Chapter III: Part 3

Billy "baahed" gratefully at this, and with some reluctance Mr. Brown allowed the goat to be taken out of the crate, let Frank secure a rope and tie him on behind the carriage which was to take them to their steamer.

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 stuck out, that he would loosen the whole knot and let himself free, but that is exactly what happened. For a time he trotted along nicely behind the carriage, but, as they reached the wharves, Billy saw a sight that filled him with eager interest. Near a big cattle boat was an enormous pen filled with goats which were soon to be loaded on the boat, and Billy at once ran down to this pen, which was about a block away. His heart beat high with hope as he neared it, and when he came close up to the bars he began to "baah" as loud as he could.

From inside the pen came an answering bleat. Billy's mother was there and she had recognized his voice! She crowded close up to the bars and soon she and Billy were affectionately rubbing noses through the little spaces between the boards and telling each other all that had happened to them since they had become separated. How Billy did wish that he could get inside the pen and go to America with her! He trotted around and around the high fence trying to find a weak place where he could break in, but the pen was built strong enough to make all such trials useless, so after every round Billy would have to come back to where his mother stood waiting and tell her of his failure. After he had made a third trial and came back up to her the wise old goat struck a happy idea.

"Just stand where you are, Billy," she said, "and by-and-by maybe one of the drivers will come this way and think that you belong in here with us. 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 sharp whip that had whizzed through the air hit Billy on the flank. Looking up, he saw a young man opening a gate for him to be driven through. The young man had no whip, however, so Billy turned in the other direction to see where the stinging blow had come from. Standing only a few feet away from him was a short, wide man with a whip in his hand, and Billy started for him with a snort.

"A thousand lightnings yet again!" exclaimed the fat man, who was none other 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 easier to escape. With all the speed that his pudgy body would let him have he climbed the bars of a high pen just in time to escape the hard bump that Billy jumped up to give him. Sitting on the top bar, Hans whirled his whip 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, and Hans, laughing till he shook like a bowl of jelly, reached down and lashed Billy once more. Feeling that with all his strength he certainly ought to jump high enough to reach his tormentor, Billy tried to leap again and again, but every time all he got for his pains was a whack with the long whip.

At last, however, Hans made his big mistake. After whipping poor Billy until he was tired, Hans laughed so heartily that he fell backwards off the fence, and you'd better believe that Billy's mother made him welcome. 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 he caught hold with both hands just at the right height to make a good mark for Billy's mother. That strong and sturdy old goat bumped him twice for 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 a foothold on the bars to climb up, but every time he would get one foot placed Billy's mother would give him another terrific bump and he would lose his footing.

Billy, on the outside, ran backward and forward, hoping for Hans to get to the top and fall over on his side of the fence, and poor Hans was in an awful predicament. At last, seeing that Hans' comical struggles were not going to put him over where Billy could get at him, that anxious youngster ran to where the young man was still holding the gate open a little way, and ran inside, upon which the gate closed sharply behind him. He made his way rapidly among the other goats and quickly ran up beside his mother. He watched her motion, jumping when she jumped, and they both butted Hans together so hard that, with a mighty grunt, he went way up in the air, both his feet landing at once on a bar higher than the one he had been trying to catch.

Billy and his mother both laughed, but they were so delighted and so excited 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 out of reach.

When he got to the top of the fence he lay down straddle of it, clinging with 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 and sunstrokes! Oh, my poor trousers!"

He had good reason to say that last, for the sharp horns of the two goats had ripped his trousers' legs until they were in shreds, and there were some sharp red marks on his legs, too. Billy Mischief and his mother only capered in joy. What did they care about poor Hans trying to get his breath on top of the fence? They were together, and together they were going to America!

It was not long until the gate of the pen was opened and all the goats were driven out through a fenced runway across a fenced gangplank and through a wide, dark doorway into the hold of the cattle ship. Billy and his mother found themselves in a long, low compartment, dimly lighted by little round windows close under the ceiling. The goats were driven up to the forward end of the boat and put on both sides of the center aisle, behind strong, high bars. By this arrangement Billy and his mother were separated, in spite of all they could do to keep together, and could only stand close to the bars looking sorrowfully at each other across the aisle. They soon quit this, however, because of a new interest. Some surprising passengers came to join them. First, six big camels were driven in, two by two, and fenced off next to the goats; then a herd of small elephants followed these and then came a vast number, of snarling, growling animals in strong cages; lions and tigers and other fierce wild beasts. An American circus that had been traveling in Europe was on its way back home.

