money, and Billy was taken below to a large, white, clean room where
some fine blooded horses were hitched in roomy stalls. Here he was
given a big bowl of warm milk and a bed of clean straw, both of which he
was very glad to get. As soon as he had drunk the bowl of milk, he felt
so good and warm that he lay down and went sound asleep.
When Billy woke up he saw something that made him gasp with surprise,
and at first he thought he must be dreaming. Right beside him, sleeping
peacefully, an empty bowl that had contained milk just in front of it,
lay another goat. It was his mother! Billy was so overjoyed that he
did not know what to do. He licked her face gently and when she opened
her eyes he capered around till the horses in the stalls near by thought
that he must have gone crazy. Billy's mother was no less happy and when
they had calmed down Billy told her how Hans Zug had thrown him
overboard, how he had suffered through the storm and how the ship had
picked him up.
"You were lucky, I guess, that he threw you over," said his mother. "We
got into that same terrible storm and our ship struck upon the rocks and
broke to pieces. I do not know what became of the other goats or of
Hans Zug. Of course all the circus animals in the cages went down. I
was swimming about in the water when some sailors in a boat grabbed me
and took me with them. They said that they had not had time to get
provisions and that they might have to eat me. I would have jumped
overboard when I heard this but they had already forced me under one of
the seats in such a way that I could not scramble out. The storm was
still upon us and the waves spun us around like a top, and two or three
times we thought we were gone. By morning, however, the storm calmed
down and we were safe, although some of the men had been swept overboard
by the big waves that broke over us. All day long we drifted about. One
of the men had brought along a box of crackers and another one had got
some dried beef. A keg of water was already in the boat so that there
was nearly enough for everybody for breakfast, and when the noonday meal
came, one of the men wanted to kill me, but the others would not let
him. They wanted to save me, they said, until the next day. It was
nearly dusk when this ship saw us and stopped to take us on board. If
this ship had missed us I suppose that to-night would have been my
last."
Billy shuddered.
"Well," said he, "at any rate we are together again, and this time I
suppose that we will stay together. If you are rested enough come on
and let us look around the ship."
First the two goats trotted side by side past the big clean stalls of
the horses and all around the room they were in, then they made their
way to the stairway that led up to the deck. They were about to climb
this when Billy spied the open door of a little closet, scarcely large
enough to put his head in. Full of curiosity, he went up to it and
stuck his nose inside.
"Oh, come here, mother!" he suddenly cried. "Here is a rope with a very
strange taste. I had some of it in a big hotel in Bern and I did not
care for it very much, but it has such a queer taste that you must eat
some of it."
The rope Billy meant was not exactly like the ones he had chewed in
Bern, for those were single big wires with a covering to keep them from
touching. This rope in the little closet was not a solid one but was a
big bundle of tiny wires, each one covered with a queer tasting sheath.
The wires ran from the pilot's room and the captain's room to the
engineer's room and to the other working rooms of the ship, and, by the
use of little push buttons were intended to direct the movements of the
mighty floating palace.
"Why, this is quite a treat," said Billy's mother, taking a big bundle
of the wires in her mouth. Another little closet just like this one
stood alongside of it and Billy saw that the door of this was also
slightly ajar. He pushed it open with his nose, and inside he found
another bundle of wires. These ran from the passengers' cabins to the
steward's cabin, and the electrician had just been fixing them,
carelessly leaving the doors unfastened.
"Why, here's another bundle! I'll try some of them myself," remarked
Billy, so both the goats got to work at once.
Billy's mother had only chewed at her rope of wires a little while when
the coverings began to come off and the wires to touch. Instantly things
began to happen. The first wires that touched gave the engineer a
signal to stop and instantly the mighty ship began to slow up. Within a
short time it had come almost to a standstill and the first mate, up in
the pilot room, immediately took down his telephone and called up the
engineer.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Nothing, sir," said the engineer. "You gave the signal to stop and we
stopped."
"I did no such thing," said the mate. "At any rate, start up again and
we'll investigate."
Just then came another signal, and with a great jangling of bells the
big engines began to turn and the ship wheeled square around. There was
another jangling of bells, and, shaking with the force of the mighty
engines, the ship began to pick up speed, headed straight back for
France. Again the first mate called up the engineer.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Are you crazy? Why have you tacked
about?"
