while the big drops of sweat rolled off his cheeks. "Thunderclaps and
sunstrokes! Oh, my poor trousers!"
He had good reason to say that last, for the sharp horns of the two
goats had ripped his trousers' legs until they were in shreds, and there
were some sharp red marks on his legs, too. Billy Mischief and his
mother only capered in joy. What did they care about poor Hans trying
to get his breath on top of the fence? They were together, and together
they were going to America!
It was not long until the gate of the pen was opened and all the goats
were driven out through a fenced runway across a fenced gangplank and
through a wide, dark doorway into the hold of the cattle ship. Billy
and his mother found themselves in a long, low compartment, dimly
lighted by little round windows close under the ceiling. The goats were
driven up to the forward end of the boat and put on both sides of the
center aisle, behind strong, high bars. By this arrangement Billy and
his mother were separated, in spite of all they could do to keep
together, and could only stand close to the bars looking sorrowfully at
each other across the aisle. They soon quit this, however, because of a
new interest. Some surprising passengers came to join them. First, six
big camels were driven in, two by two, and fenced off next to the goats;
then a herd of small elephants followed these and then came a vast
number, of snarling, growling animals in strong cages; lions and tigers
and other fierce wild beasts. An American circus that had been
traveling in Europe was on its way back home.
At last the ship was loaded and began to move out of its slip toward the
ocean. The wild animals had been nervous and noisy before, but as soon
as the ship began to move they became still more excited. The elephants
trumpeted, the tigers snarled, the hyenas set up their screeching cry,
the lions roared. It was a perfect pandemonium of shrieks and howls and
yells, and for the first time in his life Billy trembled with fear. It
was not for long, however. Billy was a brave goat and a smart goat, and
he knew that so long as those fierce animals stayed in their cages they
could not hurt anything. The only thing that bothered him was that he
remembered how he had broken out of his own crate in the railroad train.
This was the worst trip Billy ever made. The animals were never quiet
for more than a minute at a time. There would be a lull when none of
them would make any noise, and Billy would lie down, hoping for a moment
of rest. All at once some animal would grunt, the next one would
grumble, the next one would growl, the next one would snarl, and by that
time they would all be at it; then suddenly the hyenas would begin.
Then one of the fiercer animals would begin to roar and the old hubbub
would begin all over again, winding up always with the lions' deep and
terrifying "Hough! Hough! Hough!"
Billy got tired of it by-and-by, and thought that he would like to go
away into some quiet corner and rest. A great many of the goats had
been thinking the same thing, and one after another they had been trying
the stout boards, some of them attempting to push them out or break them
and some trying to pry them loose with their stout horns. None of them,
however, had the patience and strength and determination of Billy, and
at last, down in one corner, he found a board that did not seem so
strongly fastened as the others, and on this board he began prying
cautiously with his horns. Billy would pry carefully until he was
tired, then lie down and rest a while, then go at it again. For nearly
an hour he worked at it and at last he was rewarded by having the board
come loose. He squeezed out through it and the board sprang back into
place. Another goat tried to follow but he did not know the trick, and
in place of pulling with his horns, pressed against the board, so Billy
was the only one to get loose.
Billy trotted between the long rows of animals, being very careful to
keep in the exact center of the aisle and as far away from all of them
as he could. One of the elephants reached out his long trunk and caught
Billy by the tail, but it was only a playful nip, and, after jerking
Billy back a little piece, the elephant let him go. Billy looked around
at the big gray beast and saw by his twinkling eyes that it was only in
fun, so, kicking up his heels, he trotted on with a friendly "baah!"
The lions and tigers and the leopards snarled and howled at him as he
went past, while the hyenas laughed--if the terrible noise they make can
be called laughing.
[Illustration: One of the elephants reached out his long trunk.]
Down toward the middle of the ship was a steep stairway up to an open
doorway that led out on the deck, and up this Billy climbed with ease.
It was delightful, after that close, stuffy place, to stand on the cool,
breeze-swept deck. The steamer was making good headway now and all
around was the ocean; the shore was only a low, hazy line, away out
there at the edge of the water. Billy was interested in the gaily
colored circus wagons, some of which, crowded out of the lower hold,
were grouped on the big, bare after-deck, and Billy did not notice,
until up very close to him, that a big, fat man was leaning over the
rail. It was Hans Zug, and although the ship was riding easy and the
ocean was very calm, Hans was already beginning to feel very sorry that
he had not staid on solid land.
