where they are,” went on Blackie, who was
-called that because she was nearly all black.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span>
-She would give milk to the Widow Malony
-when she grew older.</p>
-
-<p>“Why won’t the big goats let me go up there?”
-asked Lightfoot. “I know it is nicer up there
-than down here, for I have heard Grandfather
-Bumper, the oldest of all us goats, tell how far
-he can see from the top of the rocks. And nice
-sweet grass grows up there. I’d like some of
-that. The grass here is nearly all dried up and
-gone.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot saw, off to one side, a tomato can,
-and he hurried toward it. Sometimes these
-cans had paper pasted on them, and the goats
-liked to eat the paper. For it had a sweet taste,
-and the paste with which it was fastened to the
-can was even sweeter.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s just the reason the big goats don’t
-want you to go up where they are,” said Blackie,
-as Lightfoot came back, looking as disappointed
-as a goat can look, for there was no paper on the
-can. Some one had eaten it off. “The big
-goats want to save the sweet grass on the high
-rocks for themselves. Some of the best milk-goats
-are there, and they have to eat lots of grass
-to make milk.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I’m going up, anyhow,” said Lightfoot.
-“At least I’m going to try. If they drive
-me back I’ll get down all right. I’m getting
-to be a pretty good jumper. See!”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span></p>
-
-<p>He gave a little run, and leaped lightly over
-a big rock not far from the shanty of the Widow
-Malony.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, that was a fine jump!” exclaimed
-Blackie. “I’ll never be able to jump as far as
-you. But I wouldn’t go up if I were you.”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, I shall,” declared Lightfoot, as he shook
-his horns again and started to climb the rocks.
-He was very fond of having his own way, was
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot did not remember much about the
-time when he was a very very small goat. He
-could dimly recall that he had once lived in a
-green, grassy field with other goats, and then,
-one day, that he had been taken for a long ride
-in a wagon. He went to a number of places,
-finally reaching the home of the Widow Malony
-and her son Mike, who was a tall, strong lad
-with a happy, laughing face, covered with freckles
-and on his head was the reddest hair you ever
-saw.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot soon made himself at home among
-the other goats Mrs. Malony kept. At first
-these goats said very little to him, but one day,
-when he was but a small kid (as little goats are
-called) he surprised the other animals among
-the rocks by giving a big jump to get away from
-a dog that ran after him.</p>
-
-<p>“That goat will soon be a fine jumper,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span>
-Grandpa Bumper, who was called that because
-he could bump so hard with his horns and head
-that all the other goats were afraid of him.
-“Yes, he’ll be a great jumper,” went on the oldest
-goat of them all. “I think I shall name him
-Lightfoot, for he comes down so lightly and so
-easily after he makes his leap.”</p>
-
-<p>And so Lightfoot was named. As far as he
-knew there were none of the other goats who
-were any relation to him. He was a stranger
-among them, but they soon became friendly
-with him. Among the six goats owned by the
-Widow Malony there were only two who were
-any relation. These were Mr. and Mrs. Sharp-horn,
-as we would call them, though of course
-goats don’t call each other husband and wife.
-They have other names that mean the same
-thing.</p>
-
-<p>But though he had no brothers or sisters or
-father or mother that he knew, Lightfoot was
-not unhappy. There was Blackie, with whom
-he played and frisked about among the rocks.
-And Grandpa Bumper, when he had had a good
-meal of the sweet grass that grew on top of the
-rocks, with, perhaps, some sweet paste-paper
-from the outside of a tomato can to finish off,
-would tell stories of his early life. And he
-would tell of other goats, in far-off mountains,
-some of them nearly as big as cows, with great,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span>
-curved horns on their heads. Lightfoot loved
-to listen to these stories.</p>
-
-<p>There was not much for the goats to do at
-the home of the Widow Malony. They had no
-work to do except to jump around on the rocks
-and to eat when they were hungry and could find
-anything they liked, though some of the goats
-were milked. There was more milk than the
-widow and her son could use, so they used to sell
-some to their neighbors who did not keep goats.</p>
-
-<p>But many others besides Mike and his mother
-kept goats, for all the neighbors of the Malonys
-were poor squatters who lived among the rocks
-on the edge of the big city. They were called
-“squatters” because they did not own the land
-whereon they built their poor shanties, some of
-them being a few boards covered with sheets of
-tin from some old building. These people just
-came along and “squatted” on the land. Some
-had been there so long they thought they
-owned it.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Malony and her son were very poor.
-Sometimes, had it not been for the milk of the
-goats, they would have had nothing to eat. The
-widow took in washing, and Mike earned what
-he could running errands. But, for all that,
-the widow and Mike were cheerful and tried
-to be happy. They kept their shanty clean, and
-were clean themselves. And they took very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span>
-good care of the goats. Mike made a little shed
-for them to sleep in when Winter came; and
-when the grass on the rocks was scarce Mike
-would get a job in the city, cutting the lawn of
-some big house, and he would bring the clipped
-grass home to Lightfoot and the others.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, I’m going up on top of the rocks,”
-said Lightfoot to himself as he began to climb
-upward.</p>
-
-<p>The path to the top was a hard and rough one
-to climb. But Lightfoot did not give up.</p>
-
-<p>“I know I can do it,” he declared, still to himself.
-“I was nearly up once but Mr. Sharp-horn
-chased me back. I was only a little goat
-then.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot knew he was much larger and
-stronger now, and he certainly was a better
-jumper. He really did not know how far he
-could jump, for he had not had much chance.
-On the lower rocks there were not many good
-jumping places. The ground was too rough.</p>
-
-<p>“Wait until I get up to the top,” thought
-Lightfoot to himself. “Then I’ll do some
-jumping. I wonder if they’ll chase me
-back?”</p>
-
-<p>Part way up the rocky path he stopped to
-look toward the top. He saw Mr. Sharp-horn
-looking down at him, and Lightfoot pretended
-to be looking for some grass that grew in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span>
-cracks of the rocks. As he did this the widow
-came to the door of her shanty.</p>
-
-<p>“Mike! Mike!” she called. “Where are
-you? Sure an’ I want you to be takin’ home
-Mrs. Mackinson’s wash. ’Tis all finished I
-have it.” And then, as she shaded her eyes from
-the sun, and looked up at the rocks, Mrs. Malony
-saw Lightfoot half way to the top.</p>
-
-<p>“Would you look at that goat now!” she
-called. “Come here, Mike me boy, and see
-where Lightfoot is. Sure an’ it’s the illigint
-climber he’s gettin’ to be altogether!”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, Lightfoot’s a good goat,” said Mike as
-he came around the corner of the shanty where
-he had been trying to fix a broken wheel on a
-small cart he had made from a soap box. “He’s
-a fine leaper and he’s going to be better when
-he grows up. I wonder what he’s trying to do
-now?”</p>
-
-<p>“Sure, go to the top of the rocks, isn’t it?”
-asked Mrs. Malony.</p>
-
-<p>“If he does the Sharp-horns or old Bumper
-will send him down quick enough!” laughed
-Mike. “They don’t want the small Nannies
-and Billies eatin’ the top grass. You’d better
-come back, Lightfoot! he called to the climbing
-goat. But if Lightfoot heard and understood
-he gave no sign.</p>
-
-<p>“I’d like to stay and see what happens when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span>
-he gets to the top,” laughed Mike, running his
-fingers through his red hair.</p>
-
-<p>“Ye’ve no time,” called his mother. “Be off
-wid this wash now, like a good boy. Sure it’s
-the money from it I’ll be needin’ to get meat
-for the Sunday dinner. Off wid ye now!”</p>
-
-<p>“All right, Mother. Just as soon as I fix the
-wheel on me cart.”</p>
-
-<p>The Widow Malony did not use the kind of
-language you, perhaps, talk. She made what
-we would call “mistakes.” Mike had been to
-school, and he could speak more correctly, but
-he, too, sometimes made mistakes in his talk.
-However that did not so much matter. He
-intended to work hard so he could get money to
-study, and his mother tried to help.</p>
-
-<p>While Mike went back to fix his wagon, so
-he could take home the basket of clean clothes,
-Lightfoot, the leaping goat, once more began
-scrambling up the rocks toward the top. Mr.
-Sharp-horn, who had looked over the edge to
-see the smaller goat climbing up, had moved
-back to eat some more grass, and he forgot about
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Now none of them is looking, I’ll get to the
-top,” thought Lightfoot. “And when I do I’ll
-have some fun, and get something good to eat.
-I want some long-stemmed grass. That at the
-foot of the rocks is dry and sour.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span></p>
-
-<p>On and on he climbed. Now and then he
-would stop to kick up his heels, he felt so fine,
-and again he would push his horns against the
-hard rocks to see how strong his head and neck
-were getting.</p>
-
-<p>“Soon I’ll be able to butt as well as Grandpa
-Bumper,” thought Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>Some neighboring children, playing in the
-yard of their shanty next to that of the Malonys,
-saw Lightfoot kicking and butting.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh look at that funny goat of Mike’s!”
-called a little girl.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure, he’s a fine goat!” declared her brother.
-“I wish we had one like that. Our Nannie is
-getting old,” he added.</p>
-
-<p>On and on went Lightfoot, cutting up such
-funny capers that the little boy and girl, watching
-him, laughed with glee.</p>
-
-<p>At last the goat was close to the top of the
-rocks, where there was a smooth level place and
-where sweet grass grew. Lightfoot peeped
-carefully over the top. He did not want Mr.
-Sharp-horn or Grandpa Bumper to rush at him
-the first thing and, maybe, knock him head over
-heels down the rocky hill.</p>
-
-<p>But, as it happened, all the other goats were
-away from the edge and did not see Lightfoot.
-Up he scrambled and began cropping the sweet
-grass.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Oh, this is fine!” he cried.</p>
-
-<p>He was eating the grass, when, all at once,
-Mr. Sharp-horn looked up and saw him.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, the idea!” cried that big goat. “The
-idea of that kid coming up here, where only
-we big goats are supposed to come! He is too
-young for this place, yet. I must drive him
-down and teach him a lesson.” Then lowering
-his head, and shaking his horns, the man-goat
-rushed at Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Sharp-horn did not mean to be unkind.
-But small animals are always kept in their own
-places by the larger ones until they have grown
-big enough to take their own part. That is one
-of the lessons goats and other animals have to
-learn.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot was soon to have his lesson. He
-was eating away at the sweet grass, thinking
-how good it was, when he heard a clatter of
-hoofs.</p>
-
-<p>Looking up quickly Lightfoot saw Mr.
-Sharp-horn running toward him swiftly.
-Lightfoot knew what that lowered head of the
-older goat meant.</p>
-
-<p>“Go on down out of here!” bleated Mr.
-Sharp-horn.</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t want to,” answered Lightfoot, and
-stamped with his forefeet, his hard hoofs rattling
-on the ground.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span></p>
-
-<p>“But you must go down!” said the older goat.
-“This is no place for you kids. It is for the older
-goats. Keep on the rocks below.”</p>
-
-<p>“I am old enough to come up here now,” said
-Lightfoot. “Besides, I am hungry.”</p>
-
-<p>“That makes no difference!” cried Mr. Sharp-horn.
-“Get down, I say!”</p>
-
-<p>He kept on running toward Lightfoot with
-lowered head. The boy-goat thought the man-goat
-was, perhaps, only trying to scare him, and
-did not turn to run. But Mr. Sharp-horn was
-in earnest. On and on he came, and when
-Lightfoot turned to run it was almost too late.</p>
-
-<p>However he did turn, and he did run, for he
-had no idea of being butted with those long
-horns. Before him was the edge of the rocks,
-and then, when it was too late, Lightfoot saw
-that he had run to the wrong place on the edge.
-There was, here, no path down which he could
-scramble. The rock went straight down, and
-he must either stand still and be butted over the
-edge, or he must jump.</p>
-
-<p>He gave a bleating cry and straight over the
-edge of the rocks he jumped.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT IS HURT</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Mr. Sharp-horn, the man-goat, was
-so surprised at what Lightfoot had
-done in leaping over the edge of the
-cliff that, for a second, he did not know what to
-do. Indeed Sharp-horn, who was running very
-fast, could hardly stop in time to save himself
-from sliding over.</p>
-
-<p>“Look out there, Lightfoot!” he called. “I
-didn’t mean to make you do that. I wouldn’t
-have hurt you very much. Why did you
-jump?”</p>
-
-<p>But Lightfoot could not answer now. He
-was falling down through the air. Indeed he,
-himself, hardly knew why he had jumped. He
-almost wished he had not.</p>
-
-<p>Far down below he saw the shanty of the
-Widow Malony, and he saw the hard rocks and
-ground all around it. Somewhere down there
-Lightfoot would land, and he might be badly
-hurt. For he was not one of the kind of goats
-that are said to turn somersaults in the air, when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span>
-they leap, and land on their big, curved horns.</p>
-
-<p>“What’s the matter?” called Grandpa
-Bumper, as he heard Mr. Sharp-horn shouting
-in his bleating voice.</p>
-
-<p>“Lightfoot has jumped over the edge!” called
-the other goat.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, my! He’ll be killed!” cried Mrs.
-Sharp-horn. “You shouldn’t have chased him,
-Sharpy,” for sometimes she called her goat-husband
-that.</p>
-
-<p>“I—I didn’t mean to make him jump,” went
-on Mr. Sharp-horn. “I was only trying to scare
-him away from our feeding place. He is too
-young to come up here. I’m sorry.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, what a big jump he made!” cried
-Grandpa Bumper, for he knew it was about
-twenty-five feet from the rocky edge down to
-the ground below. “If he isn’t killed or hurt
-it will be a wonder.”</p>
-
-<p>Of course all this took place much more
-quickly than I can tell it. It was only a few
-seconds. <a href="#i_p021">Lightfoot was falling down and down</a>,
-or, rather, he had jumped down.</p>
-
-<p>And as he left the edge of the rocks, and
-looked below, he wished he had taken the butting
-from Mr. Sharp-horn. But it was too late
-now. And then, all of a sudden, Lightfoot did
-that which gained him the name of being a very
-wise young goat.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_p021" style="width: 373px;">
- <img src="images/i_p021.jpg" width="373" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_20">Lightfoot was falling down and down.</a></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p>
-
-<p>Below he saw the tin and board roof of the
-Malony shanty. It stood about fifteen feet high,
-and Lightfoot thought if he could land on that
-it would shorten his big jump. He would not
-have to go so far, and then he could leap down
-that much more easily.</p>
-
-<p>So he gave himself a shake and a twist in the
-air, as some acrobats do in the circus, and as cats
-and goats do when they jump, and, instead of
-heading straight for the hard ground, Lightfoot
-aimed his four feet at the roof of the shanty.</p>
-
-<p>Just then Mrs. Malony came to the door to
-watch her son going down the street with the
-basket of clothes on his wagon.</p>
-
-<p>“Look! Look, Mike!” called the widow.