"Had orders, sir," said the engineer.
"You lay her northwest by north at once. Put the second engineer in
charge and report to me immediately."
"Aye, aye, sir," said the engineer and started up to present himself to
the first mate.
The ship was swung back on her proper course and had gone straight a
little way, when all at once the whistles began to blow and bells to
ring, and with this the captain came running up to the pilot room. The
first mate already had his telephone off the hook and was screaming down
to the engineer.
"What are you doing, sir?" he demanded. "I thought I told you to report
to me at once!"
"This is the second engineer, sir," repeated the voice. "The chief
engineer has just gone up to report to you, sir."
"Well, why did you blow a landing whistle out here in mid-ocean? Can't
you obey orders? Are you crazy, too? Are you all crazy?"
"I had the signal and obeyed orders, sir," said the second engineer.
By that time the captain came bursting into the pilot room, while Billy
Mischief and his mother were chewing wires.
"Are you a plum idiot?" demanded the captain. "Can't you be left in
charge of this ship? Have you been drinking? First you stopped the
ship, then you put back for France, then you turn again, and now you
blow a landing whistle."
At that moment the fog horn began to sound, although the sea was almost
as bright as day with a round moon shining overhead and the stars
studded thick in the sky.
The captain himself grabbed the telephone.
"I want to know who's doing all this!" he demanded. "Who's in charge
there?"
"I am, sir; the second engineer," answered the voice.
"Put your assistant in charge and report to me in the pilot room at
once."
Just then the chief engineer came in.
"What does all this mean?" roared the captain.
"I don't know, sir," said the engineer. "I got signals to stop, then to
put about, then to come back on the course, all of which I did."
"I don't want you to attempt to put this on to me," said the mate. "I
haven't touched a button for an hour. There has been no necessity. We
have been going straight on our course."
[Illustration: "SHAKE HANDS," SAID BOBBY.]
All this while the steward had been going nearly crazy. The bells were
ringing from every cabin on the ship, and the waiters were running about
the place like mad. First one bell, then another would ring, and always
when the waiters went to those cabins they were told that nothing was
wanted and were abused for waking people up. That part of it was Billy
Mischief's work and he did as much to put the ship in an uproar as had
his mother. The sound of the fog horn and the stopping and starting of
the ship, the whistling and the clanging of the bells, kept everybody
awake that had been awakened by the waiters, and hastily throwing on
clothing, the passengers began to hurry out on to the decks to find out
what was the matter.
The steward came hunting the captain, right after the second engineer.
"This ship is bewitched," he cried, wringing his hands, and he told the
captain of all the trouble he was having with false alarms.
Everybody looked at everybody else as if they thought that the others
had all better be in the asylum, and it was just at that moment that
Billy Mischief, down in the hold, turned to his mother and said:
"Oh, come on! I don't like this stuff very well, anyhow," and leaving
the little closets to themselves, they trotted innocently upstairs not
knowing all the trouble they had made.
*CHAPTER X*
*THE GOATS BECOME A FIERY DRAGON*
Not stopping on the lower deck, they went on up until they reached the
main saloon deck. It was ever so much wider and nicer than the deck of
the cattle ship, and just now it was crowded with passengers who had
hastily dressed themselves and had come out on deck to see what was the
matter with the ship and its queer actions.
"Oh, there's my goat!" said a boy who was standing at the rail just at
the head of the stairway.
It was Frank Brown and, walking up to Billy, he patted him on the neck.
A bright faced young man who was with Frank also stooped over and patted
Billy.
"Whose goat is this other one?" he asked, turning to pat Billy's mother,
who, being jealous like most animals, crowded up to get her share of the
attention.
"I don't know," said Frank. "It was picked up from a wreck; but the two
goats seem to be very chummy."
Frank was looking along the deck at the long row of excitable
passengers, and suddenly he began to laugh.
"I wish we could play some sort of a trick on all these people," he
said.
The young man's face lit up with a smile as he gazed at the nervous and
worried looking passengers, then all at once he laughed aloud.
