?"

Then Stubby let go his hold and raced back to the well. When he
reached there, he jumped in, hoping this would bring the man and his
daughter to the brink of the well to see what had become of him, and
in trying to find out they would discover Billy.

His plan worked, for he had no sooner disappeared down the well than
Button jumped out of the little girl's arms and ran after Stubby. The
moment he saw Billy and Stubby both down at the bottom of the well, he
too jumped in.

"I declare to goodness there must be some kind of a hole there,
Nellie, and those animals have found something in it to interest them.
We must hurry over and see what it is."

Can't you picture the surprise on their faces when they looked down
the well and discovered a big Billy goat as well as the dog and cat
they had followed?

"Bless my soul, Nellie, if there isn't a big, live goat down there! So
we _did_ hear a goat baa when we thought we did! Poor animal! I wonder
if he was hurt when he fell in, for that is a nasty, deep hole. But
the question now is how in the world are we going to get him out?"

"Yes, that is it," baaed Billy, but of course the man did not
understand what Billy was saying to him.

"Poor thing! He may have been here for days and be nearly dead for
want of food and water. But I guess not as he looks too fat for that.
Nellie, run home and tell Tom to bring a pulley, rope and ladder from
over on the lake where Mr. Stilwell's house used to stand before it
burned."

Nellie was soon back from her errand, bringing her big brother and the
hired man with her.

As Nellie's father turned his back to the well, Billy stood on his
hind feet and Stubby climbed out of the well as he had once before.
When Mr. Noland turned around, there was Stubby frisking around his
feet.

"I'll be switched if here isn't that clever little dog again! How in
the world do you suppose he got out of that well unless spooks boosted
him?"

"Or the goat butted him out. That is more likely," replied his son.

"Now put the ladder down the well, and I'll go down and fasten the
rope around the goat's body while you and Dan fix a brace to put the
pulley on to pull him up," said Mr. Noland, ignoring his son's remark.

The hired man lowered the ladder into the well, but it had scarcely
touched the bottom and found a secure footing when Billy climbed up
the rungs as nimbly as a cat. This act made Mr. Noland's eyes fairly
pop out of his head, while all th