Frances Trego Montgomery

“ Billy Whiskers, many of you remember, was a very remarkable goat, larger and stronger than others, with a beautiful white coat that when cleaned and well combed was the color of ivory and shone like silk. His horns, too, always attracted attention, they were so long and shiny. He could run faster, jump higher and butt harder than any goat he ever met in all his travels, so that wherever Billy went he very soon became a leader, though he often had to fight before the other goats found out that they had far better mind than take the consequences of disobedience. ”

“ We are all robbers and live by plundering farmers. When quite young, I grew so bold that I was finally captured alive while eating a sheep I had killed. After endless travels over land and sea, I arrived in a dreadful place called New York, and was shortly sold to this show and put into a cage with these other wretches and ever since we have been a spectacle to crowds of people day after day. I have no words with which to tell you, sir goat, how we hate this life.”
The snarl with which he said these last words was so fierce that it made Billy fairly shiver. ”

“ Tom Treat, when telling his chum, Jack Wright, about it next day, said that Billy could not have gone further or faster if he had been fired out of a gun.
Billy imagined that if he were able to reach the platform his troubles would all be over, but in this he was sadly mistaken.
When the freaks, the human skeleton, the hairy man from Borneo, the giant, the dwarf, the fat lady and all the rest discovered Billy on the elephant, they laughed fit to kill and clapped their hands, but when they saw him coming right at them through the air like a cannon ball, they were scared enough. ”

“ No clown ever took the fancy of a crowd as Billy Whiskers did now. He bowed and bowed in every direction in recognition, as it seemed, of the great applause that greeted his own efforts and those of his troupe to please the audience. If any of the monkeys tried to take a rest Billy was down on him in a minute, sending him aloft or making him go on with his hair-raising riding. Old Blue Nose, who was completely winded, fairly begged and plead for a breathing spell, but his leader wouldn’t hear to it but made him mount his white Arabian and go on with his trick work. ”

“ Billy was so indignant that any lady should be treated in such a manner that he came very near rushing out of his hiding-place and going for the giant, big as he was, with fire in his eye and head down. ”

“ He thinks that I know all about circuses but wouldn’t tell him because I was cross at being disturbed. Wasn’t that a good one about my neuralgia!” and Abbie laughed as cats do, and washed her face.
Billy next asked his best friend and greatest chum, Rex, the colt; but Rex, who was quite young, owned up at once that he didn’t know.
“Billy Whiskers,” said he, “how can I be expected to know about such things when you don’t? You have been almost everywhere and I always thought you had seen everything. If you don’t know what a circus is, there is no one at Cloverleaf Farm who can tell you.” ”

“ The reception tendered to the newcomers by the performers and clown who were busy at the time of their coming with their different parts was in marked contrast to that of the audience.
They were apparently frightened out of their wits and every one of them took to his heels, leaving the ring in the possession of the strangest group that, up to that time, had ever been seen at any circus, though it became a common sight afterward for the fashion of a new departure in circus performing was now being thus strangely set.
Without pausing, the monkeys took up the work of entertaining the people. ”

“ There is just one thing that keeps bothering me. I do not know how I am ever to get away from the monkeys who have chosen me their leader and declare that they will never leave me and that I shall never leave them. While my success in the show business is very largely due to them and I can have no doubt of their fondness for me, I may say to you—but you must never tell it—that I have never been able to like them very much. ”

“ Finally he jumped over the back of one of the ponies, then over that of one of the smaller horses.
“I must try the big black stallion,” said Billy. “If I succeed, we will clear out for we do not want to run this business into the ground. My, that will be the whale of a jump! I never saw such a big horse in my life. It won’t do for me to fall down now. These ungrateful monkeys would depose me, the Treat family would feel disgraced, and that snooping Terrence Bull Pup would be tickled to death. ”

“ Billy and his party kept within the woods wherever possible, the monkeys, for the most part, staying in the trees, leaping from one to another, which is the way they get about in their native forests. They can travel much faster that way than on the ground. They all enjoyed the freedom they were experiencing for the first time in years very greatly, and were in the best of spirits.
The racket their chattering made was so loud that Billy had to caution them about it for fear they might attract attention, and this they did not want to do. ”