At last the ship was loaded and began to move out of its slip toward the ocean. The wild animals had been nervous and noisy before, but as soon as the ship began to move they became still more excited. The elephants trumpeted, the tigers snarled, the hyenas set up their screeching cry, the lions roared. It was a perfect pandemonium of shrieks and howls and yells, and for the first time in his life Billy trembled with fear. It was not for long, however. Billy was a brave goat and a smart goat, and he knew that so long as those fierce animals stayed in their cages they could not hurt anything. The only thing that bothered him was that he remembered how he had broken out of his own crate in the railroad train.

This was the worst trip Billy ever made. The animals were never quiet for more than a minute at a time. There would be a lull when none of them would make any noise, and Billy would lie down, hoping for a moment of rest. All at once some animal would grunt, the next one would grumble, the next one would growl, the next one would snarl, and by that time they would all be at it; then suddenly the hyenas would begin. Then one of the fiercer animals would begin to roar and the old hubbub would begin all over again, winding up always with the lions' deep and terrifying "Hough! Hough! Hough!"

Billy got tired of it by-and-by, and thought that he would like to go away into some quiet corner and rest. A great many of the goats had been thinking the same thing, and one after another they had been trying the stout boards, some of them attempting to push them out or break them and some trying to pry them loose with their stout horns. None of them, however, had the patience and strength and determination of Billy, and at last, down in one corner, he found a board that did not seem so strongly fastened as the others, and on this board he began prying cautiously with his horns. Billy would pry carefully until he was tired, then lie down and rest a while, then go at it again. For nearly an hour he worked at it and at last he was rewarded by having the board come loose. He squeezed out through it and the board sprang back into place. Another goat tried to follow but he did not know the trick, and in place of pulling with his horns, pressed against the board, so Billy was the only one to get loose.

Billy trotted between the long rows of animals, being very careful to keep in the exact center of the aisle and as far away from all of them as he could. One of the elephants reached out his long trunk and caught Billy by the tail, but it was only a playful nip, and, after jerking Billy back a little piece, the elephant let him go. Billy looked around at the big gray beast and saw by his twinkling eyes that it was only in fun, so, kicking up his heels, he trotted on with a friendly "baah!" The lions and tigers and the leopards snarled and howled at him as he went past, while the hyenas laughed--if the terrible noise they make can be called laughing.

Down toward the middle of the ship was a steep stairway up to an open doorway that led out on the deck, and up this Billy climbed with ease. It was delightful, after that close, stuffy place, to stand on the cool, breeze-swept deck. The steamer was making good headway now and all around was the ocean; the shore was only a low, hazy line, away out there at the edge of the water. Billy was interested in the gaily colored circus wagons, some of which, crowded out of the lower hold, were grouped on the big, bare after-deck, and Billy did not notice, until up very close to him, that a big, fat man was leaning over the rail. It was Hans Zug, and although the ship was riding easy and the ocean was very calm, Hans was already beginning to feel very sorry that he had not staid on solid land.

"Ach, I am so sick!" groaned poor Hans. "I wish I could die, yet! I should feel me so much better!"

"Now it would be a kindness to cheer Hans up a little bit and make him forget his misery," thought Billy. Lowering his head and backing off a little way, he gave a run and bumped Hans a good one which he felt he still owed him for the whipping of the morning. He struck harder than he knew, and Hans, a big part of his heavy body already lying far out over the rail, got such a boost that he lost his balance and went bumping down the side of the ship into the water.

"Man overboard!" shouted the first mate, who was up on the bridge, and immediately the ship was in great commotion. Sailors came tumbling up out of another stairway and Billy thought it was time for him to make himself scarce. He did not care to go back into the hold, so he ran in among the circus wagons and hid. The ship stopped and turned round. A small boat was hastily lowered and the sailors in it began rowing like mad to where Hans had gone down. Poor Hans did not know how to swim, but when a boy he had learned to float, and now, turning on his back, he kept his hands down to his sides and his face turned up. When the sailors got there with the row boat his fat round face was bobbing along above the little waves like a pumpkin in a pond.

"Ach, those dear mountains at home!" wept Hans, when they pulled him into the boat. "How I should wish I was back in Switzerland again. I said it that I wanted to die, but it iss not, aindt it? Thank you, gentlemens! Thank you!"

A little rope ladder was let down and Hans, all dripping, his clothes clinging around him and making him look like a wet balloon, climbed up on the deck.

"Where is that fire and brimstone goat?" he cried, having now had time to get over his fright and his seasickness enough to be angry. "When I find him I throw him in all the ocean what iss! Yes!"

