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diff --git a/old/65898-h/65898-h.htm b/old/65898-h/65898-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 42496a3..0000000 --- a/old/65898-h/65898-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5596 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - Billy Whiskers in France, by Frances Trego Montgomery—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} -div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - - - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.tdr {text-align: right;} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; -} - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 15%; - margin-right: 15%; -} - - - -.center {text-align: center;} - - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.u {text-decoration: underline;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} - -.large {font-size: 125%;} -.small {font-size: 75%;} -.largebold {font-size: 125%; font-weight: bold;} -.gap {padding-left: 3.25em;} - -.hangingindent { text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em; } - -.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;} -.ph2 {text-align: center; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;} -.ph3 {text-align: center; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;} - -img.drop-cap -{ - float: left; - margin: 0 0.4em 0 0; -} - -p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - color: transparent; - visibility: hidden; - margin-left: -1em; -} - -.x-ebookmaker img.drop-cap -{ - display: none; -} - -.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - color: inherit; - visibility: visible; - margin-left: 0; -} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -.figleft { - float: left; - clear: left; - margin-left: 0; - margin-bottom: 1em; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-right: 1em; - padding: 0; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - - .x-ebookmaker .figleft {float: left;} - -.figright { - float: right; - clear: right; - margin-left: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-right: 0; - padding: 0; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - .x-ebookmaker .figright {float: right;} - -.floatright {padding-left: 20em;} -.floatright2 {float: right;} - -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:1em; - margin-bottom:5em; - margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Billy Whiskers in France, by Frances Trego Montgomery</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Billy Whiskers in France</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frances Trego Montgomery</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Florence White Williams</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 22, 2021 [eBook #65898]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: David E. Brown and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLY WHISKERS IN FRANCE ***</div> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="40%" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_0"></span></p> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-f001.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">“I ran straight on, regardless of bombs dropping<br /> all around me.”</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="floatright">(Page <a href="#Page_124">124</a>)</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>BILLY WHISKERS<br /> -IN FRANCE</h1> - -<p>BY<br /> - -<span class="large">FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY</span><br /> - -AUTHOR OF “BILLY WHISKERS,” “BILLY WHISKERS’ KIDS,” “BILLY<br /> -WHISKERS IN THE SOUTH,” “BILLY WHISKERS IN CAMP,”<br /> -“ZIP, THE ADVENTURES OF A FRISKY FOX TERRIER,” ETC.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/titlelogo.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Illustrated By FLORENCE WHITE WILLIAMS</span></p> - -<p><span class="large">THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY</span><br /> -CHICAGO <span class="gap">AKRON, OHIO</span><span class="gap"> NEW YORK</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="center"> -Copyright 1919,<br /> -by<br /> -The Saalfield Publishing Co.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - -<tr><td class="tdr"><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td> </td><td class="tdr"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">I</td><td> <span class="smcap">Billy Whiskers Grows Homesick</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7"> 7</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">II</td><td> <span class="smcap">Billy Unexpectedly Meets a Friend</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_15"> 15</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">III</td><td> <span class="smcap">An Inopportune Sneeze</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23"> 23</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IV</td><td> <span class="smcap">The General Recaptures Billy</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35"> 35</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">V</td><td> <span class="smcap">Billy Nearly Kills the Cook</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47"> 47</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VI</td><td> <span class="smcap">Billy Relates Some of His Adventures</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59"> 59</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Button Frightens Two Nurses</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75"> 75</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VIII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Billy Makes Plans to Leave France</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83"> 83</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IX</td><td> <span class="smcap">Button Discovers Spies in the Haymow</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95"> 95</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">X</td><td> <span class="smcap">Button Makes the Farmer Fighting Mad</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109"> 109</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XI</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Chums on a Canal Boat</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_123"> 123</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Button has a Fight with a Wharf Rat</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_135"> 135</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIII</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Dog Cemetery in Paris</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_143"> 143</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIV</td><td> <span class="smcap">What the Chums Did in Paris</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153"> 153</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XV</td><td> <span class="smcap">Blown Up by a Submarine</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_165"> 165</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - - -<tr><td>“I ran straight on, regardless of bombs dropping all -around me”</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_0"> <i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td class="tdr"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Every man of them jumped as if shot</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30"> 30</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Billy gave one long, loud baa that resounded down the big, bare -room </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_66"> 66</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Away went Billy, jerking the cook around trees, over stumps and -beehives</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92"> 92</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>One thing Billy butted was a basket full of clothes</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118"> 118</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>The first thing Billy knew, he was rolling over something soft -that squealed like a stuck pig and that kicked like a calf </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_148"> 148</a></td></tr> - -</table> - - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> - -<p class="ph1"><i>Billy Whiskers in France</i></p> - - - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I<br /> - - -<span class="small">BILLY WHISKERS GROWS HOMESICK</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p007.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">AS Billy Whiskers lay in an American camp somewhere -over in France, he became very restless and soon had the -blues from thinking of his dear Nannie so far away—away -over in America, with that deep, deep, wide, blue -ocean between them, infested not only with huge sea monsters belonging -to the finny tribe, but also with death-dealing, quickly moving -submarines and torpedo boats belonging to the German Kaiser.</p> - -<p>“I want dreadfully to go home! Still I hate to risk my life on any -ship that sails the seas these days, for it may be blown sky high at -any moment, or sunk to the nethermost depths of the ocean. There -is no way to walk around, and I don’t suppose I could get any one to -let me go with them in an airship. So here I must remain, or trust -my life to some troop ship returning to America for more soldiers.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -I just believe I will do it! I have lost all interest in the War over -here since my master was wounded and was invalided home. Home! -The very word makes me so homesick I can’t see for tears. Well, -I’ll just fix this homesickness, so I will! I start for there this very -minute. It is a good dark night and I think I can slip out of camp -easily as they have not been watching me so closely since my master -was sent away.”</p> - -<p>Suiting the action to the words, Billy jumped up, shook himself, -took a long breath and said to himself, “Here’s luck to you, old -fellow, on your long, long, perilous journey! And may you reach -the other side and once more see your loving little wife Nannie and -all your children and grandchildren!”</p> - -<p>Then he gave a flick of his tail and started on a brisk run for the -least guarded entrance to the camp, to try to sneak through.</p> - -<p>“My, but it is lonesome traveling by myself!” he thought. “I do -wish Stubby and Button were here to accompany me on this journey.”</p> - -<p>Billy was so busy thinking of his old friends Stubby, the little yellow -dog with a stubby tail, and Button, the big black cat with blazing -eyes like buttons, that he reached the entrance to the camp before he -knew it, and he managed to slip out without being stopped, for there -was a jam at the gate caused by many big ambulances going out and -army trucks coming in.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>“Humph!” said Billy to himself. “If I get over all my difficulties -as easily as I got through that gate and past the guards, my journey -will be a smooth and pleasant one.”</p> - -<p>He had been traveling some time when he heard some one say, -“Hi, there, Billy Whiskers! What are you doing outside of camp? -Looks to me as if you were trying to run away.” This from a driver -of an ambulance who knew Billy was not to be allowed to escape from -the camp. “Come here and I will give you a nice red apple.”</p> - -<p>“See anything green in my eye?” winked back Billy. “I know you! -You would give me an apple with one hand and slip a rope around -my neck with the other. Anyway, where’s your apple? <i>I</i> don’t see -any!”</p> - -<p>“Here, Billy! Stop, I tell you, and come here! If you don’t like -apples, here is a handful of salt,” and the soldier held his hand out -as if he had it full of salt.</p> - -<p>But Billy was too keen for him. He had seen him close his hand -over nothing before offering it to him. So he kept right on walking -as if he had not heard the soldier.</p> - -<p>“Say, Bill, this is no joke! It is the General’s orders that you are -not to escape, but to be made to stay in camp until we go home. You -are too valuable a goat to allow the Germans to make you up into -chops and roasts. Besides, when we get home we want to show the -goat that stole Von Luxemburg’s maps and plans from under his very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -nose, and also butted or hooked all his staff into a heap in the corner -of his own little room. If you won’t come back for apples or salt or -coaxing, very well! I’ll have to lasso you, or shoot you in one of -your legs so you cannot run -away,” and the soldier -turned his back to look for a -rope in the ambulance, as -he preferred to lasso Billy -rather than shoot him. He -was an expert with the -lasso, as he had come from -a ranch away out in Montana -to join the army, and -was considered the best -hand with the rope in all -Montana.</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p010.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Huh!” grunted Billy. -“I must have run into -Lasso Jake. If this is so, I -better be getting a move on me and pushing my leg.”</p> - -<p>As luck would have it, right before Billy was a creek, with a temporary -bridge across it. Down the bank beside the bridge plunged -Billy, for he knew the bank was so high that the cowboy soldier could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -not throw his lasso so as to catch him. Instead of trying to climb out -the other side of the creek, Billy kept on in the middle of the swift-flowing -stream, swimming against the current, though he could not -make much progress against it. Presently he heard voices and turning -his head he saw two soldiers standing on the bridge and one was -swinging a lasso over his head. Billy waited to see no more, but -ducked. And just as his head disappeared under the water, he -heard the splash of the rope as it hit the surface of the water just -where his head had been.</p> - -<p>“Good thing I ducked! If I hadn’t, they would now be pulling me -to shore with a lasso around my neck. Gee, but that was a close call, -and that cowboy soldier is some lasso thrower! I never saw his -equal, even in a circus. I think he better get a flying machine and -fly over the German line and watch his chance to rope the Kaiser or -the Crown Prince, some of the Generals and other high monkey-monks.” -And Billy laughed to himself at the spectacle of the Kaiser -being made to walk into an American camp with a lasso around his -neck. Billy forgot he could not open his mouth to laugh under -water, and he began to choke so he had to stop swimming under water -and come to the surface.</p> - -<p>Just as he did so, his eye caught sight of a soldier standing on the -bank of the stream with a lasso hanging from his hand ready to throw -the moment Billy’s head appeared above the surface of the water.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> -He was about to dive again when he heard a cry for help from the -bridge. The soldier turned and ran to rescue a man who had fallen -into the water, calling as he went down, “Save me! I can’t swim!”</p> - -<p>Billy crawled out of the stream and stood watching the soldier with -the lasso trying to save his comrade. He was having a hard time for -as the man went down he struck his head on a stone, which stunned -him, and now he was being carried downstream by the swift current -and knocked against the bowlders over which the water frothed. -Try as he would, the cowboy soldier was put to it to catch up to him -as the swift current bore his chum’s body ever and still ever ahead -of him. But at last his comrade’s body caught between two rocks and -was held there until the cowboy soldier overtook it. The cold water -had revived the man, so that by the time his soldier chum reached -him he was coming to his senses. Billy only waited to see that the -man was alive and then he left them sitting in midstream, each on a -big rock that raised its head above the water. He thought it wise -to cut sticks for safety and ran into a thick woods he saw, which -would serve to hide him from the soldiers should they cross the bridge -and try to follow him. This, however, they did not do, knowing it -would be useless to try to catch Billy when he had such a start.</p> - -<p>As soon as he could, Billy found his way out of the woods to the -road he had left. After following it for some time he found it led -out to the main highway to Paris. This road Billy knew he must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -follow or he could never find his way back to the seacoast. Once in -Paris, he knew he must pass through it and then keep straight on in -a westerly direction until he came to the English Channel. Once -there, he would follow the coast until he came to a port from which -boats were sailing for America. Then he would watch his chance -to steal aboard and sail for home. Billy was very good at directions -and from the moment he had landed in France he had taken special -pains to keep the points of the compass straight in his head, so that -if he ever wanted to return home alone he would find his way. Now -it proved what a wise old goat he was, for all he had to do was to -travel by the sun and North Star in a northeasterly direction until he -came to Paris and from there in a westerly until he reached the -English Channel, from one of whose ports he had disembarked when -he came to France. But it was discouraging to think how very far it -was and what privations and hardships he would have to endure and -overcome before he reached his destination. But Billy Whiskers -was a regular old soldier by this time and well used to hardships and -hard knocks of all kinds. So he only heaved a long sigh and then -ran all the faster, knowing that every step he took brought him just -that much nearer home and Nannie.</p> - -<p>“If I tried to count the steps I shall have to take before reaching -home, it would be like counting the sands of the sea. I shan’t try, -but just push on and I know I shall get there some day.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>“Bow-wow-wow!” barked a big Dane in his deep voice.</p> - -<p>“Bow! Wow! Wow!” came the short, sharp, snappy barks from -a short-legged Scotch terrier as they bounded out of a gate beside -the road, ready to pounce on Billy. They were followed by poodles, -collies, St. Bernards, and all manner of dogs, both great and small. -Billy thought he had never seen so many dogs of different breeds in -one place in all his life. You see he had run into a dog hospital, and -these were the convalescent dogs which were allowed to play together -in the yard.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p014.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>Not one of these dogs tried to bite Billy, and after they had given -up trying to frighten him by barking in their fiercest way as if about -to eat him alive, they quieted down and became as docile as lambs.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II<br /> - - -<span class="small">BILLY UNEXPECTEDLY MEETS A FRIEND</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p015.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">GOOD-MORNING, friends!” baaed Billy. “Would -you allow a tired traveler to rest under the shade of your -trees, and give him a drink of water? For I am a -stranger in a strange land, and have traveled far. I am -an American.”</p> - -<p>“You an <i>American</i>?” exclaimed the dogs in chorus.</p> - -<p>“Now we surely are glad to meet you!” barked the big Dane. -“For if there is any place on earth we dogs have longed to see, it is -America. Probably you will tell us about it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said another dog. “We have heard that every dog has -his day over there and many of them two or three.”</p> - -<p>“We have also heard,” added a French poodle, “that all dogs are -free over there, and can go and come as they like, and that they are -never tied up, shut in a house or muzzled. Is that true?”</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p016.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Yes and no,” replied Billy. “It depends on where you live and -who your master or mistress is.”</p> - -<p>“Why, we have heard,” piped up a little black and tan, “that any -dog can choose his own master or mistress, and that all he has to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -do if he doesn’t like them or isn’t -pleased with the way they treat him -is to walk off and follow the first -person he sees that he thinks he -would like to live with, and that they -will take him home with them and -feed and house him.”</p> - - - -<p>“Again you are partly right and -partly wrong,” replied Billy. “It -depends on whom you run away -from and whom you pick out to be -your new master or mistress. You -might happen to belong to some one -who was very fond of you, though -you might not be fond of them. In -that case if you ran away they would -advertise and try to get you back, -but if you had proved yourself to be -a good-for-nothing dog, they would -let you go and say ‘Good riddance -to bad rubbish!’ and never bother -their heads about you.</p> - -<p>“Then again you might show poor judgment in selecting a new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -master and choose one who did not care for dogs, and when he found -you following him he might throw sticks and stones at you. So you -see you can’t always be sure of changing masters successfully.”</p> - -<p>“Did you just come from America?” asked a fourth.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no! I have been over here nearly a year now, with the army.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean to tell us that you have really and truly been with -the army?”</p> - -<p>“Surely not at the front!” added another in amazement.</p> - -<p>“But I have!” Billy assured them. “I have crossed No-Man’s-Land -many times, and been shot at and blown up once besides. See -where a piece of my tail is gone? Well, I lost it at Verdun. A bomb -exploded and threw me up in the air and also blew off part of my tail. -I consider myself very lucky that it decided to blow a piece off that -end of my body instead of the other, for if it had been my head in -place of my tail, it would have killed me. I can’t get along without -a head, but I can without a tail.”</p> - -<p>“Haw! Haw! Haw!” laughed the dogs.</p> - -<p>“You surely are a funny fellow!” said one. “Come on in and we -will find something for you to eat and drink and also a place to rest. -Then after you have rested, I hope you will tell us more of your -experiences at the front. If you will do that, we will tell you our -experiences in Paris before we left there, and we will introduce you -to some of our celebrated police and Red Cross dogs who have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -in the war and been wounded or gassed. They will relate some -thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes. To-night will be a -good time, after our keepers have gone to bed. Then we can sneak -out under the trees in the little patch of woods behind the big stables -and while you brave soldiers swap tales of the war we who have -never been near the war can listen.</p> - -<p>“There goes one of our heroes now. See that dog crossing the -lawn, wearing a Red Cross bandage on his chest?”</p> - -<p>Billy turned and took one long look at the dog. Then without a -word of warning he put down his head and bounded toward him, -taking ten or twelve feet at a single bound.</p> - -<p>The dogs stood spellbound. What was the big goat going to do? -Butt their wounded hero? If so, why should he wish to butt a perfectly -harmless dog he had never seen before? But had he never -seen him before? Perhaps they had met and fought on the battlefield -and were enemies. If so, they must all run and protect their -hero from the long horns of the strange goat.</p> - -<p>But when the dogs arrived within speaking distance they were -overjoyed to hear the goat baa out, “Hello, old chum! How in all -that is wonderful did you get here? I heard you were dead; that you -had been seen with a Red Cross ambulance which had first been -gassed and then blown up by a shell. One of your friends said he -saw you with his own eyes sitting in the back of the ambulance when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> -the shell struck it, and the next thing he saw was the whole ambulance -flying up in the air and then coming down in small pieces.”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p019.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“What he saw all happened. I was there and sitting in the back -of the ambulance with my gas -mask on, for the signal had been -given for all to put on their -masks, and one of the doctors -with the ambulance corps had -just stopped and strapped mine -in place when a shell hit us, and -I found myself going up in the -air at the rate of about a hundred -miles a minute. When I -came down, my mask had been -blown off my face. How it -ever was done without killing -me or blowing my head off I don’t know, -but it was. I thought I was all right until -I began to see red, and I had a queer sensation in my head as if -my brain were going round and round like a cat runs after its -tail. Then I could not get my breath and I fell over, giving myself -up for dead. But if you will believe it, the next thing I knew I -opened my eyes and found myself in a long room with two rows of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -beds in it, all just like baby cribs. And bending over me was a sweet-faced -lady nurse. I found myself all bound up in splints and cotton -batting. You see an interne to another Red Cross ambulance who -had come to look for the wounded, if any had possibly survived the -blow-up, had found me senseless on the ground. So he picked me up -and brought me here as this hospital for dogs was on the way to the -hospital where he was stationed. This is now my fourth week here, -and I want to tell you that only angels in human form live here. -They are so good to one! They have nursed me back to life. I was -only slightly gassed and so my lungs are all healed and I am also over -my shell shock. I shall likely go back to the front in another -week.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean that you are going back to the fighting line, do -you?” asked a long white-haired collie that had fallen very much in -love with the brave Red Cross dog. “Oh, why do you risk your life -again?”</p> - -<p>“Why do I risk my life?” in astonishment. “To try to save some -brave soldier, whose life is a thousand times more valuable than -any dog’s ever will be. Yes, I am going back and back and back -as long as I have eyes, teeth or claws to go back with, until this cruel -war is over.”</p> - -<p>“Bully for you!” exclaimed Billy. “You make me feel like a -slacker, getting homesick and running away from the army.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>“Well, it is not too late yet to go back. I propose that you stay here -and rest until next week and then go back with me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it!” said Billy, and they rubbed noses together to seal the -bargain. “I hear a bugle. What is that call for?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that is our supper call,” said the Red Cross dog. “When -they blow the bugle all the dogs that are running loose are supposed -to go to the back kitchen door. There are long troughs there in -which they put our suppers. Come ahead with us, and we will give -you some food. There will be plenty for all of us and for you too, for -they serve very bountifully here,” and all the dogs and Billy too -moved off in the direction of the kitchen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III<br /> - - -<span class="small">AN INOPPORTUNE SNEEZE</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p023.