*CHAPTER VII*
*BILLY FINDS HIS MOTHER*
Poor Billy, forced back into his crate and nailed up again, began tothink he did not like traveling very well. So far he had been in twocities and so far he had seen neither one of them by daylight, whileeverywhere he went he got hurt. All that night and all the next day, hemoped in his crate with a sore head. On the following night he wasbundled into an express car, and giving up in despair, lay down and wentto sleep.
When he awoke it was daylight and he was being taken off the train inHavre where the Browns were to take the boat for Cherbourg and then forAmerica. This was the first time that Frank had seen Billy since theyleft Bern and when he and Mr. Brown walked up to the crate after it hadbeen taken off the train, Frank's heart was filled with pity. Therewere raw places on Billy's head, his fine shiny coat had the black marksof fire on it, and altogether he was as woe-begone and miserable alooking goat as ever was seen. Of course the Browns did not knowanything of the adventures that Billy had been through, but Frank was aboy who did not like to see animals suffer and he was very angry.
"Just see, papa," he cried, "how they have abused my poor goat, shut upin that tight crate all this time! I'm sure he's not so bad a goat asyou thought. He has been imposed upon. Please let me take him out ofthat crate and lead him by a rope. I know that he will come alongnicely."
Billy "baahed" gratefully at this, and with some reluctance Mr. Brownallowed the goat to be taken out of the crate, let Frank secure a ropeand tie him on behind the carriage which was to take them to theirsteamer.
It was not Billy's fault that the knot was an ordinary single bow hitch,and Billy did not know, when he nipped at the little end which stuckout, that he would loosen the whole knot and let himself free, but thatis exactly what happened. For a time he trotted along nicely behind thecarriage, but, as they reached the wharves, Billy saw a sight thatfilled him with eager interest. Near a big cattle boat was an enormouspen filled with goats which were soon to be loaded on the boat, andBilly at once ran down to this pen, which was about a block away. Hisheart beat high with hope as he neared it, and when he came close up tothe bars he began to "baah" as loud as he could.
From inside the pen came an answering bleat. Billy's mother was thereand she had recognized his voice! She crowded close up to the bars andsoon she and Billy were affectionately rubbing noses through the littlespaces between the boards and telling each other all that had happenedto them since they had become separated. How Billy did wish that hecould get inside the pen and go to America with her! He trotted aroundand around the high fence trying to find a weak place where he couldbreak in, but the pen was built strong enough to make all such trialsuseless, so after every round Billy would have to come back to where hismother stood waiting and tell her of his failure. After he had made athird trial and came back up to her the wise old goat struck a happyidea.
"Just stand where you are, Billy," she said, "and by-and-by maybe one ofthe drivers will come this way and think that you belong in here withus. Then he will let you in and we will go on board together."
She had scarcely more than finished speaking when the lash of a sharpwhip that had whizzed through the air hit Billy on the flank. Lookingup, he saw a young man opening a gate for him to be driven through. Theyoung man had no whip, however, so Billy turned in the other directionto see where the stinging blow had come from. Standing only a few feetaway from him was a short, wide man with a whip in his hand, and Billystarted for him with a snort.
The lash of a sharp whip.]
"A thousand lightnings yet again!" exclaimed the fat man, who was noneother than our old friend and Billy's old enemy, Hans Zug.
Hans knew better this time than to run when he had a way so much easierto escape. With all the speed that his pudgy body would let him have heclimbed the bars of a high pen just in time to escape the hard bump thatBilly jumped up to give him. Sitting on the top bar, Hans whirled hiswhip around his head and lashed Billy across the back. Wild with rage,Billy tried to reach his enemy, but he could not jump high enough, andHans, laughing till he shook like a bowl of jelly, reached down andlashed Billy once more. Feeling that with all his strength he certainlyought to jump high enough to reach his tormentor, Billy tried to leapagain and again, but every time all he got for his pains was a whackwith the long whip.