-“Sure it’s a flyin’ goat Lightfoot is now. He’s
-fallin’ down out of the sky!”</p>
-
-<p>And indeed it did look so. But before Mike
-could answer, Lightfoot had landed on the roof
-of the shanty amid a great clattering of the
-boards and tin that kept out the rain. The roof
-was flat, and the boards were springy, so the goat
-sort of bounced up and down, like the man when
-he falls into the circus net, though, of course, to
-a less degree.</p>
-
-<p>And it was this that saved the goat from being
-hurt. He was shaken up a bit and jarred, but
-he had safely jumped from the top of the rocks
-to the roof of the shanty. From there it was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span>
-easy to get down, for at one side was a shed,
-with a little lower roof, and when Lightfoot
-had leaped to this he had no trouble in jumping
-to a soft place on the ground just outside the
-kitchen door.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, of all things!” exclaimed the Widow
-Malony. “You’re th’ jumpinest goat I ever
-had! You’re that light on your feet a clog-dancer
-would admire you. Sure it’s a fine goat
-you are!”</p>
-
-<p>“We never had any goat to jump the likes of
-Lightfoot!” cried Mike, running back to see if
-his pet were hurt, for he loved Lightfoot better
-than any of the others. He patted the shaggy
-coat of the animal, and, looking at him, saw that
-he was not in the least harmed. Lightfoot felt
-a little pain, but he could not tell Mike about
-it.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, how did you ever dare do it?” asked
-Blackie, running up to Lightfoot with a piece
-of paste-paper in her mouth. “Weren’t you
-afraid?”</p>
-
-<p>“I—I guess I didn’t have time to be,” answered
-Lightfoot. “I didn’t think they’d drive
-me away from up there.”</p>
-
-<p>Mike went on with the washing when he
-found Lightfoot was not hurt, and Mrs. Malony
-went back in the shanty. From the edge of the
-rocks above the other goats looked down.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Say, youngster,” called Mr. Sharp-horn to
-Lightfoot, “I didn’t mean to make you do that.
-Are you hurt?”</p>
-
-<p>“Not a bit,” answered Lightfoot, who was
-beginning to feel a bit proud of himself now.</p>
-
-<p>“That was a wonderful leap,” said Mrs.
-Sharp-horn.</p>
-
-<p>“Indeed it was!” added Grandpa Bumper.
-“Of course I have made such leaps as that when
-I was younger, but I can’t any more. For a
-kid that was very good, Lightfoot.”</p>
-
-<p>“He won’t be a kid much longer,” said Mrs.
-Sharp-horn. Then she said something in a low
-baa-a to her goat-husband.</p>
-
-<p>“Why, yes,” answered Mr. Sharp-horn, “I
-guess, after this big leap he did to-day, Lightfoot
-can come up among us other goats now.
-You may come up to the top of the rocks whenever
-you like,” he went on to Lightfoot. “We
-won’t chase you away any more.”</p>
-
-<p>“And may Blackie come up with me and eat
-the sweet grass?” asked Lightfoot, having a kind
-thought for his little friend.</p>
-
-<p>“Can she climb that far?” asked Grandpa
-Bumper.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll help her,” offered Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Then you may both come,” went on the old
-grandfather goat who ruled over the rest.
-“Your grass down there is getting pretty dry,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span>
-he went on. “Come up whenever you want to.
-And, Lightfoot, don’t try any more such risky
-jumps as that. You might break a leg.”</p>
-
-<p>So, after all, you see, Lightfoot’s big jump
-turned out to be a good thing for him and
-Blackie. After Lightfoot had rested a bit he
-and Blackie went up to the top of the rocks,
-Lightfoot helping the girl-goat over the rough
-places, and soon all the Widow Malony’s animals
-were cropping the sweet grass on top of
-the high rocks.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot’s leap was talked about among the
-goats for many a day after that. The goat grew
-bigger and stronger, and every chance he found
-he practiced jumping until he could do almost
-as well as Mr. Sharp-horn, who was the best
-leaper of all the goats in Shanty-town, as the
-place of the squatters was called.</p>
-
-<p>Day after day Lightfoot would practice jumping
-and climbing among the rocks, sometimes
-alone and sometimes with Blackie. One day,
-when he had made a very hard jump from one
-rock to another, he heard some boy-and-girl-talk
-in the road in front of the widow’s shanty.
-Looking down, Lightfoot saw a small cart
-drawn by a pony, and seated in the cart was a
-man, and with him were his two children.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, look, George!” called the little girl,
-“there’s that nice goat we saw when we were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span>
-going to the circus, the day we got back Tinkle,
-our pony.”</p>
-
-<p>“So it is, Mabel,” answered the boy. “Could
-we ever have a goat, Daddy?” he asked his father
-as the pony cart stopped.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, I guess not,” said the man. “Tinkle is
-enough for you.” Then to Mrs. Malony, who
-came to the front gate, he said: “That’s a fine
-goat you have.”</p>
-
-<p>“Sure an’ you may well say that. You’re the
-gintleman who went past here a few days ago,
-aren’t you?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes. I was on my way to the circus, and it
-was there we got back my children’s pony which
-had been stolen.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I’m glad you have him back,” said the
-Widow Malony, with a twinkle in her kind,
-Irish-blue eyes. “You should have seen Lightfoot
-leap from the top of the rocks to the roof
-of me shanty one day.”</p>
-
-<p>“Did he really do that?” asked George.</p>
-
-<p>“He did,” and Mrs. Malony told about it.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Tinkle, the trick pony, of whom I
-have told you in the book of that name, was
-having a little talk with Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Were you really stolen?” asked Lightfoot,
-when Tinkle told some of his adventures.</p>
-
-<p>“Indeed I was. And did you really jump
-from the top of those rocks?”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span></p>
-
-<p>“I did,” answered the leaping goat, holding
-his head high and feeling very proud.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s more than I could do, though I can
-do circus tricks,” said Tinkle. “There’s been
-a book written about me and my tricks and adventures.”</p>
-
-<p>“You don’t tell me!” cried Lightfoot. “But
-what’s a book?”</p>
-
-<p>Before Tinkle could answer Mr. Farley, the
-father of George and Mabel, called good-by to
-the Widow Malony and drove on with the
-children in the pony cart.</p>
-
-<p>“Good-by!” called Tinkle to Lightfoot. “If
-ever you get to the circus ask Tum Tum, the
-jolly elephant, or Mappo, the merry monkey,
-about me.”</p>
-
-<p>“I will,” promised Lightfoot, “though I never
-expect to go to a circus.”</p>
-
-<p>“Sure they were nice little children,” said
-Mrs. Malony, “and it was a fine pony cart they
-had. How would you like to pull a stylish cart
-like that, Lightfoot?” she asked as she went back
-in the shanty to finish her washing.</p>
-
-<p>For many days after this Lightfoot lived
-around the squatter’s shanty learning to leap and
-do other things that goats have to do in this
-world. And one day he had an adventure that
-was not exactly pleasant.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot was getting to be quite a big goat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span>
-now, and sometimes he wandered away farther
-than he had ever gone before. Two or three
-streets from where the Malony shanty was built
-ran an electric car line. At first Lightfoot did
-not know what it was, but the other goats told
-him that people rode in the queer, yellow
-cars which went rolling along in such a
-queer way on the shiny rails, a bell clanging
-in front.</p>
-
-<p>One afternoon Lightfoot wandered down to
-the trolley tracks. An ash wagon had passed
-a little while before, and the goat had seen fall
-from it a tin can with a big, red, tomato-paper
-pasted on it.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll get that paper and eat off the paste,”
-thought Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>The can was in the middle of the tracks.
-Lightfoot began nosing it, tearing off the paper
-and eating small pieces. It tasted very good to
-him.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly there was the clanging of a bell,
-and along came a car, headed straight for Lightfoot.
-The goat looked up.</p>
-
-<p>“Bother!” he exclaimed to himself. “You’ll
-have to wait until I finish my lunch,” he went
-on. “I’m not going to hurry out of the way
-for you. I’m as good as you!” Lightfoot
-wanted his own way, you see.</p>
-
-<p>But goats have no rights on a trolley track,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span>
-though Lightfoot did not know this. The motorman
-clanged his bell, and cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Get off the tracks, you goat, or I’ll bump
-into you!”</p>
-
-<p>Now Lightfoot knew very little indeed about
-trolley cars. He did not know how strong they
-were. And so, as he stood between the rails,
-chewing the paper from the can, and saw the big
-yellow car clanging its way toward him, Lightfoot
-stamped his hoofs, shook his horns and said
-to himself:</p>
-
-<p>“Well, do as you please, but I’m not going
-to move until I finish eating. I guess I can butt
-as hard as you!”</p>
-
-<p>“Get out of there!” called the motorman
-again. But Lightfoot did not understand.
-The car slowed up a little, but still came on.</p>
-
-<p>“Bump into him, Bill!” called the conductor
-to the motorman, and the next instant the fender
-of the street car struck Lightfoot’s lowered
-horns, and tossed him to one side over into a
-ditch full of weeds.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, dear! I’m hurt this time, sure!” thought
-poor Lightfoot. “I thought I could knock that
-car off the track, but, instead, it knocked me
-off! Oh, dear!”</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT SAVES A GIRL</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">For a few seconds after Lightfoot had been
-tossed into the ditch full of weeds the goat
-could not get up or even move. The trolley
-car clanged on its way down the tracks.</p>
-
-<p>“What happened?” asked some of the passengers.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, a goat got on the track and the motorman
-had to knock him off,” explained the conductor.</p>
-
-<p>“I hope you didn’t hurt him,” said a little
-girl sitting in a front seat to the motorman.</p>
-
-<p>“No, I didn’t hit him very hard,” answered
-the motorman. “But I just had to get him out
-of the way. I’d never hurt any animal, for
-my children have a dog and a cat, and I love
-them as much as they do. The goat really
-butted into me as much as I did into him.”</p>
-
-<p>And this, in a way, was true. If Lightfoot
-had stood still, and had not tried to hit the fender
-of the car with his horns, he would have
-been easily pushed to one side. But he had to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span>
-learn his lesson, and, like the lessons boys and
-girls have to learn, all are not easy or pleasant
-ones.</p>
-
-<p>So poor Lightfoot lay groaning in the ditch
-among the weeds as the trolley car went on.
-At least he groaned as much as a goat can groan,
-making a sort of bleating noise.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, dear!” he thought. “Never again will
-I do such a thing as this! I will stick to jumping,
-for I can do that and not be hurt. I wonder
-if any of my legs or my horns are broken?”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot, lying on his side in the ditch, shook
-his head. His horns seemed to be all right.
-Then he tried to scramble to his feet. He felt
-several pains and aches, but, to his delight, he
-found that he could get up, though he was a
-bit shaky.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, none of my legs is broken, anyhow,”
-said Lightfoot to himself. “But I ache all over.
-I guess I’ll go home.” Home, to Lightfoot,
-meant the rocks around the shanty of the widow
-and her son.</p>
-
-<p>As Lightfoot limped from the ditch to the
-road he passed a puddle of water. He could see
-himself in this, as you boys and girls can see
-yourselves in a looking glass. The sight that
-met his eyes made Lightfoot gasp.</p>
-
-<p>“I’d never know myself!” he said sadly.
-Well might he say that. One of his legs was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span>
-cut, and some blood had run from it. His side
-was scratched and bruised and some skin was
-scraped from his black nose. “I’m a terrible
-looking sight,” he said.</p>
-
-<p>He walked along, limping, until he came
-within sight of the shanty. From behind it
-came Blackie.</p>
-
-<p>“Why Lightfoot!” she cried in surprise.
-“Where in the world have you been? I’ve been
-looking everywhere for you. Why! what has
-happened to you?”</p>
-
-<p>“I—I tried to butt a trolley car off the tracks,”
-said the boy-goat. “I was eating some pasty
-paper off a tomato can that fell from an ash
-wagon, when the car came along. I wouldn’t
-get out of the way and—well, it knocked me
-into the ditch. Oh, dear!”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m so sorry,” said Blackie sympathetically.
-“Come on up to the top of the rocks and you
-can roll in the soft grass. Maybe that will make
-you feel better.”</p>
-
-<p>“No, I don’t believe I could climb to the top
-of the rocks now,” said Lightfoot. “I am too
-sore and stiff. I’ll just lie down here in the
-shade.”</p>
-
-<p>“Do,” said the kind Blackie, “and I’ll bring
-you some nice brown paper I found.”</p>
-
-<p>Goats love brown paper almost as much as
-they do the kind that has paste on it and that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span>
-comes off cans. For brown paper is made from
-things that goats like to eat, though of course it
-is not good for girls and boys any more than
-is hay or grass.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, what’s the matter with you, Lightfoot?”
-asked Grandpa Bumper, the old goat,
-as he came scrambling down the rocks a little
-later to get a drink of water from the pail near
-the kitchen door of the Widow Malony’s shanty.
-“What happened to you?”</p>
-
-<p>“I got in the way of a trolley car,” said Lightfoot,
-and he told what had happened.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, let that be a lesson to you,” said the
-old goat-man. “You are a strong goat-boy, and
-a fine jumper, but the strongest goat amongst
-us is not able to butt against a trolley car. I
-once heard of an elephant butting a locomotive
-with his head but he was killed. His name was
-Jumbo.”</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder if he was any relation to Tum
-Tum,” said Lightfoot, who was beginning to
-feel a little better now.</p>
-
-<p>“Who is Tum Tum?” asked Grandpa
-Bumper.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, he is a jolly elephant who lives in a circus.
-I met a trick pony named Tinkle, who
-once was in the circus, and Tinkle told me about
-Tum Tum.”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m sure I don’t know about Tum Tum,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span>
-went on the old goat. “And I never saw a circus,
-though I have heard of them.”</p>
-
-<p>“Maybe I’ll be in one some day,” murmured
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, whatever you do, never again try to
-butt a trolley car,” advised the old goat, and
-Lightfoot said he never would.</p>
-
-<p>In a few days he felt better, though his bruises
-and cuts still hurt a little. But, with Blackie,
-he managed to get to the top of the rocks, and
-there, eating the sweet grass and lying stretched
-out in the sun, he was soon himself again and
-could jump as well as ever. He told the other
-goats about his adventure with the trolley car,
-and they all said he was brave, if he was foolish.</p>
-
-<p>It was more than a month after he had been
-butted into the ditch by the trolley car that
-Lightfoot once more wandered down that same
-street. He felt hungry for some pasty paper
-from a tomato can, and he wanted to see if any
-had fallen from an ash wagon.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot looked up and down the street. He
-did not see a can but he did see a little girl, and
-she was standing in the middle of the trolley
-track, almost in the spot where Lightfoot had
-stood when he was hurt.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder if she is going to try to knock a
-car off the track,” thought Lightfoot. And just
-then, the little girl, who was about four years<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span>
-old, turned her back and stooped to pick up her
-doll, which had dropped from her arms to the
-ground.</p>
-
-<p>As she did so, around the corner of the street,
-came a trolley car, just like the one that had hit
-Lightfoot. The motorman happened to be
-looking the other way, and did not see the little
-girl. She was so taken up with her doll that
-she did not hear the rumble of the car, and the
-motorman, still looking the other way, did not
-ring his bell.</p>
-
-<p>“That little girl will be hurt!” cried Lightfoot
-“She can never knock the car off the
-track if I couldn’t. I must save her! I must
-push her off the rails.”</p>
-
-<p>Then, with a loud “Baa-a-a-a!” Lightfoot
-trotted on to the tracks in front of the car, and,
-as the little girl straightened up he gently put
-his head against her back and slowly pushed her
-from the tracks, leaping away himself just in
-time, as the car rolled right over the place where
-the little girl had been standing.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT AND THE WAGON</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">With a clang of the bell the trolley car
-came to a stop, the motorman putting
-the brakes on hard. Then he jumped
-off the front platform and ran to where the little
-girl had sat down in the grass at the side of the
-tracks. She had sat down rather hard, for
-Lightfoot had pushed her with more force than
-he intended. He was so anxious to get her out
-of the way of one of those clanging cars that
-once upon a time had hurt him so.</p>
-
-<p>“What is it?”</p>
-
-<p>“What’s the matter?”</p>
-
-<p>“What happened?”</p>
-
-<p>The passengers in the trolley car, surprised by
-the sudden way it stopped, called thus to one
-another as they hurried out. They saw the little
-girl sitting in the grass, holding her doll by one
-leg. They saw Lightfoot, the goat, standing
-near by as though keeping guard over the little
-girl, and they saw the motorman holding the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span>
-shiny handle, by which he turned on and off the
-electricity that made the car go.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, what’s the matter?” asked a small boy
-who had gotten off the car with his mother.