"Ach, I am so sick!" groaned poor Hans. "I wish I could die, yet! I
should feel me so much better!"
"Now it would be a kindness to cheer Hans up a little bit and make him
forget his misery," thought Billy. Lowering his head and backing off a
little way, he gave a run and bumped Hans a good one which he felt he
still owed him for the whipping of the morning. He struck harder than he
knew, and Hans, a big part of his heavy body already lying far out over
the rail, got such a boost that he lost his balance and went bumping
down the side of the ship into the water.
"Man overboard!" shouted the first mate, who was up on the bridge, and
immediately the ship was in great commotion. Sailors came tumbling up
out of another stairway and Billy thought it was time for him to make
himself scarce. He did not care to go back into the hold, so he ran in
among the circus wagons and hid. The ship stopped and turned round. A
small boat was hastily lowered and the sailors in it began rowing like
mad to where Hans had gone down. Poor Hans did not know how to swim,
but when a boy he had learned to float, and now, turning on his back, he
kept his hands down to his sides and his face turned up. When the
sailors got there with the row boat his fat round face was bobbing along
above the little waves like a pumpkin in a pond.
"Ach, those dear mountains at home!" wept Hans, when they pulled him
into the boat. "How I should wish I was back in Switzerland again. I
said it that I wanted to die, but it iss not, aindt it? Thank you,
gentlemens! Thank you!"
A little rope ladder was let down and Hans, all dripping, his clothes
clinging around him and making him look like a wet balloon, climbed up
on the deck.
"Where is that fire and brimstone goat?" he cried, having now had time
to get over his fright and his seasickness enough to be angry. "When I
find him I throw him in all the ocean what iss! Yes!"
Billy kept as still as he could, but one of the sailors saw his stubby
tail and pointed him out. Then the chase began. Billy dashed around
and around the deck with Hans and the sailors close after him, and at
last, when they were almost upon him, he came to the open door of the
hold. Seeing no other way to escape, he was about to dash down this and
had already placed his forefeet on the topmost stair, when he saw two
great greenish-yellow eyes close to him, staring up at him out of the
dimness. One of the tigers had broken loose from his cage and had come
slinking up the stairs, and Billy stood face to face with him!
*CHAPTER VIII*
*AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER*
Billy felt his heart beat hard and fast, and for a moment his knees
trembled under him. He backed slowly up to the solid deck and the great
flaming eyes slowly crept up after him. Billy still backed away. The
men who had been chasing him were now very close, but one of them saw
the tiger's head coming up on the deck, and he yelled to the others, who
immediately pressed back. As soon as he felt the firm deck floor under
him and could see the animal's head as well as his eyes, Billy felt his
courage coming back to him. He knew that he had to stand and fight. He
felt that he could never run fast enough to get away from this powerful
animal, and that before he could even turn and start to run the tiger
would be upon him.
Slowly Billy backed away with his sharp horns lowered, and slowly the
tiger came out on the deck, crouched down until his body almost touched
the boards, his tail, full of hard muscles, waving slowly like a red and
yellow snake. The men were panic-stricken and scattered in all
directions, seeking places of safety wherever they could find them.
Poor Hans Zug was the slowest of all. In his fright he stumbled over
his own feet and fell three times to his hands and knees in trying to
get away, and then he tried to hide himself behind a slim iron rod that
ran up from the deck to the bridge, for he was too much paralyzed with
fear to pursue his hunt any further for some safe hiding-place.
The tiger was not in a very big hurry about making his spring. He did
not like the looks of Billy's horns, although he knew that he was much
stronger and more powerful than the little white goat. Still they came
on, Billy backing away and the tiger creeping toward him until they were
almost where Hans Zug stood trembling so hard that his teeth chattered.