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WELL, well, well! Whom have we with us?” exclaimed -the cook at the dog hospital as he stood in the kitchen -door in apron and cap ready to throw some more food in -the dogs’ trough. “Bless my soul, I believe it is Billy -Whiskers!”</p> - -<p>Billy hearing his name spoken looked up, only to find himself -gazing into the eyes of the cook who had once served the old General -who had issued the strict orders for Billy not to be allowed to leave -camp.</p> - -<p>“Billy, you old rascal, come here and let me pull your beard for -luck and old times’ sake! I will bet my whole month’s wages that -you have run away from camp.”</p> - -<p>All the time the cook was talking, he was walking toward Billy, -wishing to get near enough to discover if the goat really wore around -his neck a collar from which hung a medal engraved with his name.</p> - -<p>“Here, Billy, is a nice big carrot for you. Don’t jerk back. I am -not going to hurt you. I am only going to pat your head. Don’t you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -remember the good old times in camp when I used to give you nice -juicy apples and crisp lettuce heads?”</p> - -<p>By this time the cook was standing close by Billy, pretending -to pat his head, but every time he put his fingers through his hair, -he tried to feel for the collar and Billy would jerk his head away. -He was afraid the cook was going to try to take off his collar -and Billy had made up his mind many moons before this that if -ever any one tried to take it off he would fight them to the death. -Just then a little breeze blew Billy’s hair up so that it showed the -medal with some engraving on it, and the cook saw it read:</p> - -<p>“This collar was presented to Billy Whiskers by the —th New -York Regiment for his bravery in battle.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Billy, I certainly am glad to see you! But I bet you have -left many sad hearts behind you. I am homesick to be back with -my old regiment, but I can’t go. Perhaps you haven’t noticed -that I have a wooden leg and that part of my right arm is gone. -If it was only my leg that was gone, I would be back, leg or no -leg. But without my arm, I can’t shoot or carry a bayonet. It -breaks my heart to be near enough to hear the roar of battle as I -am here, and know I can’t be in it, killing off those pigs of Germans!”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p025.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>Just then from down the road came the sound of a high powered -motor car, and the cook, stepping on a big stone to see the better, -exclaimed, “It is the General, by hookey! And I bet he is coming<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -in here for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, as he knows I can get -it for him quicker than if he went on to the village restaurant, and -better, too. He always said no one could make coffee like I can.”</p> - -<p>Billy waited to hear no more, but started to find a place to hide, -well knowing the General -would carry him back to -camp if he saw him, even -if he had to take him in the -auto with him.</p> - - - -<p>The cook had forgotten -all about Billy in his excitement -at seeing the -General. Billy took advantage -of this to whisper -to the dogs, telling them -what was up and they -all followed him as he ran -toward the stable to try to -find a place to hide. Just -as Billy was about to turn the corner of the stable, he saw the General’s -big touring car turn in the lane.</p> - -<p>“Gee, fellows, I’m lost if that cook even mentions my being here! -For the General is equal to sending a whole squad of soldiers to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -find me and bring me back to camp. It would not be the first time -he has done it, either!”</p> - -<p>By this time Billy and the dogs had run into the little grove of -trees spoken of before, but they stayed near enough the edge to be -able to see if any one started to hunt for Billy.</p> - -<p>“I tell you what I think would be a good plan,” said the Red -Cross dog. “Have one of the dogs go back and hang around where -he could hear everything the cook says to the General. In that way -we will know whether or not he tells the General that you are -here.”</p> - -<p>“Excellent idea, that!” agreed Billy.</p> - -<p>“Pinky, you would be the best one to go. You are so small that -you can squeeze in anywhere out of sight under a chair or sofa, and -listen to all that is said.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t want to go! I am afraid they will kick me out if -they should catch me listening. Besides, I want to stay here and -hear Mr. Billy Whiskers relate his experiences. It is so dull here -after Paris that I just long for some excitement, and I am sure Mr. -Whiskers’ tales will be all that.”</p> - -<p>“You run along, Miss Pinky, and I’ll tell you just what I tell -them some other time all by yourself. Besides, you won’t miss much -as our friend here, the Red Cross dog, can tell you adventures a -hundred times more exciting than I can.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>“Oh, no, he can’t. But I will go if you promise to repeat word for -word to me all you tell them when we are alone some time.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p027.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Thank you very much, Miss Pinky.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t call me Pinky! That is not my name! It is only a nasty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -mean nickname the dogs have given me because I am afflicted with -pink lids to my eyes, the same as many poodle dogs. I just <i>hate</i> -that name! But I can’t stop them from using it.”</p> - -<p>“And pray what is your real name?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Rosie de la France. And it is such a pretty one I like to be called -by it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, hereafter I will call you Mademoiselle Rosie de la France. -But I cannot see much difference between Rosie and Pinky, as they -are both pretty much the same color.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, if you look at it in that way. But it is the meaning hidden -under it that I hate.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind now what you are called, but run along or you will -be too late to hear all the cook says to the General,” said the Red -Cross dog.</p> - -<p>The dogs then all lay down under the trees in a semi-circle around -Billy and the Red Cross dog, so they could hear every word that -was said by either of them, but every one of them kept an eye open -for any one who might round the corner of the stable. Billy and -the Red Cross dog had told them their most exciting experiences -in the war, interposed by stories from the other dogs, when they -heard the hum and buzz of the big motor as it drove out of the lane, -and at the same time they saw Pinky running toward them so fast -one could scarcely see her for dust.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>She ran into their midst panting and all out of breath, and between -gasps tried to tell them that she had slipped into the sitting-room -and sneaked under a big davenport with a cover thrown over it that -hid her completely, but where she could hear every word that was -spoken in the room. The General was sitting at a little table only -a few feet from her, eating the good things the cook had brought -to him on a tray.</p> - -<p>“He seemed in a very good humor,” she said, “and was laughing -and joking with two officers who were with him when I had the -misfortune to sneeze. You would have thought I had thrown a bomb -the way those three men jumped to their feet and reached for their -swords!</p> - -<p>“‘Who sneezed?’ thundered the General.</p> - -<p>“‘There is some one hiding in this room!’ exclaimed one of his -staff.</p> - -<p>“‘Come out of the closet or from behind those curtains or wherever -you are before I shoot!’ commanded the General.</p> - -<p>“Of course no one came out, and I crouched down nearer the -floor than ever and prayed that they would not lift the cover of -that davenport and see me. I could see through the thin ruffle -of the davenport cover and there they all stood stock still, with -eyes searching every nook and corner of the room. Then what do -you think happened? I sneezed again, and expected to be killed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -on the spot, but I could not help it as there was a lot of moth balls -right under my nose, put there to keep the moths from eating the -carpet. Well, if you will believe it, every man of them jumped again -as if shot. I could see their feet leave the floor. And one of the -staff said in a stage whisper, ‘Spies behind that curtain!’ Then -he marched toward it with sword in hand, and brushed the curtain -aside. Of course there was no one there. Then the other staff -officer flung open the closet door. No one there! Still they had -heard two distinct sneezes. The General stalked to the window -and looked out as it opened on the ground. I expect he thought -some one might be hiding under the window, listening. No one -there! Only a flower bed with bees droning and buzzing over it. -And horror of horrors! As he leaned out of the window and the -staff officers were looking behind chairs and under tables and even -up to the ceiling I gave another big sneeze. I sneezed so hard it -nearly blew my head off. I expect it was because of holding it -in so long.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p030b.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="caption">Every man of them jumped as if shot.</p> - -<p>“This of course was my undoing. One of the staff dropped on -one knee to look under the davenport. The General jerked his -head back through the window, and heard the staff officer exclaim -in a loud voice, ‘Only a measley, sneaking little poodle dog!’ and -with that he stuck his sword under the davenport to prod me out. -It would have cut my leg off, or run right through me, I am sure,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -but just then the cook opened the door to come in to remove the -dishes and I jumped over the sword and ran between the legs -of the staff officer who was standing between the davenport and the -door, and simply flew back here.</p> - - - -<p>“When I got outside I did sneak around under the window, and -heard them all laughing over the fact that a little dog’s sneeze had -given them such a fright. The General said ‘Better be on the right -side than on the wrong, and many a warning as small as a sneeze -gone unheeded has cost many lives. I would rather be too careful -than not careful enough,’ You see they all thought I was a spy -hidden in the room somewhere. Then I heard the cook say, ‘General, -has the Regiment still got the big white goat they used to have as a -mascot?’</p> - -<p>“‘No, I am sorry to say he has been missing since a week ago to-day, -and we cannot get any trace of him. One of our ambulance drivers -saw him on the road to Paris, and tried to catch him, but he could -not. He nearly had him when a friend fell off a bridge into a creek, -and would have drowned had he not left the goat and gone to his -assistance. I would not have lost that goat for a thousand dollars. -He knows more than most men.’</p> - -<p>“‘Well, General, you have lost your thousand dollars. I know -where your goat is at this minute.’</p> - -<p>“‘You do? Well, produce him and the money is yours. You<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -know Billy is like the proverbial flea. Now you have him and now -you don’t. If you will show me that goat now, we’ll have him -in my office at camp headquarters to-morrow. I’ll give you a check -for one thousand dollars, too.’</p> - -<p>“‘I’ll do it for you gladly, General, as you have done me many -a good turn, but I cannot accept your money. And now if you -will step to the door, I will show you Billy, the Mascot of the Regiment, -quietly eating out of a trough at the back kitchen door.’</p> - -<p>“The General and his staff picked up their caps and swords and -followed the cook around the house to the dogs’ trough, but as you -know, no goat was there.</p> - -<p>“The General had to laugh at the blank look on the cook’s face -when he turned the corner of the hospital and saw that the goat and -all his dogs too had disappeared as completely as if swallowed up -by an earthquake.</p> - -<p>“‘Well, that beats everything I ever saw! He was here a few -minutes ago. In fact, just when you drove in eight or ten of our -dogs with Billy in their midst were all standing here eating and now -not an animal is in sight anywhere. It beats all! I can’t explain -it!’</p> - -<p>“‘I can,’ said the General. ‘That goat recognized my car, thought -I was after him and lit out. He has done it before, and I doubt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -if any of us will ever see him again. I tell you he is sharper than -the devil, whose cloven hoof he has!’</p> - -<p>“‘General, will you kindly do me the favor to wait till I blow -my dog whistle? That is the signal for all the dogs to gather here. -We will see if Billy does not come running with them.’</p> - -<p>“The General waited. The cook blew his whistle repeatedly but -no dogs showed up. Then the cook ran to the barn and around it, -looking in every known hiding place the dogs had, but no goat or -dog did he see. And he came back to the General and said, ‘Well, -General, I shall have to give up beaten. He has gone and, what is -more, he has taken every dog with him that is not confined to a -hospital bed. I can’t find hide or hair of any of them, but I am -so mad that I am ready to devote months, if need be, to finding that -tricky goat. And when I do I will return him to you even if I -bring only his hide, horns and tail!’</p> - -<p>“‘Well, here is luck to you, but I hope you will bring him alive, -and not in pieces for I could make use of a live goat, but I would -be hard pressed to know what to do with a dead one!’</p> - -<p>“Then with a hearty laugh all around, the General and his staff -got into their auto and whizzed out of the lane, and I scurried back -here to tell you all this.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV<br /> - - -<span class="small">THE GENERAL RECAPTURES BILLY</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p035.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THANK you, Miss Rosie de la France, for finding out so -much for me. You certainly did have a narrow escape -when under that davenport and you sneezed for you -might have had your legs cut off by that officer’s sword. -So the cook is going to catch me and bring me to the General, alive -or dead, is he? I can tell him right now that he will never be able -to give so much as one hair of my beard to him!”</p> - -<p>“Here comes the cook now!” exclaimed one of the dogs. “We -better scoot!”</p> - -<p>With that they all jumped up and ran in different directions, -Billy choosing a long, circuitous course that would bring him out -on the Paris road. Then and there he gave up the idea of returning -to the war and entering the army again with the Red Cross dog.</p> - -<p>He soon reached the road, and once on it he put his head down -like a race horse to resist the wind, and ran as he had never run -before, jumping stones, ditches and uneven places on the roadway -until he was completely winded. As it took a great deal to wind -Billy Whiskers, you may know he traveled many, many miles and -left the dogs’ hospital far behind.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>“I shall stop running when I come to the next stream, get a -drink, take a bath, and eat whatever I can find by the roadside. -Then after a good rest I shall start on again,” he planned.</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p036.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>All of this he did, and he was -hidden behind a big bush beside -the road down by -a stream, watching -the big ambulances -and -high powered -touring cars -go thundering -by in -endless procession -when, -all plans to -the contrary, -he dropped -asleep. It -seemed but a minute -to him after his eyes -had closed when he felt something tight around his neck. He tried -two or three times to loosen it by stretching his neck without taking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -the bother to open his eyes, but when at last he did open them, he saw -standing around him three officers with broad grins on their faces. -And behind them was the old General in his touring car, waiting for -his officers to bring Billy to him!</p> - -<p>“I certainly was caught napping that time!” thought Billy to -himself. “And they have me all right enough now with this strong -rope around my neck. It is queer I did not hear them coming! -It must have been I was so tired that it made me sleep like the dead.”</p> - -<p>“Come, get up, Billy, you old rascal, and come along without -any fuss! For you are a smart enough goat to see that there is -no use resisting with a rope around your neck and five men against -you—we three officers with the General and his chauffeur.”</p> - -<p>Yes, Billy saw all this and as he walked along quietly behind them -he wondered where they were going to put him. They could not -mean to tie him behind the car as no goat, even if fitted out with -twenty league boots, could keep up with the General’s car at the -rate he drove. And with three staff officers, the General and the -chauffeur he could not see where there would be room inside the -car.</p> - -<p>“Well, Master Billy, you thought you had escaped from me for -good, didn’t you? But you see you haven’t. And, what is more, -you won’t escape in a hurry again, for I propose taking you right -along with us, though it will crowd us some. Here I was blustering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -about and scolding the chauffeur for his carelessness in not -seeing that we had water enough in the car to carry us through -when the very lack of it led us to finding you. He got out to -carry a bucket of water from the stream and found you so fast -asleep behind the bush that you had not heard our approach in the -car or even the chauffeur’s steps when within three or four feet -of you. He had time to come back to the car and tell us what he -had found, get a rope and the three officers to help me capture -you while you slept on. Now, my dear Billy, you are my prisoner. -If you behave, you shall have every care and comfort, but try to -escape, and I shall send a bullet through you, for I shall stand no -nonsense. Hear that?” and the General pulled Billy’s beard in -a joking manner. But Billy knew he would do as he said if he -tried to escape or cut up any monkeyshines. So he quietly let -them help him into the car, where he stood between the two seats -in the tonneau while they tied him to the rod at the back of the -front seat on which the extra robes hung.</p> - -<p>Billy was experiencing one of his rare moments of dejection and -discouragement, for he knew if they once succeeded in getting him -back in camp it would be very difficult indeed to escape as they -would use every precaution to keep him there and they might even -put him inside the electrically charged barbed wire fence where -they kept the German prisoners. That would be horrible indeed!</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>“I must think up some way to escape before we reach camp or -I am lost,” thought Billy. “How I ever can unless we have a -breakdown is more than I can tell!”</p> - -<p>Presently they came to the dogs’ hospital and whizzed by it at -full speed, but not too fast for Billy to see standing at the gate -the cook, or for him to get the cook’s expression of surprise and -wonder when he saw Billy in the General’s car. Billy also saw -the Red Cross dog close at the cook’s heels.</p> - -<p>“I am glad they saw me for now the dog will know what has -become of me,” thought Billy.</p> - -<p>Presently the big car slowed down and went bumping and sliding -over a terrible piece of road that was being repaired.</p> - -<p>“Now would be my chance to jump out while they are going -slower if I only were not tied. And I can’t chew the rope loose -right under these men’s noses, either. Perhaps when they stop -for supper I may get a chance.”</p> - -<p>Just then there was a terrible explosion as one of the tires blew -out, and at the same time the car slipped on the soft, shifting gravel -with which they were repairing the roadway and slid down into -the ditch.</p> - -<p>“Now we are ditched and in for a long delay!” exclaimed the -General. “I simply must get to camp with these plans within -the next three hours. Stop the first car that passes here and I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -will make whoever is in it take me to camp while you officers stay -here and help the chauffeur repair the damages and get the car -out of the ditch. That should not be a hard job but only a tedious -one for the men working on the highway can help you out of the -ditch and the chauffeur can mend the tire for I expect the explosion -was due to a bursted tube.”</p> - -<p>It was one thing to say get the men on the road to help but -where were those men? Nowhere in sight, but several miles down -the road working on another bad stretch.</p> - -<p>“I hear a car coming!” exclaimed the General. “Make ready -to stop it, Lieutenant Strong!”</p> - -<p>In less time that it takes to tell it, the car had come, stopped -and taken the General aboard. As the General waved good-by -to them, he called back, “I wish you luck, gentlemen! I will -keep your supper hot for you!” to which Billy replied with -a loud baa. This made the staff officers laugh, for his voice sounded -exactly like a cross old man saying “Bah!” in derision to the General’s -joking remark.</p> - -<p>As soon as the General was out of sight, the officers fell to and -tried to lift and push the car up into the road. But they might -as well have tried to move a huge rock for it did not so much as -budge an inch. It was embedded too deep in the sand and loose -gravel.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>“This is most provoking!” said one of the officers. “It means that -we must try to stop some passing car and get them to help us. When -they see it is the General’s car that is in trouble they will feel in -duty bound to aid us, no matter whether they really want to or not. -But I just hate the job of stopping any one for that purpose as it -always makes any one provoked to be so hailed on the road.”</p> - -<p>“Here comes a farmer driving a pair of horses hitched to an old -wagon. Let us stop him. I think his horses can pull us out if -we all push,” suggested another of the officers.</p> - -<p>“Now is my chance!” thought Billy, and he was just about to -chew at the rope around his neck when the farmer came up and -stopped opposite them to see if he could help them any.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied one of the officers. “You are just the man we -have been looking for to give us a lift out of this ditch.”</p> - -<p>“Wal, that is a purty durn big car of your’n. But I guess my -hosses kin pull her out. That is, if I only had a rope to tie to the -back of my wagon, but I can’t get hide nor hair of any rope or -chain or nothin’.”</p> - -<p>“We have a rope,” answered one of the officers. “We always -carry a good strong rope for just such purposes under one of the -seats. Here, Jean, get it out and we will see how soon these horses -can pull us out.”</p> - -<p>Jean, the chauffeur, stopped working on the tire to get the rope,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -but alas! when he looked under the seat no rope was there. From -the fury into which the officers flew, Billy thought they were going -to kill the fellow on the spot for his carelessness, first running out -of water and now finding no rope.</p> - -<p>“You are discharged the minute you get us to camp!” roared -the superior officer. “And what is more, I shall see that the General -has you severely punished. What if the enemy were at our -heels and we were trying to escape from them, or we had important -dispatches that must get to Headquarters to change some movement -of the army that would mean the saving of hundreds and thousands -of lives?”</p> - -<p>At last the chauffeur managed to say, “Could we not use the -rope that is around the goat’s neck to pull the car out of the sand? -It is a very long one. In fact, it is the rope that belongs under -the seat. In my excitement I forgot I had used it to tie the goat.”</p> - -<p>“Of course we can! And to keep him from escaping we can tie -him with one of the farmer’s reins.”</p> - -<p>“Here, you Billy, stand still while I take this rope off your neck.” -The chauffeur stood on the step, leaning through the open door of -the tonneau as he untied the rope that was around Billy’s neck, with -the farmer standing behind him ready to hand him one of his reins -to secure Billy again.</p> - -<p>“Here is a good chance to escape,” thought Billy. “To be sure,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -I will have to run the chance of one of the officers shooting me, -but I will take it. For I would rather be shot than carried back -to camp and shut up with a lot of German prisoners.”</p> - -<p>At the moment Billy was forming his plan of escape, all the -officers were fussing on the car at one place or another trying to -dig out the wheels by shoveling a path for them in the sand.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p043.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>Seeing all this, Billy made up his mind he would butt the chauffeur -so hard he would knock all the breath out of him so he could not -cry out and give the alarm. So just as the farmer stepped close -behind the chauffeur to hand him the rein, and the rope was off -Billy’s neck, Billy gave a plunge forward and planted his head -in the middle of the chauffeur’s stomach, sending him backward<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -with all the breath knocked out of his body and with such force -that he hit the farmer and sent him sprawling on his back, with -his head hanging over the ditch. Now just as his head hit the -ditch, the officer who was shoveling a path for the car raised up -and the farmer in turn hit him and sent him flying into the ditch. -There were three men disposed of in one butt. That left only two -to shoot or pursue him, and both of these were on the far side of -the auto and had not noticed anything as their heads were down -and they were busy tugging big stones out of the way of the wheels. -So Billy had a good start of a hundred yards or more before the -officer who had been sent rolling into the ditch could right himself -and give the alarm. By the time he found out what really had -hit him, Billy had run to the side of the road, jumped a fence and -disappeared in a thick woods. The officer’s anger knew no bounds, -and he swore a blue streak and fired two shots after Billy.</p> - -<p>“Thunder and lightning, I would not have had that goat escape -for a million dollars,” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Bet your small change first,” counseled another.</p> - -<p>“Yes; his escape puts us in a pretty light, doesn’t it? Five able-bodied -men not able to keep one goat in an auto! To be sure, one -man was not a man, only an idiot of a chauffeur,” he stormed.</p> - -<p>“Say, Jean, you better stop working on that tire and go hang -yourself with the rope in your hand!” scoffed the third, “for you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -are likely to be hung in earnest when you get to camp for all the -mistakes you have made to-day, to say nothing of losing the goat -besides.”