"I've got it!" he cried. "Bring your goats and come into my cabin
quickly. It's just inside here."
So Billy, willingly enough, was led by the horns into the young man's
cabin, and his mother followed after. As soon as they had reached the
cabin the young man rang the bell, and when the waiter came to him the
young man gave him a check and sent him after a trunk which was soon
brought up. Opening it, the young man took out an enormous dragon's
head made of papier mache and painted in bright colors. It was a fierce
looking head and almost filled the trunk. It had a great, double row of
gleaming white teeth, red lips, a red tongue that worked out and in,
immense saucer-like eyes and winged ears, while a "scary" looking spine
started from the top of its nose and arched high over its neck. The
balance of the trunk was filled with a long, thin, sack-like arrangement
which was painted green and red and yellow, and which was to represent
the dragon's body.
"You know I told you," said the young man, "that I am the property man
of a big spectacular show company, and this is a new dragon that I have
just had made. It is intended for men to get inside of to walk it
across the stage. We'll put the goats in it and start them along the
deck, and then we'll see some fun."
Neither Billy nor his mother wanted to get inside that strange looking
thing, but the two boys suddenly slipped the big head over Billy and
there was no way for him to get out. Then, catching Billy's mother by
the horns, they dragged her to the second slit and put her inside. The
young man quickly straightened up the ridges and the long, scalloped,
folding side fins of the body, while Frank held the head tightly and let
the goats prance inside. The young man opened the door and looked out.
The passageway was clear and they soon gained the deck. The young man
lit a match and stooped down for a moment. Instantly the big eyes were
lit up with red. Red flames came out of the tip of the tongue and smoke
rolled out of the nostrils.
They headed the dragon up the deck before anybody noticed it, and as
soon as the goats were let go they started to run in their efforts to
get away from this heavy, dark thing that surrounded them. The young
man put his hands to his mouth, and making a megaphone of them, gave a
tremendous roar. Instantly everybody looked, and when they saw this
great, red-eyed and fire-breathing monster coming toward them there was
a grand scamper. A great many of the passengers thought that a sea
serpent had got aboard and they did not care to see it any closer. Away
they went, making as much noise as a Sunday school picnic, with the
fiery dragon right after them. Around and around the deck they chased
and the two poor goats were as scared as any of the women on board.
It had been twice around the deck when the red powder that the young man
had lighted in its tongue began to die out, so the young man grabbed it
just as it passed the place where they had started it off and, quickly
turning it in toward his cabin, was struggling with the now thoroughly
frightened goats. He got the dragon safely into his room, but, as soon
as it was lifted off of Billy and his mother, those frightened goats
made a dash for the door and out on deck. Their only idea was to run as
fast as they could to get away from that dreadful thing, so when the
passengers saw them coming, they thought that some other sort of a
monster was loose and they began to run again. Some of the men stopped
to see what it was, however, and more than one of them had his revolver
in his hand ready to shoot. One of them, in fact, had his finger on the
trigger and was going to pull it when another man suddenly called out:
"Wait a minute! They're only goats."
The men caught the goats as they were struggling to get through and the
captain, who had been everywhere trying to stop the panic, now came up.
The second mate came up also, and when he saw the two goats he was very
angry and called one of his men.
"Here," said he, "take these animals down where they belong and tie them
up with wires or chains so that they can't gnaw themselves loose. If I
see them again before we get to New York there's going to be trouble for
somebody."
So Billy and his mother, their fun all over, were taken back down in the
hold and tied up tightly, and it was the last time they got loose until
they landed in America.
"At any rate," said Billy's mother, "we are together."
"I don't know how we can stay together, though," said Billy, shaking his
head. "I belong to Frank Brown and, so far as I can tell, you don't
belong to anybody. If you only did, maybe Mr. Brown would buy you,
although I don't believe he wants any more."
And Billy was right about Mr. Brown's not wanting any more goats.
The day they landed Frank Brown went to claim his goat. Billy and his
mother were still together, but as Frank was about to take Billy away a
woe-begone looking little fat man came rushing up.
"Those should been my goats yet!" he exclaimed.
