BUTTON HAS A FIGHT WITH A WHARF RAT
All day long the four of them kept hidden. At noon Stubby, Duke and
Button ate what the cats left, and Billy ran ashore and ate a little
grass by the river bank, where the boat had tied up for noon.
The Captain and his crew seemed in no hurry to get to Paris or anywhere
else, for that matter. All they seemed to do was to eat, sleep, tell
stories and smoke.
It was getting to be about half past nine, and the dogs and Button
were growing hungry for their supper which they could see on the plate
by the gangway, but could not go to get it as the sailors were still
lounging on deck talking and smoking.
“Will they never stop their silly talk and go to bed?” sighed Button.
He could not hear a word of what they said, but he called it silly
because he was so cross at them for not going to bed. And as they
talked, a big black wharf rat sneaked up behind them and began to help
himself to the meat on the plate. It was too much for the hungry Button
to lie there and see his supper or what he considered his, eaten up
before his eyes by a nasty old rat. Forgetting that he might be caught
by the sailors, he sneaked off the pile of hops and crept to within
jumping distance of the rat. Then with one long flying leap, he landed
on the rat’s back and buried his teeth in his neck and his claws in his
sides. It was a powerful rat, as I said before, and gave fight. Soon
the two of them were rolling around on the deck, with first one on top
and then the other. The scuffle they made added to the squeal of the
rat brought all the sailors to their feet and there they stood watching
the fight and wondering where the big black cat came from.
All of a sudden the rat let go of Button’s ear and buried its teeth
in his neck, causing the blood to flow freely. On seeing this Stubby
forgot all caution and came running to Button’s assistance.
“Holy Moses! And where did this dog come from?” asked the Captain. “He
must have dropped from the sky.”
Stubby tried to grab the rat by the back of its neck as it clung to
Button’s throat, but he could not as they kept rolling over and over
each other so that first one was on top and then the other. At last in
trying to stoop and get a grip he turned his broken leg the wrong way
and the pain was so intense that he fainted dead away and the sailors
thought he was dead. So did Duke, who was watching the struggle from
the top of the hop pile with Billy. When they saw Stubby roll over and
stretch out they both bounded off the hops and appeared on the scene.
“Jumping Jupiter! What have we here? A menagerie?” exclaimed the
Captain. The sailors all stared at Duke and Billy as if an elephant had
appeared in their midst, while from the other end of the boat came the
yellow cat and Mouser. And still the fight went on, with the Captain,
three sailors, two cats, one dog and a goat watching, all having formed
a ring around the fighters.
[Illustration]
Billy saw that Button was growing weak from loss of blood and though
he did not wish to interfere in Button’s fight, still he felt it best
under the circumstances to do so. So he watched his chance and ran one
long horn right through the rat, killing him instantly. Then with the
rat still sticking to his horns, he walked to the side of the boat and
scraped it off, and it fell into the water.
This was such a smart thing for a goat to do that the Captain clapped
his hands and cried, “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” in which all the sailors
joined him. Their clapping and cheering brought the Captain’s wife on
deck to see what all the commotion was about, and when she saw the
strange animals on board, she said,
“When did you buy this menagerie? I never laid eyes on them before.”
“Nor any of us,” answered the Captain, “until two or three minutes
ago,” and he related to her what had taken place.
“This fight never would have happened if that lazy yellow cat of ours
had done his duty and caught that rat.”
“But if he had, none of us would ever have witnessed the most desperate
bloody battle any of us ever saw between a cat and a rat.”
“I wonder to whom these animals belong and when they came on board,”
mused the Captain’s wife.
“They must have come on board the night we forgot and left the
gangplank out,” said the Captain.
“That is just when it must have happened,” agreed the sailors.
“They probably belong to some one person as they are all together, and
I should judge from their appearance that they are very valuable. See,”
said the Captain’s wife, “they all have medals around their necks, and
one dog wears a Red Cross badge sewed on his body.”
The Captain stooped down in front of Billy and began to read what was
on his badge.