At last, however, Hans made his big mistake. After whipping poor Billyuntil he was tired, Hans laughed so heartily that he fell backwards offthe fence, and you'd better believe that Billy's mother made himwelcome. She met him with her hard head while he was on the way down.Hans dropped his whip and grabbed for dear life at the fence, and hecaught hold with both hands just at the right height to make a good markfor Billy's mother. That strong and sturdy old goat bumped him twicefor every lash that he had given Billy, and every time she bumped him,Hans Zug grunted and yelled. He clawed his feet desperately to get afoothold on the bars to climb up, but every time he would get one footplaced Billy's mother would give him another terrific bump and he wouldlose his footing.
Billy, on the outside, ran backward and forward, hoping for Hans to getto the top and fall over on his side of the fence, and poor Hans was inan awful predicament. At last, seeing that Hans' comical struggles werenot going to put him over where Billy could get at him, that anxiousyoungster ran to where the young man was still holding the gate open alittle way, and ran inside, upon which the gate closed sharply behindhim. He made his way rapidly among the other goats and quickly ran upbeside his mother. He watched her motion, jumping when she jumped, andthey both butted Hans together so hard that, with a mighty grunt, hewent way up in the air, both his feet landing at once on a bar higherthan the one he had been trying to catch.
They both butted Hans.]
Billy and his mother both laughed, but they were so delighted and soexcited that the next time they tried to bump Hans their horns clashed,they stumbled and fell back, and in that moment Hans Zug climbed up outof reach.
When he got to the top of the fence he lay down straddle of it, clingingwith both hands and feet to the topmost bars for safety.
"Hasenpfeffer and pretzels!" groaned poor Hans, panting for breath,while the big drops of sweat rolled off his cheeks. "Thunderclaps andsunstrokes! Oh, my poor trousers!"
He had good reason to say that last, for the sharp horns of the twogoats had ripped his trousers' legs until they were in shreds, and therewere some sharp red marks on his legs, too. Billy Mischief and hismother only capered in joy. What did they care about poor Hans tryingto get his breath on top of the fence? They were together, and togetherthey were going to America!
It was not long until the gate of the pen was opened and all the goatswere driven out through a fenced runway across a fenced gangplank andthrough a wide, dark doorway into the hold of the cattle ship. Billyand his mother found themselves in a long, low compartment, dimlylighted by little round windows close under the ceiling. The goats weredriven up to the forward end of the boat and put on both sides of thecenter aisle, behind strong, high bars. By this arrangement Billy andhis mother were separated, in spite of all they could do to keeptogether, and could only stand close to the bars looking sorrowfully ateach other across the aisle. They soon quit this, however, because of anew interest. Some surprising passengers came to join them. First, sixbig camels were driven in, two by two, and fenced off next to the goats;then a herd of small elephants followed these and then came a vastnumber, of snarling, growling animals in strong cages; lions and tigersand other fierce wild beasts. An American circus that had beentraveling in Europe was on its way back home.
At last the ship was loaded and began to move out of its slip toward theocean. The wild animals had been nervous and noisy before, but as soonas the ship began to move they became still more excited. The elephantstrumpeted, the tigers snarled, the hyenas set up their screeching cry,the lions roared. It was a perfect pandemonium of shrieks and howls andyells,
and for the first time in his life Billy trembled with fear. Itwas not for long, however. Billy was a brave goat and a smart goat, andhe knew that so long as those fierce animals stayed in their cages theycould not hurt anything. The only thing that bothered him was that heremembered how he had broken out of his own crate in the railroad train.
This was the worst trip Billy ever made. The animals were never quietfor more than a minute at a time. There would be a lull when none ofthem would make any noise, and Billy would lie down, hoping for a momentof rest. All at once some animal would grunt, the next one wouldgrumble, the next one would growl, the next one would snarl, and by thattime they would all be at it; then suddenly the hyenas would begin.Then one of the fiercer animals would begin to roar and the old hubbubwould begin all over again, winding up always with the lions' deep andterrifying "Hough! Hough! Hough!"