</p> - -<p>But poor Jean heard this not at all for he was still unconscious -from Billy’s terrific butt.</p> - -<p>“Some goat, that, misters!” said the farmer in a dry way.</p> - -<p>“I guess you would think so if you knew just a little of his history!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean to tell me that that there goat is the one they -call the —th Regiment’s mascot, and the one the papers are always -telling about?”</p> - -<p>“Same goat!”</p> - -<p>“Wal, I’ll be gosh darned!” in astonishment.</p> - -<p>Jean did not come to and one of the officers had to run to the -auto for restoratives while Jean was stretched out on the back seat -with his head in a second officer’s lap. In falling he had hit his -head on a stone and the wound was now bleeding profusely. The -soldiers tied their handkerchiefs around his head and tried to stop -the flow of blood as best they could and after the car was out of -the ditch they drove so fast they were in danger of breaking their -necks or having the car turn turtle at every turn.</p> - -<p>When at last they did reach camp and got the chauffeur into -the hospital and reported to the General for duty, they were in -a pretty mess and looked as if they had been in a pitched battle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -with the enemy for they were covered with dirt and blood from -their heads to their heels, which made the General exclaim when -he saw them, “Well, bless my soul, you are a nice looking crowd! -Whatever has happened to you?”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V<br /> - - -<span class="small">BILLY NEARLY KILLS THE COOK</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p023.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN Billy was sure he was not being followed, he -went a circuitous way back to the dogs’ hospital that he -might stop and have the fun of telling them how he -escaped from the old General.</p> - -<p>When at last he approached the hospital from the back, he saw -no one about, not even a dog or cat. But all the windows and -doors were open so he knew they were at home and around somewhere. -He cautiously approached, keeping a sharp lookout for the -cook, for he did not want him to catch him and deliver him into -the old General’s hands. He was just rounding the pig pen when -he saw driving into the lane one of the field hospital ambulances.</p> - -<p>“I expect it has come with a load of wounded dogs. I’ll just -stay here and watch,” pondered Billy.</p> - -<p>The hum of the ambulance motor was heard in the hospital and -presently a young doctor and two trained nurses appeared at the -door ready to receive the new patients. Billy could hear the low -groans and yelps of pain from the dogs as the stretchers were lifted -and the dogs were carried inside. Several dogs tagged in after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -the stretcher bearers and as Billy had always wanted to have a look -about the hospital wards, he determined to follow.</p> - -<p>Presently he found himself standing in the doorway of a long -ward with tiny beds like babies’ cribs lining the wall all the way -around, and in each bed was a dog, either curled up asleep or sitting -upon its hind quarters watching the newcomers.</p> - -<p>Some of the dogs had their legs in slings; others had bandages -over their eyes, while others were in plaster casts. Beside each -cot was a little stand on which had been placed the medicine for -that particular dog, along with a bowl of drinking water.</p> - -<p>“Gee!” exclaimed Billy. “A dog would not mind being sick -in these quarters with all this comfort and the pretty nurses and -the kind doctors to wait upon him. But what is that? Do my -eyes deceive me, or am I seeing things? If so, I am a sick goat and -I shall crawl into the first cot I find that is big enough to hold me. -If I am not seeing things, then that big, black cat on the window -sill is my dear old friend Button from the United States of America. -Such being the case, Stubby, the other member of our trio, can’t -be far off. Perhaps he is one of these wounded dogs that just came -in the ambulance. I know how I’ll soon find out. I’ll just baa -and if it is Button sitting in that window and Stubby is in one of -these beds, I bet it will surprise them so that even if they are half -dead they will come to life long enough to answer my baa.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p049.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>Billy gave one long, loud baa that resounded down the big, -bare room like a loud clanging bell. Every person and dog in -the long hospital ward jumped as if a bomb had exploded in the -room, and some of the weaker -and more timid dogs fainted -dead away from the shock. They -were weak from loss of blood, -and fatigued from their hard -work on the battlefield, having -been without anything to eat or -drink for many hours. And I -am sorry to say that Stubby was -among them. Billy listened in -vain for a familiar bark, but he -was going forward to speak to the -cat which meowed with joy in response -to his baa when a doctor picked -up a window pole and made towards -Billy, while another grabbed the -cat and threw it out of the window before -the cat knew what was taking place. He had been so delighted -to hear Billy’s familiar baa that he did not even see the man approaching.</p> - - - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>The doctor chased out Billy and all the dogs that had tagged in, -and shut the door behind them.</p> - -<p>Now Billy had not heard the answering meow, and so was still -in some doubt as to whether or not the cat was Button, or if his old -friend Stubby was one of the wounded dogs. As he thought of -this he walked toward the back of the hospital into the yard. All -the dogs which had been driven out with him were following -him and telling him how they had enjoyed the commotion he had -caused, and were plying him with questions as to how he got away -from the General and back so soon, and how far he had gotten -on the journey before he was caught. Billy paid not the slightest -attention to any of them. In fact, he did not even hear what they -were saying, he was so busy thinking of his two friends and wondering -how they ever got to France for when he had last seen them -they were in New York state.</p> - -<p>He had gotten just this far in his musings when he turned the -corner of the hospital and saw the black cat sitting on a packing -box, looking up at the window from which he had been thrown. -Billy knew in a second that the black cat was his old friend sure -enough. On seeing Billy, the black cat made one spring and lit -squarely on Billy’s back. Then he jumped off and ran up a tree, -then down and over and under a wheelbarrow that was standing -near, then in among the dogs that were surrounding Billy as if<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -to try to save him from the onslaught of this crazy acting cat which -they all thought was having a fit.</p> - -<p>Yes, it was a fit, but not from sickness, but rather from joy at -beholding Billy alive and in the flesh when he had been given up -long ago for dead.</p> - -<p>Presently the cat quieted down and came and stood before Billy, -and gazed and gazed and gazed into his eyes without saying a word. -And Billy gazed back, wondering in his own mind what on earth had -made the dignified Button act so crazily. After this long scare, -the cat meowed, “Well, Billy, old fellow, I see it is really you in -the flesh and not some other goat that looks like you. But how -you ever managed to keep from being killed is more than I know. -All of us had given you up as dead and mourned for you for -months. Nannie, your poor little wife, is still bewailing your loss. -You see, we thought you were done for from an item in the newspaper, -which I heard my master read aloud one morning. I can’t -give it to you just as it was written, but the gist of the matter was -that the —th Regiment with its celebrated white goat mascot, Billy -Whiskers, had marched to the front on May twenty-first but that, -sad to relate, few returned and those that did were badly wounded. -A great many had been taken prisoners and whether their mascot -had been killed or captured, those returning did not know. Stub -and I did not feel you were killed, and that if you were captured<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -you would find some way to escape. We then and there made up -our minds to cross the ocean and look for you, for we were bound -to find you if you still lived. And here we two have stumbled -into you just when we had given up all hope of you being alive.” -And off went Button, running up one tree and then another, around -in circles and jumping over and through hedges and flower beds. -Once he made the dogs all laugh for by mistake he ran up an old -gardener’s back as he was stooping over digging away, thinking it -was a stump, he was so nearly the color of the trees and grasses of -the garden. The old fellow was so surprised that he fell headlong -into the ditch he was digging.</p> - -<p>“You see, Billy, I am so delighted to see you I can’t keep still.”</p> - -<p>“I am just as glad to see you, but I can’t jump around like a crazy -loon to show it. Come here until we rub noses in the place of a -kiss!” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“I must run and tell Stubby. He will be so delighted it will help -him stand his pain and he will get well sooner. But how am I to get -into this blooming building again? Aren’t there some back stairs, -fire escapes or something of the like I could go up to get to his -ward?”</p> - -<p>“No, there are no fire escapes on any of these country buildings -that have been turned into hospitals,” replied the Red Cross dog. -“What we need more than fire escapes is a bomb proof cellar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -large enough to carry our patients into when we have an air raid.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you how you can get in,” spoke up Pinky. “Wait until -the nurses begin to carry suppers up to their patients, and then you -can creep along at their heels and, being black, you can hide in the -shadows until they leave the ward. Only the night nurse will then -be on duty and she will soon fall asleep. Then you can creep out -and go to your friend’s cot and tell him all the news.”</p> - -<p>“Splendid idea! Thank you very much! Won’t some one introduce -me to this dog?”</p> - -<p>“Goodness gracious me! Do excuse me, Button, for being so impolite, -but joy at seeing you drove all my good manners out of my -mind. It is not too late now, and I wish to introduce you to all -my friends you see standing around us.”</p> - -<p>After they had all been presented to Button, they went over to the -grove of trees where the dogs always went when they wished to talk -without interruption, and they agreed to stay there until time for -the patients to have their supper, for they were very curious to hear -how the big, black cat got all the way from the United States of -America to France, and also to hear how Billy got away from the -old General.</p> - -<p>They were all trotting along as fast as they could through the -barnyard with heads down, thinking what a fine time was in store for -them listening to the goat and cat relate their adventures, when the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -Red Cross dog heard a peculiar croak and, looking around, he saw -the cook astride Billy’s back, trying to get a rope around his neck. -Now the rope had just slipped over Billy’s head and the cook gave -it a pull that nearly strangled him and made him make the croaking -noise that caused the Red Cross dog to turn around.</p> - -<p>“Gee, that is too bad!” sighed the dog, and Pinky said:</p> - -<p>“Just my luck! I never counted on having a good time that <i>some</i>thing -did not come along and spoil it! I expect the cook won’t -rest now until he has delivered Billy to the old General.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder where the cook is going to put him now he has him,” -said one of the dogs.</p> - -<p>“Goodness knows! <i>I</i> don’t!” replied Pinky.</p> - -<p>“Why, look! He is going over toward the hospital with him,” -said another.</p> - -<p>“Let’s follow and see what he is going to do with him,” suggested -the Red Cross dog. “But keep out of sight and don’t let the cook -know we are following him,” he warned.</p> - -<p>So they all separated, slinking along in the shadows, dodging -behind trees, boxes and barrels, their eyes glued to the cook’s back.</p> - -<p>Instead of hiding, Pinky walked out in plain sight, and trotted -along at the cook’s heels, and she heard him mutter to himself: -“I’ll just put this foxy old goat in that vacant room in the hospital<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -and lock him in and <i>then</i> we will see if he is smart enough to butt -down the hospital!”</p> - -<p>“He might not try,” whispered Pinky to herself. “But I bet he -could butt down the door if he took it into his head he wanted to -do it.”</p> - -<p>The cook got Billy to the foot of the stairs leading to the porch of -the hospital. Here the cook went ahead and tried to lead Billy -up. But all of a sudden Billy planted his fore feet straight in front -of him and pulled back. His quick stop accompanied by the jerk -nearly cracked the cook’s head off his shoulders and Billy, giving a -second pull just then, jerked the cook backwards off the steps where -he landed at the bottom, sitting straight up and facing Billy, with -their noses not three inches apart. He looked so comical with his -legs spread apart, cap on one side of his head and his hair standing -straight up, that Billy had to laugh. Surely the cook’s startled expression -was a study as he gazed into Billy’s eyes.</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p056.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>On seeing this, the dogs all laughed out loud. The cook jumped -up and looked around to see who was making sport of him, but of -course he saw no one. So he thought some one must have been leaning -out of one of the upper windows, then quickly ducked after they -laughed. Anyway, he would make Billy pay for his discomfort. -He jerked him up the steps and was about to shove him into the room<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -he had just unlocked when Billy gave a big, big pull and started -to run off the porch. He ran so fast and was so strong that he jerked -the cook along as if he had been a rag. Along the porch they -went until Billy came to one end. Here there were no steps, so -Billy just gave a big leap -and landed in the -middle of a flower -bed, the cook sailing -on behind, hanging -on to the rope -that was still -around Billy’s -neck. And it was -a lucky thing for -the cook that -there happened to -be a nice soft -flower bed right there for him to fall in; otherwise he might have -broken his back.</p> - - - -<p>Billy gave another pull to the rope which brought the cook to -his feet, and away went Billy across the lawn and down the lane, -jerking the cook around trees, over stumps and beehives, upsetting -them and causing all the bees to come out to see what was the matter.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -For a while the air seemed to Billy to be black with bees. Then -they stung the cook so that he let go the rope and rolled in the grass -to try to keep them off his face. But they settled on him thick as -flies on a molasses covered paper.</p> - -<p>“Run for the watering trough in the barnyard!” called a nurse -who saw all this, and the cook did, diving headfirst into the water -to drive off the bees, which it did effectively.</p> - -<p>Billy thought they could not sting up through his long hair, and -he stood enjoying seeing the cook trying to fight them off. But -all of a sudden one bee stung him on the ear. The pain made him -frantic and he started for the watering trough, regardless of the -fact that the cook was still sitting on the edge, rubbing his swollen -face and hands and putting mud on them to take out the burning, -stinging pain. Strange as it may seem, neither the cook nor Billy -paid the slightest attention to each other. They were too much -occupied each in trying to stop the pain of the bee stings.</p> - -<p>Presently the cook got up and limped into the kitchen, saying -to himself as he went, “That goat sure has the devil inside of him! -I’ll never try to capture him again for the General. No, not for -the President of the United States himself! I am done! What -with having my head jerked off, my spine driven through the top -of my head, and my legs nearly broken off, to say nothing of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -running me into stumps, trees and beehives, I’ve got enough of -that goat, even with one thousand dollars as a reward offered for -his return. No! No more at all, at all, do I ever have anything -to do with goats!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI<br /> - - -<span class="small">BILLY RELATES SOME OF HIS ADVENTURES</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p059.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">OH, Billy, are you hurt?” whined Pinky at his -heels.</p> - -<p>“Yes. I have a bee sting on my ear that -hurts like the very mischief. And, by Jove, I believe -I have another over my eye for it is fast swelling -shut.”</p> - -<p>“Come with us,” said the Red Cross dog, “over to the grove -before it closes entirely and you can’t see where to walk. -When we get there I’ll fix you up for I know what is good for -stings.”</p> - -<p>On the way they had to cross over a little stream with a soft, -muddy bank, and the Red Cross dog stopped there and said, “Now -stoop down and rub your head in the mud so it will cover your eye -and get into the lid where the sting is. As soon as the mud closes -over it you will find that the pain will stop almost instantly. I -have seen my master rub mud on too many stings not to know it -is a sure cure.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>“Gee, but I hate to get that nasty mud in my ear and all over -my face!”</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p060.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Never mind the dirt! It is clean -mud and will dry and fall off itself so it won’t -be hard to get out of your ear or off your face. -Should it be, you can just shut your eyes, hold -your breath and dip your head up and down in -the trough until your hair is as white as snow -again.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve got to do something, -dirt or no dirt, for this -pain is setting me crazy. So -here goes!”</p> - -<p>Billy knelt down and -rubbed and rubbed and -rubbed one side of his head -up and down in the soft -mud until it was as brown -as an African’s face. When -at last he stood up all -the dogs tried not to laugh, -but finally they went off in a perfect howl of merriment.</p> - -<p>“What you laughing at?” asked Billy.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>“Just step here where the water is clear and look at yourself,” -said the Red Cross dog.</p> - -<p>This Billy did, and then he too began to laugh, for he was a -most comical sight. One side of his face looked twice as large as -the other, and on this side the eye was swollen shut with a bump -as big as a hen’s egg standing out above it. And this whole side -of his head was as brown as could be while the other was white, -which made him look exactly as if his head had been made in two -parts and they were misfits.</p> - -<p>“Hurry!” said a hound that was with them. “We better get to -the woods. I hear some one coming!” and away scampered the -dogs and goat to the grove, their old trysting place.</p> - -<p>I should like to have had a picture of them as they stood beside -the clear stream, with the dogs surrounding the mumpsy looking -goat, laughing at his discomfort.</p> - -<p>There was the big St. Bernard, majestic and tall; the long, sleek, -black hound with tan ears and feet; the fluffy white French poodle -with pinkish eyes; and the Red Cross Belgian dog with his short, -sharp ears, wide-awake face and short, glossy black hair, while -over his breast was still the white band with the Red Cross -on it.</p> - -<p>Once in the woods and comfortably fixed, Billy related to them -the story of his life and how and where he first met the big black<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> -cat they had just seen, and the little yellow dog that was now wounded -and in the hospital.</p> - -<p>“Before you begin, Billy,” said the Red Cross dog, “I want to -ask if the pains in your ear and eye are better?”</p> - -<p>“Why, bless my soul, they don’t hurt at all! Even the swelling -is going down. You sure are some doctor!”</p> - -<p>“Now go on with your story, and excuse me for having interrupted -you.”</p> - -<p>“Well, to begin with, all three of us—the little yellow dog named -Stubby, the big black cat called Button and myself—were born in -the United States of America. We have known each other for years -and been great chums. Why, we have scarcely been out of sight -of one another for years until I joined the army. My regiment left -so unexpectedly for France that I had no way of letting them know -I was going, as they were away at the time on a vacation. And I -bet you we will find out when I get a chance to talk to them that the -minute they got home and found I was gone they managed to make -friends with some of the soldier boys and made themselves so useful -that they brought them along. Why, do you know that we three -have crossed the big American continent twice, and we have been -from Northern Wisconsin away down to the Gulf of Mexico? Not -being satisfied with that, we have crossed the Pacific to Japan and we -all three were in the war between Russia and Japan as mascots.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> -Before that we crossed the Atlantic Ocean, sailed through the Straits -of Gibraltar and over the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople. -We are some little globe trotters, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“Heavens! It makes my head dizzy to even think of it!” said -Pinky.</p> - -<p>“And you lived to tell the tale!” said the big St. Bernard.</p> - -<p>“Yes, as I shall live to tell the tale of this war and about all of -you to my grandchildren when I get home,” replied Billy.</p> - -<p>“But you must have had a great many narrow escapes and thrilling -experiences,” suggested the hound.</p> - -<p>“I should think so! More than would fill a book the size of Webster’s -dictionary. As for hurts, bruises and scars, I have been -wounded so many times I don’t believe there is a square inch on my -body that has not a scar of some kind on it. It is a good thing I am -not a hairless goat, like those little hairless dogs they have in Mexico, -for if I was, I would look like a tattooed man,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“Tell us of your most thrilling experience,” begged the Red Cross -dog.</p> - -<p>“Heavens! I have had so many hairbreadth escapes I would not -know which one to pick out.”</p> - -<p>“Tell us two or three of them,” said Pinky. “I just love to hear -you tell of your adventures.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, do!” exclaimed all the other dogs in chorus.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>Just then Billy gave his head a shake and a big clod of dry mud -fell off his eye, leaving it practically well and the swelling gone.</p> - -<p>“A mighty quick cure, I should say,” remarked Billy. “I recommend -you, Doctor Red Cross!”</p> - -<p>“Turn your head to one side and shake it and I think the rest of -the mud will fall off. Then by holding your head well over on one -side, the mud will fall out of your ear.”</p> - -<p>All this Billy did.</p> - -<p>“My, but it certainly does feel good to be able to see out of both -eyes and hear with both ears once again! So you all want to hear -of some thrilling adventure I have had? Well, let me see which -one I shall tell first, about being wrecked at sea, falling in the crack -of an earthquake that opened at my feet, or being blown up by a -bomb in this war or—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t tell us anything about bombs!” exclaimed Pinky. -“They are too common around here. We want to hear something we -don’t know so much about.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then I guess I’ll tell you about the earthquake experience. -It happened when Stubby, Button and myself were in San Francisco.</p> - -<p>“One day we were trotting along one of the streets in Chinatown, -the name given to the Chinese quarters of that city. It was about -lunch time, and Button had jumped up into a milk wagon that had -stopped opposite us, to see if he could not find some milk to drink,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -Stubby had run into a butcher shop to see if he could find some -meat, and I decided to sneak into some Chinaman’s back yard and -see what I could find to make a meal.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p065.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Presently I came to a long, narrow, dark passageway that led to -a back yard. I sneaked in quickly, so a Chinaman looking out the -window would not see me. But alas, he did, and I had scarcely -gotten half way down the passage when I heard a door slam shut -behind me and a bolt slipped into place. I knew before I even -turned around, when I heard that bolt slip into place, that I was -caught in a trap like as not. But I went right on pretending I -did not hear the Chinaman shut the door.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>“The end of the passage opened into the back yard of a Chinese -laundry and there were lines and lines stretched from one side of -the yard to the other, but there were no clothes hanging on them -when I went in. Without paying any attention to me, the Chinaman -began to take down the lines, but instead of taking them all -down, he only took a short one, I noticed. Then he made a slip -knot in one end, whistling as he walked toward the laundry. He -went inside, still without looking at me, and I was beginning to -think I had been mistaken and he had not seen me enter and that -the rope was not to tie me up, when out he came with a carrot in -one hand, the rope still in the other.</p> - -<p>“He came straight toward me, holding out the carrot in one hand -while he kept the other behind him. As he approached me he -kept saying, ‘Nice little goatee! Nice little goatee! Have a carrot!’</p> - -<p>“And I thought to myself, ‘You might as well try to catch a bird -by putting salt on its tail as to try to catch me with a carrot in one -hand and a rope hidden in the other behind your back, especially -when that rope has a slip knot in it. Oh, no, Mr. Chinaman, I -was not born yesterday or the day before! And unless you open -that door quickly and let me out, you are going to be carried out -of it on my horns. I am in no mood for play or jokes!’</p> - -<p>“Just then another Chinaman came out of the laundry with a -basket heaped up with clothes to hang on the line, and the Chinaman -with the carrot said, ‘Yum, you watcha me catcha little goatee. -Keep little goatee. Him bring heap money at butcher’s!’</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p066b.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="caption">Billy gave one long, loud baa that resounded down the big,<br /> bare room.</p> - - -<p class="center"><span class="floatright">(Page <a href="#Page_49">49</a>)</span></p> - - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>“‘So-ho! You would sell me for chops and roasts, would you? -Well, just you come a little nearer and see what happens to one little -Chinaman!’