Alderman Toole led the way to them with pride, and Mayor Dugan"s creased brow almost uncreased as he bent down and peered between the bars of the crates. They were fine goats. Perhaps they looked somewhat more dejected than a goat usually looks--more dirty and down at the heels than a goat often looks--but they were undoubtedly goats. As specimens of ordinary Irish goats they might not have pa.s.sed muster with a careful buyer, but no doubt they were excellent examples of the dongola.
"Ye have done good, Mike," said the mayor. "Ye have done good! But ain"t they mebby a bit off their feed--or something?"
"Off their feed!" said Toole. "An" who wouldn"t be, poor things? Mind ye, Dugan, thim is not common goats--thim is dongolas--an" used to bein"
in th" wather con-continuous from mornin" till night. "Tis sufferin" for a swim they be, poor animals. Wance let thim git in th" lake an" ye will see th" difference, Dugan. "Twill make all th" difference in th" worrld t" thim. "Tis dyin" for a swim they are."
"Sure!" said the Keeper of the Water Goats. "Ye have done good, Mike,"
said the mayor again. "Thim dongolas will be a big surprise for th"
people."
They were. They surprised the Keeper of the Goats first of all. The day before the park was to be opened to the public the goats were taken to the park and turned over to their official keeper. At eleven o"clock that morning Alderman Toole was leaning against Casey"s bar, confidentially pouring into his ear the story of how the dongolas had given their captors a world of trouble, swimming violently to the far reaches of Lake Geneva and hiding among the bulrushes and reeds, when the swinging door of the saloon was banged open and Tim f.a.gan rushed in.
He was mad. He was very mad, but he was a great deal wetter than mad. He looked as if he had been soaked in water over night, and not wrung out in the morning.
"Mike!" he whispered hoa.r.s.ely, grasping the little alderman by the arm.
"I want ye! I want ye down at th" park."
A chill of fear pa.s.sed over Alderman Toole. He turned his face to f.a.gan and laid his hand on his shoulder.
"Tim," he demanded, "has annything happened t" th" dongolas?"
"Is annything happened t" th" dongolas!" exclaimed f.a.gan sarcastically.
"Is annything wrong with thim water goats? Oh, no, Toole! Nawthin"
has gone wrong with thim! Only they won"t go into th" wather, Mike! Is annything gone wrong with thim, did ye say? Nawthin"! They be in good health, but they are not crazy t" be swimmin". Th" way they do not hanker t" dash into th" water is marvellous, Mike. No water for thim!"
"Hist!" said Toole uneasily, glancing around to see that no one but Casey was in hearing. "Mebby ye have not started thim right, Tim."
"Mebby not," said f.a.gan angrily. "Mebby I do not know how t" start th"
water goat, Toole! Mebby there is one way unbeknownst t" me. If so, I have not tried it. But th" forty-sivin other ways I have tried, an" th"
goats will not swim. I have started thim backwards an" I have started thim frontwards, an" I have took thim in by th" horns an" give thim lessons t" swim, an" they will not swim! I have done me duty by thim, Mike, an" I have wrastled with thim, an" rolled in th" lake with thim.
Was it t" be swimmin" teacher t" water goats ye got me this job for?"
"Hist!" said Toole again. "Not so loud, Tim! Ye haven"t told Dugan have ye?"
"I have not!" said Tim, with anger. "I have not told annybody annything excipt thim goats an" what I told thim is not dacint hearin". I have conversed with thim in strong language, an" it done no good. No swimmin"
for thim! Come on down an" have a chat with thim yersilf, Toole. Come on down an" argue with thim, an persuade thim with th" soft sound of yer voice t" swim. Come on down an" git thim water goats used t" th" water."
"Ye don"t understand th" water goat, Tim," said Toole in gentle reproof.
"I will show ye how t" handle him," and he went out, followed by the wet Keeper of the Water Goats.
The two water goats stood at the side of the lake, wet and mournful, tied to two strong stakes. They looked weary and meek, for they had had a hard morning, but as soon as they saw Tim f.a.gan they brightened up.
They arose simultaneously on their hind legs and their eyes glittered with deadly hatred. They strained at their ropes, and then, suddenly, panic-stricken, they turned and ran, bringing up at the ends of their ropes with a shock that bent the stout stakes to which they were fastened. They stood still and cowered, trembling.
"Lay hold!" commanded Toole. "Lay hold of a horn of th" brute till I show ye how t" make him swim."
Through the fresh gravel of the beach the four feet of the reluctant goat ploughed deep furrows. It shook its head from side to side, but Toole and f.a.gan held it fast, and into the water it went.
"Now!" cried Alderman Toole. "Git behind an" push, Tim! Wan! Two! Three!
Push!"
