in the coffee pot and letting the water run on it."

The three listeners on the stairs heard the boy cross the kitchen and
turn off the water. Then they heard him get the broom from behind the
kitchen door.

"Where are you going to sweep the water?" asked the girl.

"Down the cellar stairs! It won't hurt anything down there," and
before Billy, Stubby or Button could move, a deluge of water struck
them full in the face, blinding them and sousing them from the tips of
their noses to the ends of their tails.

This made Button sneeze, and he climbed back to the top of the boxes.
Billy turned on the stairs, but before he could really face about,
another sweep of the broom sent a second deluge on him, and blinded by
water and mad with rage, he rushed up the stairs to escape it. Instead
of getting out of the way, he ran straight into the boy who was
sweeping, which surprised the boy so that he let go the broom handle
and it too flew out of his hands and hit Billy on the head. This made
Billy so angry that he jumped for the boy and butted him straight into
the sink, where he sat down in the overflowing basin. The girl, too
panic-stricken to move, stood in the doorway wringing her hands and
crying, "Don't butt me, Mr. Billy Goat! I didn't do a thing!"

[Illustration]

She looked so funny standing there wringing her hands and calling
Billy Mr. Billy Goat that just for fun Billy thought he would give her
a very little butt into the next room--not enough to hurt her, but
just to frighten her a little. But when she saw him coming toward her,
she screamed and ran. Billy pursued her into a bedroom, where he
overtook her and gave her a gentle butt that landed her in the middle
of a big four-poster bed, after which he turned and trotted off to see
what the boy was doing. He found him floundering in the sink, trying
to get out that he might go to the girl's rescue, but he could not as
his feet would not reach the floor and he could get no grip on himself
in the slippery sink. Just at this crisis the maid came home and
unlocked the outside door at the head of the cellar stairs. With one
bound Billy was at the door the minute it was opened. As he flew by
her, he hit her, knocking her over against the young man who was
seeing her home. He held a watermelon under his arm, on which they
intended to feast, but when Billy struck the girl and she fell against
him, it sent the watermelon flying from under his arm and the three of
them, Bi