ien the policeman said
that Mataiasi had just started off to milk another cow.

Just then Hayes came out to the refreshment tables with a lady on his
arm. She was thirsty, and so "Bully" opened a large bottle of champagne,
and she and he and Denison and the young half-caste lady drank it; then
they drank another, and all went oft together to see Mataiasi milking
the cow, which was tied up to a coconut tree just outside the fence. The
cow was a yellow cow, and was standing very quietly, and just beside her
Billy MacLaggan (who caused all this trouble) was lying down, working
his jaws to and fro and making curious, snorting sounds in the bright
and gorgeous moonlight. I forgot to say that Wm. MacLaggan was the
largest and ugliest goat ever known to the memory of man, and had been
taught every vice and wickedness any goat could be taught, and it is as
natural for a goat to imbibe sin as it is for him to eat a cactus, or a
hedgehog, or a tract.

Hayes addressed the goat by his Christian name, and asked him how he
did, and Billy looked at Hayes for a second or two out of his green,
sharky eyes, then he rose in a dignified manner, and came over to him to
be scratched under the chin. Then he blew himself out, snorted, and
rubbed his horns against the captain's knee: and Hayes remarked to
Denison that the poor beggar wanted a drink, and proposed to give him a
"proper one."

The goat knew perfectly well what "drink" meant, and made his vicious
tail quiver; then he followed them back to the house, and stood at the
foot of the steps waiting for Hayes and Tom to come out again.

On the other side of the courtyard was Mrs. MacLaggan's laundry. The
door was wide open and the place was in darkness, and no one took any
notice when presently Tom sauntered out of the ballroom, picked up a
large plateful of tipsy-cake, and, being kind to animals, gave a piece
to William, who followed him into the laundry for the rest; then Hayes
came in with a quart bottle of champagne, shut the door and struck a
light. Then he opened the bottle of fizz and poured it out into a deep,
enamelled starching-dish, and Billy MacLaggan drank thereof, and then
raised his head, with his immoral-looking beard hanging in a sodden
point like a wet deck-swab, and asked for more. That is, he asked as
well as any Christian and civilised goat could ask, by standing up on
his hind legs like a circus-horse and making strange, unearthly noises.
Then he rammed his wicked