THE TWINS ARE STOLEN
In the forenoon of the next day Billy, Nannie, Daisy and Billy Junior
were under the big elm tree in the barnyard listening to Billy describe
all that had happened to him the day before while he was in town, when
Stubby came running down the lane. On reaching them he panted out this
message:
“Do you know where the Twins are while you are all chatting here?”
“I thought they were down by the stream playing”, answered Daisy, their
mother.
“No, they are being carried off to Milwaukee in a butcher’s wagon!”
announced Stubby.
“You don’t mean it!” exclaimed Billy.
“How do you know?” asked Billy Junior, their father.
“Just saw them! I was running along the road, coming home from visiting
the dogs over on the Samuelson farm when I heard the most pitiful
crying as a wagon passed me. Stopping to listen, I recognized Judy’s
voice saying, ‘I want to go home to my mama! You’re a naughty man to
carry us off! If you don’t let us out of this wagon, my grandpa will
butt you when he catches you!’
“‘Yes, he will!’ cried Punch. ‘And my papa will help my grandpa butt
and hook you! Stop and let us jump out!’
“It was while they were crying the wagon passed me, and I barked, ‘Stop
crying, Punch and Judy! I will bring your grandfather!’
“‘Oh, Uncle Stubby, do get us away from this naughty man! He is a
butcher and we are afraid he will kill us. Oh, oh, oh! Do hurry and get
us out of here before he makes us up into chops!’
“I trotted along behind the wagon and talked to them, telling them to
cease crying or they would make themselves sick, and that I would go
along with them and see what I could do.
“When we were passing the mill, who should come out but Button. He
followed too, and I explained the situation to him and told him to
stay with the Twins and find out where the butcher took them; that as
soon as he knew this, he was to hurry back here and tell you; that if
someone did not go along with them and tell us where they had been
taken, we never could find them in a big city like Milwaukee. While he
was doing that, I would return to the farm for you and then we would
all go and rescue the Twins from the butcher. Picking them up on the
road the way he did was nothing less than stealing.”
“Come, let’s not stop to talk another minute,” said the Twins’ father,
as he kissed his wife good-by and told her not to cry, assuring he
would bring their darlings back with him when he came.
“I know, Billy Junior, but it is a _butcher_ who has them, and he will
probably try to kill them to-night so that in case anyone searches for
them it will be impossible to find them, while if they were alive it
would be comparatively easy to locate them.”
“Oh, mother, isn’t it awful to think of those darling babies being
butchered? And they are all alone! I shall go crazy if they are not
brought back,” wailed Daisy to Nannie after Stubby, Billy and Billy
Junior had departed.
“I know, my dear, just how you feel,” answered Nannie, “but let us
trust in God and wait. I feel sure Billy and their father will reach
the Twins in time to rescue them. Probably while the butcher is eating
his supper they will butt down the stable door and save them. Let us
hope so, at any rate.”
While Daisy and Nannie were trying to cheer one another, the two goats
and Stubby were running like mad down the road towards Milwaukee. The
sun was setting when they saw a big cloud of dust in the distance, and
at last who should they discover to be making it but Button! He had
followed the butcher home and as soon as he had seen the Twins taken
from the wagon and put in an open pen in the stable yard, he started
back to tell the others where the Twins were. Button reported all
this the moment they met on the road and he turned to hasten back to
Milwaukee with them. When they arrived at the butcher’s home, they were
glad to see that his house was on the outskirts of the city and quite
detached from those of his neighbors. It was now dark, but through the
lighted window they could see the butcher eating his supper.
[Illustration]
“Now is our time,” said Billy. “I’ll just butt down a rail in this
fence and make a place large enough for us to crawl through. Then I
will do the same thing with the pen where the Twins are imprisoned.
We will have them out of here and on the way home in a jiffy. Billy
Junior, you stand at the foot of the kitchen steps and if the butcher
starts to come outdoors, butt him hard enough to make him senseless so
as to give us ample time to get away.”
Just then a dog came bounding out of the barn, but he soon wished he
had stayed where he was for in a moment Stubby and Button both were on
him. His howl brought the butcher to the kitchen door. Seeing two dogs
(he supposed Button was a dog) he grabbed a mop that stood beside the
door and ran to the dog’s rescue--but what was that which first struck
him in the middle of the back and then chased him into the barn, where
he received a butt that sent him up into the haymow?
The moment Billy Junior saw the butcher land in the hay, he gave the
dog Stubby and Button were fighting a butt that sent him sky high,
landing him on the roof of an outshed where he stood for a while too
dazed to know what happened to him. Then Billy Junior hurried to help
his father, but Billy Whiskers and the Twins had disappeared, so he
knew they were already on the road toward home. Maybe you think those
kids did not run fast when once they found themselves free!
As for the man who had stolen them, he was so bruised, he never even
looked in the direction of the pen where he had put the kids. All he
thought of was to get some liniment for his back. His poor dog stayed
on the roof of the shed all night, much too frightened to attempt to
get down.
When the Whiskers family was all together once again, Judy said, “And
what do you think, mama, the old naughty butcher said as he leaned over
the pen and looked at us before he went in for his supper? ‘You are
two pretty fine looking kids, and if I was not so tired and it was not
so dark, I would butcher you to-night and sell your nice fat tender
little chops in the morning. But I guess I will wait until it is light
to-morrow and then kill you before anyone comes around looking for you.
So ta-ta until then, my tender young kids!’”
[Illustration]
“Yes,” said Punch. “That is just what he said. He had the meanest face
you ever saw. When I grow up I am going to go to Milwaukee and look for
him, and butt him until he cries for mercy, so I am!”
[Illustration]
“I wish you children to promise me now that you will never go out in
the road alone again. Some member of your family must always be with
you, for you see now how easily you can be kidnaped. If Uncle Stubby
had not just happened to be on the road, you would never have been
rescued,” said their mother.
“We promise! We promise! And cross our hearts we never will go in the
road alone!”