Billy kept as still as he could, but one of the sailors saw his stubby tail and pointed him out. Then the chase began. Billy dashed around and around the deck with Hans and the sailors close after him, and at last, when they were almost upon him, he came to the open door of the hold. Seeing no other way to escape, he was about to dash down this and had already placed his forefeet on the topmost stair, when he saw two great greenish-yellow eyes close to him, staring up at him out of the dimness. One of the tigers had broken loose from his cage and had come slinking up the stairs, and Billy stood face to face with him!

*CHAPTER VIII*

*AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER*

Billy felt his heart beat hard and fast, and for a moment his knees trembled under him. He backed slowly up to the solid deck and the great flaming eyes slowly crept up after him. Billy still backed away. The men who had been chasing him were now very close, but one of them saw the tiger's head coming up on the deck, and he yelled to the others, who immediately pressed back. As soon as he felt the firm deck floor under him and could see the animal's head as well as his eyes, Billy felt his courage coming back to him. He knew that he had to stand and fight. He felt that he could never run fast enough to get away from this powerful animal, and that before he could even turn and start to run the tiger would be upon him.

Slowly Billy backed away with his sharp horns lowered, and slowly the tiger came out on the deck, crouched down until his body almost touched the boards, his tail, full of hard muscles, waving slowly like a red and yellow snake. The men were panic-stricken and scattered in all directions, seeking places of safety wherever they could find them. Poor Hans Zug was the slowest of all. In his fright he stumbled over his own feet and fell three times to his hands and knees in trying to get away, and then he tried to hide himself behind a slim iron rod that ran up from the deck to the bridge, for he was too much paralyzed with fear to pursue his hunt any further for some safe hiding-place.

The tiger was not in a very big hurry about making his spring. He did not like the looks of Billy's horns, although he knew that he was much stronger and more powerful than the little white goat. Still they came on, Billy backing away and the tiger creeping toward him until they were almost where Hans Zug stood trembling so hard that his teeth chattered. Suddenly the tiger, with a swift spring, went up in the air, intending to jump clear over Billy's long horns and land upon his back, but Billy, himself as watchful and as careful as the tiger had been, sprang aside just as the tiger jumped, jerking his head sharply upward as the tiger went over him. One of his horns caught in the tiger's under side and ripped a big gash in him. Billy immediately sprang in the other direction, and the tiger, now fiercer than ever, wheeled quickly. This time his sharp claw caught Billy's shoulder as Billy jumped aside, tearing a big patch of Billy's hide loose. The pain staggered Billy and made him feel faint, but he knew it would never do to give up. The animal men now came running up from the rear hold, where some of the other animals were being fed, and one of them had a pistol, but the two animals were jumping about so swiftly that he could not be sure of shooting the tiger without shooting Billy, so he waited to see how the fight would turn out.

Time after time the tiger tried to get hold of Billy, but the goat was too quick for him, though each time they met one or the other of them got a mark. At last Billy felt that he was nearly whipped. The two animals were now facing each other for another spring. The tiger, too, was suffering from the last hook that Billy had given him but he was fresher than the goat. Billy swayed on his feet. The light seemed to turn into darkness before his eyes and he felt as if he were sinking down, down on a soft bed, but he kept his head bent in the tiger's direction. He felt, rather than saw, the tiger spring once more, and in spite of his weakened condition he braced himself up and gave one more sharp, hard toss of his strong neck. His horn caught the tiger right behind the front shoulder blade and pressed deeply in. This time he had found a vital spot. The tiger rolled over on his side, and, after a quiver or two, lay still. He was dead, but Billy did not know it, for the brave little goat had sunk to the floor with the tiger and lay as motionless as his dead enemy. The animal men came running up first, the one with the revolver in front of the others. Holding his revolver pointed straight to where he knew it would reach the animal's heart, he approached as slowly and cautiously as a cat creeping up to a mouse hole, felt the tiger's side and pronounced him really dead. Two of the men dragged the tiger away and the others crowded around the poor goat. At first they thought that he too was dead, but when they examined him they found that his heart was still beating slowly. One of them ran to bring water and another to get bandages.

When Billy woke up his wounds had been nicely washed, ointment had been applied to them, and bandages were carefully bound over them. The men were patting him gently and saying what a fine, brave goat he was and what a splendid fight he had made of it, and one big gruff voice, which Billy found out afterwards belonged to the captain, said:

"Well, this goat is not to be tied up any more. He shall have the freedom of the ship."

Billy moved his legs feebly and tried to get up, but not feeling quite strong enough yet, he sank back and found that his head was lying on somebody's knee. And now came the biggest surprise of all, for when Billy looked up to see who it was, here it was Hans Zug who was holding him!

