his long, pointed horns
sticking straight out to meet him.

The dog was getting more and more furious at each failure and at
last he made a blind plunge at the goat, but, as before, Billy
was too quick for him and this time he sent the dog yelping back
to his master.

"Here! what do you mean by shutting our goat up?" they heard
someone say and turning around they saw one of the men from the
circus who had been sent out to look for Billy as it was nearly
time for the performance to begin.

"We did not shut him up. He walked in of his own accord; but you
should have been here a minute sooner and you would have seen
the prettiest fight you ever saw in your life, between your goat
and the bulliest bull-dog of the town."

"I am sorry I did not see it; but perhaps we can have another
sometime."

"Never!" said the dog's owner very emphatically. "I doubt if he
lives through this."

"Well, good-bye, boys; come and see Billy Whiskers perform in the
circus this afternoon and you will see as good a performance as
fighting, and I'll give all passes who bet on him this time.

"Billy, I would not have given much for your skin after the
ring-master got through with you if it had not been for this
fight; but now I think he will forgive you for the butt you gave
him this morning, since you whipped Mr. Pride's dog for he hates
Mr. Pride because he forbade him calling on his daughter."

[Illustration]

_What Billy Did on Thursday_

Thursday there was no performance as the circus was to break camp
and move to the next town where they were to take the train for a
large city. Here they would meet the rest of the circus which had
been divided up into small bands and sent into the country, like
the one Billy was now with. When they met in the city, all the
companies joined forces.

The elephant told Billy to wait and see what elegant performances
they gave when they were all together. "Why!" he said, "we have
three rings with acting going on in each one at the same time,
and all the performers wear their best clothes and try their best
to outshine each other; beside we have three or four times as
many animal side-tents as we do now.

"When we meet I will introduce you to my chum who is the oldest
and largest elephant in the circus business. He is a fine fellow
and tells a good story, and one could listen for hours to him
telling of his adventures and experiences while in the jungle and
traveling in this country. But i