</p> - -<p>“The Chinaman with the clothes began to hang them on the line, -singing a queer, monotonous refrain in his cackling language. By -this time the first Chinaman was within three feet of me, holding -the carrot straight out before him and staring into my eyes. Evidently -he was not used to goats, and felt a little uncertain as to what -I would do. While I was watching him, expecting he would try -to throw the rope over my head every minute, to surprise him I -stretched my neck out quickly, grabbed the carrot out of his hand -and ate it up. Then he came boldly up to me, as this gave him the -assurance I was not going to butt him. But when he tried to put the -rope around my neck, I simply lowered my head and butted him over -flat on his back. This infuriated him, and he leaped up and grabbed -a clothes pole to hit me with it. Then the chase began. Around -and around that small back yard we went, upsetting everything, -he trying to hit me all the while and I dodging him but trying to -butt or hook him at every turn. Then I took to butting everything -and anything that came in my way. One thing I butted was the -basket full of clothes the second Chinaman had left, having sought<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> -a place of safety when first the chase began. Now he sat cross-legged -on the low roof of the back porch grinning from ear to ear -and watching the sport. When I butted the basket, it shot straight -up in the air, spilling out the clothes as it soared, which the wind -caught and carried over into the other yards.</p> - -<p>“Presently from all the doors and windows of the adjacent buildings -one could see grinning faces. But not one person came to help -that Chinaman I was butting and chasing. He must have been -thoroughly disliked by his neighbors for them to act as they did. -Their jeers and calls made him madder and madder and every -time he tried to hit me with the long pole and missed, they would -call:</p> - -<p>“‘Try it again! Try it again! Don’t give up!’</p> - -<p>“Once the pole just grazed my back, and for this I went to the -clothesline and taking a shirt sleeve in my teeth I jerked it off the -line, stamped on it and then tore it to pieces. He nearly foamed -at the mouth when he saw this. And I was just walking up to -get another when some one slipped up behind me and threw a -blanket over my head. Well, of all the rolling and tumbling that -went on then you never saw the like! First I was on top, then -the two Chinamen were. My legs were loose and you better believe -I used them. I kicked and kicked. Then all of a sudden it seemed -as if every Chinaman in all Chinatown was sitting on top of me.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -They came from over the fences, from all directions, and every one -that came proceeded to sit on me. At last there were so many of -them I could not move. They tied all four of my feet together -and strung me on a pole, which they suspended over a place where -a bonfire had been made over which to make soap. Some one removed -the big kettle of soap and then they put me right where -the kettle had been. Next they took the blanket off my head and -began dancing around me, and spit at me and jabbed me with sticks, -doing everything they could possibly think of to torture me.</p> - -<p>“The blood ran into my head so from being hung upside down -that I could scarcely see, and the ropes binding my feet cut into -me until I bled. But still these heathen Chinese showed no mercy -and I was beginning to wonder if they intended leaving me to die -a slow death when the first Chinaman said, ‘Let’s build a fire under -him and cook him alive! Roast goatee is velly, velly good, me hear.’</p> - -<p>“This seemed to please the crowd, and they joined hands and ran -around and around me, chanting some heathen song until the old -Chinaman who had proposed cooking me alive came with some -matches and shavings to start the fire.</p> - -<p>“Then for the first time I began to be worried, and thought, -‘Well, at last I am in a tight place I can’t get out of,’ when I heard -howls of pain and rage and the fierce growl of a dog. Opening -my eyes to see what was taking place, I saw Stubby biting the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -heels of the Chinaman as he stooped to light the fire, while Button -sat on his back scratching the very shirt off him. In about two -minutes the yard was cleared of Chinamen, I can tell you! Stubby -bit and Button clawed them until they were glad enough to climb -the fences to get away alive.</p> - -<p>“They had frightened the Chinamen off and saved me from being -roasted to death. But how were they ever to get me off that pole?</p> - -<p>“At last I thought, ‘Perhaps if I wriggle and squirm my weight -will break the pole. Anyway, I am going to try it.’</p> - -<p>“And soon I found that by moving my body in a certain way I -could start a certain motion that made me swing up and down and -the more I moved the higher I went and the pole began to creak. -Then presently it broke in two and came down all in a heap. I had -scarcely touched the ground when Stubby and Button began to gnaw -the ropes that bound me, and in a jiffy they had gnawed them through -and I was loose.</p> - -<p>“Do you think I ran away when I was free once more? No, -indeed, I did not! I stayed right there to get even with Mr. Chinaman -who had proposed to cook me alive. It was very dark in the -yard now as night had closed in while all the fuss was going on. So -I proposed to hide and wait for the Chinaman to show himself -in the yard. Well, all I can say is that if he ever did show himself -I had made up my mind to kill him. Stubby and Button hid too,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -and then we waited. And as we waited the earth under our feet -began to quiver and shake and low, rumbling noises were heard -like distant thunder. These shakings and tremblings of the earth -continued growing more and more violent until they threw me off -my feet once or twice, while the ripping, roaring noises grew louder -and more frequent. Presently fire bells began to ring and the night -sky was illuminated with vivid red reflections from huge fires. But -still we three watched for those Chinamen to come out of the house.</p> - -<p>“‘Come on, Billy!’ Stubby barked in a whisper. ‘Let us get out -of here. We must be having one of those terrible earthquakes -they sometimes have out here in this country.’</p> - -<p>“‘Yes, come, Billy,’ urged Button, ‘and leave the Chinaman to -the mercy of the ’quake. Perhaps the earth will open and swallow -him!’</p> - -<p>“‘Hope it does, but I am going to give him a butt that will break -his back first. I’ll teach him not to torture goats in the future!’</p> - -<p>“‘S-s-s-s-h-h-h!’ exclaimed Button. ‘I see him through the window. -He is coming now.’</p> - -<p>“Cautiously the door opened a crack, and the Chinaman’s crafty -face peered out. His eyes searched every nook and corner of the -yard, but he saw no goat, dog or cat. Button was so black one could -not see him as he sat on top of the fence. Stubby was hidden under -a pile of old chairs, tables and so on, while I was close against the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -house behind the door the Chinaman had just opened. I got there -on purpose so that when once he stepped into the yard he could -not go back unless he passed me for I would be between the man -and the house.</p> - -<p>“‘What has he in his hand that smokes so?’ I wondered. ‘Why, -it is a dipper of boiling water! Gee, I bet he intended to throw -that on me when he saw me. Well, I’ll just sneak up behind him -and give him a butt in the back and make him spill it on himself -and then he can see how he would like boiling water thrown on -him.’</p> - -<p>“I did not dare to try to walk up behind him for fear I might -stumble over something and then he would hear me and throw the -water, so I made one big jump from behind the door and butted him -squarely in the back. Well, I made the jump all right, but just as -my feet left the earth it opened under me with a ripping, tearing -noise and swallowed the Chinaman with his dipper of hot water, -and closed again so quickly that when I came down from my jump -I lit on solid ground where but half a second before had been a -yawning chasm. Whoo! That was a narrow escape, for had I stood -still the earth would have opened under me or if I had not happened -to jump high enough I would have landed right in the opening and -been crushed or killed as had the Chinaman.</p> - -<p>“The ’quake that swallowed the Chinaman had extended far and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -shaken down lots of the old rickety buildings in the neighborhood, -and buildings were tottering and falling all around. So Stubby, -Button and I lost no time in getting out of that place, I can tell you. -I simply butted down the door the Chinaman had bolted when I -came in, and we all three ran out and down the street towards the -Bay. I won’t stop to tell you of the destruction of the beautiful -city and the fearful, gruesome sights and sounds we saw and heard, -or how the flames licked up the handsome buildings after the earthquake -had shaken them down, for the destruction of San Francisco -has passed into history and any one of you who wish to hear more -of it can listen as some one is reading aloud about it. This ends -the tale of one of my most thrilling adventures.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, Mr. Whiskers, for telling -us this story,” exclaimed the facile Pinky. “I have enjoyed hearing -it so much, though you did make my skin creep and my hair -stand on end when you were telling of how they proposed to cook -you alive.”</p> - -<p>Then all the other dogs thanked him also for relating to them this -wonderful tale.</p> - -<p>“I think we better go back to the hospital and look for Button -and see if we cannot find a way for me to slip in and see Stubby,” -remarked Billy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VII<br /> - - -<span class="small">BUTTON FRIGHTENS TWO NURSES</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p023.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHILE Billy had been relating his adventures Button had -been lying in a box under Stubby’s window, trying to -think of a way to get to him and tell him that Billy was -here in this very place.</p> - -<p>“If there was only a fire escape!” he sighed. “Then I could easily -make it.”</p> - -<p>It was getting near supper time but he was still puzzling his brain -over the matter when he saw one of the nurses in Stubby’s room come -to the window and let down a rope with a basket on it. When it -reached the ground she still stood there holding on to the rope as -if waiting for some one to come.</p> - -<p>“What in the world can be going on now, I wonder,” mused Button.</p> - -<p>Presently from around the corner of the hospital from the kitchen -he saw another nurse appear with a tray loaded down with the dogs’ -supper. There not being an elevator in this old building, the nurses -had thought out this way of saving them climbing the long flight -of steps with the heavy trays on which they carried the dogs’ food -to them. One nurse would go to the kitchen, get the food prepared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -by the cook, and then bring it around to this window, place it in -the basket, and the nurse in the window would pull it up. When -the dogs had finished their meal, the dishes were lowered in the -basket just as they had been hauled up, carried back to the kitchen -and washed. So you see what a saving of steps this basket elevator -really was.</p> - -<p>“My, if I could only manage to get in that basket and have her -pull me up!” thought Button.</p> - -<p>The cat watched the nurses raise and lower the basket until presently -a nurse came from the kitchen, put the food in the basket and -went off, forgetting to pull a string which rang a bell, the signal that -the basket was ready to be pulled up.</p> - -<p>“Gee, she has forgotten to pull the string and gone off. I can -see the nurse in the window waiting for the signal. She will get -tired waiting pretty soon and pull it up, I believe. I am going -over and eat up what is in that basket and hop in myself, and then -I shall be pulled up. If the basket feels heavy, the nurse will think -there must be an extra amount of dishes in this trip.”</p> - -<p>Suiting the action to the thought, Button hurried over to it, lapped -up a cup of milk, ate some cold chicken and potatoes, and then he -saw the basket begin to move. Without a moment’s hesitation he -jumped in and sat on the soiled dishes and the remaining suppers. -Up, up he was slowly drawn, and he heard the nurse mumble to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -herself, “Wonder what they have in this basket to-night? It feels -like a basket of bricks, it is so heavy.”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p077.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Now if she only doesn’t see -me until the basket is safely on -the window ledge I shall be -lucky. I am afraid if she sees -me, it will frighten her and she -will let go the basket and -down I will fall with a dull thud.”</p> - -<p>But just as the basket reached the -ledge of the window her attention was called -to something inside and she turned her -head to look, at the same time reaching her -hand out and pulling the basket on to -the window sill from force of habit. -When she turned back to the window, -there on the sill sat a black -cat with big, yellow eyes looking at -her. It startled her so she screamed -and pulled the basket in off the sill, -and then let go the handle, and it rolled under the -bed of one of the patients, spilling out bottles of milk, biscuits, sliced -chicken, and many other good things.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>Taking advantage of the confusion, Button jumped down from -the window and ran under the beds until he came to the one occupied -by Stubby. Then he moved softly so as not to frighten Stubby, and -crawled in bed under the sheets so no one could see him. No one -did see him do it for every dog in the ward was sitting up in bed, -straining their eyes to see what had happened by the window.</p> - -<p>“The cat! The cat! Where did it go?” the nurse kept calling -in an excited voice. For when she turned to look for him, the cat -she had seen was gone. After all the nurses had looked under every -bed and in all the corners and in every other conceivable place, they -began to tease her and tell her it was an illusion, that she had only -imagined she saw a cat. After awhile she began to think that perhaps -this was the case. Still what would make her think she saw -a cat when she did not? Especially as she had not even been thinking -of cats? The only thing that looked as if she had seen one was that -half the dogs’ suppers had been eaten or at least they were short some -food. That nurse went to bed that night with a headache from trying -to decide whether or not she had seen a cat.</p> - -<p>Soon after supper the dogs in the hospital were given their last -dose of medicine, their bandages were straightened, and then they -were ready to be tucked in for the night. The nurses patted the -dogs on their heads and said good-night to them just as if they were -people. Then they turned down the lights and went out, leaving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> -only the night nurse in charge in one corner of the room where she -sat by a shaded light knitting for the soldiers and dreaming and -praying for the safe return of her brothers and sweetheart after the -war was over. Button did not stir until Stubby stuck his head under -the sheet and whispered to him that he could talk now, as the nurse -was so occupied in picking up some stitches in her knitting that she -had dropped that she would not hear them.</p> - -<p>So there the two lay all curled up under the sheet, Button telling -of the finding of Billy and Stubby listening with all his ears. When -Button had finished, Stubby gave a great sigh and said, “Isn’t it -wonderful to think that we should have found him in this big, big -country across the sea? My, I am so glad it will make me well -soon. For life was not half worth living without our dear chum -Billy. I know you agree with me, Button.”</p> - -<p>“I surely do!” exclaimed Button. “How is your leg, old fellow? -Healing fast, I hope.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes. The nurse said they would take the splints off to-morrow, -and she doesn’t think I am going to be lame, it was healed -so straight and fine. Isn’t that grand? For I would hate to be -bothered limping along on a lame leg on our trips. It would be -very inconvenient when I wished to run away when some one was -chasing us, too. I hate to hurry you off, Button, but the night nurse -will be coming around soon to straighten our beds and give us our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -last drink for the night so I am afraid she might lift up the sheet -and find you. But how are you going to get out of the door into -the hall, as it is shut?”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p081.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Trust me! I will get out as I came—by the window.”</p> - -<p>“I did not know there was a fire escape by the window,” said -Stubby.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t. I came up on the food basket.” And then Button -told him how he had come up in the basket and nearly scared a -nurse to death.</p> - -<p>“But you can’t go down that way because there is no one here -to let the basket down,” objected Stubby.</p> - -<p>“I don’t need any basket to go down in. All I need is the rope, -and as it is fastened to the wall I will just have to slide down it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Button, but you are a smart cat! You should have been -born a man, not a cat. If you had, the world would have heard -of wonderful things you had done, I am sure.”</p> - -<p>“If you wish I had been born a man, I wish the three of us had. -Wouldn’t Billy have made a splendid brigadier general, while you -would have made a dandy lieutenant!”</p> - -<p>“S-s-s-s-sh-h-h! I hear the nurse coming. Scoot! Drop out of -bed on the side nearest the wall and run under the beds until you -are near the window,” advised Stubby.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>The nurse was walking down the aisle of the ward that faced -the window when the moon came out from under a cloud and shone -straight into the room. And she saw not only the moon, but a big -black cat as it jumped up on the window sill. She shut her eyes, -looked again and again, and the cat had disappeared!</p> - - - -<p>“It must be the same cat that -Nurse Mollie saw, and now it has -disappeared again as completely -as it did when she saw it. She -got one glimpse and it was gone. -I got another, and it faded in -thin air. Heavens! We must be -going to be bombarded for black -cats bring bad luck, they say, and -this cat has come to warn us. I’ll -just run to the window and see if -I can’t see it. It could not jump -out of the window because it is -too high from the ground, and it isn’t in this room, and cats can’t -fly, so where is it?”</p> - -<p>The nurse went to the window and looked out. No tree, roof -or shed was near enough for the cat to have jumped to them and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -then to the ground, so of course it must have been a spook cat for -no cat was in sight. She never looked close to the building, or -she would have seen a rope to which clung a black cat, hanging -on desperately as it lowered itself to the ground.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - - -<span class="small">BILLY MAKES PLANS TO LEAVE FRANCE</span></h2> -</div> -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p023.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p class="drop-cap">WHILE Button was hanging on to the rope Billy and the -dogs came around the hospital to look for him.</p> - -<p>“There! I told you Button was the smartest cat you -ever heard of, and I bet he would find a way to see -Stubby. There he comes now, down that rope from Stubby’s window!” -said Billy.</p> - -<p>When nearly to the ground Button jumped from the rope and -landed at Billy’s feet.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Billy and friends! How do you find yourselves? I have -just been up to pay Stub a visit, and I accidentally frightened two -nurses nearly to death and made them both believe they saw a -spook cat instead of a live one.”</p> - -<p>“But how am I to see Stubby? That is what I want to know,” -asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“I am afraid you can’t get into the hospital to see him, Billy. -But you will probably have a fine chance to see him to-morrow. -I heard the nurse say she was going to take all the convalescent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -patients out under a tree in the yard if it was a nice day. And as -the sun set clear, I think you will have a chance to talk to him -to-morrow. If you cannot get near enough to him to chat, at least -you can see him.”</p> - -<p>“How is his leg getting along?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, splendidly! He will be able to use it in a few days. They -are taking off the splints to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“That is good news indeed. Now it will be only a short time -before we can start once again on our journey home.”</p> - -<p>“Our journey home!” exclaimed Button. “Who said Stubby and -I were going with you?”</p> - -<p>“I did. Or rather I planned taking you both along with me. -You don’t suppose I am going without you now I have found you -again, do you? Not by a long way!”</p> - -<p>“But what if we refuse to go? You can’t carry us, one on each -horn, can you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I could, but I don’t want you to go that way, or against your -will. I want you to <i>want</i> to go. And I know perfectly well that -I can offer enough inducements to coax you both to go with -me.”</p> - -<p>“But how about deserting our regiments?”</p> - -<p>“You have already deserted yours in following Stubby here,” -answered Billy.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>“But I had to follow a wounded friend! Besides, they would be -delighted to see me back.”</p> - -<p>“That is all well enough! But you fellows are coming back home -with me just as soon as Stubby is able to travel. And I will -tell you why. In the first place you both have had about -enough of war to last you -all your lives. Again the -war will soon be -over now the United -States army is in -the thick of the fight. -And again you both have come to -the conclusion that there is -no country you would care -to live in but America, and -the United States of America part of it at that.”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p085.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“You are right, Billy. I was only teasing you to hear what arguments -you would put up. But none of them are the real reason -why we would leave the army now and go home. The only thing -that would induce us to leave it before the war is over is the same -thing that made us join it.”</p> - -<p>“And pray may I ask what that is?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. It is yourself. We left home to find you. Having found<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -you, we are ready to leave everything and follow you whether you -go home or away from home.”</p> - -<p>“Bravo! Bravo!” cheered the dogs. “You and Stubby surely are -bully friends for a goat to have. We congratulate you, Billy, on -having such true and loyal ones.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks,” bowed Billy. “Do you know the way to make and keep -true, sincere and loyal friends? I’ll tell you. Be one yourself.”</p> - -<p>“Hurrah for you, Billy! You will always have the last word.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mind telling me a part of your immediate plan and how -you propose getting from here to where we are to embark? Or are -you thinking of stealing a ride home in an airship?” asked Button.</p> - -<p>At this the dogs laughed. The idea of a goat, dog and cat riding -in an airship!</p> - -<p>“Well, my friends, you need not laugh and think that is impossible, -for I already have crossed the American continent from New York -City to San Francisco in an airship,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“Will you tell us what you haven’t done, Mr. Billy Whiskers?” -asked Pinky.</p> - -<p>“I could not; it would take too long. Well, in the first place,” -he continued, turning to Button, “I thought unless a better plan -offered, I would go straight to Paris and from Paris to the seacoast -and get on the first boat sailing for America. I had not decided on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -any special port to sail from. I just left that to chance, for probably -we would have to try many before I could sneak on board. But -the hardest part of the trip will be from here to Paris, as we are -known by the soldiers around here, and we run the risk of being -carried back to the army any minute. If we leave the main highway -that leads to Paris, I am afraid we may lose our way and go a -long, roundabout route and possibly we might fall into the hands -of the Germans.”</p> - -<p>“Billy, I’ll tell you what I will do,” spoke up the Red Cross dog. -“I’ll leave going back to the army long enough to show you the way -to Paris and across that city. You could easily find your way to -Paris, but I doubt if you could find your way out. It is a big city, -and the roads out are all well guarded now by soldiers who might -recognize you, capture you and send you back. I know every step -of the way, and we could slip out at night or swim the river Seine -where it runs out of the city. After I had accompanied you to within -sight of the sea I could come back. I need a vacation and the trip -would be one for me.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, my dear Duke,” for that was the name of the Red -Cross dog. “I will accept your offer. But I cannot allow you to -carry out one part of it, and that part is to leave us and go back into -the army. They have plenty of Red Cross dogs and police dogs,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -too, so they can spare you now. As you have expressed a desire to -see America many times, why not continue on with us and visit our -fair land?”</p> - -<p>“Just the thing!” exclaimed Button. “You may never have such -another chance to visit our country in such good company as a goat, -dog and cat of world renown—a-hem, a-hem!”</p> - -<p>At this they all laughed and Pinky said, “Why, yes; why don’t -you go, Duke? I only wish I had the chance.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you have!” said Billy. “I extend my invitation to all here.”</p> - -<p>“Oh dear! Oh dear! Much as I should love to go, I dislike the -hardships of travel too much, and I know I should be seasick. I -was when I crossed the Channel once to go with my mistress to visit -some friends in London. But I should dearly love to go as far as -Paris with you and see the surprised face of my mistress when I -came trotting in. You know she sent me here so I would be safe -when they began to bombard Paris with those extra long range guns. -Besides, she said she had so much Red Cross war work to do that -she could not take the time to look after me properly and see that -I had my walk in the Boulevard or in the Park every day. And -it would be unkind of me to run away to America and leave her -when she has been so kind to me.”