-“Did the goat bite the little girl?”</p>
-
-<p>“No, my dear. Goats don’t bite. They butt
-you with their horns.”</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t want any goat to butt me!” and the
-little boy hid behind his mother’s skirts.</p>
-
-<p>Then the little girl, sitting on the grass, made
-up her mind to cry. Up to now she had not
-quite known whether to laugh or to cry, but suddenly
-she felt that she had been hurt, or scared,
-or something, and the next thing, of course, was
-to cry.</p>
-
-<p>Tears came into her pretty blue eyes, she
-wiped them away with the dress of her doll and
-then she sobbed:</p>
-
-<p>“Go away you bad goat you! Go ’way! I
-don’t like you! You—you tried to bite me!”</p>
-
-<p>She had heard the little boy say that. But
-the little boy, getting brave as he saw that
-Lightfoot did not seem to want to bite, or butt
-either, any one, came from behind his mother’s
-skirts and said:</p>
-
-<p>“Goats don’t bite, little girl; they butt. My
-mamma says so, and if you is hurted she’ll kiss
-you and make you all well.”</p>
-
-<p>Some of the passengers laughed on hearing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span>
-this, and the lady with the little boy went to
-where the little girl was sitting on the grass,
-picked her up in her arms and wiped away her
-tears.</p>
-
-<p>“There, my dear,” she said. “You’re not
-hurt. See the pretty goat. He won’t hurt
-you.”</p>
-
-<p>“You’re right there!” exclaimed the motorman.
-“He saved her from being hurt by my
-car, that’s what he did.”</p>
-
-<p>“What do you mean?” asked the conductor.</p>
-
-<p>“I mean the goat butted the little girl off the
-tracks, just as the lady said goats do. She was
-standing on the tracks, picking up her doll, when
-my car came along. I wasn’t paying much attention,
-and I was almost on her when the goat
-saw what the trouble was and pushed her off
-the tracks with his head. He didn’t really butt
-her, but he got her out of the way just in
-time.”</p>
-
-<p>“He’s a smart goat,” said one of the men who
-had been riding in the trolley car.</p>
-
-<p>“He is that!” exclaimed the motorman.
-“And now that I look at him I remember him.
-He’s the goat we knocked off the track about two
-months ago. Don’t you remember?” he asked,
-turning to the conductor.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure enough he is,” agreed the conductor,
-and he explained to the passengers the accident,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span>
-or adventure, that had happened to Lightfoot,
-as I told it to you before.</p>
-
-<p>“He must have remembered how the car hurt
-him,” said the lady with the little boy, “and
-he didn’t want the child to be hurt. He is a
-smart goat!</p>
-
-<p>“Does any one know where the little girl
-lives?” asked the lady. “She ought not be allowed
-to stay here near the tracks.”</p>
-
-<p>None of the passengers knew the child, nor
-did the motorman or conductor. As they were
-wondering what to do along came Mike Malony.</p>
-
-<p>“Hello, Lightfoot!” called Mike as he saw
-his goat. And then, as he noticed the crowd,
-the stopped trolley car and the little girl, he
-asked:</p>
-
-<p>“What’s the matter? Is Tessie hurt?”</p>
-
-<p>“No one is hurt, I’m thankful to say,” replied
-the motorman; “but the little girl might have
-been only for the goat. Do you know her?”</p>
-
-<p>“Sure, she’s Tessie Rooney. She lives near
-me,” explained Mike. “I’ll take her home if
-you like.”</p>
-
-<p>“I wish you would,” said the lady who had
-given Tessie a five cent piece, which to Tessie
-was almost as much as a dollar. The child
-forgot all about her tears and what had happened
-to her.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure I’ll take her home,” said Mike, kindly.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Do you know whose goat that is?” asked the
-lady, as her little boy whispered something to
-her.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s mine,” said Mike proudly. “And
-there’s no better jumping goat in these parts.”</p>
-
-<p>“Nor smarter goat either,” said the motorman,
-and Mike, to his surprise, learned what
-his pet had done.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you want to sell the goat?” asked the
-lady. “My little boy would like him. I have
-an idea that I could hitch him to a cart and
-have him draw my boy about. Some neighbor’s
-children have a little pony named Tinkle, and
-they have great fun riding around with him.
-My boy is too small for a pony, but a goat might
-be good for him. Will you sell him to me—Lightfoot
-I think you said his name was?”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, ma’am, not wishing to be impolite to
-you, but I can’t sell Lightfoot,” said Mike
-slowly, and he put his hand on the goat’s head.
-“You see I’ve had him ever since he was a little
-kid, and I like him too much to sell him.”</p>
-
-<p>The lady saw how Mike felt about it, so she
-said kindly:</p>
-
-<p>“Well, never mind, my boy. I wouldn’t want
-to take your pet away from you, any more than
-I’d want my little boy to lose his, if he had
-one. It’s all right. But you are lucky to have
-so good a goat.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_p041" style="width: 384px;">
- <img src="images/i_p041.jpg" width="384" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_42">Lightfoot, coming up to get some of the salt which he
-licked from Mike’s hand, did not know what his master
-was saying.</a></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Yes’m; I think so myself. Come on now,
-Tessie. I’ll take you home, and if ever you
-come by yourself on the trolley tracks again
-I’ll never give you another pickaback ride.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, then I won’t ever come,” lisped Tessie,
-her hand in Mike’s. “And will you give me
-a piggy back ride now?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes,” promised Mike; and amid the laughter
-of the trolley car passengers Mike took the
-little girl up on his back and trotted off, making
-believe he was a horse. Lightfoot ran alongside,
-and, seeing him, Tessie said:</p>
-
-<p>“Lightfoot pushed me so hard I sat down in
-the grass, Mike.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, it’s a good thing he did, Tessie, else
-you might have been harder hit by the car.
-Now you take my advice and keep away from
-the tracks or, mind—no more pickaback
-rides!”</p>
-
-<p>A day or so after that Mike, going up to the
-top of the rocks to take some salt to his mother’s
-goats, saw Lightfoot leaping about, kicking up
-his heels and shaking his horns.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure it’s a fine goat you are intirely, as my
-dear mother would say,” said Mike softly.
-“And I wish I could do it.”</p>
-
-<p><a href="#i_p041">Lightfoot, coming up to get some of the salt,
-which he licked from Mike’s hand, did not know
-what his master was saying.</a> Even if he had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span>
-understood the words he would not have known
-what they referred to.</p>
-
-<p>Mike went on, talking to himself.</p>
-
-<p>“If I only could do it,” he said, “it would
-be great! I could drive home with the washings,
-and then, maybe, I could earn money with
-you. I wonder if I could make it myself? I
-could get the wheels, and a big soap box—</p>
-
-<p>“No,” went on Mike, after a moment of
-thought, “that wouldn’t do. It would be all
-right for taking home the washings, but not
-to give rides for money. I’ve got to get a regular
-goat harness and a wagon. How can I do
-it?”</p>
-
-<p>Now you know what Mike was thinking of.
-He had heard the lady speak of a pony cart,
-and he wanted a goat wagon for Lightfoot. If
-he had that he could, as he said, drive home with
-the big baskets of clean clothes to his mother’s
-customers. Then Mike had an idea he could
-give rides to children in the goat wagon, and
-so earn money.</p>
-
-<p>“But where can I get the wagon and harness?”
-he asked himself over and over again.</p>
-
-<p>At last, when he had talked the matter over
-with his friend Timothy Muldoon, the railroad
-gate-tender, in his little shanty at the foot of the
-street, Mike got the idea.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure why don’t ye advertise in the papers?”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span>
-asked Tim, as Mike called him. “That’s what
-everybody does that has anything to sell or wants
-to buy. Advertise for a goat wagon and harness.
-Sometimes goats dies, and the folks that
-owns them don’t get another, but sells the outfit.”</p>
-
-<p>“But it costs money to advertise,” objected
-Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure and won’t the paper you work for trust
-you?” asked the gateman.</p>
-
-<p>“The paper I work for?” repeated Mike,
-wonderingly.</p>
-
-<p>“I mean the one you delivers for, nights,”
-for Mike had a paper route for an evening
-paper, the <cite>Journal</cite>.</p>
-
-<p>“They ought to know you there,” went on
-Tim. “Tell the advertising man what you want,
-and that you’ll pay him when you can.”</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll do it!” cried Mike, and he did. When,
-rather timidly, he explained to the man at the
-desk in the office what he wanted, and told him
-that he had delivered the <cite>Journal</cite> for several
-years, a bargain was made.</p>
-
-<p>The man would put the advertisement in the
-paper for Mike, saying he wanted to buy a
-second-hand goat wagon and harness. He was
-to pay for the advertisement at the rate of two
-cents each day, for the Widow Malony and her
-son were so poor that even two cents counted.</p>
-
-<p>“And you can easy make up that two cents<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span>
-by getting two new customers for the paper,”
-said Tim, when Mike told him what had happened.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes. But how am I going to pay for the
-goat wagon and harness in case some one has
-it to sell?” Mike questioned.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, maybe I have a bit of a nest egg laid
-away,” said Tim, with a smile. “I might lend
-you the money, and when you get rich you can
-pay me. Or whoever sells the outfit might let
-your mother make up the amount by washing.
-We’ll see about that.”</p>
-
-<p>To Mike’s delight he had two answers to his
-advertisement. One was for a very fine goat
-wagon and harness, but the price asked was more
-than even Tim would advise paying.</p>
-
-<p>“You can get that, or one like it, when you’ve
-made a hundred dollars on the goat rides,” said
-the gate-man to Mike.</p>
-
-<p>The other outfit was just about right, Tim and
-Mike thought, and the man who had the wagon
-and harness for sale said Mrs. Malony could
-pay for it by doing washing and ironing. So,
-after Mike had paid for the advertisement, no
-more money need be paid out.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure, Lightfoot, now there’ll be grand times
-for you!” cried Mike as he came home one day
-with the wagon and harness.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT IN THE PARK</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Lightfoot, the leaping goat, who was
-cropping the sweet grass on top of the
-rocks from which he had once made his
-great jump, looked down in the yard near the
-shanty and saw his master Mike busy over something
-new.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder what that is?” thought Lightfoot
-to himself, for goats and other animals wonder
-and are curious about things, as you can tell
-by holding out something in your hand to your
-dog or cat. They will come up to it and smell
-it, to see if it is good to eat.</p>
-
-<p>And so Lightfoot wondered. Mike was good
-to him, and often brought him some lumps of
-salt, or a bit of carrot or turnip, for though
-goats like to eat grass, and even bits of paper
-and other queer things, they like nice things
-too, like sweet vegetables.</p>
-
-<p>“I guess I’ll go down and see what it is Mike
-has,” said Lightfoot to himself, and so he started<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span>
-down the rocky path. Though he was a good
-leaping goat he did not want again to try to
-jump on top of the widow’s shanty. That was
-too dangerous.</p>
-
-<p>“Where are you going, Lightfoot?” asked
-Blackie, the girl-goat, who had been cropping
-grass near her friend, as she saw him start down
-the rocky path.</p>
-
-<p>“The boy Mike is down there, and he may
-have something good to eat,” answered Lightfoot.
-“If he has I’ll give you some.”</p>
-
-<p>“You are very kind,” said Blackie, and she
-followed down after Lightfoot, only more
-slowly, for she was not so good a jumper or rock-climber
-as was he.</p>
-
-<p>Down near his mother’s shanty, Mike was
-looking at the goat wagon and harness he had
-just brought home.</p>
-
-<p>“It’s almost as good as new, Mother!” cried
-the Irish boy. “Look at the wheels spin, would
-you!” and turning the wagon on one side he spun
-two wheels around until they went so fast he
-could not see the spokes.</p>
-
-<p>“Be careful now and don’t break it,” cautioned
-the Widow Malony.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, sure ’tis a grand strong wagon!” cried
-Mike. “It would hold two baskets of clothes.
-And I can ride four boys or girls around in it
-at once, and get pennies.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Well, sure an’ it’s the pennies we need,”
-sighed Mrs. Malony, for she found it hard to
-get along on what she could earn. Mike was
-getting to be a bigger boy now, and he ate more,
-though his mother never told him this. She
-wanted him to grow strong.</p>
-
-<p>“Give me a bit of salt, Mother,” said Mike.
-“I want to get Lightfoot friendly, so he’ll not
-be afraid of the harness or wagon, for I’m going
-to hitch him up soon.</p>
-
-<p>“Here he comes now with Blackie,” went on
-Mike, as he saw the two goats coming down the
-rocky path. “You’re just in time, Lightfoot,
-though I don’t need Blackie to learn to pull the
-wagon. She wouldn’t be strong enough. But
-I’ll give her some salt.”</p>
-
-<p>The two goats licked the salt from Mike’s
-hands, and liked it very much. Mike turned
-the wagon right side up, and then took up part
-of the harness.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder how Lightfoot will act when I put
-it on him,” thought Mike. “He’s never been
-harnessed.”</p>
-
-<p>While the goat was chewing some sweet
-chopped carrots which Mrs. Malony spread out
-in front of him, Mike gently slipped a part of
-the harness over the goat’s back. At first Lightfoot
-jumped a little to one side. But, as he saw
-that there were still more carrots left, and as he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span>
-felt Mike patting him, Lightfoot thought it was
-all right.</p>
-
-<p>“I guess it’s just a new game that boy Mike is
-playing,” said the goat to himself. “Well, he’s
-always kind to me, so I’m sure it will be all
-right. Anyhow these carrots are good. Have
-some, Blackie.”</p>
-
-<p>“I will,” said the other goat. “But what is
-that queer thing on your back, Lightfoot?”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, some game that boy is playing,” answered
-the goat. “It won’t hurt us, for Mike is
-always kind,” and he and Blackie went on eating
-the carrots.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, so far so good,” said Mike to himself
-when he had most of the harness on his pet, and
-Lightfoot had stood still. “Now to get the bit
-in his mouth. That’s going to be harder.”</p>
-
-<p>“Better get Jack Murphy to come over and
-help you,” said Mrs. Malony. “He used to
-keep goats in Ireland, and he knows a lot about
-’em, though I don’t know if he ever harnessed
-’em to a cart.”</p>
-
-<p>But Mr. Murphy had, as it happened, and,
-being a neighbor of the Malonys, he soon came
-over when Mike called him and showed the boy
-how to put the iron bit in Lightfoot’s mouth, and
-run the reins back through rings fastened in a
-part of the harness that went around the middle
-of the goat’s back.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span></p>
-
-<p>It was not easy to do, and, several times, Lightfoot
-tried to break away. But Mike and Mr.
-Murphy held him until the harness was in place
-and tightly strapped on.</p>
-
-<p>“Now see if you can drive him about,” said
-Mr. Murphy, when Mike had hold of the reins
-and the bit was in Lightfoot’s mouth. The goat
-was shaking his head about, trying to get rid of
-the piece of iron between his teeth. It did not
-really hurt him. It just felt queer. But it was
-firmly held by straps, and Lightfoot could not
-shake it loose.</p>
-
-<p>“I can’t drive him without first hitching him
-to the wagon,” said Mike, for as yet the goat had
-not been put between the shafts of the little cart.</p>
-
-<p>“Don’t hitch him to that yet,” advised Mr.
-Murphy. “Sure he might run away and break
-it. Just drive him about the yard by the reins
-and run after him.”</p>
-
-<p>“He may run away with me,” laughed Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, that can’t be helped. Maybe he will.
-But he’ll soon get used to the harness and behave.
