CHAPTER X
THE KIDNAPPERS FOILED
AFTER his friends from Cloverleaf Farm left him, Billy Whiskers lay down to rest and think matters over. The monkeys, who had been keeping a sharp eye on him all the time, formed in a ring around him. They had no idea of letting the friend who had opened the door of their cage, and whom they had chosen their leader on the spot get away from them now.
When it looked as though the Treat family might take him back to Cloverleaf Farm, they had quickly decided among themselves that if he went they would go too. This, of course, would have led to no end of trouble and confusion. Just imagine what would have happened if Billy had returned with such a drab following as that.
At first Billy Whiskers thought that he never could go to sleep with the monkeys all about him. He was not used to them yet and still thought that they were the ugliest looking creatures in the world. He didn’t want to hurt their feelings by asking them to go away and give him a little peace. It would never do to offend them now, he thought, so he just shut his eyes, and as he had a great deal to think over, soon forgot all about them.
“Well, this certainly has been a great day, so far,” said Billy to himself. It seemed a very long time since he had stolen away from home in the early morning, and he ran over quickly in his mind the events that finally culminated in his unexpectedly finding himself at the head of a troupe of amazing acrobatic performers, taking a leading part in the performance of one of the greatest shows on earth.
“And where am I now?” went on Billy, still talking to himself. “I hardly know yet. The manager evidently thinks because he gave Dick that pony and treated the rest of the family so handsomely that I am his property for the rest of the summer. May be I am and may be I am not. It all depends how I am served and whether or no I like the business on better acquaintance with it. I’ll try it for awhile at any rate. It looks to me now as though I might have a lot of fun out of it. I have been living pretty quietly at Cloverleaf for a long time, and I suspect that I am getting rusty and beginning to look more or less like a farmer. I’m too young for that yet awhile.
“This position will give me a chance to see no end of new places. I can get well acquainted with all the animals, and perhaps I can do something to make their lives pleasanter—I will if I can, but I must be careful never to go as close to any of their cages as I did to the monkeys’ this afternoon. What if it had been the lion’s cage instead, there would be no Billy Whiskers here now.”
The very thought of it made him tremble all over.
“And then there is the big elephant. I wonder what he thinks of me now. I hope he saw me in the ring and knows that I really do amount to something. If not, he must suppose I am a dunce for having thought his trunk a hitching strap,” and Billy giggled to himself again at the very remembrance of that mistake.
With pleasant thoughts and plans like these Billy Whiskers finally fell asleep.
It did not seem to him that he had much more than closed his eyes when he was aroused by one of the keepers who said to his helper that it was time to prepare the big goat for the evening performance, that the manager had said that he was to be given a bath.
At first Billy was far from pleased at being disturbed. He was still sleepy, and he felt that about the last thing he wanted then was a bath.
Just at that moment he happened to glance at his right side and saw how gray with dust he was. He knew too by past experiences how much good a bath would do him. It was worth more than a night’s rest, he had often said. More than that, Billy was very proud of his appearance, as we all know, and he now felt not a little ashamed that he had been seen in the ring in the afternoon in such an unkempt condition.
“If they call me handsome with all this dirt on me, what will they think when I am spick and span?”
So Billy decided to make no trouble, but to submit to the bath without a rumpus.
It was lucky he did for otherwise he would have been kidnapped and there is no telling what might have become of him.
This is the way that it happened. Billy thought that the voice of the man who awakened him sounded familiar but he couldn’t remember at the time where he had heard it before. When his helper called him Mike he knew in a minute when and where. This was the very same man who had been looking for him when he was hiding in the big pine box after creating such a disturbance by jumping off Jumbo’s back onto the freaks’ platform.
Not thinking that Billy Whiskers knew enough to understand what they were saying, they talked freely and made their plans while his bath was in progress.
“You were right, Mike, in thinking this big goat a very valuable piece of property,” said Jim, for that was the helper’s name. “I only wish we had found him.”
“Yes, if we had, and could have hidden him away for a day or two, we could have sold him to the manager for a big pile of money.”
“Just think of the fun we would have had with three or four hundred dollars apiece! That pony with his gold-plated harness and the dandy wagon that the old man gave the little fellow must have cost all of that, to say nothing of the price of the two guns and the wad of money for the owner and his wife. It’s a sorry day for us when we let this goat slip through our fingers. It almost seems as though he was our property now.”
Mike thought hard for several minutes before answering. A wicked scheme was shaping itself in his mind.
“You are right, Jim, he is our property, and if you will help me, we’ll have him yet. I’ve thought it all out. It is plain to be seen that the old man, as you call the manager, expects you and me to take care of his nibs here and that will give us just the chance we need. We won’t lose any time about it either, for it will be easier to get away with him now than later.
“Tonight, when we come to load up, instead of putting Billy Whiskers in a car, we’ll nail him up in a box and leave him on the station platform. You and I will stay behind with him. As soon as the train pulls out, we’ll take him and start in the other direction. Later on we can decide what is best to do. Either we can start a show of our own with Billy Whiskers as the main attraction, or we can take him to Ringling Brothers and get our own price for him.”
“All right,” said Jim, “I’m with you. It looks good to me. We are both of us sick of this old show anyway. 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.”
“Just look at him now! He is a beauty. I wouldn’t believe that soap and water could make such a change in him.”
“Yes, and wait until I have combed out his hair and beard and polished his horns,” said the now enthusiastic Jim. “Ringlings will give a thousand dollars for this goat, or I miss my guess.”
As Mike and Jim now felt that every good point and new beauty they found in Billy Whiskers meant just so much more money in their pockets, you can well see why they took so much trouble to make him look his best.