</p> - -<p>“I must go back to my mountains,” said the big St. Bernard, “as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -soon as I am able and help find the travelers that get lost in the -heights and would die of starvation if it was not for me.”</p> - -<p>So none of them accepted Billy’s invitation to go except Pinky -and even she was going only as far as Paris.</p> - -<p>“Listen! I thought I heard the sound of an automobile turning -into the lane,” said Button.</p> - -<p>“You did,” said the hound. “I just saw the flash of its lamps -through the trees.”</p> - -<p>Billy and the dogs talked for a while longer, and they were about -to say good-night when they heard voices coming in their direction.</p> - -<p>“S-s-s-sh-h-h!” said Billy. “I thought I recognized that voice! -It is the old General’s chauffeur. Now what can he be wanting -here at this time of the evening? I’ll just listen and find out. No, -I will get Button to creep up close and listen for his black coat won’t -show in the dark like my white one would.”</p> - -<p>Button crept through the long grass until he was right near where -the chauffeur and the cook stood talking. There being a tree near -them, Button ran up it and sat on a limb listening to every word -they spoke.</p> - -<p>“Well, Jean,” said the cook, “what important business have you -on your mind this evening, or have you come to take away some -of our convalescent patients?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>“My business is most important, and I have come straight from -the General.”</p> - -<p>“Hoity-toity! You don’t say so! Whatever can it be about?”</p> - -<p>“That blasted old Billy goat that the General sets such stores by.”</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p090.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“You don’t mean it!” said the cook. “And -why are you looking for him here when you took -him away with you only two days ago? -You don’t mean to tell me that the slippery -old rascal has escaped from camp again?”</p> - -<p>“No; he did not escape from camp, because -we never succeeded in getting him -within miles of it. We hadn’t gotten ten -miles from here when we broke down -and that pesky old goat escaped.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you are fooling! He could -not escape one General, -three officers and -a smart chauffeur like -you!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, couldn’t he? -You don’t know that old goat if you think that. He could escape -a whole regiment if he wanted to.”</p> - -<p>“And why do you come looking for him here?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>“Because we found him here and as he seemed to be having a -pretty good time with the dogs, we thought he might come back.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you did, did you? Well, you reasoned well, for he did come -back, and I tried to catch him so I could claim the thousand dollars -reward. You see my right arm is in a sling, don’t you? Well, it -is all on account of trying to capture that same old goat.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean to tell me that he really is here? Divide the -thousand dollars with me and I will help you catch him again.”</p> - -<p>“Never again do I monkey with that goat! I once swore I would -not, and nothing would induce me to try it again. Would you like -to know what he did to me and how I broke my arm?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I would.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it happened in this way. He did come back and I thought -I would catch him and claim the reward. One might as well try -to catch the devil asleep as to try to catch that goat off his guard. -Do you see those steps that lead up onto the hospital porch? And -that cherry tree down the lane the other side of those beehives? -Well, just imagine me, fat as I am, at the end of a rope, being jerked -off the porch where there are no steps, pulled around the yard, down -past the beehives, upsetting them, chased and stung by the bees, -wrapped around that cherry tree so tight I could not move and then -the rope pulled out of my hands so fast it blistered them while the -goat ran on, stopped to look around, saw me stuck to the tree, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -then he gave a baa, swished his tail and disappeared. I have not -seen him since. I hope the bees stung him so he will remember the -day as long as he lives, for I know I shall. Why, I could not see -out of my eyes for two days, they were swollen so, and my ears looked -like a jackass’s, they were so swollen out of shape. No, thank you! -You may have all the honor of catching that goat yourself, and the -reward that goes with it. I’ll be a goat catcher no more.”</p> - -<p>Button could see in his imagination just what Billy did to the -fellow, and he laughed so to himself that he nearly fell out of the -tree.</p> - -<p>“If you would like to hear it, I will tell you how he escaped the -five of us,” offered the chauffeur. Then he told the cook what you -already know, the recital of which pleased the cook immensely, as -misery likes company, and he was glad to know that he was not -the only one Billy had gotten the best of.</p> - -<p>“I tell you what let’s do,” suggested the chauffeur. “There are -two of us against one goat. We will lay a plan and get him. Then -we can divide that thousand dollars between us. We won’t try to -get him in a hurry, but we will lay a plan that can’t fail.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t fail?” laughed the cook. “<i>Any</i> plan would fail with that -old goat unless you killed him outright. And we don’t want to do -that for the General’s reward is for him alive, not dead.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p092b.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">Away went Billy, jerking the cook around trees,<br /> over stumps and beehives.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="floatright">(Page <a href="#Page_56">56</a>)</span></p> - - -<p>“Well, it is a pity with such a big reward in sight if we can’t get<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -ahead of one old goat! I’ll eat my shirt if I don’t capture him -alive within three days after I lay eyes on him.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll eat your shirt then, young man, and I will sit by and see -you do it if he doesn’t bung up both my eyes so I can’t see out of -them before then.”</p> - -<p>“Now let’s plan how I shall go about it,” said the chauffeur.</p> - -<p>Button waited to hear no more, but ran to tell Billy that they were -laying plans to capture him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IX<br /> - - -<span class="small">BUTTON DISCOVERS SPIES IN THE HAYMOW</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p023.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN Button got back where he had left Billy and the -dogs, he found them all gone.</p> - -<p>“I guess Billy thought they better hide somewhere -until I came back. I can soon find them, however, by -running up a tall tree and looking over the place, for even in this -twilight I can see Billy’s white coat. Yes, there is a white object -about his size moving toward the woods. I will follow it and I -bet it will turn out to be Billy. It is too big for a dog, and too small -for a cow.” So Button ran after the white object and soon came -up to Billy and the dogs.</p> - -<p>“There, didn’t I tell you dogs he would find us?” said Billy. -“Button, our friends here did not want to leave until you came back. -They were afraid you could not find us, and that you would feel -hurt at our going off when you had gone to get information for me. -They do not know us, do they? That we always understand one -another and know that every move we make is for the best and our -safety. Well, what did you find out?”</p> - -<p>“That the two are at this very minute plotting to capture you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> -so they can get the reward offered by the General,” and Button -began to laugh.</p> - -<p>“What are you laughing at? Tell us,” said Pinky.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p096.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“It is at what those two said. They have you down fine, Billy, -and think you are a foxy old rascal with brains. So the two are -going to lay a deep plot and are not going at it -hastily so as to be sure to catch you. The -chauffeur has promised to eat his shirt if he -can’t catch you in three days.”</p> - -<p>“They better lay a deep, dark plot and keep -it under their hats if they intend to catch -me within three days, for I am leaving -in about fifteen minutes,” answered -Billy.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mr. Whiskers, you don’t mean -that! You surely don’t mean to -leave us so soon. Besides, if I am to go with you -to Paris, I can’t possibly get ready in that time. Why, I have all the -chickens, ducks, pigs and the other fowls and animals on the place to -say good-by to, let alone all my friends in the hospital!”</p> - -<p>“Then you can’t travel with me, Miss Rosie de la France, as we -three never know ten minutes ahead where we will be next, or what -our next move will be. My being alive now is all due to my being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -able to think and act quickly. And I must leave here before those -two plotting my capture set eyes on me again. Now here are my -plans. I made them while walking over here. I will go ahead to -the outskirts of the next town. There I will wait for Stubby, Button, -Duke and yourself, if you still feel like risking your life with us, -and taking all the hardships that come along without a whimper or -complaint. For it is our motto never to complain or cry over spilt -milk. What is done is past and gone; why spoil the present and -becloud the future by dwelling on it?”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mr. Whiskers, but I think probably I better stay -here until my mistress comes for me. My surprising her might turn -out not to be pleasant after all.”</p> - -<p>“I think you are wise in your decision, for these are troublous -times to be running around loose without a particular friend, and -I think you are not enough accustomed to hard knocks to travel -with three such hardened travelers as we are.”</p> - -<p>“I am glad that sniffly-nosed, red-eyed little poodle is not going -with us,” mused Button to himself. “I never <i>could</i> abide poodles, -anyway, and this one seems to be a sentimental fuss-and-feathers kind -of one.”</p> - -<p>“Time’s up, boys! Glad to have met you all, and hope if any -of you ever come to America that I shall have the good luck to run -into you and the chance of returning some of the hospitality you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> -have extended to me as well as that I may show you some of our -beautiful country. Remember, Button, as soon as Stubby is able to -travel to meet me on the outskirts of the next town. Good-by, -good-by, kind friends!” and Billy was off.</p> - -<p>He had scarcely disappeared in the darkness when the dogs heard -the chauffeur and the cook coming toward the woods. They were -sneaking along, looking carefully under every bush and behind every -pile of stones for Billy.</p> - -<p>“I tell you,” said the cook, “I saw him running in this direction -after we had the mix-up with the bees.”</p> - -<p>“Skedaddle, all of you!” mewed Button. “Don’t let them find us -all together.”</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p098.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“How long ago -did you see him coming -in this direction?” -asked the chauffeur.</p> - -<p>“Oh, about -three hours.”</p> - -<p>“Three -<i>hours</i>! Oh, the dickens! -In that -time he might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -be half way to Paris. I thought you had seen him just before I -came.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he is somewhere around here, I bet.”</p> - -<p>“If he is, he is probably laughing inside himself at the spectacle -we make creeping along in the dark looking for him.”</p> - -<p>Button went right back to the hospital and climbed up the rope -that was still hanging from the window of Stubby’s ward. He -thought he better go tell Stubby the latest plans while the rope was -still there. He had very good luck indeed, and succeeded in getting -to Stubby without being seen and in telling him what he had heard -the men say and of Billy’s plans for them to join him as soon as he, -Stubby, was able to use his leg.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it too provoking that I have to be laid up with a broken -leg? Why couldn’t it have been my tail or an ear that got hurt? -Then I could have traveled.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, old fellow! You will be all right in a day or two. -In the meantime Billy can amuse himself by getting in more mischief, -and I can pass the time by trying <i>not</i> to get into any here. -I think I better vamoose now or some one will be coming and find -me as I see it is about time they change the night shifts. I’ll see -you in the garden to-morrow. Good-night and pleasant slumbers -free from pain!”</p> - -<p>Just as Button was on the window sill about to jump for the rope,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> -the second night nurse who was to relieve the one now on duty came -in the room, and it happened to be the one who had seen Button first -and had been trying to argue herself into believing that she had not -seen a big, black cat sitting on the window sill in the moonlight. On -seeing the same cat again in the same place, she screamed and threw -up her hands to cover her eyes. Her cry startled Button so that -he nearly lost his hold of the rope, for he was just sticking his claws -into it preparatory to climbing down when the nurse opened the -door.</p> - -<p>When she took her hands from her eyes to look once more and -be sure that the cat was still there, the cat had disappeared, just -as it had done before.</p> - -<p>“There is something horrible going to happen to the hospital, I -know,” she said to the other nurse, “for that is twice I have seen the -vision of a big black cat.”</p> - -<p>“And I too. I also saw it this evening, just where you did, when -I first came in to take your place. I do hope it is not the forerunner -of a German raid or that the Germans are going to drop bombs on -us.”</p> - -<p>It amused Button greatly to see how superstitious the nurses were -about a black cat.</p> - -<p>“I wonder how I shall pass the time until Stubby is taken out into -the yard to-morrow,” he thought. “I think I will go over to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -haymow and catch a mouse and see if French mice taste like American -ones.”</p> - -<p>He had crawled through a hole in the side of the barn and was -quietly making his way toward where he thought the haymow would -most likely be when he heard whispering voices. He stopped to -listen and made out that they were speaking in German, not in French. -And he immediately thought, “Spies, or escaped prisoners!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll just listen and hear what they have to say,” he decided, “but -I’ll try to get a little closer.”</p> - -<p>Being black as a coal, he could not be seen easily unless the light -struck his eyes. So he crept cautiously toward where the sound of -the voices came from, and found it was in the haymow above his -head. It took but a minute for Button to climb the ladder that led -up to the mow, but as he stepped from the ladder onto the hay, -it gave way and he fell into a hole in the hay made by one of the -men’s legs when he had stepped off the ladder.</p> - -<p>“What was that noise I heard?” said one of the two voices in a -frightened tone.</p> - -<p>“S-s-sh-h-h-h! Keep still and listen!” commanded the other.</p> - -<p>“I hope it is not that French colonel who has been on our track -for days,” answered the other.</p> - -<p>Button never moved, and in fact he held his breath until the men -began talking again.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>“It was probably a rat you heard in the hay,” said the man who -had spoken last. “Don’t you think it is about dark enough for us -to get to our work and blow up this Red Cross hospital, so we can -get back to our line before daylight?”</p> - -<p>“So-ho!” thought Button. “You two think because this hospital -has a big red cross on a white ground painted on its roof that it is -a regular hospital for wounded soldiers instead of just one for dogs. -And you have been sent to blow it up! Well, I’ll fix you! I’ll -scratch your eyes out so you can’t see to blow it up.”</p> - -<p>Then and there Button began to act as if he had a fit. He flew -out of the hole he had been hiding in and right for the men, whom -he could see plainly with his cat eyes in the dark mow. Before they -knew what was happening, he ran up one’s back, reached around -his neck as he sat on his shoulder and scratched both his eyes out.</p> - -<p>“How do you like the feeling? <i>That</i> is for scratching out the -eyes of little Belgian children!”</p> - -<p>The man cried out from pain, but what cared Button? He jumped -from this fellow’s shoulders straight into the other’s face and out -went his eyes.</p> - -<p>“Now you two can sit here and repent of your sins and think how -the little children suffered whose eyes you dug out! And the Germans -are planning to blow up this hospital, are they? Such being -the case, I must get Stubby away from here at the earliest possible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -moment. I know what I can do. I can carry him on my back, he -is such a little fellow, and he is so thin now that I can easily do it. -Then when we reach Billy, he can carry him and in this way, by -taking turns, we can get him far away from here before the Germans -raid the hospital.”</p> - -<p>And this is just what Button did. The very next day when Stubby’s -nurse carried him out of the hospital and placed him on a cushion -under a tree, with the splints off his leg, Button came along and -told him what he had done the night before and that he feared the -Germans would blow up or set fire to the hospital that very night. -By first coaxing, then scolding, he at last persuaded Stubby to consent -to ride on his back and let him take him where Billy was waiting for -them on the outskirts of the town seven miles away. They bade all -the dogs good-by and the Red Cross dog insisted that as he was larger -and stronger than Button he should carry Stubby on his back part -of the journey. “Besides,” he said, “I have a cloth bandage around -my body with the Red Cross sewed on the front. Now this bandage -will be an excellent thing for Stubby to stick his claws in to help -him hold on. It will be much easier trying to do that than trying -to stick them into your short hair, more especially as he has only -three legs he can use.”</p> - -<p>And thus they started on their journey, keeping close to the road, -but going just inside the fields and orchards that bordered either<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> -side of the highway. They made very good progress, and the Red -Cross dog did not feel the weight of Stubby at all. They rested a -little after noon, and Button and the Red Cross dog left Stubby -behind a straw stack in a barnyard while they sneaked up to the -house to see if they could not find something to eat and to carry -back to Stubby.</p> - -<p>“Bow wow!” barked a big dog, jumping out at them from his -kennel. “Who are you that comes prowling around here? Oh, -I beg your pardon! I did not notice you wore the badge of a Red -Cross dog or I should not have barked, for all Red Cross dogs are -welcome in this place and the farmer and his family will do all they -can for you. Just go up to the house and when they see you wear -a Red Cross badge they will give you a hot supper and a soft bed -to sleep on if you care to stay over night. I would go up to the -house with you, but, as you see, I am chained. They will bring some -dinner to me and I will share it with your friend here, the black -cat.”</p> - -<p>“I am sure that is very kind of you,” replied Duke, the Red Cross -dog. “Since you say the family here is kind to Red Cross dogs, I -will walk boldly up to the house.”</p> - -<p>“You will find them all I say they are, for my master used to train -dogs to be police dogs, and he sold them to the police in Paris. Then -when the war began he trained them for Red Cross work. But all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -his dogs are sold now or gone to war. He was such a good trainer -that he got very high prices for his dogs. I should not wonder but that -you may have met some of the dogs trained by him if you have -been at the front lately, as many of them are in active service there -now.”</p> - -<p>“Your master’s name could not possibly be Jean Baptiste Frère, -could it?”</p> - -<p>“That is just what it is!”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, well! I declare! That is too queer! My chum was -trained by him and lots of the dogs I know. My chum’s name is -Sharp Ears, or rather that is what the Red Cross people call him, -for he seems to be able to hear things long before any one else can -detect the slightest noise. For that reason he is kept on police duty -with the sentinels that have to tramp up and down, up and down -in the deep woods on guard all night. He will hear or scent an -enemy long before he comes in sight, and he always gives warning -by pricking up his ears and looking straight into the sentry’s face, -but he never barks to betray the sentry to the enemy. Then he turns -his face in the direction from which the sound comes. If it is one -of our soldiers, he will keep perfectly still. If it is a German, -Austrian or any of the enemy soldiers, he will give a scarcely audible -growl. He has saved many a sentry’s life by warning him in this -way that some one was coming.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>“How can he tell whether it is an enemy or a friend coming when -he can’t see them?”</p> - -<p>“I asked him that very question, and he said he can always tell -a German by the scent as they smell like pigs, and that he had never -made a mistake yet.”</p> - -<p>“I did not know before that the German soldiers have an odor -peculiarly their own.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I until he told me! Here they come with my dinner now, -and as they don’t like cats very well, I think your friend better hide -in my dog house. I will stand before the door so they can’t see -inside.”</p> - -<p>“Hello, Towser!” called out the farmer when he saw Duke. “I -see you have company and most distinguished company at that. -Come here and let me see by your badge to what regiment you -belong.”</p> - -<p>Duke went up to the farmer who had a very strong but kindly -face and allowed him to read what was engraved on the tag that -dangled from his collar.</p> - -<p>“Why, bless my soul! You are from the same regiment that my -son is in and also the one that owns my best trained dog. Oh, if -you could only talk and tell me how they are faring out on that -battlefront!” And he gave a deep sigh. So did Duke for he too -wished he could talk and tell the farmer of some of the noble, brave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -deeds his son had performed and also some of the clever, smart things -his dog had done.</p> - -<p>“Come with me up to the house and I will give you a dinner that -will make your sides stick out and ready to split,” which he certainly -did. Duke ate and ate and still he could not see the bottom -of his plate. There was fried chicken, with mashed potatoes and -gravy fit for a king to eat. He ate all he possibly could for he knew -it would be a long time before he ever was offered such a dinner -again. But all the time he ate he kept thinking of how Stubby -would enjoy the big chicken leg he was going to carry to him in his -mouth when the farmer left him and he could slip away. He was -just wondering how he was going to get away from the farmer when -some one in the house called him to say that he was wanted on the -telephone.</p> - -<p>He had not disappeared inside the door when Duke picked up the -chicken leg and ran with it to Stubby, and as he rounded the stack -from one side Button did from the other with a second drumstick -in his mouth. So you see Stubby fared pretty well.</p> - -<p>“Those people seem to be very kind,” said Stubby, “and I guess -it will be a good while before we meet any one their equal again.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER X<br /> - - -<span class="small">BUTTON MAKES THE FARMER FIGHTING MAD</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p109.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">STUBBY was nibbling on his chicken leg with Duke and -Button nearly half asleep when they were all startled -by the farmer coming round the straw stack unexpectedly. -But if they were surprised, the farmer was more -so. To come unexpectedly upon two stray dogs and a black cat and -one of those dogs the Red Cross dog he had just been feeding was -enough to surprise any one.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, well! Where did you all come from, I should like -to know? And if here isn’t another Red Cross dog! But no, I am -mistaken. You are a cat, but a cat with a regimental tag around -your neck. Come here, little dog, and let me read what your tag -says,” but when Stubby got up and tried to limp to him, the farmer -saw that his leg was hurt, so he went to him and taking him in his -arms, he felt of the injured leg and found it had been broken. As -he had set many broken legs for dogs, he knew what to do for -Stubby and he said, “You two follow me. I am going to take this -little dog to my office and rub his leg with some strengthening -liniment I have which will make it heal quicker. And I am also<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -going to give him a tonic to brace him up for I see he is very thin -and weak.”</p> - -<p>Stubby licked the farmer’s hand to show how he appreciated -all this kindness.</p> - -<p>When they reached the office, the farmer put his glasses on and -read the tags on all their necks, and when he got through he called -to his wife to come quickly, that he had made a wonderful discovery. -“Just you read that, wife,” he said, after he had read Stubby’s tag -once again. “This cat and dog are the long lost and much advertised -mascots of two American regiments, which are offering large -sums for their recovery. Bless me but this is lucky! For I was -just needing some extra money to repair the roof of the house and -to fix up the place.”</p> - -<p>“And I too. I need a new dress and bonnet badly,” said his wife.</p> - -<p>“We’ll just fix them comfortably here in the office for to-night, -so there will be no danger of them getting away while I am making -arrangements for returning them to their own regiments and collecting -the reward money. A thousand dollars for each! To think -that that cat is the celebrated black cat from the Black Cat Regiment, -and the dog the yellow dog from the regiment called after him, the -Yellow Dog Regiment!”</p> - -<p>The two dogs and Button looked at one another and either winked -or rolled their eyes to let the others know that they were in a pretty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -fix and in danger of being carried back to the army. Then they -all thought of Billy waiting on the outskirts of the town for them -to come.