“Wife, come here! Come here!” he called in excited tones. “What do you
think I find engraved on this badge? This goat is the celebrated Billy
Whiskers, the Mascot of the --th New York Regiment!”
“You don’t mean it? Not the goat that the big reward is offered for?
You don’t mean _that_, do you?”
“Yes, I do! The very same!”
“And this little dog and the black cat are mascots, too, other
regiments offering a big reward for their return. I read about these
very animals in one of the Paris papers this morning. I’ll go get the
paper and read it to you,” she said.
In a jiffy she disappeared inside the boat but came out again, waving
the paper. “Here it is! Now listen while I read to you all what it says:
LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN
One large white goat, belonging to the --th Regiment of New York
One small yellow dog, belonging to the --th Regiment of Pennsylvania
One big black cat, belonging to the --th Regiment of Illinois.
Any person or persons returning the same to their respective
Headquarters will receive $1,000 reward for each animal alive and
well.”
She jumped up and went springing and dancing around the deck.
“Here we have all three of them right here on our boat! Ho for the
reward! I see where we get it when we return from this trip. We will
take the best of care of them, but keep them hidden from others until
our return trip. Then we will take them to Headquarters and claim the
reward.”
“Well, you won’t get any reward for either the cat or the dog if you
don’t fix up the wounds where that rat bit them, for they are losing so
much blood it will kill them,” said the Captain.
“Here, some of you give me a hand and help me dress their wounds,” said
the Captain’s wife, who was as good as any trained nurse when it came
to dressing wounds and looking after the sick. “I’ll go ahead and get
warm water, witch hazel and bandages ready, while you carry them down
to my stateroom and lay them on the bunk.”
When Stubby came out of his fainting spell, he found himself lying
on a bunk beside Button, who had a bandage wrapped around his neck,
and smelling strong of witch hazel, besides having several crosses of
adhesive plaster on his sides and on the tip of his nose.
“How did we get here and what has happened to us?” he asked.
“What a fool thing for me to faint just when you needed me most!” said
Stubby.
“How did you happen to do it?” asked Button.
“I turned my broken leg the wrong way, and over I went.”
“But who helped you in the end? Did some of those men come to your
rescue? I should think they would have helped you before and not stood
there and see that monster rat biting you with its poisonous teeth.”
[Illustration]
“No, Billy came to my help as usual. He forgot he was in hiding and
jumped in and ran his horn straight through the rat, which made it
let go my throat, as he had killed it instantly. I never met such a
big rat before or one with such long, sharp teeth. When it cried, its
voice sounded like a baby’s. I shall be all right soon as the Captain’s
wife has fixed me up fine so the poison from the rat’s teeth won’t
hurt me. As it turned out, this fight was the best thing that could
have happened, for since they read our medals, every one is as keen on
keeping us on board as we are in staying. They have found out who we
are, and are now looking out for the reward. But they intend to take us
along with them to the coast and on their return will hand us over to
our respective regiments and claim the money.”
“How did they know there is a reward offered for us?”
“Why, the Captain’s wife had just finished reading about us in one of
the Paris papers.”
“We certainly are in luck! Here we shall have the best of care and get
clear through to Havre without walking one step. And when there we can
give them the slip as we did the farmer and his wife.”
“I know; but it does seem a shame that we always have to run off and
appear so ungrateful to our kind friends, doesn’t it?” said Stubby.
“Yes, it does; but it really can’t be helped,” replied Button. “Where
are Billy and Duke now?”
“Oh, they are having the time of their lives being petted and fed by
all on board. You see we will fare like princes for the rest of our
journey.”
Button was right. Nothing was too good for them and the way they were
fed, watered, combed and brushed would have satisfied a king.
“My, don’t they all look fat, sleek and shiny!” said the Captain’s wife
after they had bathed and curried all four of them. She had taken off
the dirty bandage that was around Duke’s body and put on a nice clean
white one with a lovely Red Cross embroidered on it.