"Ach, such a fine little goat, yet," Hans was saying, patting Billy's neck gently, while the great tears rolled down his round cheeks. "Such a brave little goat, yet. Thunder weather! He can butt me overboard once again if he should to like it! Aindt it?"

Billy was the hero of the ship. It did not take him long to get well, and on the third day he was trotting around the deck as unconcerned as if he had never had a fight in his life. His bandages were off and only a little, red-edged scar on his shoulder remained to show how bravely he had fought the tiger. Hans Zug never was through praising him, but nevertheless, every time he went to speak to Billy he came toward him from behind, for Billy still had a way of shaking his head at him that made Hans feel like climbing a ladder. On the first day that he could go around unbandaged, nobody seemed to be able to pat Billy enough, but, true to his name, Billy could not long stay out of mischief.

Soon tiring of pacing the long decks, he went below in the cook's galley and began to hunt for dainties. He had learned by this time that people were very curious about things to eat. When they saw a goat helping himself, something was almost sure to happen to the goat and he could not understand it. You see, he could not know that everything belonged to somebody. All that he knew about it was that if you saw anything you wanted, and was lucky enough or strong enough or quick enough to get it, it was all right. Accordingly, he watched the cook, and when the cook's back was turned Billy grabbed a fine, big bunch of celery and trotted off with it. When he got in a dark corner he ate it and it was so fine that he wanted more. He went back into the cook's galley but could not see any. Then he went into a little, dark room that opened into it and found himself in a place full of the nicest things to eat he had ever seen in one pile. There were carrots and radishes and peas and fine, crisp, tender lettuce and all sorts of green stuff which had been brought aboard for the captain's table. Billy ate until he could hold no more, and then he happened to think that his mother would like some of that nice celery, so he picked out an extra fine bunch and trotted off with it. No one saw him and he made his way down into the hold where his mother was crowded in the pen with the other goats. He gave her the celery and while she was eating it he told her all that had happened to him and how much the ship's crew thought of him, and how even Hans Zug had become his friend.

"My, that was fine!" said his mother as she finished the last of me celery. "It is the nicest thing I have had to eat since we left home."

"Ho!" said Billy. "That is nothing. We cabin passengers have some of the finest things in the world to eat. What you need now is a bunch of tender lettuce to finish off with, and I'll go get you some," and he hurried off, leaving his mother very proud of his rise in the world.

Billy trotted boldly through the cook's galley, and the cook, who knew all about Billy's fight, tossed him some carrot tops as he passed. Billy was not at all hungry, but he ate the carrot tops just out of politeness, then he went on into the store room and picked out a nice big head of lettuce for his mother. He was just going out of the cook's galley with it when the cook turned round and saw him. Right away the cook forgot what a hero Billy was, and angry that Billy had taken some of his precious lettuce, cried:

"Hey! Drop that, you bobtailed thief!" and threw a skillet at Billy. It hit the goat in the side with a thump, but Billy never stopped. He only ran on until he had gained the hold where his mother was and had given the nice, cool lettuce to her, when he turned round to hurry away.

"Wait a minute, Billy!" she called after him. "I want to talk to you."

"I haven't got time," Billy called back over his shoulder. "I've got a little business with the cook."

When Billy got back into the cook's galley, the cook was over in a corner reaching up for some baking powder that he kept on a high shelf. He was stretched out just right for a good bump and Billy gave it to him.

"Great Scott!" cried the cook, and jumped up until his head bumped the shelf. He quickly turned around but Billy had backed off and now jumped for him again. This time the man put out his hands and caught Billy by the horns firmly enough to keep the bump Billy gave him in front from smashing him. Billy, however, jerked away and backed off for another bump, and the man, jumping up, grabbed the shelf with the foolish notion of climbing up out of range. He could not have been in a better position for another bump behind, so Billy gave him that one and he dropped loose from the shelf, yelling for help with all his might. In dropping, he turned around, and this time Billy landed with all his weight right in the middle of the man's appetite.

By this time the cook had lost his head so that all he could do was to spread his arms and legs like an old-fashioned, jointed doll and yell for help. Several men came running down the ladder and the foremost one was Hans Zug with his whip. Hans had just been over to straighten out a fight in the goats' pen, and when he saw one of his goats butting the cook, he never stopped to think that it was the same Billy he had been petting and praising, so he hauled off and gave Billy a mighty slash with his sharp leather whip. Billy got through with the cook in a hurry!

So Hans Zug, who had been following him around and patting him on the back and calling him nice goat and fine goat and brave goat, was ready to start in again, was he? Well, Billy would show him! Like a flash he wheeled and was after Hans.