"Your goats?" said Mr. Brown, rather angrily. "Why, man, that one with
the singed spots on his back we have just brought over with us from
France."
"It makes me nothing out!" exclaimed the man. "They should been my
goats! I know them both like it was mine own brother and sister, yes!
I know the biggest one by such a black spot on her forehead and the
other one by such singed places like vat iss on his back. So! I should
bring them both over from Havre, and our ship got such a wreckness in
the big thunder weather, and Ach, I could cry mit weeping. My name is
Hans Zug and I am a poor man. Yes! I had more as two hundred goats and
these two is all what I got now, and if you take them away I don't got
any. No!"
One of the sailors from the cattleship who had been taken on board with
Billy's mother came up just then and said that Hans was telling the
truth. Mr. Brown looked perplexed.
"It's true," he said, "that we got this goat out of the ocean. It is
scarcely possible that two goats should be burned exactly alike and this
one either slipped loose from our carriage in Havre or was taken away
from us there by this man. I have already paid twice for it; once in
Europe, once on the ocean, and now I am expected to pay for him a third
time in America. Frank, get your goat and come on!"
Poor Hans did not know what to say or do. Mr. Brown was evidently rich
and powerful and Hans was afraid he might get himself into trouble. He
looked so miserable, however, that Mr. Brown relented, and taking out
his pocket-book, handed Hans some money.
"Here," he said, "I'll buy this goat again and then I'll be tempted to
hire somebody to hang it, only I'm afraid some butcher would sell it to
me a fourth time for mutton."
Frank giggled at this and his father, too, cleared up his anger in a
laugh. Then Billy, in spite of all his mother's bleatings, was led away
from her. Within an hour he was put in a baggage car of a train for the
West where the Browns lived. This time he was not crated, but was tied
to a ring with a stout rope.
Up to the time that the train began to start he struggled and pulled,
hoping to get away and run back to join his mother, but it was no use.
The train pulled out, and every minute Billy was carried farther and
farther away from the one goat in the world that was dear to him. He
was a very sad goat and he would have been sadder still if he had known
that his real misfortunes had only begun. All through that afternoon he
chewed at the stout rope, trying to get it loose, and all that night
whenever he woke up he began to gnaw at it, not knowing, of course, how
far he was being carried away, nor how impossible it would be for him
ever to get back to New York, over hundreds of miles of ground, across
rivers, through tunnels and over ferries, or even find his mother if he
ever did reach New York City.
By morning he had his rope nearly gnawed through. Not long after
daylight the train stopped at a little station and the baggage doors on
both sides of the car were standing open when the train pulled out.
Billy gave a tug at his rope and then another one. It came loose, and,
giving a short run, he jumped out of the door. The train by this time
was going at a good speed, and Billy landed in the gravel of a steep
embankment, rolling over and over. After the train went on he lay quite
still, for he had fainted. Poor Billy had broken a leg.
[Illustration: Poor Billy had broken a leg.]
After a long time he crawled painfully up to the country road that
crossed the railroad track and led into the village they had just
passed. He dragged himself along this road quite a way toward the
village, but the pain was too great for him to continue very far, so
presently he crawled to the side of the road and lay down in the cool
grass. He tried to nibble a bit at this but he was too sick, and
finally he stretched himself out and closed his eyes. More and more,
now, he missed his mother, and felt that if she could only be there to
lick his wounds his leg would get well again, but now he felt that there
was no hope for him. All he could do was to close his eyes and die.
*CHAPTER XI*
*BILLY JOINS A HAPPY FAMILY*
Whoa!" cried a brisk, cheery voice.
Billy slowly opened his eyes. There on the road above him a pretty
Shetland pony stopped suddenly and shook his saucy looking head, while a
boy a little bigger than Frank Brown jumped down from a little cart full
of grass and ran to the pony's head.
"Now stand still, Dandy, till we see whether our friend here by the
roadside needs any help," went on the boy. "It's a fine looking goat,
Dandy, but he looks sick."
Dandy danced his front feet up and down and rubbed his nose
affectionately against the boy's neck, while a beautiful collie came
rushing up and capered and danced around them both, giving little,
short, sharp, playful barks.