“ After getting out, he first thought that he would pay off Farmer Grant for all the mean things he had done to him, but just as he was about to begin with spoiling his garden, he heard the clock in the house begin to strike and so stopped to count.
“Ten o’clock,” said he, “and six miles to go. I haven’t time now to do a good job, so I’ll wait until I come back and then I’ll fix him or my name is no longer Billy Whiskers.” ”

“ Many a one went howling home after Billy got through with him. Small boys, too, learned that it was safer and better not to throw stones in his direction. Probably there are as [11] many as twenty of them who have had the awful feeling that comes of trying to run fast enough to get away from the biggest goat that almost anybody ever saw, knowing that he was losing ground every second, hearing plainer and plainer every jump of his pursuer, and the last dreadful moment just before the shock came, and then flying through the air as though fired out of a gun, believing his end had surely come. ”

“ If they were not hungry, they were certainly tired. The excitement of the railroad wreck and the unusual exertions of a two hours’ tramp were enough to bring weariness to even the youngest and friskiest of the monkeys. Soon it was quiet in the cave except for the snoring of Colonel Mandrill who never could sleep quietly. ”

“ As like as not they would want to put me in a cage, and I haven’t forgotten what that means if the stories of the wolf and the lion can be believed. It’s awfully unlucky, [73] though, for now I am here there are a whole lot of things I want to see. The only thing for me to do is the minute one of them stoops down to look into this box, to jump at him with all my might, knock him flat, and make a bee line just as fast as I can go for the entrance. It’s good-bye Circus for me,” sighed Billy, and he prepared for the attack. ”

“ The Circusman felt in his bones that King Billy was a very independent person who might at any time, if things did not go to suit him, kick out of the traces and there was no telling what might happen then. The monkeys, without him to lead them, would not be worth their salt as actors. ”

“ The frightened and tortured beasts, as well as their keepers, made the most fearful outcry that was ever heard.
For a long time the people who came to the rescue were afraid to approach the wreck lest a lion or a tiger or some other man-eating animal might find his cage burst open and make his escape, killing and devouring everybody that came in his way.
Fortunately Billy Whiskers and the monkeys were not killed or badly injured, though terribly shaken up and frightened almost to death. ”

“ Never was there a Campfire composed of girls more charming than those claiming membership in the Manasquan Campfire. They just bubble over with high spirits, and the merry times they have make the best of tales for every whole-hearted girl who likes life in the great out-of-doors. ”

“ It looked grand to him and he was just as excited [52] as boys and girls are when they find themselves inside the great tent with all its wonders spread out before them.
“I’ll first call on the animals and make friends with those that look pleasant and answer good-naturedly the few questions which I want to ask,” thought Billy. “Then I will go in and see the Circus that the billboards at The Corners had so much to say about, and especially the clown who makes Tom and Harry Treat laugh so that they can never mention him without almost splitting themselves. ”

“ In half a minute more you will begin to come between the bars of this cage. By the time you are all in, you’ll look as flat as a pancake for the space is narrow, but I am strong.” With that heartless remark he gave Billy’s head a jerk that seemed as though it would break his neck.
Billy Whiskers took a look at the monkey, saw that the thin gaunt arm which held him was all muscle, as strong as steel. In a flash it came to him why the old Coon who lived in the big chestnut at home held the whole monkey tribe in such dread. ”

“ Billy thought that Bob was jealous of him, and Bob thought Billy was conceited and vain. But after they had together saved little Dick Treat from drowning in the swimming hole down by the wood lot, they had the utmost respect for each other and were ever after the very best of friends.
“Bob,” said Billy, “what’s a circus?”
“I can’t tell much about it, Billy Whiskers. When I was living in the city, a circus came one day. There was immense excitement. I went early to see the parade. ”

“ In a surprisingly short time it seemed, Billy Whiskers began to look about for familiar landmarks.
In the distance to the left, he discovered a group of buildings which he made out to be The Corners where he had first learned about the Circus and seen the billboards. A little later he saw and recognized the big chestnut tree where Mr. Coon lived.
[139] “We’ll make for that,” thought Billy. “If the old marauder is out and comes home to find a lot of monkeys perched in his tree he’ll think he is having the worst nightmare that ever horrified a healthy coon. ”

“ I am no longer the sort of goat you used to know, having turned over a new leaf on coming here to live. I have given up fighting almost altogether, very rarely steal things to eat or rob pantries or clothes-lines now, do but little butting, and, in short, live a peaceable and respectable life, and try to be a good example to all my friends and neighbors. ”

