The boys started after them but the rough ground the goats were
running over hurt the boys' feet so they had to give up and
content themselves with throwing stones at the two runaways.

When the boys went to see what damage had been done they found
one boy minus a pair of trousers, another a shirt and all the
rest had lost their collars and cuffs to say nothing of the
pockets that were missing.

But the boy whose trousers were gone was in the worst fix, as the
others could go home without any collars and the boy minus a
shirt could button his coat up tight to his neck and no one would
know he had no shirt on. But alas for the trouserless boy! What
was he to do? At last they hit on a plan. He was to take one of
the boys' coats and stick his legs in the sleeves and button the
coat tightly in front and tie it on round his waist with a
string. This he did, but when he had to walk he could only take
the very shortest of steps. This, with the comical picture he
made, sent the boys into peals of laughter, and they rolled on
the ground and held their sides for pain from laughing when he
stubbed his toe and fell head over heels, or when he tried to
climb a fence.

[Illustration]

_Billy and Nanny Are Married_

After leaving the boys the two goats trotted on and soon came out
on the other side of the wood and saw before them a beautiful
valley. Grazing peacefully beside a little brook that ran through
it, they saw a herd of goats. And at the upper end of the valley
beyond them they saw a large old-fashioned farmhouse with its
stables and outhouses.

"Nan, let us go down and introduce ourselves to the head goat of
the flock and see if they won't let us stay with them for awhile.
There are so many of them that the farmer won't notice us among
them when he drives them into the stable to-night, and it will be
a good place for us to stay until Mike stops hunting for us, for
I know he won't give us up in a hurry and is probably looking for
us now, and I don't propose to live with such a common family as
Mike belongs to, for until now I have only lived with first-class
families."

Nanny agreed to join the goats so the two trotted down the hill
bleating as they ran to attract the attention of the other goats.
The goats soon heard them, stopped eating and looked up, and when
Billy and Nanny were within speaking distance the leader of the
goats, a large black fellow, walked out to meet them.

Billy introduced himself