</p> - -<p>“One thing,” thought Button, “he won’t wait long. If we don’t -come along on the third day, he will come back to look for us for -he will know that trouble has detained us. A day’s rest here with -the excellent care the farmer is going to give Stubby and plenty -of good food for us all will help us along on our journey more than -anything else would, as we are all run down, first from our hard -work in the front and then from our wounds.”</p> - -<p>Presently the farmer and his wife had them all fixed comfortably -for the night, with Stubby on a nice soft sofa, and Duke and Button -on old shawls and blankets in one of the corners of the room, and -a dish of water for them to drink should they grow thirsty. As -soon as the farmer and his wife left them alone they talked over -their predicament, but all agreed it was for the best and soon they -all fell asleep.</p> - -<p>For two days they stayed with the farmer and each morning and -evening he rubbed Stubby’s leg and gave him a tonic. He fed Duke -and Button up fine too until they were so fat they could scarcely run. -All day long all they did was to eat and sleep, “getting in condition to -travel fast,” said Button.</p> - -<p>The third day the farmer became very much excited when he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -read the mail for in it were two letters for him from the colonels -of the regiments of which Stubby and Button were the mascots. -They stated that they would give the reward to the person who -delivered the dog and cat to them unhurt and in perfect health.</p> - -<p>“This certainly is fine news, wife, and you better go along with -me so you can pick out your new dress and bonnet while we are in -town, for their headquarters, where I am to deliver the dog and -cat, are in a large town where there are plenty of big stores. We -will start early to-morrow morning, about daylight, as it is a long -ways and we want to reach these headquarters before noon so as -to get our money and have the whole afternoon to shop.”</p> - -<p>Stubby heard all this as he lay on his end of the sofa pretending -to be asleep. The minute the farmer and his wife left the room, -he to get the automobile in shape for the trip in the morning, and -his wife to lay out her best clothes, Stubby barked for Button and -Duke to come in to share the news he had just heard.</p> - -<p>They both listened without interrupting until Stubby had finished, -then Button said:</p> - -<p>“It is a good thing your leg has healed so you can walk on it and -that you are feeling so strong and well, for if they mean to take us -to headquarters to-morrow morning, we must manage to escape -some time to-night.”</p> - -<p>“You are right,” replied Duke. “But why wait until night? It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -would be easier to escape some time this afternoon before we are -shut in for the night. The farmer never seems to think we will try -to run away until dark as he leaves us pretty much alone all day -but at the first hint of darkness he shuts us in.”</p> - -<p>“That is all true. So let us wait and get a good dinner and then -when he lies down to take his twenty winks of sleep, as he does -every afternoon, we will skedaddle. His wife will be so busy getting -her finery ready to wear to-morrow that she won’t have time even -to look out of the window.”</p> - -<p>And so it was planned for them to push on to where Billy waited -for them.</p> - -<p>It is a good thing that they decided to go when they did for -Billy was getting terribly restless waiting for them, and was likely -to get in mischief if they did not arrive soon.</p> - -<p>The three simply stuffed themselves at dinner time. And as they -were finishing, Button said, “Isn’t it too bad we haven’t pockets in -our skins so we could take some of this fine food along with us to eat -when we can’t find anything along the roadside?”</p> - -<p>“It surely is,” said Stubby, “and I don’t see why we could not -have had our tails so constructed that we could have hung packages -on them like the opossums carry their young, hanging over their -mother’s tail with all their little tails curled around hers to hold -them on.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>“You two do think of the most outlandish things I ever heard of,” -said Duke. “Any one could tell you were from the United States -of America. You are so clever and original. Now a European -would be too staid and too conventional to think of a thing like -that.”</p> - -<p>While they were talking, not one of them had taken his eyes off -the farmer who had been lying on the sofa to take his nap. But -to-day he was slower than ever in dropping off to sleep, due, I suppose, -to the excitement of the reward he was thinking of getting. But -presently habit was too much for him and he fell fast asleep. At -the first snore he made the three chums crept out of the office and -sneaked away toward the garden. One by one they squeezed themselves -through a hole under the fence and came out in the garden, -right under the noses of the farmer’s wife and son who were picking -raspberries.</p> - -<p>“Why, what are you doing here? Trying to escape us?” and -with that the woman stooped and grabbed Stubby up in her arms -while her son grasped Duke, but Button escaped them.</p> - -<p>“You naughty, naughty dogs and cat to try to run away from us -when we have been so good to you!” Then she turned to her son -and said, “I think they heard your father and me talking of taking -them back to the army and probably they don’t want to go back, -and that is why they were trying to run away.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>“Bet you that is it!” replied the son. “They are so smart they -can understand every word that is said.”</p> - -<p>“I told your father not to trust them out alone, but he said he -was feeding them so well that they would not try to run away. It -is a good thing that I decided to pick those raspberries to take to -your Aunt to-morrow, or we would not have caught them. And -then I hate to think of how it would have affected your father.”</p> - -<p>When they reached the office, the farmer was still asleep and from -the smile on his face he was probably dreaming he was buying things -with the reward money. Just as they opened the door he called -out, “Thieves! Thieves!” and jumped up from the sofa. He was -dreaming that some thieves had stolen his pocketbook. “Why, what -are you doing here with the dogs in your arms? They haven’t been -hurt, have they?” he asked at last.</p> - -<p>“No; worse than that. We caught them trying to run away,” -said his wife.</p> - -<p>“You don’t say so! That would have been a calamity.”</p> - -<p>And then his wife explained to him how she and her son had -caught Stubby and Duke.</p> - -<p>“But the worst of it is that black cat is still loose. Still I don’t -think he will run away and leave the two dogs behind.”</p> - -<p>“Neither do I, but we won’t take any chances. Come and see -if we can’t catch him. We’ll lock the two dogs in and then see<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -if the three of us can’t catch the cat. Where did you leave -him?”</p> - -<p>“Up a tree beside the garden gate.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll get a nice piece of meat and see if I can’t coax him down,” -said the farmer. So while he went for the meat his wife and his -son went to the tree where they had left Button. But alas! alack! -when they got there he was gone and nowhere in sight though they -searched everywhere for him and called, “Kitty! Kitty! Kitty! Pussy! -Pussy! Pussy!”</p> - -<p>The farmer was nearly crazy to think that with the cat gone he -would lose half of the reward he had been counting on so much.</p> - -<p>“We must find him, I tell you!” and he began to scold his wife -and son as if it was their fault that the cat was gone. At last his -wife grew angry and said:</p> - -<p>“Shut up! I have heard enough of your complaining. If it had -not been for me, they both would have been gone for good. Why, -I told you to keep them under lock and key; that they were too -valuable to let run loose. But you go accusing us of losing them, -while you sleep and let them sneak off. Don’t you suppose I want -a new dress and bonnet with that reward money as much as you -want to spend it on fixing up the place?”</p> - -<p>This was good logic, so the farmer stopped his scolding. In the -first place he knew it was not her fault but like some men he tried<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -to lay everything that went wrong on some one else. Whoever happened -to be near at the time usually got the scolding.</p> - -<p>“Gee, how I hate a man who lays everything that goes wrong on -his wife!” said Duke.</p> - -<p>Button had hid under some currant bushes and was having great -fun watching them hunt -for him. When supper -time came they put his supper -outside the kitchen -door on a plate but left -the door part way open, so -they could open it quickly -and grab him if he came -to eat the food. But they waited in vain, for -Button had seen the crack and knew what it meant.</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p117.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“I am not very hungry, and I can wait for my supper until you -go to sleep. You will have to go to bed,” he thought.</p> - -<p>At last the farmer could stand waiting no longer. He wanted -to find that cat and lock him up so he could go to bed and be ready -for an early start to headquarters in the morning. With no cat, -there would be no use in going.</p> - -<p>“I have it!” he at last exclaimed to his wife. “I’ll go unchain -Towser and get him to smell out the cat for me. That dog is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -crackajack for finding cats. He hates them so—or most of them. -This cat is the only one I ever saw him make friends with.”</p> - -<p>So Towser was unchained and set to looking for Button. He -ran around and around, smelling everywhere and he barked up the -tree that Button had climbed. But still he had not found the missing -cat. At last he got the scent, but just before he got to him Button -shot out from under the bushes and ran up a tree.</p> - -<p>“He has found him, found him!” called the farmer to his wife. -The farmer had been close on Towser’s heels all the time, a bag in -his hand. He had intended to put the cat in it when Towser caught -him by the nape of his neck as he did most cats. But Button was -too quick for them. He was up a tree before they could wink. -The next thing was to get him down. The farmer, his wife and -son coaxed and coaxed Button to come down but he just sat on -a limb and blinked at them.</p> - -<p>“Climb the tree and see if you can’t catch him,” said the farmer -to his son.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p118b.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">One thing Billy butted was a basket full of clothes.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="floatright">(Page <a href="#Page_67">67</a>)</span></p> - - -<p>This the boy did, and Button let him come within reaching distance -of him. Then he climbed a little higher up the tree. This kept -on until he was away up in the topmost branches, and away out on -a limb so thin that it would not bear the weight of the boy. When -he saw this he took hold of the limb and tried to shake Button off -by swinging the limb backwards and forwards with all his might.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -But he might just as well have tried to dislodge the bark itself as -Button. He simply stuck his sharp claws down deeper into the tree -and enjoyed the swinging of the branch.</p> - -<p>“Come down, Pierre!” called his mother. “We will try smoking -him out.”</p> - -<p>Pierre climbed down and they all busily set about building a big -smudge fire under the tree. As it was a still evening, with no wind, -the smoke rose straight in the air to where Button sat, but by shutting -his eyes he did not mind it much and he sat on. The smoke made -the farmer, his wife and son sneeze and cough and their eyes smart -and water. That was all the good their fire did, for when the fire -at last died out and the smoke had cleared away, they looked up -in the tree and there sat Button as composedly as ever.</p> - -<p>“Darn that cat!” exclaimed the farmer.</p> - -<p>“Father, you must not swear, and before our son at that.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t help it, for I am so mad at that cat I could kill him. And -if he doesn’t come down pretty soon, I’ll shoot him and take his -hide to headquarters.”</p> - -<p>“That would do no good, for they say in their letter the reward -will only be given if the dog and cat are alive and well,” replied -his wife.</p> - -<p>“Well, what next can we do to get him down? I am at the end -of my string of suggestions.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>The three sat down under the tree, their heads on their hands -and elbows on knees, to try to think of some way to capture Button. -After sitting there for about ten minutes, the son exclaimed, “I have -it! I know how we can get him down and not hurt him in the -least.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s hear your plan, quick!” said the father.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go up and saw off the limb he is sitting on, while you and -mother hold a net under the limb. Then when it falls, the cat and -limb will fall in the net and the cat won’t be hurt.”</p> - -<p>“An excellent idea, my son,” commended his mother.</p> - -<p>“But where are we going to get the net?” asked his father.</p> - -<p>“We can use my tennis net.”</p> - -<p>“Run and get it while I go for a saw and, mother, you stay here -to keep him from escaping while we are away,” said the father.</p> - -<p>Presently the father and son were back with the saw and the net. -The boy climbed the tree, while the father and mother stood under -the limb, waiting to catch Button when the limb should be sawed -off. Button never stirred while the boy sawed the limb, for he had -made up his mind what he was going to do when the limb fell into -the net. This it did in about two minutes. The branch had scarcely -touched the net when Button with a bound ran up the side of the -net, jumped to the ground and ran up the next tree. And could -you have looked into the faces of those three people, you would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -have said you never had looked into three more disappointed ones -in your life.</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p121.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“That cat is possessed of the devil!” said the father.</p> - -<p>“I truly believe he is!” said the mother.</p> - -<p>“Well, gosh darn his -skin, I say!” exclaimed -their son.</p> - -<p>“I have another -idea,” said the father. -“You go get your fish -net and then you -can climb the tree -he is now in, and -throw it over his -head, and we will have -him.”</p> - - - - -<p>The boy went after -his round net on a long pole, -climbed the tree and threw it over Button’s head, but just as it came -down Button gave a leap for the next tree which was six feet away -and lit on a limb as nicely as if he had been a flying squirrel and used -to jumping from tree to tree all his life.</p> - -<p>“Well, that cat surely beats the devil! He can stay in that tree<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -for all of me! I shan’t try to catch him any more. But I’ll just -go and get some sleep, and in the morning we will go to town and -get the reward for the little dog and say nothing about ever having -seen the cat. Then when we come back, if he is still seen around -the premises we will try some other plans to capture him.”</p> - -<p>When they had all three gone to bed, Button came down out of -the tree and ate the supper they had put out for him early in the -evening. After finishing it he went over to the office and jumping -up on the window sill he talked to Stubby and Duke through the -window and told them how he had been having some fun with the -family.</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry, boys! You will be able to give him the slip as -he takes you to town. And if you don’t, you can get away in a few -days. I will go on and tell Billy what has happened and then the -two of us will come back and help you escape.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XI<br /> - - -<span class="small">THE CHUMS ON A CANAL BOAT</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p123.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">NO need to go for Billy or to tell him what has happened,” -said a voice behind Button, “for I have heard it all.” -Turning around, Button saw Billy standing under the -window.</p> - -<p>“Billy!” the three exclaimed in one breath. “Where did you -come from?”</p> - -<p>“The town where I was to meet you. I waited and waited and -at last made up my mind that something must have happened to you, -so I went back to the hospital, or at least I got nearly there last -night when I saw ten or fifteen aeroplanes circling over the hospital. -I made out that half were German planes and half American. The -Germans evidently were trying to blow up the hospital by dropping -bombs on it, and the Americans were trying to fight them off. As -I looked, I heard a terrible explosion and by the light of the fire -that followed I saw a big building go up in smoke and flames, and -as I watched I saw distinctly two human figures outlined on the sky, -flying up in the air with the débris. But when the smoke cleared -away, I saw that the hospital still stood there and that it was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -big barn they had blown up. So the two figures I saw must have -been those of the two spies who were going to try to bomb the -hospital—those whose eyes you scratched out, Button. So you see -they got their just deserts and were blown up themselves just as they -had planned to blow up others. I was so thankful to see that it -was the barn instead of the hospital that I ran straight on regardless -of bombs dropping all around me. All I thought of was to see -if Stubby was still in the hospital, and trying to save him, but before -I reached there the American aeroplanes had driven off the Germans, -and I saw three of their machines lying in wrecks on the -ground, the work of the Americans.</p> - -<p>“I went on to the hospital, and ran straight to Stubby’s ward -to see if he was there, well knowing that in the confusion nobody -would molest me. I passed the cook on the stairs and he was so -excited and scared he did not pay the slightest attention to me. -When I reached your ward, Stubby, I found your bed empty so -took it for granted that you had started to meet me and that I had -missed you somewhere on the road. So I started back, stopping -at every farm I passed to look the place over to see if I could hear -or see anything of any of you. A rooster at the next farm told me -he had seen two dogs and a black cat pass their place at sunrise -five days ago. Then I knew that you were either prisoners somewhere -or I had passed you on your way to meet me. Now tell me<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> -how it happens that you two dogs are locked in and Button still -running outside.”</p> - -<p>Between them they told Billy all that had happened since he -left them, ending by relating how they were to -be carried to headquarters early -the next morning.</p> - -<p>“Well, I guess not! Not -if my name is Billy -Whiskers will you two -stay prisoners another -minute. I’ll just hook -the glass out of this window -and you two can crawl -out and then we will make -a merry chase for the next -village.”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p125.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>Billy did this, and as they -passed the house, the soft-hearted -Stubby said to the farmer -and his wife, “I am sorry to make you lose your reward for my -capture, as you have been very good to all of us. But even for you -I can’t be a prisoner just so you can get some money by delivering -me to headquarters. So <i>au revoir</i>, old friends!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>“Good-by,” meowed Button. “And may you have better luck the -next time you try to catch a black cat! Had you only remembered -that black cats are said to bring bad luck, you would not have -wasted so much valuable time in trying to capture me.”</p> - -<p>“And many, many thanks for the good meals you gave us,” barked -Duke. Then the four passed on into the darkness and were lost -to the farmer forever.</p> - -<p>“I think the best thing we can do,” said Billy, “is to push on to -Paris just as fast as we can, and that won’t be very rapidly, as we shall -have to travel by night most of the time and lie hidden in the daytime, -since there are so many looking for us who are sparing no -expense in advertising and searching for us. We are like regular -escaped prisoners with a price on our heads.”</p> - -<p>“The nearer we get to Paris,” said Duke, “the harder it will -be to keep hidden, for the country is very thickly populated for -miles and miles outside the city. But an idea just flashed across -my mind that, if carried out, would get us inside Paris without -much trouble.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“It is this: that we enter Paris by boat instead of on foot.”</p> - -<p>“And how can we do that?” inquired Stubby.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you. We will go to the banks of the river Seine, about -five miles out of Paris, and try to get on one of the flat canal boats<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -that run right into the heart of the city, and we might be lucky -enough to get on a boat that would pass right through Paris and -continue on to the sea, where we could embark for America, as the -river empties into the sea at a very large shipping port called the -city of Havre. From this port there are big merchant ships sailing -to all parts of the world, and we would get on one bound for America. -If we could only accomplish this it would save us all that long, tiresome -walk of about one hundred and twenty-five miles.”</p> - -<p>“Gee!” exclaimed Button. “Your plans sound good to me! Saving -a hundred and twenty-five mile walk, dodging people, bad boys -and troublesome dogs, is worth trying.”</p> - -<p>“I should think it did sound good!” said Billy, “and I feel quite -sure we can carry it out, for Stubby, Button and I have had lots -of experience sneaking on ocean-going vessels, steamers, and so on. -We have stolen on board a vessel going from Japan to America, -and on still another sailing from Boston for Constantinople, and -another plying up and down the Mississippi River, with others too -numerous to mention. So I guess we can manage to get aboard a -slow going canal boat.”</p> - -<p>“Of course we can!” said Stubby. “I feel like thanking you for -thinking of such a plan. It is such a good one for us all but more -especially for me with my lame leg.”</p> - -<p>“About how far do you think we are from Paris now?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>“I should say fully twenty-five miles. But only about seven from -the river if we take a straight line to the east until we come to it.”</p> - -<p>“Then me for the straight line to the river!” declared Billy.</p> - -<p>“Same here!” said Button.</p> - -<p>“And I follow wherever you lead,” avowed Stubby.</p> - -<p>The four made such good time that by daybreak they were in -sight of the river, catching their first glimpse of it from the top -of a high hill.</p> - -<p>And joy! they saw straight ahead of them a small town at whose -dock lay a long white-and-green boat with a flat top. It was so -early in the morning that no one was astir in the town when they -reached it, so they were not molested as they ran through it straight -for the boat. When they came close to the dock they proceeded -more cautiously and hid behind boxes and barrels until they could -find out what kind of people were on the boat. But no one appearing -and the dock being deserted at this time of the morning, they decided -to chance finding nice people on board, and crept on deck. -This they did easily as the owner had neglected to pull in his gangplank -before he went to bed.</p> - -<p>“It looks as if our good angel was with us and it was intended -we were to make this trip in this way,” remarked Stubby.</p> - -<p>“Now we must all secrete ourselves and keep hid until the boat -is loaded and pushed off shore. Then they will have to take us<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -with them until they reach the next stopping place, and if the worst -comes to the worst we can jump overboard and swim, for it is not -far to shore and the boat is not high above the water line.”</p> - -<p>Billy secreted himself behind a pile of bags filled with hops, -while Stubby and Button climbed on top of them and hid themselves -between two of the top bags, and Duke squeezed himself -under them in a hole made by two of the bags which had not been -packed closely. So by the time the sun was well up and the people -began to arise, they were all stowed away as comfortably as could -be.</p> - -<p>The first person on deck proved to be a big, comfortable looking -fat man, followed by his grandson, a little fellow with curly, flaxen -hair and big, blue eyes, whom it was easy to see the grandfather -fairly worshiped.</p> - -<p>Then three men came up from below and began fussing around -on deck. About this time the delicious odor of boiling coffee, fried -potatoes and bacon was wafted up the hatchway.</p> - -<p>“Gee! The fumes from that cooking make me hungry as a bear!” -said Button.</p> - -<p>“Me too!” agreed Stubby.</p> - -<p>“And it reminds me that none of us has had a bite to eat for hours. -We were so busy getting away from our pursuers that we forgot -to stop to look for something to eat,” said Duke.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>“That may smell good to you fellows, but that white clover beside -the dock, with the dew still on it, smells better to me. And when -they go in to breakfast, if they still keep that gangplank out, I am -going to come out of this hiding place, skip ashore and eat a mouthful -or two before any of the people on board are through their meal -and come up on deck again,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“You are lucky that you can live on grass and green things,” replied -Duke. “I wish <i>I</i> could.”</p> - -<p>“That is the only trouble dogs and cats have when traveling,” -said Stubby; “this matter of food. One has to steal it, or eat it raw, -and run the risk of being clubbed or stoned unless he falls in with -some one who is kind to animals and doesn’t think it is too much -trouble to feed and water them.”</p> - -<p>“Most people seem to forget that animals have to eat and drink -the same as human beings. They know better, but they just do not -think,” said Button.</p> - -<p>Billy did as he had planned and slipped off the boat and made -a hearty breakfast of clover and took a good drink of water out of -the river. Then he was fixed for the day if need be.</p> - -<p>“Mew! Mew! Mew!”</p> - -<p>“Hark! I hear a cat mewing!” whispered Button to Stubby who -were close together upon the pile of hops.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>“I see her,” said Stubby. “It is only a little kitten. Sh-sh-sh! -Here comes a woman up from below with a plate of food for the -kitten.”</p> - -<p>“Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!” called the woman, looking around for the -cat and paying no attention to the mewing kitten at her feet.</p> - -<p>“Evidently she is looking for the mother of the kitten,” whispered -Button.</p> - -<p>As they watched, they saw a big yellow cat jump out from a pile -of rope up near the prow of the boat and walk lazily toward her. -A black and white spotted cat also came running from the opposite -side of the deck.