"Donnervetter!" cried Hans, and turned to run.

The men who had followed him down the steps were in the way, however, and Hans ran square into them. A second later Billy ran into Hans with enough force to send him sprawling among the men, and four or five of them went to the floor grunting, with Hans on top. Before Billy could back off for another stroke Hans turned quickly and was just in time to grab Billy by the fore legs. At the same moment the cook caught Billy by the hind legs, and these two carried him upstairs to the deck.

"Over he goes," yelled the angry cook.

"Sure!" said Hans. "He done it to me. Ein! swei! drei!"

As Hans counted his one, two, three in German, they gave three mighty swings, and with the last one they let go.

Splash! went Billy into the sea!

*CHAPTER IX*

*ALONE IN AN OCEAN STORM*

Poor Billy! Once more he had lost his mother! He looked for the ship to turn round and send out a boat as it had done when Hans fell overboard, but it did nothing of the sort. Instead, it steamed straight ahead. In the excitement nobody had noticed that Billy had been thrown into the water.

The cook got a life preserver and threw it over after Billy, thinking it a good joke, then the cook went below and Hans stood at the stern railing shaking his fist at the poor goat. Billy swam as long and as hard after the boat as he could, but it was no use; he could not begin to keep up with its great speed. Presently, however, he came to where the life preserver floated. It was a big circular one and Billy put his front paws upon it. His weight made it tip on edge and Billy was surprised and delighted to find that it held him up in the water, making the work of swimming much easier. In trying to get his legs further into it he slipped once or twice, but finally in his struggles his head and horns went through it, and, after swimming and wriggling a little bit, he got his front shoulders through and there it clung round him, holding him up splendidly. It was too small to pass backwards over his body, and it could not get off over his head on account of Billy's horns.

It was a lucky thing for Billy that this happened, for that night a terrific storm came up. The wind shrieked and howled, the lightnings glared, the thunders rolled, and great foam-capped waves, some of them nearly as high as a house, broke over Billy, one after another, nearly drowning him and sometimes almost crushing him by their weight.

In all his life Billy had never passed such a terrific night as this, but through it all the big life preserver held him up and carried him safely through. Many times there seemed to come a lull in the storm and Billy began to breathe easier, thinking that he would get a little rest, but the storm would break out again with new fury each time, until, when morning came, the poor goat was battered and bruised and nearly dead. With the dawn, however, the storm calmed down. The skies began to clear, the waves grew smaller, and the wind, shifting by-and-by to the opposite direction from that in which it had been blowing all night, beat back the waves and smoothed them down until by ten o'clock the ocean was quiet, only ruffled by gentle swells over which Billy and his life preserver bobbed in comfort, although he was very tired and beginning to get hungry.

Ever since the sky had cleared he had seen smoke away off where sea and sky seemed to join. Billy knew what smoke meant. Wherever there was smoke there were people, and wherever there were people there was food, so he started toward it, swimming a little bit and resting a long while between times. The smoke grew blacker and presently he saw a little speck under the smoke. It grew larger and larger, and by-and-by he was able to make out that it was a big ship coming in his direction. Poor Billy swam harder than ever then, and fortunately for him the ship was coming almost straight toward him. Still more fortunately, the captain, sweeping the sea with his glass, made out the life preserver holding up something white, and immediately thought it must be a woman in a white dress. He altered the direction of the ship slightly so that it came nearer to Billy, and had ordered a boat to be lowered before he made out that it was only a goat, otherwise he might have passed on by. The boat, however, was already lowered, so he let it go.

The ship was a big passenger steamer, and by this time scores of passengers were thronging to the rails to see what the excitement was all about, and when the boat was drawn up, Billy, a comical looking sight with his big life preserver around him, was placed on the deck. A boy among the passengers at once ran forward with a shout.

"Why, it's my Billy goat!" he cried. "Papa, come and look! See the singe marks on his back?"

Billy "baahed" joyfully. He rather liked Frank and was very glad that he had found a friend. The captain himself, interested and amused, had joined the crowd by this time.

"Your goat?" he asked Frank, in amazement. "Do you always keep your goats out at sea in life preservers?"

"Not always," laughed Frank. "In fact, this is the only goat I have. We lost him in Havre. The last I saw of him he was tied to the back of our carriage with a rope. When we got down to the wharf he was gone. Then we went down to Cherbourg, where papa had some business, caught your ship the next day and here we are. How Billy ever got here from Havre, I don't know, but here he is and he's my goat."