Alderman Toole released his hold and Keeper of the Water Goats f.a.gan pushed. Then they tried the other goat. It was easier to try the other water goat than to waste time hunting up the one they had just tried, for it had gone away. As soon as Alderman Toole let it go, it went. It seemed to want to get to the other end of the park as soon as possible, but it did not take the short cut across the lake--it went around. But it did not mind travel--it went to the farthest part of the park, and it would have gone farther if it could. So Alderman Toole and Keeper f.a.gan tried the other water goat. That one went straight to the other end of the park. It swerved from a straight line but once, and that was when it shied at a pail of water that was in the way. It did not seem to like water.
In the Franklin Zoo Dennis Toole had just removed the lid of his tin lunch-pail when the telegraph boy handed him the yellow envelope. He turned it over and over, studying its exterior, while the boy went to look at the shop-worn brown bear. The zoo keeper decided that there was no way to find out what was inside of the envelope but to open it. He was ready for the worst. He wondered, unthinkingly, which one of his forty or more cousins was dead, and opened the envelope.
"Dennis Toole, Franklin Zoo," he read, "Dongolas won"t swim. How do you make them swim? Telegraph at once. Michael Toole."
He laid the telegram across his knees and looked at it as if it was some strange communication from another sphere. He pushed his hat to one side of his head and scratched the tuft of red hair thus bared.
""Dongolas won"t swim!"" he repeated slowly. "An" how do I make thim swim? I wonder does Cousin Mike take th" goat t" be a fish, or what?
I wonder does he take swimmin" to be wan of th" accomplishments of th"
goat?" He shook his head in puzzlement, and frowned at the telegram.
"Would he be havin" a goat regatta, I wonder, or was he expectin" th"
goat t" be a web-footed animal? "Won"t swim!" he repeated angrily.
"Won"t swim!" An" what is it to me if they won"t swim? Nayther would I swim if I was a goat. "Tis none of me affair if they will not swim.
There was nawthin" said about "swimmin" goats." Goats I can give him, an" dongola goats I can give him, an jumpin" goats, an" climbin" goats, an" walkin" goats, but "tis not in me line t"furnish submarine goats.
No, nor goats t" fly up in th" air! Would anny one," he said with exasperation, "would anny one that got a plain order for goats ixpict t"
have t" furnish goats that would hop up off th" earth an" make a balloon ascension? "Tis no fault of Dennis Toole"s thim goats won"t swim. What will Mike be telegraphin" me nixt, I wonder? "Dear Dennis: Th" goats won"t lay eggs. How do ye make thim?" Bye, have ye a piece of paper t"
write an answer t" me cousin Mike on?"
The Keeper of the Water Goats and Alderman Toole were sitting on a rustic bench looking sadly at the water goats when the Jeffersonville telegraph messenger brought them Dennis Toole"s answer. Alderman Toole grasped the envelope eagerly and tore it open, and f.a.gan leaned over his shoulder as he read it:
"Michael Toole, Alderman, Jeffersonville," they read. "Put them in the water and see if they will swim. Dennis Toole."
"Put thim in th" wather!" exclaimed Alderman Toole angrily. "Why don"t ye put thim in th" wather, f.a.gan? Why did ye not think t" put thim in th" wather?" He looked down at his soaking clothes, and his anger increased. "Why have ye been tryin" t" make thim dongolas swim on land, f.a.gan?" he asked sarcastically. "Or have ye been throwin" thim up in th"
air t" see thim swim? Why don"t ye put thim in th" wather? Why don"t ye follow th" instructions of th" expert dongola water goat man an" put thim in th" wather if ye want thim t" swim?"
f.a.gan looked at the angry alderman. He looked at the dripping goats.
"So I did, Mike," he said seriously. "We both of us did."
"An" did we!" cried Alderman Toole in mock surprise. "Is it possible we thought t" put thim in th" wather whin we wanted thim t" swim? It was in me mind that we tied thim to a tree an" played ring-around-a-rosy with thim t" induce thim t" swim! Where"s a pencil? Where"s a piece of paper?" he cried.
He jerked them from the hand of the messenger boy. The afternoon was half worn away. Every minute was precious. He wrote hastily and handed the message to the messenger boy.
"f.a.gan," he said, as the boy disappeared down the path at a run, "raise up yer spirits an come an" give th" water goats some more instructions in th" ginteel art of swimmin" in th" wather."
f.a.gan sighed and arose. He walked toward the dejected water goats, and, taking the nearest one by the horns yanked it toward the lake. The goat was too weak to do more than hold back feebly and bleat its disapproval of another bath. The more lessons in swimming it received the less it seemed to like to swim. It had developed a positive hatred of swimming.
Dennis Toole received the second telegram with a savage grin. He had expected it. He opened it with malicious slowness.
"Dennis Toole, Franklin Zoo," he read. "Where do you think I put them to make them swim? They won"t swim in the lake. It won"t do no good to us for them to swim on dry land. No fooling, now, how do you make them dongolas swim? Answer quick.
"Michael Toole."
He did not have to study out his reply, for he had been considering it ever since he had sent the other telegram. He took a blank from the boy and wrote the answer. The sun was setting when the Jeffersonville messenger delivered it to Alderman Toole.