-Lightfoot is a wise goat.”</p>
-
-<p>But even wise goats don’t like it the first time
-they are put in harness, and Lightfoot was no
-different in this way from others, though he was
-such a good jumper. When Mike took hold of
-the reins and called to Lightfoot to “gid-dap,”
-the goat, who was now big and strong, started off<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span>
-with such force and suddenness that Mike was
-almost jerked from his feet.</p>
-
-<p>“Run!” called Mr. Murphy. “Run with
-him, and along after him, Mike. Try to turn
-him to the right and the left so’s he’ll know how
-to mind the reins when he’s fast to the wagon.
-Run after him!”</p>
-
-<p>Mike, holding fast to the reins, ran, and the
-goat ran too. And, being a good runner, Lightfoot
-easily kept ahead of Mike. It was all Mike
-could do not to let go the reins.</p>
-
-<p>“Run!” called Mr. Murphy. “Run faster,
-Mike!”</p>
-
-<p>Mike tried but he stumbled over a stone and
-fell. However, he kept hold of the reins,
-winding them around his wrists and as Lightfoot
-kept on going he pulled Mike all about the yard.</p>
-
-<p>“Bless an’ save us!” cried Mrs. Malony coming
-to the door of her shanty. “What’s happenin’?”</p>
-
-<p>“He’s teaching Lightfoot to pull to harness,”
-said Mr. Murphy.</p>
-
-<p>“Hum! It looks more like Lightfoot was
-teachin’ <em>Mike</em>,” said the widow. “Won’t Mike
-be hurt?”</p>
-
-<p>“Not a bit. Many a time in th’ old country
-I’ve been dragged by a goat. It’s good for one.”</p>
-
-<p>Around and around the yard Lightfoot
-dragged Mike, the chickens and ducks scattering<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span>
-in all directions, the old rooster flying up on the
-fence and crowing with all his might.</p>
-
-<p>At last Lightfoot, finding he could not get the
-iron bit out of his mouth, and could not shake
-off the harness, and looking back and seeing
-Mike being dragged about on the ground,
-thought:</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I guess I’m tired. I seem to be held
-fast no matter what I do. I’ll quit.”</p>
-
-<p>And that is just what Mike wanted, for he was
-tired of being pulled about in this fashion.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I guess he’s learned that part, anyhow,”
-said Mr. Murphy. “Now we’ll hitch
-him to the wagon.”</p>
-
-<p>While Mr. Murphy was bringing up the
-wagon, and Mike was holding Lightfoot,
-Blackie came up and asked:</p>
-
-<p>“What was all that for, Lightfoot?”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, I guess it was a new kind of game. I
-can’t say I like it though. I had rather jump
-on the rocks,” answered Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“No, it was not a game,” said Grandpa
-Bumper, coming up just then. “You are being
-taught to let yourself be harnessed up to draw
-a cart, Lightfoot, and here they come with the
-cart now.”</p>
-
-<p>“What does that mean?” asked the leaping
-goat. “Will it hurt?”</p>
-
-<p>“No, not if you behave yourself. Once I was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span>
-a cart-drawing goat, and I worked in a nice
-park. I’ll tell you about it so you’ll know what
-to do.”</p>
-
-<p>And when the cart was brought up, and the
-shafts, one on each side of Lightfoot, were being
-fastened with straps, the younger goat stood very
-still, listening to Grandpa Bumper tell, in goat
-language, just what it all meant.</p>
-
-<p>“Why, he seems to like it,” said Mike as he
-fastened the last strap. “He didn’t try once to
-get away, Mr. Murphy.”</p>
-
-<p>“I guess he’s getting used to it,” said the kind
-Irishman.</p>
-
-<p>But if he and Mike had known, it was what
-Grandpa Bumper had said to Lightfoot that
-made the young goat stand so still and allow
-himself to be hitched to the cart.</p>
-
-<p>“Well,” said Lightfoot to the old goat when
-the harnessing was finished, “it may not be so
-bad after all. I guess I’ll be good and not run
-away. I’ll pull the cart nicely.”</p>
-
-<p>“It will be best, I think,” said the old goat.</p>
-
-<p>So, when Mike took his seat in the cart, and
-pulled on the reins, calling to Lightfoot to “Gid-dap!”
-the goat started off, pulling the little
-wagon as though he had done it all his life.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, this is great!” cried Mike. “I never
-thought he would learn as easily as this.”</p>
-
-<p>“He is a smart and sensible goat,” the Irishman<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span>
-said. “Now look out if he gets going too
-fast.”</p>
-
-<p>But Lightfoot did not seem to want to run
-away. He trotted along up and down the street,
-soon learning to turn to the right or the left as
-Mike pulled the reins.</p>
-
-<p>Once or twice Lightfoot started to run
-swiftly, but Mike pulled back on the reins, and
-the iron bit in his mouth, pressing on his tongue
-and teeth, told Lightfoot that he must go more
-slowly.</p>
-
-<p>In a few days he had become used to the cart
-and harness and Mike could drive him anywhere.
-The other goats came to the top of the
-pile of rocks and looked down at Lightfoot.
-Many of them wished they could be harnessed
-up, for Lightfoot got many extra good things
-to eat from Mike, who liked his driving goat
-very much. Lightfoot was now a driving goat
-as well as a leaping one.</p>
-
-<p>“And now it’s time, I guess,” said Mike one
-day, “to see if I can earn money with my goat
-and wagon.” He had taken a number of baskets
-of clean clothes home to his mother’s employers,
-and, no matter how heavy the basket
-was, Lightfoot had no trouble in pulling it, with
-Mike sitting on the front seat of the cart.</p>
-
-<p>Mike made his wagon nice and clean, put a
-strip of old carpet in the bottom, and started one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span>
-day for a part of the city where rich folks lived.
-Along the streets there, on pleasant afternoons,
-nurse maids would be out walking with the
-children of whom they took care. When he
-got to this place Mike drove his goat wagon
-slowly up and down.</p>
-
-<p>It was not long before a little boy, well dressed,
-who was walking along with his nurse, cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, Marie! See the wonderful goat wagon!
-May I have a ride in it?”</p>
-
-<p>“No, no, Master Peter. It is not to ride in.”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, it is! I want a ride! Will you give
-me a ride, boy?” he called to Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“You must not ask for rides,” said Marie, the
-maid. “The boy sells rides—that is, I think he
-does,” and she looked at Mike and smiled.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes,” answered Mike, “my goat wagon is
-for hire.”</p>
-
-<p>“Then I want a ride!” cried little Peter. “I
-want a ride, Marie!”</p>
-
-<p>“But we must ask your mamma,” said the
-maid. “Come, she is just going out in the car.
-We will ask her.”</p>
-
-<p>Mike saw a richly dressed lady getting into
-a big automobile in front of a fine house. Peter
-ran to her and said something. The lady beckoned
-to Mike, who drove his wagon toward her.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you hire out your goat wagon for rides?”
-asked the lady.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Yes’m,” said Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“And is he perfectly safe?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes’m. I drive him myself. I won’t let
-him run away.”</p>
-
-<p>“Then I think you may have a ride up and
-down the block, Peter. Marie, here is money
-to pay the goat-boy. But be careful, won’t
-you?” she cautioned Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, yes’m,” he promised. He helped Peter
-into the goat wagon, on to one of the three rear
-seats, Marie getting in also. Then Mike started
-Lightfoot off down the street at a gentle trot.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, I love this!” cried Peter. “When I
-grow up I’m going to drive a goat wagon!”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, Master Peter!” cried Marie.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I am,” he said. “It’s ever so much
-more fun than making an automobile go. Anybody
-can do that.”</p>
-
-<p><a href="#i_frontis">Up and down the block Mike drove Lightfoot,
-giving the little boy and his nurse a fine ride.</a>
-Then the other children wanted rides, and their
-parents or nurses, seeing how gentle the goat was,
-and how well Mike managed him, let their boys
-and girls get in the cart. Mike was kept busy
-all the afternoon giving rides to the little tots,
-and when he had finished he had nearly two
-dollars, in ten- and five-cent pieces, for some
-children took more than one ride.</p>
-
-<p>“Talk about your luck!” cried Mike as he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span>
-drove toward his shanty, a happy smile on his
-freckled face. “I’ll soon be rich.”</p>
-
-<p>“Look at that, Mother!” he cried, as he poured
-the money from his pocket on to the table.
-“That’s what Lightfoot earned for us to-day!”</p>
-
-<p>“Thanks be!” exclaimed Mrs. Malony.
-“Sure an’ the money will come in handy, for I
-have the grocer to pay to-night. Tell me about
-it, Mike darlin’.”</p>
-
-<p>And Mike told, while Lightfoot, unharnessed,
-ate a good supper, and then told the other goats
-of his new adventures.</p>
-
-<p>For several weeks Mike went about the different
-streets of the city giving rides to children,
-and hardly a day passed that he did not make
-a dollar or a little more. Of course when it
-rained he could not do this. And then one day
-Mike came home with bright eyes and a laughing
-face.</p>
-
-<p>“What do you think, Mother dear!” he cried.
-“I have a regular job with Lightfoot!”</p>
-
-<p>“What is it, Mike?”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m to drive him and the goat wagon in the
-park, and the man is to give me ten dollars a
-week. That’ll be better than going about the
-streets. I’ll get paid regular. Hurray!” and
-Mike hugged and kissed his mother.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT BUTTS A BOY</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">When Mike had quieted his joy and
-happiness down a bit, he explained
-to his mother how it had come about.
-It seemed that as he was driving Lightfoot about,
-hitched to the cart, and giving a number of
-children a ride on a quiet street, a man had
-come up to Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“I have a goat stand in the park,” the man
-explained. “I own a number of goats and
-wagons, and hire boys to drive them. Would
-you like to sell me your goat and wagon? I
-need another.”</p>
-
-<p>“But I told him I wouldn’t sell Lightfoot,”
-Mike explained. “Then he wanted me to hire
-my outfit to him at so much a week, but I
-wouldn’t do that, for I wouldn’t let anybody but
-myself drive my goat.”</p>
-
-<p>“That’s right,” agreed Mrs. Malony, who was
-almost as fond of Lightfoot as was Mike himself.
-“What did the man say then?”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Well, he wanted to know if I’d come to the
-park and drive the goat myself. He said he’d
-give me eight dollars a week, but I said I could
-earn more than that working for myself. Then
-he raised it to ten dollars and I took him up.”</p>
-
-<p>“But how does <em>he</em> make any money out of it?”
-asked Mrs. Malony.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, he keeps all I take in over ten dollars,
-and I guess it will be more than that lots of
-times, for big crowds of children go to the park
-these Summer days. Then, too, we don’t give
-such long rides as I’ve been giving. They
-charge only five cents a ride in the park, and
-I charge ten sometimes, but then I go all around
-a big block.</p>
-
-<p>“But I think it’ll be a good thing for us,
-Mother. Ten dollars a week is a lot of money.
-Of course I’ll have to buy the feed for Lightfoot
-out of that, and a bit of lunch for myself.”</p>
-
-<p>“Sure, I can put that up for you in the morning,”
-said the widow with a smile. “It’s great,
-Mike my boy! Sure we’ve had good luck ever
-since we got Lightfoot.”</p>
-
-<p>The next day, bright and early, Mike drove
-his goat and wagon to the big park which was
-in the upper part of the city, not far from where
-the squatters had built their shanties on the
-rocks.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I see you are on time,” said the man<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span>
-who had the privilege of managing the goat
-wagons in the park. No wagons other than
-those he permitted could come in to give the
-children rides, so if Mike had not accepted his
-offer the boy could not have done a park business
-on his own account.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, Lightfoot and I are all ready,” said
-Mike.</p>
-
-<p>In a little while the other goats were brought
-from the stable in the park where they were
-kept, and harnessed to small wagons. The
-wagons were better painted than Mike’s, but
-were no cleaner nor larger. And as a friend of
-his mother’s had given her a strip of bright red
-carpet, Mike put this in the bottom of his goat
-cart, so that it looked gay and cheerful.</p>
-
-<p>“Huh! Got a new boy, it seems,” said one
-of the small drivers, as he noticed Lightfoot and
-Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, an’ if he tries to take away any of my
-customers he’ll get in trouble,” said another,
-shaking his fist at Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“Here, you boys! No quarreling!” said the
-manager of the goat wagons, a Mr. Marshall.
-“You’ll all do as I say, and I won’t have any
-picking on this boy. Business isn’t any too good,
-and I want you all to do your best.”</p>
-
-<p>Mike said nothing to the other boys, but he
-was not afraid to take his own part.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span></p>
-
-<p>The other goats looked at Lightfoot, and one,
-hitched to the wagon driven by the boy who had
-spoken a bit crossly to Mike, said to Lightfoot:</p>
-
-<p>“Where did you come from?”</p>
-
-<p>“From the high rocks,” answered Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you mean the mountains?” asked another
-goat.</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t know, but it’s over that way,” said
-Lightfoot, and he pointed with his horns in the
-direction of Mike’s home.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, he means the rocks by the squatters’
-shanties!” exclaimed the goat who had first
-spoken. “Why, we can’t have anything to do
-with goats like that! We give rides to well
-born children. This goat comes from a very
-poor home indeed.</p>
-
-<p>“What right have you got to come here among
-us?” he asked Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t know anything about it,” said Lightfoot.
-“I was driven here, and I’ll do my best
-to give good rides to the children. I may not
-have come from the mountains, but the rocks
-where I live are very high and sweet grass grows
-on top. Can any of you jump from the high
-rocks down on top of the widow’s shanty?”</p>
-
-<p>“Thank you, we don’t live near shanties,” said
-another goat. “We live in the park stable.”</p>
-
-<p>“Just the same that was a good jump,” remarked
-a quiet goat, with short horns. “I was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span>
-over that way once. I think I know the place
-you mean,” he went on to Lightfoot, and Mike’s
-goat was glad to know he had one friend.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, he may be a good jumper but I don’t
-believe he can butt hard with his horns and
-head,” said the ill-tempered goat, who was called
-Snipper from the habit he had of snipping off
-leaves and flowers in the park.</p>
-
-<p>“I once nearly butted a trolley car off the
-tracks,” said Lightfoot, “and I did shove a little
-girl out of the way of the car.”</p>
-
-<p>“Pooh! That’s nothing,” sneered Snipper.
-“Let’s see how hard you can butt,” and he rose
-up on his hind legs and aimed his head and horns
-at Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Look out, Lightfoot!” cried Mike. But the
-new goat was ready for Snipper. Rising on his
-own hind legs, Lightfoot butted the other goat
-so hard that he nearly fell over backward into
-the cart.</p>
-
-<p>“Good! Well butted!” cried the kindly,
-short-horned goat. “That was fine!”</p>
-
-<p>“You wouldn’t say so if you felt it,” bleated
-Snipper.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, it was your own fault. You started
-the quarrel,” went on the friendly goat.</p>
-
-<p>“I can butt better than he can, and I’ll show
-him too, next time,” grumbled Snipper, rubbing
-his head against a tree.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Say!” cried the boy who had spoken roughly
-to Mike, “if your goat doesn’t leave mine alone
-I—I’ll do something to you!”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, no, you won’t,” said Mike. “I’m not
-afraid of the likes of you.”</p>
-
-<p>“Here, boys, stop your quarreling,” said the
-man. “Get ready now, some children and their
-mothers are coming. Perhaps they may want
-rides.”</p>
-
-<p>Along the path that led to the goat stand came
-a number of boys and girls. Seeing them, the
-boys in charge of the goats called:</p>
-
-<p>“Here you are for a ride! This way for a
-ride! We’ve got the best goats in the park!
-Only five cents a ride!”</p>
-
-<p>The children stopped. Some begged their
-fathers or mothers to let them have a ride. One
-man, with a boy and girl consented.</p>
-
-<p>“Which wagon and goat do you want?” asked
-the father.</p>
-
-<p>For a moment the tots were undecided.</p>
-
-<p>“Here, take mine! It’s the best!” cried the
-boy whose goat had been butted by Lightfoot.
