ner.

"I'm lucky," thought Billy, "I have come just in time to get
something good to eat, but I must be careful and not let them see
me or they will drive me back to the pasture. I will walk on the
grass so my hoofs won't make any noise and listen under the
window, and when the cook leaves the kitchen I will go in and
steal something good."

While standing under the window with his head cocked to one side
listening, he noticed that the outside cellar doors were open. He
started to go down cellar and see what he could find, for he knew
they would put all their good things in the cellar until time to
bring them up to the table.

Tiptoeing his way along, he sneaked down the cellar stairs and
there before him on a table were twelve plates of salad all
garnished and ready to be served. The salad was delicious as it
was cool and crisp and made of chicken served on young lettuce
leaves garnished with radishes. It was so palatable he ate it all
up even licking the plates; he had never been told it was bad
manners to lick your plate.

[Illustration]

Then he saw a floating-island pudding, with the whites of eggs
heaped up high and dotted with candied cherries, floating on the
custard underneath. He ate part of this, getting his head covered
with eggs. Next he spied several cakes covered with icing which
he licked off. Next he saw an ice-cream freezer. Now he had never
seen an ice-cream freezer before so he thought it must contain
something good if he could only get the top off to see what was
inside. In trying to get it off he upset the whole thing and as
the ice rattled out on the floor making a terrible noise, he left
everything and ran for the cellar door just in time to escape the
cook who had heard the noise and had come down the inside stairs
to see what was the matter.

Billy ran around the house and seeing the front door open and no
one around, as they were all in the dining room, he went in and
up stairs. Here he nosed around smelling things and upsetting
things generally, when he came to the bed where the ladies had
laid their wraps. On one of the hats he saw a bunch of green
leaves; of course, he thought them real until he tried to eat
them and the wire stems were in his mouth. Then he tried to eat a
beautiful red rose on another hat with no better success so he
left them, and was just leaving the room when he saw another goat
coming in. He stopped to look at the goat and the other goat
stopped to look back