CHAPTER XI.
THERE was great wonder in Waddy next morning, and much argument.
Neighbours discussed the sensation with avidity. Mrs. Sloan, uncombed and
in early morning deshabille, with an apron thrown over her head, carried
the news to Mrs. Justin's back fence, and Mrs. Justin ran with it to the
back fence of Mrs. McKnight, and Mrs. McKnight spread the tidings as far
as the house of Steven; so the wonder grew, and families were called up
at an unusually early hour, and sage opinions were thrown from side
windows and handed over garden gates. An invasion of goats had happened
at Waddy, a downpour of goats, an eruption of goats: goats were all over
the place, and nobody knew whence they came or when they arrived. Waddy's
own goats were many and various, but the invasion had quadrupled them,
and goats were everywhere--bold, hungry, predatory goats--browsing,
sleeping, battling, thieving, and filling the air with incessant
pleadings. They invaded gardens and broke their way into kitchens and
larders; they assaulted children and in some cases offered fight to the
mothers who went to eject them; and here and there the billies of Waddy
fought with the bearded usurpers long unsatisfactory contests, rearing
and butting for hours, and doing each other no morsel of injury that
anybody could discover. A few of the women were out with buckets, making
the most of the opportunity, milking all the nannies who would submit;
and Devoy, with characteristic impetuosity, was already on the warpath,
seeking vengeance on the person or persons whose act had led to the
pillage of his vegetable beds.
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