-For a moment the children seemed about to get
-into that wagon, then the little girl cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, see what a pretty red carpet is in this
-wagon!” and she ran over to Mike’s. <a href="#i_p065">“I want
-to ride in this!”</a></p>
-
-<p>“So do I,” said her brother, and they got in.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span>
-Mike was pleased and happy, but the other boy,
-whose name was Henry, scowled.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll fix you for that,” he muttered to Mike,
-but Mike did not care. He started Lightfoot
-down the park road and the goat drew the delighted
-children swiftly and carefully.</p>
-
-<p>Thus it was that Mike and Lightfoot began
-their work in the park. From then on, for several
-weeks, Mike would take his goat and cart
-to the stand every morning, and all day long he
-would drive parties of children up and down.
-Lightfoot was growing stronger and more used
-to harness and cart, and he could soon pull as
-well as the best goat in the park.</p>
-
-<p>Every Saturday night Mike took home ten
-dollars to his mother, and this was the best of
-all. Of course Mike took in more than this
-from the children who paid him for their rides,
-but all over ten dollars went to Mr. Marshall.
-Out of the ten dollars Mike paid for hay and
-oats for Lightfoot, for now that he had work
-to do, the goat could not live on grass alone.</p>
-
-<p>The other goats accepted Lightfoot for a
-friend now, and even Snipper was on good terms
-with him, for they all saw that Lightfoot was
-as strong as any of them and could take his own
-part. But Henry, the boy who drove Snipper,
-did not make friends with Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll get even with him some day,” he said.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_p065" style="width: 385px;">
- <img src="images/i_p065.jpg" width="385" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_63">“I want to ride in this!”</a></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span></p>
-
-<p>And this is how he did it—not a very fair
-way, I should say. One noon Mike took the harness
-off Lightfoot, and, putting a rope around
-the goat’s neck, tied the other end to a tree, so
-Lightfoot would not stray away, as he had once
-or twice, meaning nothing wrong. Mike’s
-mother had not had time to put up his lunch
-that morning, so Mike went down to a little restaurant
-in the park, intending to get a glass of
-milk and some sandwiches.</p>
-
-<p>“Now behave yourself, Lightfoot, while I’m
-gone. I’ll soon be back,” said Mike.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot wiggled his little stubby tail.
-Whether he understood or not I can not say.
-He went on cropping grass, after he had eaten
-his hay and other fodder.</p>
-
-<p>In a little while Henry came along. He saw
-Lightfoot tethered all by himself, the other goats
-having been taken to the stable. Henry looked
-about, and, seeing no signs of Mike, took up a
-stick, and, going toward Lightfoot, said:</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll teach you to butt my goat! You won’t
-do it after I am through with you!”</p>
-
-<p>Then, with the stick, he fell to beating Lightfoot.
-At first Mike’s goat did not know what
-to make of this. He looked up and seeing that
-it was one of the goat-boys, but not Mike, thought
-maybe it was a new kind of game. But as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span>
-blows from the stick fell harder and harder
-Lightfoot knew that it was no game.</p>
-
-<p>Whack! Bang! Whack! Henry beat the
-stick on Lightfoot’s back.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot tried to get away, but the rope held
-him. Then, suddenly the goat became angry,
-and you can not blame him. He knew he had
-strong horns and a strong head, given him by
-nature to butt with and defend himself.</p>
-
-<p>“And I’m going to butt that boy who is beating
-me with the stick!” thought Lightfoot. Before
-Henry knew what was happening Lightfoot
-rushed straight at him with lowered head,
-and the next thing Henry knew he found himself
-falling backward head over heels in the
-grass. The goat had butted him down good and
-hard.</p>
-
-<p>For a moment Henry lay dazed, hardly knowing
-what had happened. Then, all of a sudden,
-Lightfoot felt sorry.</p>
-
-<p>“My master would not want me to do this,”
-he said to himself. “Maybe he will punish me
-when he comes back. I know what I’ll do; I’ll
-run away.”</p>
-
-<p>With a strong jump, and a leap, Lightfoot
-broke off, close to his neck, the rope that held
-him. And then, before Henry could get up,
-off through the bushes in the park bounded
-Lightfoot. He had run away.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT ON A BOAT</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">The park where Lightfoot, the leaping
-goat, had worked with Mike for several
-weeks, giving rides to children, was
-quite a large one. There were many paths in
-it, and driveways. There were also patches of
-woods, and places where the bushes grew in
-tangled clumps, making many hiding places.</p>
-
-<p>“I’d better hide myself for a while,” thought
-Lightfoot, for, though he was a tame goat, he
-still had in him some of the wildness that is in
-all animals, even your pussy cat; and this wildness
-made him want to hide when he thought
-himself in danger. And the danger Lightfoot
-feared was that he would be beaten with a stick
-for knocking over the boy who had tormented
-him.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll hide under these thick bushes,” said the
-goat to himself, when he had run quite a distance
-from the stand in the park where the small
-wagons were kept.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span></p>
-
-<p>The bushes were thick, but with his strong
-head and horns Lightfoot soon poked a way for
-himself into the very middle of them, and there
-he lay down upon the ground to rest. For he
-had run fast and was tired. His heart was beating
-very hard.</p>
-
-<p>Though he did not know it, Lightfoot had
-done just as a wild goat would have done—one
-that lived in a far-off country who had
-never seen a wagon, a harness or a squatter’s
-shanty. He had hidden himself away from
-danger.</p>
-
-<p>And, with beating heart, as he crouched under
-the bush, Lightfoot wondered what he would do
-next.</p>
-
-<p>“I can’t go back to the park and help Mike
-with the wagon, giving the children rides,”
-thought Lightfoot. “If I do that boy with the
-stick will be waiting for me. He’ll be angry
-at me for knocking him down. That little girl
-wasn’t mad at me for knocking her off the trolley
-tracks; but then that was different, I guess.
-And maybe Mike will be angry with me too.
-I’ll be sorry for that.</p>
-
-<p>“He won’t give me any more lumps of salt,
-nor sweet carrots. I won’t see Blackie again,
-nor Grandpa Bumper. I’ll never jump around
-on the rocks any more and see the Sharp-horns.
-Well, it can’t be helped, I suppose. I must do<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span>
-the best I can. I’ll stay here for a while and
-see what happens.”</p>
-
-<p>So Lightfoot remained in hiding, and when
-Mike had finished getting his little lunch in the
-restaurant he came back to reharness his goat to
-the wagon, ready to give the children rides in
-the afternoon.</p>
-
-<p>“Why, where’s Lightfoot?” asked Mike in
-surprise, as he came back and saw the broken
-rope where he had tied his pet. “Where’s my
-goat?”</p>
-
-<p>“How should I know?” asked Henry in a
-cross sort of voice. “He butted me over on my
-back a little while ago.”</p>
-
-<p>“You must have done something to make him
-do that,” quickly cried Mike. He looked at the
-end of the broken rope. At first he thought
-Henry might have cut it on purpose to let Lightfoot
-get away, but the ends of the rope, frayed
-and rough, showed that it had not been cut,
-but broken.</p>
-
-<p>“Have any of you seen Lightfoot?” asked
-Mike of the other boys. But they had all been
-to dinner themselves and had not seen what had
-happened. The other goats, too, had been taken
-to the stable for the noon meal.</p>
-
-<p>Only Henry had seen Lightfoot run away,
-and he felt so unkindly toward the goat and
-Mike that he would not tell. Mike ran here<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span>
-and there, asking the park policemen and other
-helpers if they had seen his goat, but none had.
-Lightfoot had taken just the best possible time
-to run away—noon, when every one was at dinner.
-And now the goat was safely hidden in
-the bushes.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I’ve just got to find him,” said Mike
-to himself, as he looked at the goat’s harness
-hanging on a tree, and at the wagon with its
-strip of bright red carpet. “I’ve just got to find
-Lightfoot!”</p>
-
-<p>Telling Mr. Marshall what had happened,
-and promising to come back with Lightfoot as
-soon as he could find him, and take up again the
-work of giving children rides in the park, Mike
-set off to find his pet.</p>
-
-<p>Along the paths, cutting across the grassy
-lawns, looking under clumps of bushes, asking
-those he met, Mike went on and on looking for
-Lightfoot. Now and then he stopped, to call
-the goat’s name. But though once Lightfoot,
-from where he was hiding, heard his master’s
-voice he did not bleat in answer, as he had always
-done before.</p>
-
-<p>“He is looking for me to whip me,” thought
-Lightfoot, “and I am not going to be whipped!”</p>
-
-<p>Poor Lightfoot! If he had known that Mike
-would not whip him, but would have petted him,
-and given him something nice to eat, the goat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span>
-might have come out from the bush where he
-was hiding and have trotted up to Mike. Had
-Lightfoot done this he would have saved himself
-much trouble. But then, of course, he
-would not have had so many adventures about
-which I will tell you.</p>
-
-<p>After calling and looking for Lightfoot, even
-very near the bush under which the goat was
-hidden, but never suspecting his pet was there,
-Mike walked farther on. He had not given up
-the search, but now he was far from the place
-where Lightfoot was hiding.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot stayed under the bushes and listened.
-He did not hear any one coming toward him,
-and he began to think he was now safe. He was
-beginning to feel a bit hungry again, so he
-reached out and nibbled some of the leaves.</p>
-
-<p>“My! That tastes good!” he said to himself.
-“It’s better even than the grass that grows on top
-of the rocks at home.”</p>
-
-<p>Then, all of a sudden, Lightfoot felt homesick.
-He thought of the fun he had had with Blackie
-and the other goats, and he wanted to go back
-to them.</p>
-
-<p>“I think I’ll do that,” he said. “Maybe, after
-all, Mike will not let that other boy beat me.
-But I’ll wait until after dark.”</p>
-
-<p>The sun sank down in the west. The children
-and their nurses went home from the park. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span>
-goats and wagons were taken to the stable.
-Mike came back from his search.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, did you find your goat?” asked Mr.
-Marshall.</p>
-
-<p>Mike shook his head sadly.</p>
-
-<p>“No, I didn’t,” he answered. “But I’ll look
-again to-morrow.”</p>
-
-<p>“If you don’t find him pretty soon,” went on
-the man, “I’ll have to get another goat and
-wagon.”</p>
-
-<p>Mike felt sadder than ever at this for he knew
-the money he had been able to earn with Lightfoot
-was much needed at home. And it was
-with a sorrowful heart that Mike told his mother
-what had happened.</p>
-
-<p>“Never mind, Mike me darlin’,” said the good
-Irish woman. “Maybe Lightfoot will come
-back to us some day.”</p>
-
-<p>At dark Lightfoot crept out from under the
-bush. The lights were sparkling in the park,
-and he thought he could easily find his way back
-to Shanty-town. Mike had driven him from
-there to the park and back many times.</p>
-
-<p>But the darkness, even though there were
-lights here and there, bothered Lightfoot. He
-soon became lost. He did not know which way
-he was going. Once, as he crossed a green lawn
-in the park he saw, standing under a lamp, a
-policeman with a club. Lightfoot did not know<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span>
-what a policeman was but he knew what a club
-was used for—to beat goats.</p>
-
-<p>“But he sha’n’t beat me,” thought Lightfoot,
-so he kept in the shadows and got safely past.
-On and on he wandered, trying to find his way
-back to the rocks where he had spent so many
-happy months. But he could not find them,
-and at last he became so tired that he crawled
-under some bushes and went to sleep.</p>
-
-<p>It was morning when Lightfoot awakened.
-He found he was in a strange place. It was a
-place of many streets and with big cars running
-back and forth on shining rails. But they did
-not run as did trolley cars. Instead a big engine
-pushed them and pulled them. Though Lightfoot
-did not know it, he was near a railroad yard.</p>
-
-<p>He came out from under the bush to look for
-something to eat. He saw an empty can with
-a piece of paper on it that he knew was covered
-with paste. He wanted that paper very much.
-But as he crept out to get it a boy picking up
-coal from the tracks saw him and cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, fellers! Look at de goat! Let’s chase
-him!”</p>
-
-<p>And chase after Lightfoot they did, shouting
-and throwing lumps of coal. Lightfoot had no
-mind to be caught, so he ran across the tracks.
-The boys shouted at him, the men in the railroad
-yard yelled at him, and when he crossed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span>
-tracks the engines tooted their whistles at him.
-Altogether Lightfoot was very much frightened.</p>
-
-<p>On and on he ran. Some of the boys were
-getting closer now, for Lightfoot could not run
-over the shiny rails as easily as they.</p>
-
-<p>“I’m going to get that goat!” cried the boy
-who had first seen Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot heard the boy’s shout, though he
-did not understand the words. The goat knew
-he must run faster and faster, and he did. He
-came to a place near the line of the railroad
-tracks where he could see some water. He knew
-what water was, for he drank it, and also, when
-it rained hard, there was a little pond and a
-stream that formed on top of the big rocks, so
-he was used to seeing large puddles.</p>
-
-<p><a href="#i_p079">Lightfoot ran close to this water. The boys,
-racing after him</a>, saw, and one cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, de goat’s goin’ t’ swim!”</p>
-
-<p>But Lightfoot was not going to do that. He
-was only looking for a good place to hide.
-Pretty soon he saw it. Floating on the water
-was something that looked like a little house.
-Smoke was coming from a stovepipe in the roof,
-and beyond the house, and seeming to be a part
-of it, were two big, long black holes.</p>
-
-<p>“Those holes would make a good place to
-hide,” thought Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>He ran up alongside of them and looked down.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span>
-There was nothing in them, and no one was in
-sight. The boys chasing after him were behind
-some freight cars just then and could not
-see the goat.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll hide down there,” said Lightfoot to himself.
-“It isn’t as far to jump as it was from the
-top of the rocks to the roof of the shanty. I’ll
-hide there.”</p>
-
-<p>Down into the dark hole, near the funny little
-house, leaped Lightfoot. And where do you
-suppose he was now?</p>
-
-<p>He was down in the bottom of a canal boat,
-down in the big hole, in the hold, as it is called,
-next to the cabin, or little house. In the hold,
-though it was empty now, is loaded the cargo the
-boat carries—hay, grain or coal.</p>
-
-<p>For the first time in his life Lightfoot was
-on a boat.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT ON A VOYAGE</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">With a heart that beat hard and fast
-after his long run, Lightfoot, the goat,
-crouched down in a dark corner of the
-hold in the canal boat.</p>
-
-<p>“My!” thought poor Lightfoot as he curled
-up in as small a space as he could. “I got away
-from them just in time. I hope they don’t find
-me.”</p>
-
-<p>He listened with his ears pointed forward,
-just as a horse does when he hears or sees something
-strange. There was a sort of thumping
-noise somewhere in the canal boat, near the
-wooden wall or partition against which Lightfoot
-was resting himself.</p>
-
-<p>There was a rattling of dishes and pans, and
-then Lightfoot heard the noise of coal being
-put in the stove. He knew that sound, for in
-the shanty of Widow Malony he had often heard
-it before, when Mike or his mother would make
-a fire to cook a meal.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span></p>
-
-<p>And pretty soon Lightfoot smelled something
-cooking. He sniffed the air in the dark hold of
-the canal boat. It was not the smell of such
-food as Lightfoot cared to eat, for it was meat
-and potatoes being cooked. And though he did
-like a cold boiled potato once in a while, he did
-not want meat.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder what is going on here?” thought
-the goat.</p>
-
-<p>If he had known, it was the noises in the cabin-kitchen
-of the canal boat—the captain’s wife was
-getting dinner. For on these canal boats, of
-which there are not so many now as there used
-to be, the captain and his family live in a little
-house, or cabin, where they eat and sleep just
-as if the house were on land. Instead it is on a
-boat, and the boat is pulled by horses and mules
-from one city to another, bringing to port coal,
-grain or whatever else they are loaded with.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot remained hiding in the dark hold,
-listening to the noises in the kitchen cabin, and
-smelling the good smells. Then Lightfoot
-heard voices in the cabin. It was the captain
-of the boat speaking to his wife.</p>
-
-<p>“We’ll soon pull out of here,” he said.</p>
-
-<p>“Where are you going to voyage to now?”