"Steady now, King, steady," said the boy. "That's no way to make a
noise when there are sick people around. Behave yourself," and patting
the dog's silken coat with a hearty thump, he turned to see what he
could do for Billy.
The dog reached the goat first and Billy shivered as he felt the dog's
muzzle touch him. He jerked his head and began to gather his limbs to
get up and defend himself, when the dog whined a little and he felt that
the touch was a friendly one.
"Why, you poor goat!" said the boy, as he saw the bruised and bleeding
leg. "I wonder how you ever broke such a pretty, fine limb as that.
Well, old fellow, if broken bones are all, we can fix those."
He passed his hand gently down Billy's neck to his fore flanks, where it
rested for a moment. Billy felt better right away. He liked this young
fellow. He had never heard a voice or felt a touch that seemed to do
him so much good. A tiny little stream ran across the road not far
ahead, and, taking a bright little pail from his cart, the boy ran to
this stream and came back with some water. He carefully bathed Billy's
leg with his handkerchief and then, wetting the handkerchief thoroughly,
he tied it around Billy's leg.
"That will do for a little bit," said the boy, "and now we will just
take you right home and fix you up properly."
He stooped down to pick Billy up, and Billy, just as the pony had done
to the boy's neck, rested his nose affectionately on the boy's bare arm.
They were strong arms, too, and with but very little trouble they lifted
Billy up and laid him in the cart on the bed of soft, springy grass,
King barking joyous circles around them all the way.
"It's lucky for you, old fellow," said the boy, as he gave Billy a light
pat and climbed back to his seat, "that I happened to be out cutting
some feed for my pets."
The dog, King, sprang up on the seat beside the boy and sat there
looking as grave as an owl.
"Get up, you Dandy!" said the boy.
The saucy little pony stopped to prance for just a minute to show how
good he felt, and then away he darted. The road was smooth, the little
cart was supplied with good springs and the grass kept off the jar still
more, so that the ride was a very easy one. Just at the outskirts of
the village the boy sprang down again and opened a wide gate. Billy
raised up his head a little to look after this splendid fellow. He wore
a gray sweater, a pair of overalls, and a straw hat, and he was in his
bare feet. His nose tilted up a little at the end and his face was all
covered with freckles, but he was tall and straight, his yellow hair
curled from under his hat and his blue eyes were bright and kind, and
Billy thought he had never seen any human being in this world so fine
and handsome. As soon as the gate was opened, the busy little pony
darted through it and, without a word from the boy, stopped until his
driver could close the gate and take his place again. Two other dogs
came running down to meet them.
"Hello, Curly! Hello, Spot!" called the boy, and he patted each of the
dogs on the head before he climbed back up on his seat and took the
reins.
Back a little way from the road sat a small, white house with green
vines and bright red flowers clambering all over the wide front porch.
The ground in front of the house was glowing with flower beds;
everything looked neat and clean, and as if happy, contented people
lived there. The road from the gate led right past this house, and back
by the kitchen the boy stopped with a "Whoa!" A pleasant looking woman
came out of the kitchen door, and in her hands she held up a cooky.
"Just out of the oven, Bobby boy," she said, and came up to the wagon to
hand it to him. He reached down and patted her cheek and with the same
hand took the hot cooky.
"Look in the wagon, mother," he said smiling.
"Well, Bob Sanders!" she cried. "Another animal! I don't know what
your father will say."
"Oh, but look, mother!" said the boy, turning round to show her. "I
picked him up at the side of the road and see, he has broken a leg."
"Oh, the poor goat!" said Mrs. Sanders, her voice as full of sympathy as
Bobby's own. Billy liked her voice too. The sound of it seemed to do
him good in the same way that Bobby's voice had. "I'll go right in and
get him some milk," she added.
"No, I'd rather you wouldn't, mother," said Bobby. "I'll give him a
drink of water out at the barn, but I don't want him to eat anything
just now. I have got to set that leg and it's likely to be very painful
for him. If he ate anything it might make him very sick. After it is
all through, I'll make him a little mash and feed it to him."
"All right, Bobby, you know best," said his mother, and she stood there
watching them until Bobby and his wagon had disappeared through the
gates of the barnyard and behind the barn.