"Well, according to the law of the sea," said the captain with a twinkle in his eye, "he is salvage now and belongs to the men there who picked him up. Of course I have a share in the salvage too, but I'll take a cigar for mine."

Mr. Brown, laughing, gave him the cigar and then gave the sailors some money, and Billy was taken below to a large, white, clean room where some fine blooded horses were hitched in roomy stalls. Here he was given a big bowl of warm milk and a bed of clean straw, both of which he was very glad to get. As soon as he had drunk the bowl of milk, he felt so good and warm that he lay down and went sound asleep.

When Billy woke up he saw something that made him gasp with surprise, and at first he thought he must be dreaming. Right beside him, sleeping peacefully, an empty bowl that had contained milk just in front of it, lay another goat. It was his mother! Billy was so overjoyed that he did not know what to do. He licked her face gently and when she opened her eyes he capered around till the horses in the stalls near by thought that he must have gone crazy. Billy's mother was no less happy and when they had calmed down Billy told her how Hans Zug had thrown him overboard, how he had suffered through the storm and how the ship had picked him up.

"You were lucky, I guess, that he threw you over," said his mother. "We got into that same terrible storm and our ship struck upon the rocks and broke to pieces. I do not know what became of the other goats or of Hans Zug. Of course all the circus animals in the cages went down. I was swimming about in the water when some sailors in a boat grabbed me and took me with them. They said that they had not had time to get provisions and that they might have to eat me. I would have jumped overboard when I heard this but they had already forced me under one of the seats in such a way that I could not scramble out. The storm was still upon us and the waves spun us around like a top, and two or three times we thought we were gone. By morning, however, the storm calmed down and we were safe, although some of the men had been swept overboard by the big waves that broke over us. All day long we drifted about. One of the men had brought along a box of crackers and another one had got some dried beef. A keg of water was already in the boat so that there was nearly enough for everybody for breakfast, and when the noonday meal came, one of the men wanted to kill me, but the others would not let him. They wanted to save me, they said, until the next day. It was nearly dusk when this ship saw us and stopped to take us on board. If this ship had missed us I suppose that to-night would have been my last."

Billy shuddered.

"Well," said he, "at any rate we are together again, and this time I suppose that we will stay together. If you are rested enough come on and let us look around the ship."

First the two goats trotted side by side past the big clean stalls of the horses and all around the room they were in, then they made their way to the stairway that led up to the deck. They were about to climb this when Billy spied the open door of a little closet, scarcely large enough to put his head in. Full of curiosity, he went up to it and stuck his nose inside.

"Oh, come here, mother!" he suddenly cried. "Here is a rope with a very strange taste. I had some of it in a big hotel in Bern and I did not care for it very much, but it has such a queer taste that you must eat some of it."

The rope Billy meant was not exactly like the ones he had chewed in Bern, for those were single big wires with a covering to keep them from touching. This rope in the little closet was not a solid one but was a big bundle of tiny wires, each one covered with a queer tasting sheath. The wires ran from the pilot's room and the captain's room to the engineer's room and to the other working rooms of the ship, and, by the use of little push buttons were intended to direct the movements of the mighty floating palace.

"Why, this is quite a treat," said Billy's mother, taking a big bundle of the wires in her mouth. Another little closet just like this one stood alongside of it and Billy saw that the door of this was also slightly ajar. He pushed it open with his nose, and inside he found another bundle of wires. These ran from the passengers' cabins to the steward's cabin, and the electrician had just been fixing them, carelessly leaving the doors unfastened.

"Why, here's another bundle! I'll try some of them myself," remarked Billy, so both the goats got to work at once.

Billy's mother had only chewed at her rope of wires a little while when the coverings began to come off and the wires to touch. Instantly things began to happen. The first wires that touched gave the engineer a signal to stop and instantly the mighty ship began to slow up. Within a short time it had come almost to a standstill and the first mate, up in the pilot room, immediately took down his telephone and called up the engineer.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing, sir," said the engineer. "You gave the signal to stop and we stopped."

"I did no such thing," said the mate. "At any rate, start up again and we'll investigate."

Just then came another signal, and with a great jangling of bells the big engines began to turn and the ship wheeled square around. There was another jangling of bells, and, shaking with the force of the mighty engines, the ship began to pick up speed, headed straight back for France. Again the first mate called up the engineer.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Are you crazy? Why have you tacked about?"

"Had orders, sir," said the engineer.

"You lay her northwest by north at once. Put the second engineer in charge and report to me immediately."

"Aye, aye, sir," said the engineer and started up to present himself to the first mate.