-asked the captain’s wife.</p>
-
-<p>“To Buffalo,” he answered. “I’m going there
-to get a load of grain and bring it back here.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_p079" style="width: 386px;">
- <img src="images/i_p079.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_75">Lightfoot ran close to this water, the boys racing after
-him.</a></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Are you going to take the boat out empty?”
-asked the woman, as she set a dish of potatoes
-and meat on the little table in the cabin.</p>
-
-<p>“No,” he answered, “we are going to travel a
-little way in the boat, then we will take on a load
-of coal. We will carry that a hundred miles or
-so, and then when we take that out the boat
-will be empty again, and, after it is cleaned, we
-will go on to Buffalo and get the grain. We
-will start soon.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot heard all this through the wooden
-wall, but he did not know what it meant. He
-looked about the hold as well as he could. He
-could see no one in it. It was like being in a
-big, empty barn.</p>
-
-<p>Then Lightfoot heard the sound of some boys’
-voices calling, and as he remembered the boys,
-with the lumps of coal, who had chased him he
-shrank farther back into a dark corner.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot could hear the patter of running
-feet. He did not want the boys to find him.
-He heard them calling again.</p>
-
-<p>“Say, Mister, did you see a goat around here?”
-asked one of the boys.</p>
-
-<p>“Goat? No, I didn’t see a goat.” It was the
-canal boat captain talking. “Get away from
-here now! I’m going to start the boat soon, and
-if you don’t want to be taken away on her you’d
-better go ashore.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Come on, fellers!” cried the boy who had
-first seen Lightfoot. “That goat ain’t here. He
-must have run up along the canal,” and away
-ran the boys, which was just what Lightfoot
-wanted.</p>
-
-<p>Up above him Lightfoot could see the glimmer
-of daylight, for the hatches, or covers of the
-hold, were off, now that it was empty. When
-the boat was loaded with grain the covers would
-be put on, but they were not needed for coal,
-since water does not harm that.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I seem to be down in a sort of big
-hole,” thought Lightfoot, as he looked up. “It
-was easy enough to jump down, but I don’t know
-that I can jump out again. However, I don’t
-want to do that now. I want to stay where I am
-so those boys can’t get me. But I wish Mike
-were here with me.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot was beginning to feel a little lonesome,
-but there was so much that was new and
-strange all about him that he did not feel homesick
-long. He kept on walking to the other end
-of the canal boat.</p>
-
-<p>Then he sniffed the air. He heard noises
-which he knew were made by horses, and then
-he caught the smell of hay, oats and straw.</p>
-
-<p>“I must be near a stable,” said Lightfoot.
-“But I don’t understand it. What does it
-mean?”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span></p>
-
-<p>He walked on a little farther and soon he came
-to another wooden wall. Behind it he could
-hear horses, or mules, he did not know which,
-chewing their food and stamping about in their
-stalls. Lightfoot thought this was queer.</p>
-
-<p>But those of you who have seen canal boats
-know what it was. Each boat has to carry on
-it several teams of horses or mules to pull the
-boat along, since one pair of horses would get
-tired if they pulled all the while.</p>
-
-<p>A canal, you know, is a long ditch, or stream
-of water, going from one city to another. Men
-cut the ditch through the earth and then let the
-water flow in so boats will float.</p>
-
-<p>Along the side of the ditch of water is a little
-road, called a “towpath,” and along this the
-horses walk, pulling, or towing, the canal boat
-by a rope that is fastened to the boat at one end
-and to the collars of the horses at the other end.
-In fact the horses pull the canal boat along the
-water much as Lightfoot pulled the goat wagon
-in which the children rode.</p>
-
-<p>Years ago there were many canal boats, but
-now, since there are so many railroads, the canals
-are not so often used, for it is slower traveling on
-them than on the railroad trains, which go very
-fast.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I certainly am in a queer place,”
-thought Lightfoot. “I don’t know whether I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span>
-am going to like it or not. Still it is better than
-being beaten with a stick, or having boys chase
-after you with lumps of coal.”</p>
-
-<p>He listened to the horses stamping about in
-their stalls, and chewing their food. Then there
-were more noises, and the sound of men calling:
-“Gid-dap there!” Next came the pounding of
-horses’ hoofs on wooden planks, and the voices
-of men shouting.</p>
-
-<p>“What in the world is going on?” thought
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Hello, in there, you horses. What is going
-on, if you please?” he called.</p>
-
-<p>He could hear that the horses stopped chewing
-their oats; and one said to another:</p>
-
-<p>“What is that?”</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t know,” was the answer. “It sounded
-as if somebody were in the hold.”</p>
-
-<p>“That’s just where I am,” said Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Who are you?” asked a horse.</p>
-
-<p>“Lightfoot, the leaping goat,” was the answer.
-And then Lightfoot told something of himself
-and the adventures he had had so far—of why
-he ran away from the park, and, to get away from
-the boys, of having jumped down into the boat.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, if you’re there,” said a horse on the
-other side of the wall, “you’re likely to stay for
-some time. It is too high for you to jump out.”</p>
-
-<p>“I see it is,” answered Lightfoot, “even though<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span>
-I am called the leaping goat. But what will
-happen to me?”</p>
-
-<p>“You are going on a voyage now,” was the
-answer of the horse. “That noise you heard was
-the captain leading some of the horses out of
-our stable, here on the boat, over a board, called
-a gangway, to the canal towpath. Very soon
-they will begin to pull the boat along the canal,
-and, after a while, it will be our turn. You are
-going on a voyage, Lightfoot.”</p>
-
-<p>“Is a voyage nice?” asked the goat.</p>
-
-<p>“You had better wait and see,” was the answer.</p>
-
-<p>“I wish I could come in your stable,” said
-Lightfoot. “I would not take up much room.”</p>
-
-<p>“You would be welcome,” said a horse, “but
-there is no way for you to get in unless you can
-get out of the hold, on to the towpath and come
-down the plank. Some day maybe you can do
-that.”</p>
-
-<p>“I hope so,” said Lightfoot, who was now getting
-very hungry.</p>
-
-<p>Just then the captain called:</p>
-
-<p>“All aboard! Cast off the lines!”</p>
-
-<p>And the next thing Lightfoot knew was that
-the boat began slowly to move. It had started
-up the canal. Lightfoot was on a voyage,
-though where he was going he did not know.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT GOES ASHORE</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Lightfoot, down in the hold of the
-canal boat, felt the craft slipping through
-the water easily. He was being carried
-with it.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, this is not so bad, for a start,” thought
-the goat. “It is much easier than riding in a
-wagon, as I once did.”</p>
-
-<p>When Lightfoot was a small goat, before he
-had come to live with Mike and his mother, he
-remembered being taken from one place to another,
-shut up in a box and carried in a wagon.
-The wagon jolted over the rough road, tossing
-Lightfoot from side to side and hurting his side.
-The motion of the canal boat was much easier,
-for there were no waves in the canal, except at
-times when a steam canal boat might pass, and
-even then the waves were not large enough to
-make the <i>Sallie Jane</i> bob about. <i>Sallie Jane</i>
-was the name of the boat on which Lightfoot
-was riding.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span></p>
-
-<p>“This is a nicer ride than I had in the wagon,”
-thought Lightfoot, “only I don’t know where I
-am going. But then,” he thought, “I didn’t
-know where I was going the other time. However,
-I came to a nice place—the shanty where
-Mike and his mother lived, and maybe I’ll go to
-a nice place now. Anything is better than being
-beaten with a stick and chased by boys with
-lumps of coal to throw at you.”</p>
-
-<p>Then Lightfoot began to feel more hungry.
-From somewhere, though the exact place he did
-not know, he could smell hay and oats.</p>
-
-<p>“I guess it must be from the stable where
-the horses are that I was talking to,” he said to
-himself. “I’m going to ask them if they can’t
-hand me out something to eat. It isn’t any fun
-to be hungry, even if you are on a canal boat
-voyage.”</p>
-
-<p>So Lightfoot went to the end of the boat where
-the stable was, and, tapping on the wall with his
-horns, waited for an answer:</p>
-
-<p>“What is it, Lightfoot?” asked one of the
-horses, for he had told them his name.</p>
-
-<p>“If you please,” said the goat, “I am very
-hungry. Could you not kindly pass me out some
-of the hay or oats that I smell?”</p>
-
-<p>“We would be glad to do so,” said a kind
-horse, “only we can not. There is no opening
-from our stable into the hold where you are. If<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span>
-you could jump out you could get right in where
-we are.”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said Lightfoot.
-“It is pretty high to jump. But I’ll try.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot did try to jump up, but he could not.
-It is easy to jump down, but not easy, even for
-a goat, to jump up.</p>
-
-<p>“I can’t do it!” sighed the goat. “And the
-smell of your hay and oats makes me very hungry!
-Why is it I can smell it so plainly if there
-is no opening from your stable to where I am?”</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t know,” answered one horse.</p>
-
-<p>“No, but I do!” whinnied another. “Don’t
-you remember, Stamper,” he said to the horse in
-the stall next to him, “on the last voyage this boat
-was loaded with hay and grain? Some of that
-must be left around in the corners of the hold.
-That is what Lightfoot smells so plainly.”</p>
-
-<p>“So it is,” said the first horse. Then he called:
-“Lightfoot, look and smell all around you.
-Maybe you will find some wisps of hay or some
-little piles of grain in the dark corners of the
-hold where you are. If you do find them, eat
-them.”</p>
-
-<p>“Thank you, I will!” called Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>Then he began to walk around in the big
-hollow part of the canal boat, sniffing here and
-there in corners and cracks for something to eat.
-He could smell hay very plainly, and as he went<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span>
-toward a corner, in which some boards were
-piled, the smell was very much stronger. Then,
-all of a sudden, Lightfoot found what he was
-looking for.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, here’s a nice pile of hay!” he called, and
-the horses in their stalls heard him.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s good,” one of them said. “Now you
-will not be hungry any more, Lightfoot.”</p>
-
-<p>“No, I guess I won’t,” said the goat. “At last,
-after I have had some bad luck, I am going to
-have some good.”</p>
-
-<p>Then he began to eat the wisps of hay which
-had lodged in the corner of the canal boat when
-the cargo had been unloaded a few days before.
-There was hay enough for more goats than
-Lightfoot, but the men who unloaded the canal
-boat did not bother to sweep up the odds and
-ends, so the goat traveler had all he wanted.</p>
-
-<p>After Lightfoot had eaten he felt sleepy, and,
-lulled by the pleasant and easy motion of the
-canal boat, he cuddled up in a corner near the
-horse-cabin, and, after telling his unseen friends
-what had happened to him, he went to sleep.</p>
-
-<p>How long he slept Lightfoot did not know,
-but he was suddenly awakened by hearing a
-rumbling sound, like thunder.</p>
-
-<p>“Hello! What’s this?” cried the goat, jumping
-up. “If it’s going to rain I had better look
-for some shelter.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Oh, it isn’t going to rain,” said a voice from
-the horse stable. “Those who have been pulling
-the boat are tired and are coming down the plank
-into their stalls. We are going out to take their
-places. It is our turn now.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, I see,” returned Lightfoot. “But how
-do you horses get on shore? Do you swim across
-the canal?”</p>
-
-<p>“No, though we could do that,” said Cruncher,
-a horse who was called that because he crushed
-his oats so finely. “You see,” he went on, “when
-the captain wants to change the teams on the
-towpath he steers the boat close to the shore.
-Then he puts a plank, with cross-pieces, or cleats,
-nailed on it, so we won’t slip, down to our stable,
-and we walk up, go ashore, and take our places
-at the end of the towline. The tired horses come
-in to rest and eat.”</p>
-
-<p>“Then is the boat close to the shore now?”
-asked Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, right close up against the bank,” answered
-Cruncher as he made ready to go out on
-the towpath.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, I wish I could get ashore,” said Lightfoot.
-“I like you horses, and I like this boat,
-because it saved me from the boys who were
-chasing me, but still I had rather be out where I
-can see the sun.”</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t blame you,” said Nibbler, who was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span>
-called that because he used to nibble the edge of
-his manger. “Sometimes I get tired of this dark
-stable. But then, twice a day, we go out in the
-air to pull the boat.”</p>
-
-<p>“Do you think I could get on shore?” asked
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, if you could jump up out of the hold,
-where you are, you could,” said Cruncher, his
-hoofs making a noise like thunder on the planks
-as he walked up. “If you can do that you can
-go ashore.”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m going to try,” said Lightfoot, and he
-began jumping up as high as he could to get out
-of the deep hole into which he had leaped.</p>
-
-<p>But, jump as he did, Lightfoot could not get
-out of the hold. It was like being down in a
-deep well. If he had been a cat, with sharp
-claws to stick in the wooden sides of the boat,
-or a bear, like Dido, the dancing chap, Lightfoot
-might have got out. But as he was neither of
-these, he could not.</p>
-
-<p>Again and again he tried, but it was of no use.
-Then he felt the boat moving again, and he
-knew it was being pulled along the canal by
-the horses.</p>
-
-<p>“There is no use jumping any more,” thought
-Lightfoot. “If I did jump out now I would
-only land in the water. I must stay here until I
-can find some other way to get out.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span></p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot found more hay and a mouthful of
-grain in one of the corners of the boat, and after
-he had eaten he felt better. But still he was
-lonesome and homesick.</p>
-
-<p>Pretty soon it grew dark, and Lightfoot could
-see the stars shining over head. He cuddled up
-in a corner, among some old bags, and went to
-sleep.</p>
-
-<p>For three days Lightfoot traveled on in the
-canal boat. All he could see were the dark sides
-of the hole in which he was. He could talk to
-the horses through the wooden walls of their
-stable, but he could not see them.</p>
-
-<p>Now and then the boat would pull up to shore,
-and the tired horses would come aboard while
-the others would take their turn at the towrope.