Suddenly the tiger, with a swift spring, went up in the air, intending
to jump clear over Billy's long horns and land upon his back, but Billy,
himself as watchful and as careful as the tiger had been, sprang aside
just as the tiger jumped, jerking his head sharply upward as the tiger
went over him. One of his horns caught in the tiger's under side and
ripped a big gash in him. Billy immediately sprang in the other
direction, and the tiger, now fiercer than ever, wheeled quickly. This
time his sharp claw caught Billy's shoulder as Billy jumped aside,
tearing a big patch of Billy's hide loose. The pain staggered Billy and
made him feel faint, but he knew it would never do to give up. The
animal men now came running up from the rear hold, where some of the
other animals were being fed, and one of them had a pistol, but the two
animals were jumping about so swiftly that he could not be sure of
shooting the tiger without shooting Billy, so he waited to see how the
fight would turn out.
Time after time the tiger tried to get hold of Billy, but the goat was
too quick for him, though each time they met one or the other of them
got a mark. At last Billy felt that he was nearly whipped. The two
animals were now facing each other for another spring. The tiger, too,
was suffering from the last hook that Billy had given him but he was
fresher than the goat. Billy swayed on his feet. The light seemed to
turn into darkness before his eyes and he felt as if he were sinking
down, down on a soft bed, but he kept his head bent in the tiger's
direction. He felt, rather than saw, the tiger spring once more, and in
spite of his weakened condition he braced himself up and gave one more
sharp, hard toss of his strong neck. His horn caught the tiger right
behind the front shoulder blade and pressed deeply in. This time he had
found a vital spot. The tiger rolled over on his side, and, after a
quiver or two, lay still. He was dead, but Billy did not know it, for
the brave little goat had sunk to the floor with the tiger and lay as
motionless as his dead enemy. The animal men came running up first, the
one with the revolver in front of the others. Holding his revolver
pointed straight to where he knew it would reach the animal's heart, he
approached as slowly and cautiously as a cat creeping up to a mouse
hole, felt the tiger's side and pronounced him really dead. Two of the
men dragged the tiger away and the others crowded around the poor goat.
At first they thought that he too was dead, but when they examined him
they found that his heart was still beating slowly. One of them ran to
bring water and another to get bandages.
When Billy woke up his wounds had been nicely washed, ointment had been
applied to them, and bandages were carefully bound over them. The men
were patting him gently and saying what a fine, brave goat he was and
what a splendid fight he had made of it, and one big gruff voice, which
Billy found out afterwards belonged to the captain, said:
"Well, this goat is not to be tied up any more. He shall have the
freedom of the ship."
Billy moved his legs feebly and tried to get up, but not feeling quite
strong enough yet, he sank back and found that his head was lying on
somebody's knee. And now came the biggest surprise of all, for when
Billy looked up to see who it was, here it was Hans Zug who was holding
him!
"Ach, such a fine little goat, yet," Hans was saying, patting Billy's
neck gently, while the great tears rolled down his round cheeks. "Such
a brave little goat, yet. Thunder weather! He can butt me overboard
once again if he should to like it! Aindt it?"
[Illustration: "WELL, OLD FELLOW, IF BROKEN BONES ARE ALL, WE CAN FIX
THOSE."]
Billy was the hero of the ship. It did not take him long to get well,
and on the third day he was trotting around the deck as unconcerned as
if he had never had a fight in his life. His bandages were off and only
a little, red-edged scar on his shoulder remained to show how bravely he
had fought the tiger. Hans Zug never was through praising him, but
nevertheless, every time he went to speak to Billy he came toward him
from behind, for Billy still had a way of shaking his head at him that
made Hans feel like climbing a ladder. On the first day that he could
go around unbandaged, nobody seemed to be able to pat Billy enough, but,
true to his name, Billy could not long stay out of mischief.