</p> - -<p>“They seem to have a whole family on board,” remarked Stubby.</p> - -<p>When the woman saw them coming, she set down a heaping plate -of food for them and said, “Well, lazybones,” addressing the yellow -cat, “did you catch that big wharf rat I saw run on board last night? -If you did not, you better hustle and get him if you want any more -to eat from me. I am not going to feed you anything until that -rat is killed. Do you hear me? Old Mouser has been doing all -the work lately in catching the rats and mice, and it is time you did -something, for we want no free lazy passengers on this boat. -Baby,” addressing the kitten, “stop crying and mewing around my -heels. If you are hungry, eat something on the plate. Oh, I forgot,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -you are too young to care for meat and potatoes. Come with me -and I will get you some milk to drink,” and she picked up the kitten -and went below.</p> - -<p>The cats were evidently not very hungry, for they scarcely touched -the food on the plate, but walked off and left it, the spotted cat -going down the hatchway and the yellow cat back to the pile of -rope up front.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p132.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Now is our chance, Stubby,” whispered Button, “before any one -comes up from breakfast!”</p> - -<p>The two of them climbed down from the hops and made a good -meal of what the cats had left, as the woman had brought up a plate -heaping full.</p> - -<p>“Tell you what, that tasted good!” said Button.</p> - -<p>“Indeed it did!” replied Stubby. “I did not know I was so hungry. -But I was as thirsty as the very dickens. I hate to chance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -going off the boat for a drink, but I’ve simply got to have water. -I think I can chance it to run off and lap a few mouthsful before -they come up and pull in the gangplank. I am going to try it anyway. -Are you coming?”</p> - -<p>“No; cats drink very little water, and I do not feel the least bit -thirsty now.”</p> - -<p>Stubby succeeded in getting his drink and was safely back on board -before any one appeared. But he did not have a minute to spare -as his short, stubby tail only just disappeared out of sight when all -the men, including the Captain, came on deck. Then the Captain -bawled out in his big voice for them to heave in the gangplank and -cut loose. In less than fifteen minutes the old boat was out in the -middle of the river, floating down toward Paris on the swift moving -current.</p> - -<p>“Gee, it seems good to be in a safe place once more,” said Billy, -“where one can sleep without keeping one eye open for fear of capture -or of being blown sky high by a carelessly dropped German -bomb. I am just going to sleep and sleep and sleep while on this -trip and get good and rested.”</p> - -<p>“And I am going to do the same,” replied Duke.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XII<br /> - - -<span class="small">BUTTON HAS A FIGHT WITH A WHARF RAT</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p007.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Will they never stop their silly talk and go to bed?” sighed Button.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Holy Moses! And where did this dog come from?” asked the -Captain. “He must have dropped from the sky.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>“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.</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p137.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>This was such a smart thing for a goat to do that the Captain -clapped his hands and cried, “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” in which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -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,</p> - -<p>“When did you buy this menagerie? I never laid eyes on them -before.”</p> - -<p>“Nor any of us,” answered the Captain, “until two or three minutes -ago,” and he related to her what had taken place.</p> - -<p>“This fight never would have happened if that lazy yellow cat of -ours had done his duty and caught that rat.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder to whom these animals belong and when they came on -board,” mused the Captain’s wife.</p> - -<p>“They must have come on board the night we forgot and left the -gangplank out,” said the Captain.</p> - -<p>“That is just when it must have happened,” agreed the sailors.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The Captain stooped down in front of Billy and began to read what -was on his badge.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>“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!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean it? Not the goat that the big reward is offered -for? You don’t mean <i>that</i>, do you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do! The very same!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center">LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN</p> - -<p>One large white goat, belonging to the —th Regiment of New -York</p> - -<p>One small yellow dog, belonging to the —th Regiment of Pennsylvania</p> - -<p>One big black cat, belonging to the —th Regiment of Illinois.</p> - -<p>Any person or persons returning the same to their respective -Headquarters will receive $1,000 reward for each animal alive and -well.”</p> -</div> - -<p>She jumped up and went springing and dancing around the deck.</p> - -<p>“Here we have all three of them right here on our boat! Ho<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“How did we get here and what has happened to us?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“What a fool thing for me to faint just when you needed me -most!” said Stubby.</p> - -<p>“How did you happen to do it?” asked Button.</p> - -<p>“I turned my broken leg the wrong way, and over I went.”</p> - -<p>“But who helped you in the end? Did some of those men come<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -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.”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p141.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -return will hand us over to our respective regiments and claim the -money.”</p> - -<p>“How did they know there is a reward offered for us?”</p> - -<p>“Why, the Captain’s wife had just finished reading about us in one -of the Paris papers.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it does; but it really can’t be helped,” replied Button. -“Where are Billy and Duke now?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Button was right. Nothing was too good for them and the way -they were fed, watered, combed and brushed would have satisfied a -king.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIII<br /> - - -<span class="small">A DOG CEMETERY IN PARIS</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p035.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE rest of the journey to Paris was quite uneventful. -They arrived there one evening just as the sun was setting -behind the city, throwing the Eiffel Tower and -the big square dome of Notre Dame in bold relief -against the deep red sky.</p> - -<p>Just on the outskirts of the city they came to an island on which -was a good-sized cemetery.</p> - -<p>“What a nice place for a cemetery!” exclaimed Stubby.</p> - -<p>“There seem to be a good many people buried there from all the -monuments I can count,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“You may count the monuments and walk or drive down the -broad paved roads and walks but you will never pass one grave -where a human being is buried,” said Duke.</p> - -<p>“You are joking!” said Button. “What do you mean? That -there is no one buried there now and that all the bodies have been -removed? Bet I hear men chiseling monuments at this minute -and soon can see them at work in their shops.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>“True again. But for all that there is not a human being buried -there, for it is a dog cemetery where only pet dogs are buried.”</p> - -<p>“Well, wouldn’t that beat the Dutch!” exclaimed Billy. “A -regular cemetery with flowers on the graves and flower-bordered -walks and fenced-in lots and monuments just like people have! It -certainly does take the French to think of odd things!”</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t pet dogs have a nice resting place?” inquired -Duke. “They are man’s companions and guard and watch over him -as if they were human. Yes, and they are more faithful than the -dearest human friends, for they stick when adversity overtakes one, -when often a human friend one has counted on proves false. But -never a dog! There is one monument there that has this inscription -on it in French, but I will translate it for you into English. -It reads: ‘The more I see of men, the more I love dogs.’ Pretty -hard on his friends, wasn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“I bet some one he loved played him false, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“It would seem like it from that inscription,” answered Billy.</p> - -<p>“But hush! I hear a bell tolling,” said Button.</p> - -<p>“Yes, they toll the bell when a funeral enters the gate just as they -do in all cemeteries,” explained Duke.</p> - -<p>“Look, fellows!” said Stubby. “There comes a little white hearse -just like the ones they use to take babies to the cemetery, and see -the autos that are following! Why, it is a regular funeral, with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -a wreath of flowers on the casket and everything else complete!”</p> - -<p>“Certainly! Everything is done just as it is in a cemetery for -people and not one thing is left out,” replied Duke. “If you should -walk through, you would see on some of the graves the playthings -the dogs liked when alive.”</p> - -<p>“Really?” said Stubby in amazement.</p> - -<p>“Yes, really!” replied Duke. “I had hoped to be buried there -myself some day, but now I expect my grave will be a shell hole -on the field of battle.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, it won’t now since you are going to America with us.”</p> - -<p>“Over there your grave will probably be made under a rose bush -or in some nice quiet orchard or back yard of the family with whom -you live,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>While they had been talking, the boat drifted away past the -cemetery and they were getting near Paris. They had just fixed -themselves comfortably on deck to enjoy the approach to the city -and watch the people on the banks and wharfs as the boat floated -by when the Captain appeared and said,</p> - -<p>“Sorry to disturb you, fellows, but it is necessary that we shut -you below while we are in the city. If we don’t, some one may see -you who has read the papers offering a reward for you and they -would come aboard and take you off.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, bother that old reward!” from Billy. “I don’t want to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> -shut in out of the air in that stuffy cabin. I want to be out here -where I can stretch my legs and breathe good fresh air.”</p> - -<p>Just the same, Billy with the others was shut in a stuffy little cabin -scarcely large enough to hold them. There the four of them fretted -and grumbled and pouted, but to no purpose.</p> - -<p>They had been there about two hours when they felt the boat -scrape along the side of a dock, and they found their porthole looked -out on the wharf side of the boat. Button soon took advantage of -his powers of climbing and sat in the porthole, from which place -he could look out and tell the others what he saw.</p> - -<p>The boat had come to dock right opposite the Eiffel Tower and on -that side of the river. By sticking his head out of the hole he -could also see the big Hippodrome with its grassy lawn and flower -beds and benches for tired pedestrians to rest on.</p> - -<p>“Gee!” exclaimed Billy, “but I would like to get out of this and -kick my legs on that lawn and eat some of the grass, for I am awfully -tired of the food on this boat. It is all right for people, cats and -dogs, but rather dry for goats.”</p> - -<p>The next morning the Captain appeared at their door and said, -“Now, Chums, here is a good breakfast for you, and a drink of -water. Awfully sorry to shut you in, but I have to under the circumstances. -Ta-ta until night! We are going up into the city to do -some shopping, but One-Eyed Dick is going to stay aboard to look<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> -after things. Again ta-ta!” and he slammed the door and was gone.</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p147.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Drat him!” exclaimed Billy. “I want to go walking in the -park!”</p> - -<p>The four ate their -breakfast in silence, -then lay down to sulk -the day away, when -all of a sudden Button -jumped up and -climbed into the porthole -again.</p> - -<p>“Heigho, fellows! -The way this boat lies -now I can jump -from this porthole onto -the dock. And -if I don’t leap as far as I -mean to do, I will only fall back -on deck and not go into the river. I am going to try it anyway. So -here goes!”</p> - -<p>With a long, flying leap he made it, landing right in front of a -dog that chanced to be wandering along the dock just then. The -dog made a bound for Button. But Button, contrary to the ways of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -most cats, stood his ground instead of running and before the dog -knew what had happened to him, Button had slapped his face and -scratched his nose, leaving a long, red mark down its length, and -had disappeared up the path leading to the park.</p> - -<p>“I heard Button spit as if he were mad, and then a dog barked,” -said Stubby. “I bet he met a dog.”</p> - -<p>“I know what we can do,” said Billy. “I can stand under the -porthole and then, Duke, you and Stubby can get on my back and -jump through the porthole. I am quite sure I am high enough -so you can make the jump.”</p> - -<p>“But what good will it do even if we can reach the hole? We -don’t want to go ashore and leave you here alone.”</p> - -<p>“That is just like you, Stubby, to spoil your whole day to stay -with a friend that can’t get out. You are too generous. I shan’t let -you sacrifice yourself like that for me. You and Duke go, and then -you can come back and tell me what you saw. If you stay, I have -to stay just the same, and lose the fun of hearing what you fellows -do ashore. So jump up on my back and let’s see if you can make -the hole.”</p> - -<p>Stubby demurred, and so did Duke, but Billy at last prevailed on -them to go.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p148b.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="caption">The first thing Billy knew, he was rolling over something soft<br /> that squealed -like a stuck pig and that kicked like a calf.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="floatright">(Page <a href="#Page_155">155</a>)</span></p> - - -<p>Stubby made the hole and landed on the wharf all right, but Duke<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -was large and the first jump he made he hit his head and fell back -into the cabin. He was so fat he made a tight squeeze for the hole -but on the second trial he made it. Then he attempted to push -and squeeze himself through the hole. To do this he had to go head -first, which made him fall on the deck on his nose. But it did not -hurt much and no one saw him. He barked back to Billy that he -was all right and was going to run up into the city and visit some -of his old haunts.</p> - -<p>“I’ll steal a bunch of carrots for you from some vegetable stand,” -he barked back.</p> - -<p>Billy fussed and fussed and kicked around until the cabin looked -as if a whole drove of kicking mules had been shut in it. Then all -of a sudden he stopped and said to himself,</p> - -<p>“What a fool I am, kicking and butting things around here! -Why don’t I butt down that old door? It will be easy to do and -then I too can go up into the city.”</p> - -<p>To think was to do with Billy. And crash! went the door and -out through the wreck went Billy. When he arrived at the top of -the hatchway he met One-Eyed Dick coming down to see what -had caused all the noise. On seeing Billy, he tried to shut the -hatchway to keep Billy in by sitting on it. But the next thing he -knew the door was lifted up under him and he found himself slipping<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -off. Before he could get to his feet Billy was out and off the -boat, and that was the last he saw of Billy for that day.</p> - -<p>Duke had just reached the front door of his old home when who -should come out of the house but his old master, the one who had -taken him to war with him and made him a Red Cross dog.</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p150.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“Duke, you old sport, where -have you been and how -did you happen to turn -up here just now when -I was returning to -the front and planning -to stop at -the dog hospital to -get you?”</p> - -<p>His master picked him up in his arms -and hugged and hugged him until -Duke thought his ribs would be crushed in.</p> - -<p>“I am so glad you came for now I shall not have to go out of my -way to get you. We are on the eve of a big battle and we will both -be needed at the front.”</p> - -<p>“Here is where I give up going to America,” thought Duke. -“But it is all for the best, for since I have seen my old master again -and found how he loves me, I think it would have been a mean trick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -to desert him while he is in danger of his life every moment. But -I <i>do</i> wish I could have gone back first and said good-by to Billy, -Stubby and Button. They are the three finest friends a dog ever -had.”</p> - -<p>While Duke was thinking this, his master was carrying him to a -big touring car and in a few seconds they were breaking the speed -laws of the city.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIV<br /> - - -<span class="small">WHAT THE CHUMS DID IN PARIS</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p007.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">AS soon as Billy found himself on shore he ran as fast as -ever he could up into the city to try to find a grocery -store where he could get some fresh juicy vegetables or -fruit. He was tired to death of dry hay, straw and carrots -that had been fed to him on the boat, though the Captain -thought he was giving Billy just what goats like best.</p> - -<p>Stubby and Button saw him disappearing down a side street -and started to follow him.</p> - -<p>“How in the wide, wide world do you think he managed to get -out of that cabin?” asked Stubby.</p> - -<p>“I am sure I don’t know,” answered Button, “for I am sure he -could not possibly crawl through that porthole even if he could -reach it. He is too big.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t suppose he butted down the cabin door, do you?” -asked Stubby.</p> - -<p>“I should not wonder in the least if he did, and come to think of -it, I bet that is just what he did do, for that is the only way he -could possibly leave that cabin. Perhaps old One-Eyed Dick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -opened the door to give him a drink or to get something out of the -cabin, and Billy butted him over and escaped. However, we will -soon find out when we overtake him.”</p> - -<p>“But where is he? I don’t see him anywhere,” said Stubby.</p> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-p154.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>When Stubby and Button reached the side -street down which they had -seen Billy disappearing, no -Billy was in sight. But as they -stood there debating -what had become of -him, and wondering -where they would look -for him, they saw Billy -run out of a fruit store -with a big apple in his -mouth, followed by an -angry Frenchman madly -jabbering and waving -a broom over his head, -with which he was trying to hit Billy. He was just about to bring it -down on Billy’s back when Stubby ran between the man’s legs and -tripped him. He got up with an oath and started to chase Stubby -when Button ran in front of him and down he went again. He was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -so busy watching Billy and Stubby that he had not time to cast his -eyes down to see what was under his feet or where he was stepping. -This time he fell flat on his stomach, which knocked the breath out -of him so he could not rise again and chase them. And he sat -there trying to get his breath until he saw them turn a corner and -disappear, though he had the fun of seeing a man knocked over as -he himself had been by Billy running into him as he turned the -corner. Billy did not see the man as his head was turned to see if -the fruit dealer was still pursuing him. And when he looked ahead, -he was surprised to find both Stubby and Button following him. He -still had his head turned when he ran into a fat woman going the -same way he was, a big basket of clean clothes on her head. The first -thing Billy knew, he was rolling over something soft that squealed -like a stuck pig and that kicked like a calf. He lost his own balance -and rolled over in the gutter. All this commotion caused a crowd -to gather around them in no time, and Stubby had to bark and growl -and nip the heels of the people to make a clearing so Billy could -get up. Soon the police were upon them, swinging their clubs and -crying out in French for the crowd to make way and clear the street.</p> - -<p>The fat woman was crying and trying to gather up her wash which -had spilled in all directions, and she was afraid the people would -steal some of the pieces or step on the clean snow-white bosoms of -the shirts.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>“Here, don’t you put your dirty hands on that shirt!” she called -to a boy who was going to try to help her pick up her scattered -things.</p> - -<p>“Police! Police! Stop that woman! She is trying to hide a -lady’s skirt under her shawl!”</p> - -<p>Stubby felt sorry for the poor laundress and he watched to see -if any of the crowd tried to steal her things.</p> - -<p>Presently a bootblack picked up a nice fine white dress shirt and -attempted to hide it under his short jacket, but the shirt was too long -to conceal even when folded, and when it unfolded a long white tail -stuck out. A policeman made a grab for it but the boy dodged and -ran down the street with the shirt dangling between his legs. When -Stubby saw this, he started in pursuit and soon overtook the boy. -He made a snap at the flying tail, caught it in his mouth, gave a jerk -and the shirt slipped from the boy’s hold, wound itself round his -leg and tripped him. The policeman coming up just then caught -the boy and gave him two or three sharp raps with his club together -with a kick and told him to go about his business while he carried -the much prized shirt back to the laundress.</p> - -<p>“Thank you! Thank you, sir, for saving that shirt! It belongs -to the man at the head of the Police Department and I’ll tell him -how smart you are on your beat and get you promoted for helping<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -a poor working woman out of her troubles,” and she wiped her eyes -and began to count her pieces to see if they were all there.</p> - -<p>While the police was keeping the crowd from bothering her, the -three Chums sneaked away and decided to return to the boat for -they did not want to be left in Paris. Their destination was Havre -for the present and America next.</p> - -<p>About six o’clock when the Captain, his wife and the sailors came -back to the boat, they found Billy, Stubby and Button all lying out -on deck enjoying themselves.</p> - -<p>“Look, will you?” exclaimed the Captain. “There are those -animals I locked in the cabin quietly lying on deck. One-Eyed Dick -must have let them out. I’ll fix <i>him</i> for disobeying orders!”</p> - -<p>But when he came aboard there was no One-Eyed Dick to be -found.</p> - -<p>“So-ho! When we left, Dick must have decided to go too and -while he was away these animals have broken out of the cabin.”</p> - -<p>While the Captain was talking, his wife had gone below to take -a look at the cabin and find out if possible how they got out. She -found, as you know, everything kicked and scratched to pieces and -the door smashed to bits. She called to the Captain to come see -what had happened. But just as he was leaving the deck he saw -old One-Eyed Dick running toward the boat, all excitement.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>“What is up, Dick? And why are you running?”</p> - -<p>“Come quick! Come quick! I am on the track of the three of -them!”</p> - -<p>“Three what?” asked the Captain.</p> - -<p>“Why, the runaway animals! Don’t stop! Don’t stop to talk a -moment or we will never catch them! I’ve been all day trying to -get track of them and now I have, come quick or we will never lay -eyes on them again!”</p> - -<p>“Are you crazy, man, wanting me to run find animals that are already -found?”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” asked Dick.</p> - -<p>“Look over on the other side of the deck and you will see what -I mean.”</p> - -<p>“Jupiter! How ever did they get here? And me following them -from place to place only to be told they had just been seen turning -a corner here and a corner there!”</p> - -<p>“But why did you let them out in the first place?”</p> - -<p>“<i>Me</i> let them out? Why, bless your life, that big goat let <i>himself</i> -out after breaking up the whole of the inside of our boat and butting -the door down as if it had been made of paper and me off the hatchway -as if I had been a bale of cotton. You don’t know that goat, you -don’t!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>“Come down here, I say, and see all the damage that goat did,” -called the Captain’s wife again.</p> - -<p>“Well, thunder and lightning! He <i>did</i> leave a pretty mess, didn’t -he?” exclaimed the Captain when he saw what Billy had done.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Captain, come up! There is a man wants to see you,” called -One-Eyed Dick down the hatchway.</p> - -<p>When the Captain went on deck, he saw standing talking to Dick -a poorly dressed, shifty-eyed individual. “Well, my man, what can -I do for you?” asked the Captain, but as he passed one of his sailors -he said in a low voice to him, “Get those animals below as fast as -you can, and keep them out of sight!”</p> - -<p>The sailor obeyed, and he got Stubby and Button down but when -he came up for Billy he heard the man say,</p> - -<p>“I’ve come for me pets. And you need not try to hide them. I -tracked ’em here not half an hour ago and I been waitin’ for youse -to come back as I didn’t like to take ’em without tellin’ ye that them -belongs to me.”</p> - -<p>“You hear? Get off this boat or I’ll have Billy butt you over the -Eiffel Tower! What do you mean by coming here and telling me -such a cock and bull story as that?”</p> - -<p>“’Deed them <i>is</i> my pets! And if you don’t give ’em up to me -I’ll call me chum and prove it.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>“Get off my boat, you stupid liar, or I’ll call the police!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go get the police meself and have you arrested for holdin’ -stolen goods!”