-All this while Lightfoot lived on the hay and
-grain he found in the cracks and corners of the
-canal boat. Had it not been for this the goat
-would have starved, for neither the captain nor
-his wife knew Lightfoot was on board, and the
-horses, much as they wished, could not pass the
-goat any of their food.</p>
-
-<p>One day the boat was kept along the shore towpath
-for a long while. Lightfoot tried again to
-jump out but could not. Then, all at once he
-heard a very loud noise. It was louder than
-that made by the hoofs of the horses, and the goat
-cried:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Surely that is thunder!”</p>
-
-<p>He saw something black tumble down into the
-hold at the end farthest from him.</p>
-
-<p>“No, it is not thunder,” said Cruncher. “The
-captain is loading the boat with coal. Don’t be
-afraid.”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m not afraid,” said Lightfoot. “Only coal
-is very black and dirty stuff.”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, it is,” agreed Nibbler. “But it may be
-a good thing for you, Lightfoot.”</p>
-
-<p>“How?” asked the goat.</p>
-
-<p>“In this way,” said Nibbler. “I have seen
-this boat loaded with coal before. They fill the
-hold as full as they can, and they don’t put the
-covers on.”</p>
-
-<p>“But if they fill it full,” said Lightfoot, “they
-will cover me with the coal, and then how can
-I get out?”</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll tell you,” answered Nibbler. “They will
-not fill all the boat at once. It takes about two
-days. And when half the boat is full the coal is
-in a pile in the middle, like a hill. You can
-climb up the side of the coal-hill, Lightfoot, and
-then you will be out of the hold. You can
-scramble up on top of our stable-cabin and from
-there you can easily jump to shore.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, that will be fine!” cried the goat.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you think you can walk up the hill of
-coal in this boat?” asked Cruncher.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Surely I can,” Lightfoot said. “I could
-climb up the rocky, rocky path back of the cabin,
-and surely I can climb up the coal hill.”</p>
-
-<p>All that day men with wheelbarrows dumped
-coal into the hold of the canal boat. It made a
-black dust, and Lightfoot kept as far away from
-it as he could.</p>
-
-<p>“It is a good thing I am going to get out,” he
-said. “For the coal will soon cover up all my
-hay and grain and I would starve.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot waited until after dark, so no one
-would see him. Then he scrambled up the sloping
-sides of the pile of coal in the middle of the
-canal boat until he could jump to the edge and
-so to the roof of the stable cabin.</p>
-
-<p>“Good-by, kind horses,” he called to Cruncher
-and the others. “I am sorry I can’t stop to see
-you, but I had better go ashore.”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, while you have the chance,” said Nibbler.</p>
-
-<p>Then, with a nimble leap, Lightfoot jumped
-from the canal boat to the towpath. He had
-gone ashore.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder what adventures I’ll have next,”
-he said to himself as he wiggled his way into the
-bushes at the edge of the path.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT IN THE WOODS</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Without stopping to look back at the
-canal boat from which he had escaped,
-Lightfoot ran on through the bushes,
-and soon found himself in some woods. He was
-afraid some one from the boat might run after
-him, and take him back there.</p>
-
-<p>“Not that it was such a bad place,” thought
-the goat, as he went in and out among the trees;
-“but it is no fun to be in a place from which you
-can’t get away when you want to. If it had not
-been that they made a little hill of coal in the
-boat maybe I’d never have gotten away.</p>
-
-<p>“I liked those horses, though I never saw them,
-and the hay and grain in the cracks was good
-eating. Still I had rather be out here and free.”</p>
-
-<p>No one except the canal horses knew Lightfoot
-had been on the boat. The captain and his
-wife had not seen him jump down into the hold,
-nor had the boys picking coal. They only
-imagined the goat might be somewhere near the
-boat when they asked about him, but they really
-had not seen him get aboard.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span></p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot ran on a little farther and then,
-thinking he was safe, hidden behind a bush,
-turned and looked back. He was on a side hill
-that ran along the canal, and he could look
-down on the towpath. He saw a team of horses
-hitched to a long rope, which, in turn, was fast
-to the canal boat.</p>
-
-<p>“There are my kind friends, the horses,”
-thought Lightfoot. “But I don’t know which
-ones they are. I wish I could stop and speak to
-them, but it would not be safe. Anyhow I said
-good-by to them, and thanked them.”</p>
-
-<p>As Lightfoot looked, the team pulling the
-canal boat turned around a curve in the towpath
-and were soon out of sight. Then, once
-more, the goat turned and went on into the
-woods.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I shall not be hungry here, anyhow,”
-thought Lightfoot. “There are more bushes
-and trees here than in the park where Mike used
-to drive me about, hitched to the little wagon.
-I wonder if I am allowed to eat these leaves.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot looked around. He saw no
-policemen or park guards, such as he had seen
-when he was in the other place, and, as he felt
-a bit hungry after his run, he nibbled some of
-the green leaves. They had a good taste and he
-ate many of them. No one called to him to stop,
-and no one hit him with a stick.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span></p>
-
-<p>“This is a good place,” thought Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>As with most animals, when he had eaten well,
-the goat felt sleepy, and picking out a smooth
-grassy place beneath some trees he cuddled up,
-and was soon asleep.</p>
-
-<p>How long he slept Lightfoot did not know,
-but when he awakened he had a feeling that he
-wished he was back with Mike again, drawing
-children about the park. Whether Lightfoot
-had dreamed about his shanty home amid the
-rocks I do not know. I do not know whether or
-not animals dream, but I think they do.</p>
-
-<p>At any rate Lightfoot felt lonesome. He
-missed the cheerful whistle of the Irish boy, and
-he missed, too, the nice combing and rubbing-down
-that his master, Mike, used to give him
-every morning in order to keep his coat in good
-condition.</p>
-
-<p>Some of the goats that lived on the rocks had
-coats very rough with tangled hairs, to say nothing
-of the burrs and thistles that clung to them.
-But Mike kept Lightfoot slick and neat, brushing
-him as a groom brushes his horses.</p>
-
-<p>“But I don’t look very slick now,” thought
-Lightfoot, as he turned his head and saw a lot
-of burdock burrs on one side, while the other
-side carried a tangle of a piece of a briar brush.
-“I must clean myself up a bit,” thought the
-goat.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span></p>
-
-<p>By twisting and turning about, using first one
-hind foot and then the other, as a cat scratches
-her ears, Lightfoot managed to get rid of most
-of the things that had clung to him as he tore his
-way through the bushes. Then he walked on
-again, until, feeling thirsty, he began to sniff the
-air for water. For goats and other animals can
-smell water before they can see it, though to us
-clean water has no smell at all.</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot soon found a little spring in the
-woods, and from it ran a brook of water, sparkling
-over the green, mossy stones.</p>
-
-<p>As Lightfoot leaned over to get a drink from
-the spring he started back in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>“Why!” he exclaimed to himself. “Why!
-There’s another goat down there under the
-water. He’s a black goat. I’m white.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot thought for a moment as he drew
-back from the edge of the spring. Then he said
-to himself:</p>
-
-<p>“Well, if it’s only another goat I needn’t be
-afraid, for we will be friends.”</p>
-
-<p>He went to the spring again and looked down
-into the clear water. Again he saw the black
-goat, and he was just going to speak, asking him
-how he felt, what his name was, where he came
-from and so on, when Lightfoot happened to
-notice that the black goat moved in exactly the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span>
-same way, and did the same things that he, himself,
-did. Then he understood.</p>
-
-<p>“Ha! Ha!” laughed Lightfoot to himself.
-“How silly I am! That is only my reflection in
-the spring, just as if it were a looking glass. But
-what makes me so black on my face, I wonder?”</p>
-
-<p>Then he remembered.</p>
-
-<p>“It’s the black coal dust, of course!” he cried.
-“It must have stuck to me all over, but I brushed
-some of it off when I went to sleep in the grass.
-Now I must wash my face.”</p>
-
-<p>He glanced once more into the spring looking
-glass, and saw that indeed he was quite dirty from
-the coal dust. Taking a long drink of the cool
-water he went below the spring to the brook,
-and there he waded in and splashed around in
-the water until he was quite clean. This made
-him feel hungry again, and he ate more leaves
-and grass.</p>
-
-<p>“And now,” said Lightfoot, as he noticed the
-sun going down in the west, and knew that it
-would soon be night, “it’s time for me to think
-of what I’m going to do.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot was not afraid to stay out alone in
-the woods all night. He had spent many a night
-on the rocks, though of course the other goats
-had been with him then. But he was a bigger
-and older goat now, and he was not afraid of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span>
-being alone. Of course a little kid might have
-been, but Lightfoot was a kid no longer.</p>
-
-<p>“I’ll stay here to-night, I think,” said the goat
-after a while. “It is good to be near water so
-you can drink when thirsty. I’ll stay here to-night
-and in the morning I’ll try to find my way
-back to Mike.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot slept well that night, for it was not
-cold, and in the morning, after he had eaten some
-leaves and grass and had drunk some water he
-started out to find the Malony shanty near the
-rocks.</p>
-
-<p>But a goat is not like a dog or a cat, some of
-which can find their way home after having been
-taken many miles from it. So, after wandering
-about in the woods, and finding no place that
-looked like his former home, Lightfoot gave up.</p>
-
-<p>“It’s of no use,” he said. “I guess I am lost. I
-must have come farther in that canal boat than I
-knew. Well, the woods are a good place to
-stay. I shall not be hungry here.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot wandered on and on for several
-days. Once some boys, who were in the woods
-gathering flowers, saw the goat behind some
-bushes.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, let’s chase after him!” called one, and
-they ran toward Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>But the goat leaped away and soon left the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span>
-boys far behind. If one of them had been Mike,
-Lightfoot would have gone to him, but Mike was
-not there.</p>
-
-<p>One day as Lightfoot was wandering through
-the woods, wishing he were back in his home
-again, for he was lonesome, having no one to
-talk to but the birds, he heard a noise in the
-bushes.</p>
-
-<p>It was a smashing, crashing sort of noise, as
-though made by some big animal.</p>
-
-<p>“Maybe it is one of the canal horses,” thought
-Lightfoot. “I hope it is. They’ll be company
-for me. Maybe one of them ran away.”</p>
-
-<p>He looked through the underbrush and saw a
-big, shaggy, brown animal, standing on its hind
-feet. With its front paws it was pulling berries
-from a bush and eating them.</p>
-
-<p>“Excuse me,” said Lightfoot in animal language.
-“But could you tell me the way to the
-Widow Malony’s shanty?”</p>
-
-<p>The big animal stopped eating berries, looked
-up at the goat in surprise and asked, in a sort of
-growly voice:</p>
-
-<p>“Who are you?”</p>
-
-<p>“I am Lightfoot, the leaping goat,” was the
-answer. “Who are you?”</p>
-
-<p>“I am Dido, the dancing bear, I am glad to
-meet you. Come over and have some berries,”
-and Lightfoot went.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT MEETS SLICKO</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Lightfoot and Dido stood looking at
-one another for a few seconds. It was
-the first time the goat had ever seen a
-bear, for though there were wild animals in the
-park where Mike used to drive him, Lightfoot
-had never been taken near the bear dens. But
-it was not the first time Dido had seen a goat.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you like raspberries?” asked Dido, pulling
-a branch toward him with his big paw and
-stripping them off into his big red mouth.</p>
-
-<p>“I don’t know,” answered the goat. “I never
-ate any.”</p>
-
-<p>“Help yourself,” invited Dido. “Just reach
-out your paw and with your long claw-nails strip
-off the berries into your mouth.”</p>
-
-<p>“But I haven’t any paw,” said Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s right, you haven’t,” observed Dido reflectively,
-scratching his black nose. “Well, you
-have a mouth, anyhow, that’s one good thing.
-You’ll have to pick off the berries one by one in
-your lips. You can do that.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span></p>
-
-<p>“Yes, I think I can do that,” answered Lightfoot,
-and he did. At first the briars on the berry
-bush stuck him, but he soon found a way to keep
-clear of them. Dido did not seem to mind them
-in the least.</p>
-
-<p>“Did you say you were a dancing bear?” asked
-Lightfoot of his new friend, when they had eaten
-as many berries as they wanted.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, I can dance. Wait, I’ll show you,” and
-in a little glade in the woods Dido began to
-dance slowly about.</p>
-
-<p><a href="#i_p103">“That’s fine!” said Lightfoot. “I wish I
-could dance.”</a></p>
-
-<p>“Can you do any tricks?” asked Dido. “I can
-play soldier, turn somersaults and things like
-that.”</p>
-
-<p>“I can draw children about the park in a little
-cart,” said the goat, “and I am a good jumper, I’ll
-show you,” and he gave a big jump from a log to
-a large, flat rock.</p>
-
-<p>“You <em>are</em> a good jumper,” said Dido. “That
-is much farther than I could jump. Some of
-the men in the circus could jump farther than
-that, though.”</p>
-
-<p>“What do you know about a circus?” asked
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_p103" style="width: 382px;">
- <img src="images/i_p103.jpg" width="382" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_102">“That’s fine!” said Lightfoot. “I wish I could
-dance.”</a></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span></p>
-
-<p>“I used to be in one,” answered Dido. “In
-fact I may go back again. I am out now, traveling
-around with my master who blows a brass
-horn to gather together the boys and girls. And
-when they stand in a circle around me I do my
-tricks and my master takes up the pennies in his
-hat. It’s lots of fun.”</p>
-
-<p>“Where is your master now?” asked Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“He is asleep, not far away, under a tree. He
-lets me wander off by myself, for he knows I
-would not run away. I like him too much and
-I like the circus. I want to go back to it.”</p>
-
-<p>“I met some one who was in a circus,” said
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Who?” the dancing bear asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Tinkle, a pony,” answered the goat.</p>
-
-<p>“Why, I know him!” cried Dido. “He is a
-jolly pony chap. He draws a little boy and girl
-about in a cart.”</p>
-
-<p>“That’s right,” said Lightfoot. “I did the
-same thing for the children in the park. Oh,
-how I wish I were back with my master, Mike,”
-and he told about his adventures, and the dancing
-bear told his, speaking of having been put
-in a book, like Tinkle.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you think you could tell me the way back
-to the shanty at the foot of the rocks, where I
-made my first big jump?” asked Lightfoot of
-Dido, after a while.</p>
-
-<p>The bear thought for a minute.</p>
-
-<p>“No,” he answered slowly, in animal talk, “I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span>
-don’t believe I could, I’m sorry to say. I have
-traveled about in many places, but if I have
-gone past the shanty where the Widow Malony
-lives, I do not remember it.”</p>
-
-<p>Just then came through the woods a sound
-like:</p>
-
-<p>“Ta-ra! Ta-ra! Ta-rattie tara!”</p>
-
-<p>“What’s that?” asked Lightfoot, in surprise.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s my master, blowing the brass horn to
-tell me to come back,” answered Dido. “I must
-go. Well, I’m glad to have met you. And if
-you ever get to the circus give my regards to
-Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, and Mappo, the
-merry monkey.”</p>
-
-<p>“I will,” promised Lightfoot. “I have heard
-Tinkle, the trick pony, speak of both of them.
-Good-by!”</p>
-
-<p>“Good-by!” called Dido, and, with a wave
-of his big paw, stained from the berries he had
-pulled off to eat, he lumbered away through the
-woods to his master who was blowing the horn
-for him.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I had a nice visit,” said Lightfoot to
-himself as he ate a few more berries. “Dido
-would be good company, but I can not travel
-with him, as I can do no tricks. I wonder if I
-shall ever find my own home again.”</p>
-
-<p>On and on through the woods wandered Lightfoot.
-Now and then he would stop to nibble<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span>
-some grass or leaves, and again to get a drink
-from some spring or brook. When he was tired
-he would stretch out under a bush or a tree and
-go to sleep. Then he would wander on again.</p>
-
-<p>The second night in the woods found him far
-from the canal, and much farther from the park
-and his home near the big rocks. He was completely
-lost now, and did not know where he
-was. But it was not so bad as if a boy or a girl
-were lost. For Lightfoot could find plenty to
-eat all around him. He had but to stop and
-nibble it. And, as it was Summer, it was warm
-enough to sleep out of doors without any shelter,
-such as a barn or a shed.</p>
-
-<p>One day as Lightfoot was eating some blackberries
-in the way Dido, the dancing bear, had
-taught him, he heard a noise in the bushes as
-though some one were coming through.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, maybe that is the dancing bear!” exclaimed
-the lonesome goat. “I hope it is.”</p>
-
-<p>An animal presently jumped through the
-bushes out on the path and stood looking at
-Lightfoot; but at first glance the leaping goat
-saw that it was not Dido. It was a small white
-animal, with very large ears, one of which
-drooped over, giving the animal a comical look.</p>
-
-<p>“Hello!” exclaimed Lightfoot in a friendly
-voice. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.”</p>
-
-<p>“Maybe not,” was the answer. “But I’ve seen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span>
-you, or some one like you. A boy, in whose
-woodshed I once lived, had a goat like you.”</p>
-
-<p>“Was his name Mike?” asked Lightfoot
-eagerly. And then he knew it could not be, for
-he knew his Mike had no such animal as this.</p>
-
-<p>“No, his name was not Mike,” was the answer.
