CHAPTER IX
BILLY WHISKERS JOINS THE CIRCUS
WHEN the show manager saw all the performers and even the clown come running out of the ring right in the midst of their fourth act, he was naturally very greatly surprised and excited.
He thought that they had all gone crazy and flew around like a hen with her head off trying to make them return and go on with their work.
At last one of them, more composed than the others, made him understand that something very unusual had happened and that they did not dare go back into the ring.
“Look and see for yourself if you can’t believe me,” he finally said.
So the frantic manager pulled aside the tent flap just in time to be greeted by the shouts and cheers that the great audience gave to Billy Whiskers and the monkeys when they saw the astonishing feats they were performing, as though they were all trained to the business.
“That beats me hollow,” fairly stuttered the flabbergasted manager. “I can’t understand it at all, but I hope I know a good thing when I see it, and I’m no judge if this doesn’t prove the greatest feature and biggest drawing card the show ever had. The trouble will be to keep them at it right along. Those monkeys,” you could see he didn’t like the monkeys from the way he spoke, “are about as much to be depended upon as the east wind. That big goat seems to make them toe the mark. I wonder where he came from and who owns him? There is one thing certain, this show from now on has just got to have him at any price.”
The manager, having satisfied himself with the way things were going in the ring, hustled back to make suitable preparations to receive Billy and his followers when they had finished their performance and came out, for he had no doubt but that they would withdraw in the same manner as regular actors; and in this, as we already know, he was quite right.
The keepers and handy men were summoned from all sides to be ready to assist if any attempt at escape should be made. The best meal obtainable was hastily collected and temptingly spread out, and everything possible done to provide for the comfort of the new performers and to show how greatly pleased the manager was at their most successful efforts to entertain his audience. He very shrewdly thought that by this means he could induce them to repeat their act the next day and for many succeeding days.
It is a question whether or not Billy Whiskers and the monkeys would have peaceably accepted these terms, but when they finally got outside the ring they were all so tired from their unusual exertions that they had no spunk left to go on of themselves, much less to resist the inviting conditions which they found waiting for them.
As the goat and monkeys had put in their unexpected appearance at the beginning of the last act of the afternoon’s performance, when they withdrew from the ring, the audience, after a great deal of cheering and repeated bursts of hand-clapping, began to slowly disperse.
The Treat family then held a council of war to decide how they could best lay hold of their property, Billy Whiskers, and get him safely back to Cloverleaf Farm. Though not one of them said so, there was fear in the heart of each that this would be no easy job.
While they felt sure of Billy’s love for them, especially for little Dick, they had just seen him in a new and most unexpected role, and the older members of the family now more than suspected that there were incidents in Billy’s earlier history that they had not even guessed at. They now knew, in fact, that sometime, somewhere, he had been accustomed to a prominent and public position, that he must have seen a very great deal of the world for otherwise he could not possibly have fallen so naturally and gracefully into the trying position of clown and trick performer when so many thousands of eyes were looking right at him.
More than that, there was the unspoken fear that the Circus people might be unwilling to give up a goat who had proven himself such a wonder and had been the means of making the audience the most enthusiastic which had ever been in the great tent. They might hide him and claim that he had disappeared as mysteriously as he had come, or they might say that he was not Mr. Treat’s property and refuse to give him up, or they might try to buy him.
Finally the monkeys had to be considered. It was evident they regarded Billy Whiskers, whether he liked it or not, as their leader, and there was no telling what sort of trouble they might make if an attempt was made to take him away from them.
It was finally decided that the best thing to do, and in fact the only course open, was for the family to stick together and go in pursuit of Billy by way of the exit through which he had disappeared on the back of the great black horse.
Very soon therefore, the jubilant manager of the show was confronted by Mr. and Mrs. Treat with Tom, Dick and Harry at their heels.
“We’ve come to claim our property,” began Mr. Treat.
“Yes, Billy Whiskers, he’s my goat,” piped little Dick.
As soon as he heard that voice, Billy Whiskers who was resting near by, though he had not been seen, jumped up and rushed to greet his master. He was so pleased to see the family that he quite forgot that he was probably in disgrace for having run away and gave every sign of his great regard for them.
From Billy’s actions it was so plain to be seen that Mr. Treat was speaking the truth when he claimed him for his property that the Circus man, whatever he might have planned to do before, did not have the face to question his word. At the same time he had no intention of surrendering Billy. As the boys were just as strongly of the opinion that they would not give up their favorite playmate, it looked for a time as though there would be a deadlock.
But the manager was very cute and he knew by long experience how to manage people both big and little. Had he not spent long years in learning how to amuse and please them?