The ship was swung back on her proper course and had gone straight a little way, when all at once the whistles began to blow and bells to ring, and with this the captain came running up to the pilot room. The first mate already had his telephone off the hook and was screaming down to the engineer.

"What are you doing, sir?" he demanded. "I thought I told you to report to me at once!"

"This is the second engineer, sir," repeated the voice. "The chief engineer has just gone up to report to you, sir."

"Well, why did you blow a landing whistle out here in mid-ocean? Can't you obey orders? Are you crazy, too? Are you all crazy?"

"I had the signal and obeyed orders, sir," said the second engineer.

By that time the captain came bursting into the pilot room, while Billy Mischief and his mother were chewing wires.

"Are you a plum idiot?" demanded the captain. "Can't you be left in charge of this ship? Have you been drinking? First you stopped the ship, then you put back for France, then you turn again, and now you blow a landing whistle."

At that moment the fog horn began to sound, although the sea was almost as bright as day with a round moon shining overhead and the stars studded thick in the sky.

The captain himself grabbed the telephone.

"I want to know who's doing all this!" he demanded. "Who's in charge there?"

"I am, sir; the second engineer," answered the voice.

"Put your assistant in charge and report to me in the pilot room at once."

Just then the chief engineer came in.

"What does all this mean?" roared the captain.

"I don't know, sir," said the engineer. "I got signals to stop, then to put about, then to come back on the course, all of which I did."

"I don't want you to attempt to put this on to me," said the mate. "I haven't touched a button for an hour. There has been no necessity. We have been going straight on our course."

All this while the steward had been going nearly crazy. The bells were ringing from every cabin on the ship, and the waiters were running about the place like mad. First one bell, then another would ring, and always when the waiters went to those cabins they were told that nothing was wanted and were abused for waking people up. That part of it was Billy Mischief's work and he did as much to put the ship in an uproar as had his mother. The sound of the fog horn and the stopping and starting of the ship, the whistling and the clanging of the bells, kept everybody awake that had been awakened by the waiters, and hastily throwing on clothing, the passengers began to hurry out on to the decks to find out what was the matter.

The steward came hunting the captain, right after the second engineer.

"This ship is bewitched," he cried, wringing his hands, and he told the captain of all the trouble he was having with false alarms.

Everybody looked at everybody else as if they thought that the others had all better be in the asylum, and it was just at that moment that Billy Mischief, down in the hold, turned to his mother and said:

"Oh, come on! I don't like this stuff very well, anyhow," and leaving the little closets to themselves, they trotted innocently upstairs not knowing all the trouble they had made.

*CHAPTER X*

*THE GOATS BECOME A FIERY DRAGON*

Not stopping on the lower deck, they went on up until they reached the main saloon deck. It was ever so much wider and nicer than the deck of the cattle ship, and just now it was crowded with passengers who had hastily dressed themselves and had come out on deck to see what was the matter with the ship and its queer actions.

"Oh, there's my goat!" said a boy who was standing at the rail just at the head of the stairway.

It was Frank Brown and, walking up to Billy, he patted him on the neck. A bright faced young man who was with Frank also stooped over and patted Billy.

"Whose goat is this other one?" he asked, turning to pat Billy's mother, who, being jealous like most animals, crowded up to get her share of the attention.

"I don't know," said Frank. "It was picked up from a wreck; but the two goats seem to be very chummy."

Frank was looking along the deck at the long row of excitable passengers, and suddenly he began to laugh.

"I wish we could play some sort of a trick on all these people," he said.

The young man's face lit up with a smile as he gazed at the nervous and worried looking passengers, then all at once he laughed aloud.

"I've got it!" he cried. "Bring your goats and come into my cabin quickly. It's just inside here."

So Billy, willingly enough, was led by the horns into the young man's cabin, and his mother followed after. As soon as they had reached the cabin the young man rang the bell, and when the waiter came to him the young man gave him a check and sent him after a trunk which was soon brought up. Opening it, the young man took out an enormous dragon's head made of papier mache and painted in bright colors. It was a fierce looking head and almost filled the trunk. It had a great, double row of gleaming white teeth, red lips, a red tongue that worked out and in, immense saucer-like eyes and winged ears, while a "scary" looking spine started from the top of its nose and arched high over its neck. The balance of the trunk was filled with a long, thin, sack-like arrangement which was painted green and red and yellow, and which was to represent the dragon's body.

"You know I told you," said the young man, "that I am the property man of a big spectacular show company, and this is a new dragon that I have just had made. It is intended for men to get inside of to walk it across the stage. We'll put the goats in it and start them along the deck, and then we'll see some fun."