-“But what is your name?”</p>
-
-<p>“Lightfoot.”</p>
-
-<p>“Mine’s Flop Ear, and I’m a rabbit. A funny
-rabbit some folks call me. I’m in a book.”</p>
-
-<p>“This is queer,” said Lightfoot. “You speak
-about being in a book. So did Dido, the dancing
-bear.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, did you meet Dido?” cried Flop Ear,
-looking at Lightfoot in a funny way. “Isn’t he
-the dearest old bear that ever was?”</p>
-
-<p>“I liked him,” said Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“And he’s almost as jolly as Tum Tum, the
-jolly elephant. Tum Tum is in a book, too.”</p>
-
-<p>“What’s all this about being in a book?”
-asked Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I don’t exactly understand it myself,”
-answered Flop Ear. “But I know children like
-to read the books about us. Tell me, have you
-had any adventures?”</p>
-
-<p>“I should say I had!” cried Lightfoot. “I
-ran away, and I was on a canal boat, and I
-climbed a hill of coal and—”</p>
-
-<p>“That’s enough!” cried Flop Ear, raising one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span>
-paw. “You’ll find yourself in a book before you
-know it. Then you’ll understand without my
-telling you. Would you like to have a bit of
-cabbage?”</p>
-
-<p>“I should say I would,” cried Lightfoot. “I’ve
-been living on grass, berries and leaves—”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I brought some cabbage leaves with me
-when I came for a walk this morning,” said Flop
-Ear, “and there’s more than I want, and you are
-welcome to them.” From the ground where he
-had dropped it Flop Ear picked up a cabbage
-leaf and hopped with it over to Lightfoot. The
-goat was glad to get it, and while he was chewing
-it he told the rabbit of running away from the
-park. In his turn Flop Ear told how he had
-been caught by a boy and how he had gnawed his
-way out with the mice, meeting Grandma
-Munch in the woods.</p>
-
-<p>“And so I’ve lived in the woods ever since,”
-said Flop Ear.</p>
-
-<p>“Could you tell me how to get out of the woods
-and back to my home with Mike, near the
-rocks?” asked Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” answered the rabbit.</p>
-
-<p>The rabbit and the goat talked in animal language
-for some little time longer, then Flop Ear
-said he must go back to his burrow, or underground
-home.</p>
-
-<p>“And I’ll travel on and see if I can find my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span>
-home,” said Lightfoot. “I’ve been lost long
-enough.”</p>
-
-<p>For two or three days more Lightfoot wandered
-about in the woods. He looked everywhere,
-but he could not find his home near the
-rocks. One afternoon, as he was asleep under a
-tree, he was suddenly awakened by feeling something
-hit him on the nose.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder if it’s going to rain?” said Lightfoot,
-jumping up suddenly. Then something hit
-him on his left horn and bounded off. Lightfoot
-saw that it was an acorn, many of which he had
-seen in the woods.</p>
-
-<p>“I guess it fell off a tree,” he said.</p>
-
-<p>“No, it didn’t. I dropped it,” said a chattering
-voice in the air. “I am lonesome and I
-wanted some one to talk to. So I awakened you
-by dropping an acorn on your pretty black nose.
-Excuse me.”</p>
-
-<p>“But who are you and where are you?” asked
-Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“I am Slicko, the jumping squirrel,” was the
-answer, “and I’m perched on a limb right over
-your head.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot looked up, and there, surely enough,
-was a little gray animal with a very big tail,
-much larger than Lightfoot’s small one.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII<br />
-<small>LIGHTFOOT’S NEW HOME</small></h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="cap">Leaving Lightfoot and Slicko talking
-together in the woods, we will go back
-a little while and see what is happening
-in the shanty near the rocks, where Mike Malony
-lived with his widowed mother. Mike came in
-one day, after a long search through the park.
-Though it was several weeks since Lightfoot had
-run away the boy never gave up hope that, some
-day, he would find his pet.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, Mike me lad, did you hear anything of
-your goat?” asked Mrs. Malony.</p>
-
-<p>“No, Mother,” was the answer, “and I don’t
-believe I ever shall. Lightfoot is gone forever.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, don’t say that, Mike! He may come
-back. And if he doesn’t, can’t you take one of
-the other goats and train it to drag a cart?”</p>
-
-<p>“No,” said Mike, with a shake of his head,
-“I couldn’t do that. The other goats are for giving
-milk, and the like of that, but they wouldn’t
-be like Lightfoot for drawing the children. No
-goat will be like Lightfoot to me. I’ll have to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span>
-get work at something else, I guess, Mother.”</p>
-
-<p>“I’m afraid you will, Mike me boy,” said his
-mother, and now as she was a bit sad, she was
-not smiling at her freckle-faced and red-haired
-son. “Our money is almost gone, and we need
-more to buy something to eat. Lucky it is we
-have no rent to pay. You had better look for a
-job, Mike.”</p>
-
-<p>Mike did, but work was not to be had. Meanwhile
-the money which the Widow Malony had
-put away was getting less and less. Mike came
-in one day, tired, and feeling very unhappy, for
-he had walked far looking for work without
-finding it. He had even tried training one of
-the other goats to draw a cart, but they did not
-seem able to learn, being too old, I suppose.
-Blackie had been sold to bring in a little money.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, maybe better luck will come to-morrow,
-lad. Don’t give up. Whist!” she cried.
-“There’s the letter man’s whistle. Sure he can’t
-be comin’ here!”</p>
-
-<p>“But he is, Mother!” cried Mike. “Maybe it’s
-some of the men I gave me name to, sendin’ for
-me to give me work.”</p>
-
-<p>With trembling hands Mrs. Malony opened
-the letter. When she had read it she cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Th’ saints be praised, Mikey me lad. Our
-troubles are over now! Our troubles are over
-now!”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span></p>
-
-<p>“How?” asked Mike.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure I’ve been left a farm, Mike! A farm
-with green grass and a house, and cows and a
-place to raise hay and a horse to haul it to market.
-Read!”</p>
-
-<p>Mike read the letter. It was true. A cousin
-of his mother, who had known her in Ireland,
-had died and left her his farm, as she was his
-nearest relative. The letter was from the lawyers
-saying she could claim the farm and live on
-it as soon as she pleased.</p>
-
-<p>The troubles of the Widow Malony and her
-son were indeed over as far as money was concerned.
-They sold what few things they had,
-even the goats, for it would be hard to carry
-them along, and then, bidding good-by to the
-other squatters, they moved to the farm that had
-been left them. It was many miles from the big
-city, out in the country.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure ’tis a grand farm!” cried Mike as he
-saw the snug house in which he and his mother
-were to live. “’Tis a grand farm entirely.
-And would ye look at the river right next door!
-I can go swimmin’ in that and sail a boat.”</p>
-
-<p>“’Tis no river, Mike, me boy,” said his
-mother. “That’s a canal, same as the one that
-runs near the big city where we come from,
-though I guess you were never over that far.”</p>
-
-<p>“No,” said Mike, “I was not. A canal; eh?<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span>
-Sure it’s a funny thing. A river made by men,”
-and he sat down to look at it.</p>
-
-<p>But there were many things to do on the
-Malony farm, and Mike and his mother were
-happy in doing them, for now they saw better
-times ahead of them.</p>
-
-<p>“Sure this would be a fine place for Lightfoot,”
-said Mike as he sat on the steps one day
-and looked across the green fields. “He’d be
-fair wild with th’ delight of it here,” and his
-face was a bit sad as he thought of his lost pet.</p>
-
-<p>It was about the time that the farm had been
-left to the widow and her son that Lightfoot met
-Slicko the jumping squirrel in the woods as I
-have told you.</p>
-
-<p>“And so you were lonesome! And that’s the
-reason you awakened me by dropping a nut on
-my nose?” asked Lightfoot of Slicko.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes,” was the answer. “And I guess you are
-glad it wasn’t Mappo, the merry monkey, who
-tried to wake you up that way.”</p>
-
-<p>“Why?” asked Lightfoot.</p>
-
-<p>“Because Mappo would likely have dropped
-a cocoanut on your nose, and that’s bigger and
-heavier than an acorn.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I guess it is,” laughed Lightfoot. “I’m
-glad you didn’t do that. But why are you lonesome?”</p>
-
-<p>“I am looking for a rabbit named Flop Ear<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span>
-to play with,” answered Slicko. “He and I used
-to have jolly times together. We were both
-caught, but we were both let go again, and since
-then we have lived in these woods. But I
-haven’t seen him for some days.”</p>
-
-<p>“I met him, not long ago,” said Lightfoot.
-“Did he have one ear that drooped over in a
-queer way?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, that was Flop Ear,” answered the squirrel.
-“Please tell me where to find him. I want
-to have some fun. We have both had many
-adventures that have been put in books, and we
-like to talk about them.”</p>
-
-<p>“So you have been put in a book, too,” said
-Lightfoot. “It is getting to be quite fashionable,
-as the ladies in the park used to say. I’d like to
-be in a book myself.”</p>
-
-<p>“Perhaps you may be,” said Slicko. “I’ll tell
-you how I got in after I have some fun with
-Flop Ear. Please tell me where I can find
-him.”</p>
-
-<p>“I left him over that way,” and Lightfoot
-pointed with his horns.</p>
-
-<p>“Thank you. I’ll see you again, I hope,” and
-Slicko was scampering away with a nut in her
-mouth when Lightfoot called after her:</p>
-
-<p>“Can you tell me where to find a canal? I
-was carried away on a canal boat, and I think
-now, if I can find the canal, I can walk along the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span>
-path beside it and get to my own home. I am
-tired of wandering in the woods.”</p>
-
-<p>“There is a large brook of water over that
-way,” said Slicko, pointing with her front paw
-from the tree. “I have heard them call it a
-canal. Maybe that is what you are looking for.”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, thank you. Maybe it is,” said Lightfoot.
-“I’ll know it as soon as I see it again.”</p>
-
-<p>Leaving the jumping squirrel to frisk her way
-among the tree branches, Lightfoot set off to find
-the “brook” as Slicko had called the canal. It
-did not take him long to find it, for it curved
-around in a half circle to meet the very woods in
-which the leaping goat then was.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, it’s the same canal,” said Lightfoot, as
-he saw coming slowly along it a boat drawn by
-two big-eared mules. “Now all I have to do is
-to follow the towpath, and I’ll soon be at the big
-city again, and I can then find my way back to
-the shanty on the rocks, and Mike.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot might have reached the city had
-he walked the right way along the canal bank,
-but he hurried along away from the big city
-instead of toward it. Day after day he wandered
-on, and whenever he saw any men or boys
-he hid in the trees or bushes along the towpath.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder when I shall come to the city,”
-thought Lightfoot, who was getting tired.</p>
-
-<p>On and on he went. He did not stop to speak<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span>
-to any of the canal horses or mules. When he
-was hungry he ate grass or leaves, and when he
-was thirsty he drank from woodland brooks or
-from the canal, where the banks were not too
-steep.</p>
-
-<p>One day Lightfoot came to a place where the
-canal passed through a little village. The goat
-could see people moving about, some on the
-banks of the canal.</p>
-
-<p>“This does not look like the big city,” said the
-goat. “I think I will ask one of the canal
-horses.”</p>
-
-<p>He stepped from the bushes out on the path,
-and was just going to speak to a horse, one of a
-team that was hauling a boat loaded with sweet-smelling
-hay in bales, when a boy, who was driving
-the team, saw the goat and cried:</p>
-
-<p>“Ha! There is a Billie! I’m going to get
-him!” and he raced after Lightfoot. But the
-goat was not going to be caught. Along the towpath
-he ran, the boy after him. Lightfoot knew
-he could easily get away, but then, right in front
-of him, came another boy with a long whip.
-This boy, too, was driving a team of horses
-hitched to another canal boat.</p>
-
-<p>“Stop that goat!” cried the first boy.</p>
-
-<p>“I will,” said the other, holding out his whip.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" id="i_p117" style="width: 376px;">
- <img src="images/i_p117.jpg" width="376" height="600" alt="" title="" />
- <br />
- <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_119">“Mother, Mother!” he cried. “Look! Look! It—it’s
-Lightfoot—come back to us!”</a></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span></p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot did not know what to do. He did
-not want to run into the woods on one side of the
-path, for fear he would be lost again. Nor
-could he swim if he jumped into the canal. And
-then he saw, right in front of him, a bridge over
-the water.</p>
-
-<p>“That’s my chance,” thought the goat, and
-lightly he leaped to one side, getting away from
-both boys, and over the bridge he ran. The boys
-did not dare leave their horses long enough to
-follow.</p>
-
-<p>Over the bridge and down a country road on
-the other side of the canal ran Lightfoot. He
-saw some cows and sheep in the fields on either
-side of the road. Then he saw a little white
-house with green shutters. In the front yard,
-picking some flowers, was a woman. Lightfoot
-looked at her.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder—I wonder,” said Lightfoot slowly
-to himself, “where I have seen that woman before,
-for I am sure I have.”</p>
-
-<p>The woman kept on picking flowers. Lightfoot
-stood near the gate watching her, but she
-did not see him. Pretty soon she called:</p>
-
-<p>“Mike, bring me the watering can. The
-flower beds are dry.”</p>
-
-<p>“All right, Mother, I will. Sure if I had
-Lightfoot back again I’d make a little sprinkling
-cart and have him draw it. It’s a grand place
-for goats—the country farm.”</p>
-
-<p>Lightfoot pricked up his ears. He could not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span>
-understand it. But that name Mike—that
-voice—</p>
-
-<p>He walked into the yard. The woman picking
-flowers looked up. Mike came along with
-the sprinkling can, and when he saw the goat
-he nearly dropped it.</p>
-
-<p><a href="#i_p117">“Mother, Mother!” he cried. “Look!
-Look! It—it’s Lightfoot—come back to us!”</a></p>
-
-<p>“Lightfoot?”</p>
-
-<p>“Sure! Look at the likes of him as fine as
-ever—finer! Oh, Lightfoot, I’m so glad!” And
-this time Mike did drop the watering pot, splashing
-the water all about as he ran forward to
-throw his arms around the goat’s neck while Mrs.
-Malony patted him.</p>
-
-<p>And so Lightfoot came to his new home. By
-mistake he had gone the wrong way, but it turned
-out just right. He could not tell how glad he
-was to see Mike and his mother again, for he
-could not speak their language. But when
-Lightfoot met the horses, the cows and the pigs
-on the farm the widow and her son owned, the
-goat told them all his adventures, just as I have
-written them down in this book.</p>
-
-<p>“Lightfoot has come back to me! Lightfoot
-has come back!” sang Mike. “I wonder how he
-found this place?”</p>
-
-<p>But Lightfoot could not tell. All he knew
-was that he was with his friends again, and on a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span>
-farm, which he thought much nicer than the
-park, pretty as that was.</p>
-
-<p>The leaping goat soon made himself at home.
-He was given a little stall to himself in the
-stable with the horses, who grew to like him
-very much.</p>
-
-<p>Mike had brought with him from the city the
-goat wagon, and many a fine ride he had in it,
-pulled along the country road by Lightfoot, who
-was bigger and stronger than before.</p>
-
-<p>“I wonder what Blackie, Grandpa Bumper
-and the other goats would think of me now?”
-said Lightfoot one day as he rolled over and over
-in a green meadow where daisies and buttercups
-grew.</p>
-
-<p>But as the other goats were not there they
-could say nothing. And so Lightfoot had his
-many adventures, and he was put in a book, just
-as he hoped to be, so I suppose he is happy now.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p4 noic">THE END</p>
-
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="tnote">
-<p class="noi tntitle">Transcriber’s Notes:</p>
-
-<p class="smfont">Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently
-corrected.</p>
-
-<p class="smfont">Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.</p>
-
-<p class="smfont">Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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