Soon tiring of pacing the long decks, he went below in the cook's galley
and began to hunt for dainties. He had learned by this time that people
were very curious about things to eat. When they saw a goat helping
himself, something was almost sure to happen to the goat and he could
not understand it. You see, he could not know that everything belonged
to somebody. All that he knew about it was that if you saw anything you
wanted, and was lucky enough or strong enough or quick enough to get it,
it was all right. Accordingly, he watched the cook, and when the cook's
back was turned Billy grabbed a fine, big bunch of celery and trotted
off with it. When he got in a dark corner he ate it and it was so fine
that he wanted more. He went back into the cook's galley but could not
see any. Then he went into a little, dark room that opened into it and
found himself in a place full of the nicest things to eat he had ever
seen in one pile. There were carrots and radishes and peas and fine,
crisp, tender lettuce and all sorts of green stuff which had been
brought aboard for the captain's table. Billy ate until he could hold
no more, and then he happened to think that his mother would like some
of that nice celery, so he picked out an extra fine bunch and trotted
off with it. No one saw him and he made his way down into the hold
where his mother was crowded in the pen with the other goats. He gave
her the celery and while she was eating it he told her all that had
happened to him and how much the ship's crew thought of him, and how
even Hans Zug had become his friend.
"My, that was fine!" said his mother as she finished the last of me
celery. "It is the nicest thing I have had to eat since we left home."
"Ho!" said Billy. "That is nothing. We cabin passengers have some of
the finest things in the world to eat. What you need now is a bunch of
tender lettuce to finish off with, and I'll go get you some," and he
hurried off, leaving his mother very proud of his rise in the world.
Billy trotted boldly through the cook's galley, and the cook, who knew
all about Billy's fight, tossed him some carrot tops as he passed.
Billy was not at all hungry, but he ate the carrot tops just out of
politeness, then he went on into the store room and picked out a nice
big head of lettuce for his mother. He was just going out of the cook's
galley with it when the cook turned round and saw him. Right away the
cook forgot what a hero Billy was, and angry that Billy had taken some
of his precious lettuce, cried:
"Hey! Drop that, you bobtailed thief!" and threw a skillet at Billy.
It hit the goat in the side with a thump, but Billy never stopped. He
only ran on until he had gained the hold where his mother was and had
given the nice, cool lettuce to her, when he turned round to hurry away.
[Illustration: Threw a skillet at Billy.]
"Wait a minute, Billy!" she called after him. "I want to talk to you."
"I haven't got time," Billy called back over his shoulder. "I've got a
little business with the cook."
When Billy got back into the cook's galley, the cook was over in a
corner reaching up for some baking powder that he kept on a high shelf.
He was stretched out just right for a good bump and Billy gave it to
him.
"Great Scott!" cried the cook, and jumped up until his head bumped the
shelf. He quickly turned around but Billy had backed off and now jumped
for him again. This time the man put out his hands and caught Billy by
the horns firmly enough to keep the bump Billy gave him in front from
smashing him. Billy, however, jerked away and backed off for another
bump, and the man, jumping up, grabbed the shelf with the foolish notion
of climbing up out of range. He could not have been in a better position
for another bump behind, so Billy gave him that one and he dropped loose
from the shelf, yelling for help with all his might. In dropping, he
turned around, and this time Billy landed with all his weight right in
the middle of the man's appetite.
By this time the cook had lost his head so that all he could do was to
spread his arms and legs like an old-fashioned, jointed doll and yell
for help. Several men came running down the ladder and the foremost one
was Hans Zug with his whip. Hans had just been over to straighten out a
fight in the goats' pen, and when he saw one of his goats butting the
cook, he never stopped to think that it was the same Billy he had been
petting and praising, so he hauled off and gave Billy a mighty slash
with his sharp leather whip. Billy got through with the cook in a
hurry!
So Hans Zug, who had been following him around and patting him on the
back and calling him nice goat and fine goat and brave goat, was ready
to start in again, was he? Well, Billy would show him! Like a flash he
wheeled and was after Hans.
"Donnervetter!" cried Hans, and turned to run.
The men who had followed him down the steps were in the way, however,
and Hans ran square into them. A second later Billy ran into Hans with
enough force to send him sprawling among the men, and four or five of
them went to the floor grunting, with Hans on top. Before Billy could
back off for another stroke Hans turned quickly and was just in time to
grab Billy by the fore legs. At the same moment the cook caught Billy
by the hind legs, and these two carried him upstairs to the deck.
"Over he goes," yelled the angry cook.
"Sure!" said Hans. "He done it to me. Ein! swei! drei!"
As Hans counted his one, two, three in German, they gave three mighty
swings, and with the last one they let go.
Splash! went Billy into the sea!