Neither Billy nor his mother wanted to get inside that strange looking thing, but the two boys suddenly slipped the big head over Billy and there was no way for him to get out. Then, catching Billy's mother by the horns, they dragged her to the second slit and put her inside. The young man quickly straightened up the ridges and the long, scalloped, folding side fins of the body, while Frank held the head tightly and let the goats prance inside. The young man opened the door and looked out. The passageway was clear and they soon gained the deck. The young man lit a match and stooped down for a moment. Instantly the big eyes were lit up with red. Red flames came out of the tip of the tongue and smoke rolled out of the nostrils.

They headed the dragon up the deck before anybody noticed it, and as soon as the goats were let go they started to run in their efforts to get away from this heavy, dark thing that surrounded them. The young man put his hands to his mouth, and making a megaphone of them, gave a tremendous roar. Instantly everybody looked, and when they saw this great, red-eyed and fire-breathing monster coming toward them there was a grand scamper. A great many of the passengers thought that a sea serpent had got aboard and they did not care to see it any closer. Away they went, making as much noise as a Sunday school picnic, with the fiery dragon right after them. Around and around the deck they chased and the two poor goats were as scared as any of the women on board.

It had been twice around the deck when the red powder that the young man had lighted in its tongue began to die out, so the young man grabbed it just as it passed the place where they had started it off and, quickly turning it in toward his cabin, was struggling with the now thoroughly frightened goats. He got the dragon safely into his room, but, as soon as it was lifted off of Billy and his mother, those frightened goats made a dash for the door and out on deck. Their only idea was to run as fast as they could to get away from that dreadful thing, so when the passengers saw them coming, they thought that some other sort of a monster was loose and they began to run again. Some of the men stopped to see what it was, however, and more than one of them had his revolver in his hand ready to shoot. One of them, in fact, had his finger on the trigger and was going to pull it when another man suddenly called out:

"Wait a minute! They're only goats."

The men caught the goats as they were struggling to get through and the captain, who had been everywhere trying to stop the panic, now came up. The second mate came up also, and when he saw the two goats he was very angry and called one of his men.

"Here," said he, "take these animals down where they belong and tie them up with wires or chains so that they can't gnaw themselves loose. If I see them again before we get to New York there's going to be trouble for somebody."

So Billy and his mother, their fun all over, were taken back down in the hold and tied up tightly, and it was the last time they got loose until they landed in America.

"At any rate," said Billy's mother, "we are together."

"I don't know how we can stay together, though," said Billy, shaking his head. "I belong to Frank Brown and, so far as I can tell, you don't belong to anybody. If you only did, maybe Mr. Brown would buy you, although I don't believe he wants any more."

And Billy was right about Mr. Brown's not wanting any more goats.

The day they landed Frank Brown went to claim his goat. Billy and his mother were still together, but as Frank was about to take Billy away a woe-begone looking little fat man came rushing up.

"Those should been my goats yet!" he exclaimed.

"Your goats?" said Mr. Brown, rather angrily. "Why, man, that one with the singed spots on his back we have just brought over with us from France."

"It makes me nothing out!" exclaimed the man. "They should been my goats! I know them both like it was mine own brother and sister, yes! I know the biggest one by such a black spot on her forehead and the other one by such singed places like vat iss on his back. So! I should bring them both over from Havre, and our ship got such a wreckness in the big thunder weather, and Ach, I could cry mit weeping. My name is Hans Zug and I am a poor man. Yes! I had more as two hundred goats and these two is all what I got now, and if you take them away I don't got any. No!"

One of the sailors from the cattleship who had been taken on board with Billy's mother came up just then and said that Hans was telling the truth. Mr. Brown looked perplexed.

"It's true," he said, "that we got this goat out of the ocean. It is scarcely possible that two goats should be burned exactly alike and this one either slipped loose from our carriage in Havre or was taken away from us there by this man. I have already paid twice for it; once in Europe, once on the ocean, and now I am expected to pay for him a third time in America. Frank, get your goat and come on!"

Poor Hans did not know what to say or do. Mr. Brown was evidently rich and powerful and Hans was afraid he might get himself into trouble. He looked so miserable, however, that Mr. Brown relented, and taking out his pocket-book, handed Hans some money.

"Here," he said, "I'll buy this goat again and then I'll be tempted to hire somebody to hang it, only I'm afraid some butcher would sell it to me a fourth time for mutton."

Frank giggled at this and his father, too, cleared up his anger in a laugh. Then Billy, in spite of all his mother's bleatings, was led away from her. Within an hour he was put in a baggage car of a train for the West where the Browns lived. This time he was not crated, but was tied to a ring with a stout rope.