Billy got tired of it by-and-by, and thought that he would like to goaway into some quiet corner and rest. A great many of the goats hadbeen thinking the same thing, and one after another they had been tryingthe stout boards, some of them attempting to push them out or break themand some trying to pry them loose with their stout horns. None of them,however, had the patience and strength and determination of Billy, andat last, down in one corner, he found a board that did not seem sostrongly fastened as the others, and on this board he began pryingcautiously with his horns. Billy would pry carefully until he wastired, then lie down and rest a while, then go at it again. For nearlyan hour he worked at it and at last he was rewarded by having the boardcome loose. He squeezed out through it and the board sprang back intoplace. Another goat tried to follow but he did not know the trick, andin place of pulling with his horns, pressed against the board, so Billywas the only one to get loose.
Billy trotted between the long rows of animals, being very careful tokeep in the exact center of the aisle and as far away from all of themas he could. One of the elephants reached out his long trunk and caughtBilly by the tail, but it was only a playful nip, and, after jerkingBilly back a little piece, the elephant let him go. Billy looked aroundat the big gray beast and saw by his twinkling eyes that it was only infun, so, kicking up his heels, he trotted on with a friendly "baah!"The lions and tigers and the leopards snarled and howled at him as hewent past, while the hyenas laughed--if the terrible noise they make canbe called laughing.
One of the elephants reached out his long trunk.]
Down toward the middle of the ship was a steep stairway up to an opendoorway that led out on the deck, and up this Billy climbed with ease.It was delightful, after that close, stuffy place, to stand on the cool,breeze-swept deck. The steamer was making good headway now and allaround was the ocean; the shore was only a low, hazy line, away outthere at the edge of the water. Billy was interested in the gailycolored circus wagons, some of which, crowded out of the lower hold,were grouped on the big, bare after-deck, and Billy did not notice,until up very close to him, that a big, fat man was leaning over therail. It was Hans Zug, and although the ship was riding easy and theocean was very calm, Hans was already beginning to feel very sorry thathe had not staid on solid land.
"Ach, I am so sick!" groaned poor Hans. "I wish I could die, yet! Ishould feel me so much better!"
"Now it would be a kindness to cheer Hans up a little bit and make himforget his misery," thought Billy. Lowering his head and backing off alittle way, he gave a run and bumped Hans a good one which he felt hestill owed him for the whipping of the morning. He struck harder than heknew, and Hans, a big part of his heavy body already lying far out overthe rail, got such a boost that he lost his balance and went bumpingdown the side of the ship into the water.
"Man overboard!" shouted the first mate, who was up on the bridge, andimmediately the ship was in great commotion. Sailors came tumbling upout of another stairway and Billy thought it was time for him to makehimself scarce. He did not care to go back into the hold, so he ran inamong the circus wagons and hid. The ship stopped and turned round. Asmall boat was hastily lowered and the sailors in it began rowing likemad to where Hans had gone down. Poor Hans did not know how to swim,but when a boy he had learned to float, and now, turning on his back, hekept his hands down to his sides and his face turned up. When thesailors got there with the row boat his fat round face was bobbing alongabove the little waves like a pumpkin in a pond.
"Ach, those dear mountains at home!" wept Hans, when they pulled himinto the boat. "How I should wish I was back in Switzerland again. Isaid it that I wanted to die, but it iss not, aindt it? Thank you,gentlemens! Thank you!"
A little rope ladder was let down and Hans, all dripping, his clothesclinging around him and making him look like a wet balloon, climbed upon the deck.
"Where is that fire and brimstone goat?" he cried, having now had timeto get over his fright and his seasickness enough to be angry. "When Ifind him I throw him in all the ocean what iss! Yes!"
Billy kept as still as he could, but one of the sailors saw his stubbytail and pointed him out. Then the chase began. Billy dashed aroundand around the deck with Hans and the sailors close after him, and atlast, when they were almost upon him, he came to the open door of thehold. Seeing no other way to escape, he was about to dash down this andhad already placed his forefeet on the topmost stair, when he saw twogreat greenish-yellow eyes close to him, staring up at him out of thedimness. One of the tigers had broken loose from his cage and had comeslinking up the stairs, and Billy stood face to face with him!
Billy Whiskers' Travels Page 7