</p> - -<p>“You will, will you? Well, here, on your way there you better -take a bath in the river and wash up. They’ll be better pleased to -see you after you have had a clean-up than the way you look now,” -and with that the Captain walked over to the man, took him by the -seat of his trousers and the collar of his coat and threw him overboard -into the river. The fellow being a regular wharf rat swam -ashore, swearing vengeance on the Captain, but he never showed up -afterwards.</p> - -<p>“Well, that fellow displayed more cheek than I ever saw -before, asking me to give up Billy, Stubby and Button on the strength -of his saying they were his pets. But it goes to show that he had -read the advertisements in the paper, and since others may have -read them also, I guess we better pull up anchor and proceed on -our way.”</p> - -<p>It was an hour after this when all were at supper but Dick, -who was sitting whistling and braiding ropes, when a dapper young -American orderly appeared at the gangplank and called out: “Hey, -there! Have you seen a big white goat, a little yellow dog and a -black cat around here any time to-day?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir; I haven’t laid me two eyes on them,” said Dick with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -straight face, though his good eye did wink once or twice at the fib. -“Why, sir? Have you lost them?”</p> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-p161.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>“No, <i>I</i> haven’t, but one of them belongs to my -regiment and the other two to two other regiments. -And we have been looking everywhere -for them and advertising in all -the papers. But every time -we hear that they -have been seen in a -certain locality and go -to get them, they are -gone. And I just -heard this afternoon -that three animals answering -to their description -had -been seen coming -this way.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I have been here -nearly all day, and I haven’t -laid me two eyes on any goat, cat or dog.”</p> - -<p>No, to be sure he had not laid his <i>two</i> eyes on them for he had but -one eye with which to see.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>The young orderly went off, inquiring on every boat that lay along -the dock if they had seen a goat, dog or cat anywhere around there -that day.</p> - -<p>“Captain! Captain!” called Dick down the hatchway. “We -have had another close call. A young orderly from the very regiment -Billy belongs to was here inquiring for him and the other -two.”</p> - -<p>“And what did you tell him?”</p> - -<p>“Just said, ‘No, I have not laid me two eyes on them.’”</p> - -<p>“Haw, haw, haw!” laughed the Captain. “You did well to turn -him off in that way, even if it was half a lie. But it shows we -must not tarry another minute here or the next thing we know they -will be sending the police for them. Here, call the other sailors -and let us heave to and be off.”</p> - -<p>And presently Billy said to Button, “We are moving! Thank -goodness we have started on our homeward journey once more!”</p> - -<p>Nothing of interest happened on the rest of the trip to Havre -except when a little bird flew on deck with a message for Billy -from Duke.</p> - -<p>“Why, I did not even know he was gone!” exclaimed Billy. “I -took it for granted he had returned to the boat when I was away, -and was now asleep somewhere on it. What did you say he said, -and where was he when he told you?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>“He was in a big touring car, just leaving the outskirts of Paris. -He was with his old master who is a celebrated surgeon at the front -and they were both going back to his hospital. Duke told me to -tell you that he was very sorry to leave you all without a chance to -thank you for being so good to him and to say good-by. When he -left the boat he had only intended to run up in the city and take a -look at his old home, but when he got there who should he see coming -out of the house but his old master, who was just going to get -him at the dogs’ hospital, where he thought Duke had been all this -time. And Duke said to tell you that when he saw his old master -again, all his love for him came back and he could not bear to leave -him to run away to America.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if that doesn’t beat all!” exclaimed Button.</p> - -<p>“I think it is just as well he left us,” said Stubby, “for I am afraid -he would not understand our free and easy life in America after -living all his life with formal people.”</p> - -<p>“Guess you are right,” agreed Stubby and Billy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XV<br /> - - -<span class="small">BLOWN UP BY A SUBMARINE</span></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i-p165.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">YOU will be surprised to learn that the Chums had no -trouble whatever in sneaking off the canal boat and secreting -themselves on a packet bound for Queenstown -that night.</p> - -<p>Before boarding the boat Billy said, “This boat is not sailing for -America, but we must take any boat we can get on to escape from -France where we are so well known. If we don’t, we will be captured -and sent back into the army in no time. When we get to -Queenstown, we can ship on another bound for the United States of -America, for many boats stop there before crossing the ocean to -pick up the last mail from England.”</p> - -<p>The boat they were on left the dock at about half past nine, with -all lights out, as was necessary to avoid attracting the attention of -the submarines that infested those waters. For a wonder the Channel -was smooth as glass and as the night was clear, with a big moon -shining, anything afloat on the water could be seen for miles.</p> - -<p>“Keep your weather eye peeled for submarine periscopes!” said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> -Billy to Stubby and Button as they lay on the forward deck, looking -out over the water.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p166.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>It was after midnight and every one was in bed but the officers of -the ship and the sailors on the lookout for submarines when Billy’s -sharp eyes saw something that looked like a log of wood standing -straight up in the water. Before he could call out, “A periscope!” -a black object was seen skipping over the surface of the water and -the next thing he knew he was flying up in the air amid a spray of -water. When he came down he struck the water about a hundred -feet from where he went up and he felt himself going down, down, -down toward the bottom of the ocean. But it was too deep for him -to strike bottom here, so after going down, down, down, he began -to come up, up, up, and when he got to the surface and shook the -water out of his eyes, he looked around to see if he could discover<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -Stubby or Button. And oh, joy! there they both were swimming -towards him unhurt.</p> - -<p>Luckily for them, not one of them had been injured in the least. -Just then a big piece of wreckage that would act as a raft floated -near them and they all crawled upon it, and were just in time to see -what was left of the packet sink beneath the waves. They also saw -that two lifeboats were afloat toward which many black heads could -be seen swimming. Soon the swimmers reached the boats and -climbed into them, and Billy saw they were the Captain and officers -of the ship along with some of the sailors and passengers. As soon -as they were in the lifeboats, they began picking up the people they -saw in the water, and as there were but few passengers aboard all -were saved. For a wonder the U-boat did not send another torpedo -after them which in all probability they would have done had they -not been frightened away by a guard boat coming to the rescue. -After it had chased the submarine away, it came back and picked -up all the passengers of the lifeboats and steamed away toward -Ireland with them as they happened to be very near Queenstown.</p> - -<p>Now none of the people had seen or heard the Chums on their -raft though Billy baaed, Stubby barked and Button mewed.</p> - -<p>“Well, there are two or three things to be thankful for,” said Billy. -“First of all, we are alive and unhurt. The next is that the tide -is carrying us inshore instead of out to sea, and the wind is blowing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> -that way too. But most important of all is the fact that we are not -far from land, and if the tide doesn’t turn and carry us out to sea, -we should reach land at the rate we are floating now in about two -hours. If we see the tide is turning, we can jump off the raft and -swim for shore.”</p> - -<p>“You would see some good in every situation, even if your home -was burning,” declared Button.</p> - -<p>“Well, wouldn’t you?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“No. I nearly always feel despondent when in bad luck until I -get mad and think what is the use. Then I make the best of whatever -comes, while patient little Stubby here says nothing but just -saws wood, as the saying is.”</p> - -<p>Soon after daylight the raft touched the shore, and the Chums -lost no time in leaving it, I can tell you. In the distance up the -shore they saw a number of fishermen’s cottages. Stubby and Button -proposed to walk up to them and see if they could not get something -to eat, while Billy waited for them near by and made his breakfast -of shamrock, for they were on Irish soil, the native heath of the -shamrock.</p> - -<p>The fishermen received them kindly, and gave them plenty to -eat and drink. Then a quarrel arose as to who should own the dog -and cat that had come to them so strangely. At last it was proposed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -to auction them off. The bidding was in kegs of fish instead of in -money, however.</p> - -<p>While the excitement of the bidding was going on, Stubby and -Button thought it a good time to steal away and join Billy. The -last Stubby heard were these words, “I’ll give three kegs of fresh -fish for the little dog!”</p> - -<p>When they got back to Billy, they hurriedly told him what was -up and explained that the men Billy saw waving their arms and -shouting were only bidding in the auction and not preparing to -fight each other.</p> - -<p>“But we better scoot out of here before they miss us or we will -be captured and tied up.” And for the next half hour the Chums -ran straight inland, only stopping long enough to get their breath, -then running on some more. They were not followed, however, and -at last they slowed down beside the roadside to listen to the passersby, -to try to find out what part of Ireland they were in and how far it -was to the nearest seaport from which large vessels sailed. Imagine -their joy when they found they were only four miles from Queenstown -and on the direct road that led there!</p> - -<p>It was no trick at all to reach that city and when they arrived -they went straight to the wharf to look for a boat to carry them -still nearer America.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>“Look! Billy, look!” exclaimed Stubby. “There is a big camouflaged -troop ship lying at the dock. They can’t fool <i>me</i> with their -camouflaged ships; I have seen too many of them.”</p> - -<p>For the next few minutes you could not see the Chums for dust -as they ran toward the ship. Sure enough, it was just as Stubby said. -It was an empty troop ship returning to the United States of America -for more soldiers, and had only stopped here for coal and provisions. -There not being any troops aboard, it was easy for the Chums to -steal on board and hide themselves until the ship was away out to -sea before showing themselves.</p> - -<p>“I bet you,” said Stubby, “that that old submarine that blew us -up was waiting for this troop ship in the hopes of blowing it up -and while waiting for it to put to sea, they just blew up the packet -we were on to keep their hands in.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t wonder in the least,” replied Stubby, “if that was -just what they were up to. And perhaps we will be torpedoed -again.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I will take my chance, won’t you, fellows?” said Billy, -“for I am anxious to set foot on American soil once more, and I want -it to be the U. S. part of it, not South America or Mexico.”</p> - -<p>“Listen!” commanded Button. “I hear the propeller beginning -to move.” This so excited Button that he jumped up and ran up -and down the big coal pile beside which he had been hiding. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -started the coal to rolling so that it nearly buried Stubby and Billy -under it, and filled their eyes with coal dust.</p> - -<p>“You stupid, stop that!” barked Stubby. “Do you want to bury -us alive, or have some one come to see why the coal started rolling?”</p> - -<p>“No, of course not, but I am so glad to be on the last lap of our -journey home that I had to express myself in action or blow up.”</p> - -<p>“I should think you had had enough blow-ups for one while. And -you are likely to have another before we reach New York harbor, -for which port I hear this ship is bound,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“New York, did you say?” asked Stubby. “Oh, I am so glad we -are sailing for New York instead of for Philadelphia, Baltimore or -some other port. I always like to return to America by way of New -York and have the Goddess of Liberty welcome me home with extended -arms.”</p> - -<p>The trip across the Atlantic was a fast and pleasant one and the -Chums made friends of all on board, just as they always did -wherever they were.</p> - -<p>They waited until the second day at sea before they showed themselves, -and when they came slowly walking up on deck and stood -before the Captain as much as to say, “Here we are! You may do -with us what you will,” he nearly fell over with surprise and then -took pity on them, for they were a sorry, hungry looking trio after -having been shut in the coal bunker for a day and a night. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -ordered them scrubbed and fed, and when he saw them again he -did not recognize them at once, for he thought they were all three -black. Now the dust was washed off them, he found only one was -black, while one was yellow and the other white.</p> - -<p>As he stood looking at them, the sailor who had been ordered to -wash them came up and after saluting the Captain said,</p> - -<p>“Captain, will you kindly read what is on the medals around their -necks? They each have one, but they do not show unless you look -for them as they are concealed by their hair. When we went to -work on them we found each wore a medal around his neck.”</p> - -<p>While the Captain was reading the medal Billy wore, he had a -good look at the Captain and was surprised that he had not noticed -before that this Captain was the very same one with whom he had -crossed when he sailed for France with his regiment. At the same -time the Captain recognized Billy.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, Billy, old boy, how are you? But no need to ask, -for you are looking fine. And the only thing different I see about -you is that you have lost the end of your tail. Blown off by a bomb, -I bet! But where did you pick up your two friends? Wait; I -will read what their medals say and perhaps that will throw some -light on who they are. Lieutenant, come here!” called the Captain -to a second lieutenant who was passing. “Just read these medals -and see whom we have with us.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>“Holy Moses!” exclaimed the lieutenant. “This is a find! -Didn’t you know that there is a reward of one thousand dollars offered -for each of these animals by the regiments they belong to?”</p> - -<p>“Jumping ginger! You don’t mean it?” exclaimed the Captain. -“They must have gotten homesick and run away.”</p> - -<p>“You have said it!” baaed Billy, “and there is no place like home -when that home is in the United States of America.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-p173.jpg" alt="" /></div> - - -<p class="center">THE END</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph1">ZIP</p> - - -<p class="ph2">The Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier</p> - -<p class="center">BY FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY</p> - -<p class="center">The Well-Known Author of<br /> - -<span class="large">THE BILLY WHISKERS SERIES</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>Zip is the adventure-loving, frolicsome pet of the -popular doctor of a small village. He goes -wherever his master goes—and ventures to undertake -much at which the physician would -shake his head in fear. In fact, Zip dares anything -and anybody. He is known and beloved -by all the village folk, who are kept on the <i>qui -vive</i> wondering what will be Zip’s next outbreak.</p> - -<p>His life is far from one of peace. The unexpected -is continually happening—every page -bristles with the unusual adventures of this active -little, dear little, frisky little Zip. He will -be found to be a splendid story-book play-fellow -by every boy and girl.</p> - - - -<p class="center"><i>Quarto, bound in boards, with cover, jacket and four full-page -illustrations in colors—$.60 postpaid.</i></p> -</div> - -<p> </p> -<p class="ph3">The Saalfield Publishing Company<br /> - -AKRON, OHIO</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2">Billy Whiskers Series</p> - - -<p class="center">(<span class="smcap">Trade Mark.</span>)</p> - - - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-q003.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Frances Trego Montgomery</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS</p> - -<p>Billy Whiskers is a mischievous creature, full of wickedness and folly, whose antics have -furnished fun for a million readers. The child enjoys every moment after he is introduced to the -irresistible fellow.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS’ KIDS</p> - -<p>“Recounting the adventures of Day and Night, twin kids of the nursery-famous Billy -Whiskers. This is a stirring tale of travel and trouble and mischief that will delight the little -world.”—<i>Galveston News.</i></p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS, JR.</p> - -<p>“Night, now grown, is known as Billy Whiskers, Jr. and as he has all the personal traits -which made his father’s career one round of surprising activity and astonishing adventure, the -son will be quite as well beloved as his sire.”—<i>Chicago Record Herald.</i></p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS’ TRAVELS</p> - -<p>In which the ever active Billy tours Europe, each city in turn furnishing ample opportunity -for fun for sight-seeing Billy.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS AT THE CIRCUS</p> - -<p>“Everything goes well enough with Billy until a circus comes to town, and then just like -the small boy, he made up his mind to go, come what might and cost what it would. He made -preparations for a week and went, there to meet with all manner of adventures, becoming so -infatuated with the life that he joined it.”—<i>Des Moines Capital.</i></p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS AT THE FAIR</p> - -<p>In going to the Fair, Billy Whiskers didn’t leave a single prank at home. He had more fun -to the minute than most others have to the hour. What he didn’t do and didn’t see is not worth -relating.</p> - - -<p class="hangingindent"><b>Each volume bound in boards, cover and jacket in colors, six full-page -illustrations in colors, with scores of text drawings, quarto, postpaid, -per volume <span class="floatright2"> $1.25</span></b></p> - -<p> </p> -<p class="ph3">THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO., AKRON, OHIO</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2">Billy Whiskers Series</p> - - -<p class="center">(<span class="smcap">Trade Mark.</span>)</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-q004.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Frances Trego Montgomery</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS’ FRIENDS</p> - -<p>This story of how Billy Whiskers and his wife Nannie journey west in search of their son, -Billy Whiskers, Jr., teems with exciting incident and ludicrous situation.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS, JR. AND HIS CHUMS</p> - -<p>The Chums are a black cat and a yellow dog, and together this trio make a trip from San -Francisco immediately after the great earthquake back to Billy’s former home in the east.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS’ GRANDCHILDREN</p> - -<p>Being a laughable record of the adventures that come to Punch and Judy, Billy’s grandchildren.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS’ VACATION</p> - -<p>Promising his faithful wife to be back within a year and a day, active Billy starts on -another ramble, to meet as many exciting adventures as in his younger days.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS KIDNAPED</p> - -<p>Because Billy is a valuable goat, two men determine to kidnap him, and after many attempts -they succeed. The Chums unearth the plot, and take up the trail—but what happens it is the -right of the author to tell in her own charming way.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS’ TWINS</p> - -<p>Billy’s twin children go to a famous summer resort, now being owned by children who -sojourn there each year. Father Billy and the Chums follow, and the five make merry during -the season, enjoying it fully as much as any of the cottagers.</p> - - -<p class="largebold">BILLY WHISKERS IN AN AEROPLANE</p> - -<p>Billy keeps step with the progress of the world, and here we find him making a cross-country -flight in an aeroplane race, with the Chums in rival machines.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent"><b>Each volume in boards, cover and jacket in colors, six full-page illustrations -in colors, with scores of text drawings, quarto, postpaid, per -volume<span class="floatright2"> $1.25</span></b></p> - - -<p> </p> -<p class="ph3">THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO., AKRON, OHIO</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2"><span class="u">FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY’S BOOKS</span></p> - - -<p class="ph1">The -Wonderful -Electric -Elephant</p> - - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-q005a.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="center">“A new and fascinating sort of -fairy story.”—<i>Salt Lake Tribune.</i></p> - -<p class="center">“A book in which youth will take -keen pleasure.”—<i>The Bookseller.</i></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Among the tales of travel for boys and girls there are few which record such strange -adventures as befell the owners of the wonderful Electric Elephant.</p> - -<p>By a fortunate chance, Harold Fredericks comes into possession of a wonderful mechanical -elephant, so ingeniously contrived that it will pass for a real animal, even under closest -inspection. The interior is fitted up luxuriously, affording the finest accommodations for Harold -and the traveling companion whom he secures by another lucky chance. The young folks have -a journey quite unlike any on record, meeting adventures both on land and sea.</p> - -<p>The boy or girl who wants something new in the story line will surely find it in this -chronicle.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent"><b>Elaborately illustrated with 50 full-page halftones, bound in cloth, 12mo, -postpaid <span class="floatright2"> $1.50</span></b></p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph1">ON A -LARK -TO THE -PLANETS</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i-q005b.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="center">“The colored illustrations are -a feature of delight.”—<i>Grand -Rapids Herald.</i></p> - - - -<p class="center">“This sprightly author holds the -record for inventiveness.”—<i>Philadelphia -Item.</i></p> - - -<p>Some time ago a book appeared which has been a delight to thousands of boys and girls. -It was “The Wonderful Electric Elephant.” Frances Trego Montgomery has published a sequel -to that book and calls it “On a Lark to the Planets.” The contents of this new volume makes a -feast for the young mind, telling of a journey Harold and Ione took to the planets.</p> - -<p>“As a gift book to the children, nothing could be more desirable. It is an assurance of -happiness for any young person to be the possessor of this charming story.”—<i>Birmingham Ledger.</i></p> - -<p class="hangingindent"><b>Beautifully illustrated in colors, bound substantially in cloth, 12mo, postpaid <span class="floatright2"> $1.50</span></b></p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<div class="figleft"><img src="images/i-q006a.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="ph1">A CHRISTMAS WITH SANTA CLAUS</p> - - - -<p><i>The Buffalo Courier</i> -says:</p> - -<p>“Frances Trego Montgomery -has the happy -faculty of knowing what -the small boy and his sister -like in the way of -fiction.”</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<p>“A CHRISTMAS WITH SANTA CLAUS” is the title of an -ideal Christmas book by Frances Trego Montgomery, illustrated in -colors in a most bewitching way.</p> - -<p>The story recites the adventures of Jack and Gladys, whom -Santa picks up and whisks away to the Northland. There they make -the acquaintance of Mrs. Santa, and help fill the Saint’s chimney -bags. When all is ready and the sleigh is packed, they accompany -old Santa on his annual trip.</p> - -<p>“If you doubt the joys of a ‘Christmas with Santa Claus,’ read -of the pleasures that awaited two little waifs the big-hearted Christian -saint gathered into his home. Mrs. Montgomery introduces you to -his motherly wife. She is as good as another grandmother. Try her!”—<i>New -York World.</i></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<div class="figright"><img src="images/i-q006b.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="ph1">SANTA CLAUS’ TWIN BROTHER</p> - - - - -<p><i>Boston Ideas</i> says:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Montgomery’s -ideas are touched with -the sparkle of real -genius. It’s a delight to -travel in her company.”</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<p>Can anyone make a better play-fellow than Santa himself? -That is the question every child ponders after reading “A Christmas -with Santa Claus.” And likely they would ask it in vain if Mrs. -Montgomery had not written “Santa Claus’ Twin Brother.” This -lively story convinces them that there is one other who enters into -their moods just as thoroughly as the merry old fellow with ruddy -face and snowy beard, and why should he not, for he is Kris Kringle, -twin brother of Santa.</p> - -<p>Four little children are fortunate enough to have a frolic with -these two merry fellows, and their laughter rings through every page -of the captivating story.</p> - -<p class="hangingindent"><b>Each volume illustrated in colors, with colored cover and jacket, quarto, -bound in boards postpaid, per volume <span class="floatright2"> $1.00</span></b></p> -<p> </p> - -<p class="ph3">THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO., AKRON, OHIO</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_backcover.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph3">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - - - - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> -</div></div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLY WHISKERS IN FRANCE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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