He did not begin by calling Billy Whiskers a good-for-nothing old goat not worth his salt. No, he said that he was a fine animal, the most splendid specimen of goathood he had ever seen. This greatly pleased his owners for they thought the same way about Billy. Then Mr. Circusman went on to say how fond he already was of him and how kind he would be to him if he was his property. And so by easy stages he led up to the plan he had to propose.
He said that he had no idea that they would think of selling the goat and that he had no thought of trying to buy him, that he would almost as soon think of trying to buy little Dick himself, but that he hoped that they would consider allowing Billy to travel with him for the rest of the season. If they would agree to this Billy would not only be given the best care in every way, but that he would pay very handsomely for the use of him besides.
Mr. Treat asked his wife and the boys what they thought of the plan. While Mrs. Treat, who, you will remember, had always been a little suspicious of Billy, seemed quite willing to consider it and wanted to know what Mr. Circusman meant by “paying handsomely” for Billy, the boys took an altogether different view of the case.
Both Tom and Harry said that they did not want to part with Billy at any price even if it was not for keeps, while Dick set up a perfect ki-yi at the very thought.
“If I can once get the boys on my side it will be all right,” thought the manager. He turned to one of his men standing near and told him to go quick and bring the chestnut pony hitched to his wagonette, but he didn’t say what he wanted of this gay little turn-out. The man shortly returned and with him was the chestnut pony.
“Say, Dick, I’ll give you this pony, harness, wagon and all if you will let me take Billy Whiskers.”
Dick, however much he loved Billy, could not resist an offer like this. He had seen this very pony, harnessed as he now stood before him, in the parade earlier in the day, and he had thought at the time if he only owned a rig like that he would be the happiest boy in the world, but it never entered his head that by any possibility he might have this wish come true.
When the manager saw by Dick’s smiling face that he was all right with him, he turned to Tom and Harry and asked them what they wanted for their share of Billy Whiskers for the rest of the season.
Tom replied promptly that he wanted a gun and Harry said that he did too.
This rather startled Mr. Circusman for it did not seem to him that the boys were big enough to handle a gun safely and he expected that he was going to have trouble in fixing it up with them. He talked the matter over with Mr. Treat and soon found that he did not object to the guns.
It appeared that both boys were very fond of hunting already and had more than once been caught out with their father’s old muzzle-loading rifle, which was known to be dangerous. Being told not to do this and even punishments failed to put a stop to the practice. For this reason, doubtless, Mr. Treat welcomed this chance of getting guns of safest make and best fitted for the hunting small boys found in the woods near Cloverleaf Farm.
The manager of the Circus, therefore, gave Mr. Treat the money with which to buy two good guns, one for Tom and one for Harry, with a handsome sum beside which he said Mr. and Mrs. Treat were to use in getting themselves a remembrance of this day at the Circus.
After these arrangements had been made the saddest part of the whole business took place, namely, bidding Billy Whiskers good-bye. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Treat did this without much fuss. Tom and Harry were so excited about the guns which were to be bought before they started for home and were so anxious to get to the gun store that they came near overlooking the fact but for Billy there would have been no guns to buy. But when they remembered this they were really grateful and expressed their regret at parting from their old playfellow so feelingly that before they knew it all three of them were in tears.
“I’LL GIVE YOU THIS PONY, HARNESS AND WAGON IF
YOU’LL LET ME HAVE BILLY.”
By far the most touching good-bye was that of little Dick. He and Billy had been the greatest friends from the first. The big goat had drawn the red wagon with Dick aboard ever since the little chap was big enough to sit up. Never once had he run away with him or spilled him out. More than that, Billy Whiskers and Bob had saved Dick from drowning, as you remember, when he tumbled off the bank into the swimming hole down by the wood lot. So when Dick came to say farewell to Billy it seemed as though he could not let him go, and the manager was really afraid that Dick would back out of his bargain or, what was worse, that Billy Whiskers would refuse to stay behind his little master. But finally Mrs. Treat took matters in hand and soon effected a parting.
Tom, Dick and Harry climbed into the wagonette behind the beautiful chestnut pony, now Dick’s property, and drove away to the gun store where Mr. Treat promised to meet them and buy the new guns.
Billy Whiskers’ friends at Cloverleaf Farm were astonished that evening when the boys drove into the yard in their gay rig drawn by the beautiful pony. They looked in vain for Billy Whiskers.
“I’m going to see what this means at once,” said Abbie, the black cat, who, in spite of the fact that she had swelled her tail, hunched up her back and scolded when Billy had asked her about the Circus, was at heart very fond of him. She now displayed such gentle manners, purred so softly and asked questions in such a winning way that she soon had the whole story from the pony and lost no time in telling it.
The friends of Billy Whiskers held a meeting that same evening in which each one told of his very high esteem of him. Afterward resolutions of respect were unanimously passed by a standing vote.
They all acted as though they never expected to see Billy again. If this was their idea, they were never more mistaken in their lives.