*CHAPTER IX*
*ALONE IN AN OCEAN STORM*
Poor Billy! Once more he had lost his mother! He looked for the ship
to turn round and send out a boat as it had done when Hans fell
overboard, but it did nothing of the sort. Instead, it steamed straight
ahead. In the excitement nobody had noticed that Billy had been thrown
into the water.
The cook got a life preserver and threw it over after Billy, thinking it
a good joke, then the cook went below and Hans stood at the stern
railing shaking his fist at the poor goat. Billy swam as long and as
hard after the boat as he could, but it was no use; he could not begin
to keep up with its great speed. Presently, however, he came to where
the life preserver floated. It was a big circular one and Billy put his
front paws upon it. His weight made it tip on edge and Billy was
surprised and delighted to find that it held him up in the water, making
the work of swimming much easier. In trying to get his legs further into
it he slipped once or twice, but finally in his struggles his head and
horns went through it, and, after swimming and wriggling a little bit,
he got his front shoulders through and there it clung round him, holding
him up splendidly. It was too small to pass backwards over his body, and
it could not get off over his head on account of Billy's horns.
It was a lucky thing for Billy that this happened, for that night a
terrific storm came up. The wind shrieked and howled, the lightnings
glared, the thunders rolled, and great foam-capped waves, some of them
nearly as high as a house, broke over Billy, one after another, nearly
drowning him and sometimes almost crushing him by their weight.
In all his life Billy had never passed such a terrific night as this,
but through it all the big life preserver held him up and carried him
safely through. Many times there seemed to come a lull in the storm and
Billy began to breathe easier, thinking that he would get a little rest,
but the storm would break out again with new fury each time, until, when
morning came, the poor goat was battered and bruised and nearly dead.
With the dawn, however, the storm calmed down. The skies began to
clear, the waves grew smaller, and the wind, shifting by-and-by to the
opposite direction from that in which it had been blowing all night,
beat back the waves and smoothed them down until by ten o'clock the
ocean was quiet, only ruffled by gentle swells over which Billy and his
life preserver bobbed in comfort, although he was very tired and
beginning to get hungry.
Ever since the sky had cleared he had seen smoke away off where sea and
sky seemed to join. Billy knew what smoke meant. Wherever there was
smoke there were people, and wherever there were people there was food,
so he started toward it, swimming a little bit and resting a long while
between times. The smoke grew blacker and presently he saw a little
speck under the smoke. It grew larger and larger, and by-and-by he was
able to make out that it was a big ship coming in his direction. Poor
Billy swam harder than ever then, and fortunately for him the ship was
coming almost straight toward him. Still more fortunately, the captain,
sweeping the sea with his glass, made out the life preserver holding up
something white, and immediately thought it must be a woman in a white
dress. He altered the direction of the ship slightly so that it came
nearer to Billy, and had ordered a boat to be lowered before he made out
that it was only a goat, otherwise he might have passed on by. The
boat, however, was already lowered, so he let it go.
[Illustration: The ship was coming almost straight toward him.]
The ship was a big passenger steamer, and by this time scores of
passengers were thronging to the rails to see what the excitement was
all about, and when the boat was drawn up, Billy, a comical looking
sight with his big life preserver around him, was placed on the deck. A
boy among the passengers at once ran forward with a shout.
"Why, it's my Billy goat!" he cried. "Papa, come and look! See the
singe marks on his back?"
Billy "baahed" joyfully. He rather liked Frank and was very glad that
he had found a friend. The captain himself, interested and amused, had
joined the crowd by this time.
"Your goat?" he asked Frank, in amazement. "Do you always keep your
goats out at sea in life preservers?"
"Not always," laughed Frank. "In fact, this is the only goat I have.
We lost him in Havre. The last I saw of him he was tied to the back of
our carriage with a rope. When we got down to the wharf he was gone.
Then we went down to Cherbourg, where papa had some business, caught
your ship the next day and here we are. How Billy ever got here from
Havre, I don't know, but here he is and he's my goat."
"Well, according to the law of the sea," said the captain with a twinkle
in his eye, "he is salvage now and belongs to the men there who picked
him up. Of course I have a share in the salvage too, but I'll take a
cigar for mine."