“ The monkeys did not seem to object in the least to the fact that Billy worked them almost to death.
If the crowd of spectators had been enthusiastic in the afternoon, they were vociferous in their applause in the evening. Such cheering and hand-clapping had never been heard in the big tent before.
“It means,” said the manager, talking the matter over with the [114] treasurer, “that this will be the biggest money-making season this show has ever known. Now is the time for us both to ask for a good big increase in our pay.” ”

“ We never stop trying to find a way to get out, and if we ever do, we will make some of these cruel people who have come here to look at us with never a thought of pity for our forlorn condition, wish they had stayed at home. There is that little rosy-cheeked, brown-eyed boy with his mother. He’s about three years old, I guess, just the right age to be tender eating. How I’d like to get my jaws into his throat!”
The old wolf smiled wickedly as he said it.
Billy looked to see whom he meant, and to his horror saw his own little Dick holding fast to his mother’s hand. ”

“ You’ll pay well for stealing in my garden. Come here, Lige, and help me lock this goat in the barn. He’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen and I can’t handle him alone. Hurry up! He’s getting ugly.”
[43]
Billy was certainly becoming as ugly as he could under the circumstances, but there was very little chance for him to use his great strength, and as for butting his captor, Farmer Grant, none at all, for he had both Billy’s horns in his powerful hands and was rubbing his nose in the cabbage or dirt, wherever it happened to strike, with no let-up. ”

“ The stories Tom Treat was telling Jack Wright excited him and the first he knew he had forgotten all about his resolve to never run away again and had fully made up his mind that come what might and cost what it would, he, Billy Whiskers, goat, would attend the Circus at Springfield. ”

“ The Ringlings will hear about the goat and monkey act and have to put something on to match it. It’s lucky for us that they are no further away than Dayton. My idea is that we had better sell the goat and skip to New York or Chicago as soon as we can. There is sure to be a row when he is missed. I don’t believe these monkeys will act for cold beans when their leader is gone.”
“You be around handy tonight to help me box his goatship. He’ll probably make no trouble for it’s all new to him, but whether he does or not, he’s got to do as we want and it will be best for us to work together.” ”

“ Valorous deeds on land and sea are all very well—but now come tales of the air to thrill the boy’s heart. And here are three than which there are no better. High in the air the heroes fight out their own salvation—their own and others too, who never would dare the heights. ”

“ Mike was heard to say. “Those monkeys are sure holy terrors and they will never surrender the great goat. I know there’s big money in him, but he ain’t for us, Jim,” and Jim agreed.
Someone was calling to them to hurry up with the monkey cage and with more grunting and groaning they got to their feet and drove [119] up the inclined plane onto the car. Soon they were rumbling along to the next place where the great show was to exhibit.
Billy Whiskers, in the cage with the monkeys, fell asleep wondering what the coming days could have in store for him. ”

“ If only Terrence Bull Pup hadn’t been so snippy, I would have had no trouble and might have seen the whole thing. As it is, I’ve missed the parade. I wish now that I hadn’t stopped to eat that cabbage.
“I hope I see Terrence. If I do, he’ll soon find I am not so good yet as to pass over his slights without notice. I can just feel [48] myself giving him such a butting as he has never had before.”
All this time Billy was trotting down the long hill that leads into Springfield from the west. The houses were becoming thicker and difficulties in going cross-lots increasing. ”

“ When I am mixed up in the crowd, the chances are that they will not find me. Even if they do I will be in no worse fix than if caught in this old box. One thing sure, no man will ever grab me by the horns again like Farmer Grant did. With my head free I am not so easy to catch and hold.”
With this he crept out of his place of concealment and was soon on the other side of the tent, gazing with all his might at the many strange animals which the different cages contained. ”

“ These monkeys know what they are doing and if they want me to be their leader, I will. It won’t do to be too easy with them. They have undertaken to amuse this great audience which seems pleased with their efforts and it’s my part to keep them at it and up to the mark. No shirking now.”
Whereupon our Billy stepped proudly into the center of the ring. A little while before he had felt tired and was beginning to look bedraggled, especially after his trying experience with Colonel Mandrill, but there were no signs of anything of the sort now. ”