In the meanwhile Billy Whiskers was considering the new danger that now confronted him. For several very good reasons he had no intentions of letting Mike and Jim get away with him.
To begin with, he didn’t like either of them. More than that, the Circus manager had paid his friends of Cloverleaf Farm a handsome sum for allowing Billy to stay with him, and finally, he felt sure of rich food, kind treatment, constant excitement, growing fame and a return to his old home at the end of the season. To be sure, on the other hand, the association with the monkeys was not much to his liking, but as they felt very grateful to him and were evidently kindly disposed, Billy knew that he had the upper hands of them and he felt that as long as that situation lasted he could stand it.
“I’ll do this,” decided Billy. “When it comes time to go, I will make these monkeys insist that I ride with them in their cage. In the meantime I will tell them all about the danger that threatens me and fix it up with them that when Mike and Jim try to get me away they are all to pitch on to that precious pair of thieves and give them a lesson that they will not soon forget.”
Billy laughed softly to himself as he thought of the trouble he had cooked for his enemies.
There was an hour or more before it came time for Billy and his band to repeat the performance of the afternoon. He improved it by telling Colonel Blue Nose Mandrill and the rest of the scheme that had been hatched to kidnap him, and you can easily believe that he had no trouble in getting the monkeys to agree to his plan to thwart it. In fact, Billy had to specially caution them not to go too far. Colonel Mandrill said right away that he would fix at least one of them so that he would never try to steal one of his friends again, while the rest declared that they would see to it that the other did not escape. They all looked so fierce that Billy thought once more of old Mr. Coon’s horror of monkeys, and remembered how he felt when old Blue Nose had him by the neck and beard and threatened to pull him into his cage even if he was smashed into a pulp in the process.
“Don’t kill them,” said Billy, in a hurry. “But you may scare them out of their wits. They deserve it.”
“I’ll see how I feel at the time,” muttered Colonel Mandrill, and Billy couldn’t get any more of a promise out of him than that. All the rest, however, promised not to go too far.
By this time the moment had arrived for Billy and the monkeys to go into the ring.
People who had been present in the afternoon had spread the news of the astonishing last act. Many of them had returned to see it a second time, and there was a vast crowd all told, very many of whom were interested chiefly in it. Under such circumstances, it is needless to say that the appearance of the goat and his monkeys was greeted by deafening bursts of applause.
Billy, after his bath, both looked and felt fine. The monkeys, too, were rested and glad of an opportunity to repeat, with variations, the feats of the afternoon.
The manager, who had been feeling very nervous for fear that his new performers could not be depended upon, was vastly relieved at the way the act started off, and his smiling face soon told how pleased he was to find that his fears were groundless.
At the end of fifteen minutes, out came Billy on the back of the big black charger followed by his weary and panting but none the less happy band. 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 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.” No wonder he was pleased.
Soon all was noise, bustle and confusion. The time had come to pack up and get aboard the train preparatory to going to the next city.
The question where and with whom Billy Whiskers was to ride soon came up for settlement. As he had expected, Mike and Jim were told to take care of him and see to it that he had the best of everything.
“We’ll put him in a big box by himself for tonight,” proposed Mike, “and after this a place can be fixed for him in the car with the Shetland ponies.”
“All right,” returned the manager, “but take care that he goes through in good shape. I wouldn’t take ten thousand dollars for that goat right now. He’ll be worth ten times that money to this show before the end of the season.”
Billy, who was keenly watching, saw Mike wink at Jim when this was said. It made him anxious for he knew it would make them more determined to steal him than ever. During the excitement of the performance, he had forgotten all about their scheme, but now it came back to him in a hurry and he wondered if he had been wise in trusting his personal safety altogether to Colonel Mandrill and his family.
“Well, it’s too late now to make any new plans,” thought Billy. “If the monkeys can’t save me, I’m lost to this show. But if Mike and Jim think that they can do as they please with me, even if they succeed in boxing me up and leaving me on the depot platform, they are mightily mistaken. I’ll show them a thing or two that they don’t seem to know. For a penny, I’d start in right now. It seems just as though it would feel good and rest my head to butt into big Mike.” But he thought better of it and resolved to wait.
By this time the monkeys’ big cage was standing ready for them to get into it, but not one of them showed any disposition to take the hint. Mike and Jim, who were given charge of them also, coaxed and coaxed in vain. Finally one of them caught Tittlebat Titmouse—that was the big name of the smallest monkey—and put him inside though he resisted with all his tiny might. But he wouldn’t stay put. Out he popped as soon as the hand that held him let him go.
Finally Billy Whiskers jumped in and all the rest followed.
This delay made the monkey cage the last of all to get started. There was need to hurry. So Mike and Jim decided that they would put off boxing Billy up until they reached the station. They felt sure that there would be a chance in the darkness and confusion that there always was when loading the cars. The box they planned to put him in was carried to the train on the top of the big cage. Jim drove to the darkest and most out-of-the-way place he could that they might the less likely be interrupted in carrying out their wicked scheme.
Pretty soon after the wagon came to a halt, Mike appeared at the door of the cage. At first he called Billy Whiskers softly, and seemed greatly pleased to find him laying right by the cage door.
“It makes it just as easy as can be,” Billy heard him say. “You open the door, Jim, and I will yank him out. Shut and lock it as quick as ever you can and then help me, for I may need it.”
“You may indeed,” thought Billy. He could just make out to see that his friends, the monkeys, were wide awake and ready to do the parts agreed upon.
The bolt was softly withdrawn and the cage door swung noiselessly open. Mike’s great arm followed by his head and shoulders were thrust inside the cage. Billy felt himself firmly grasped about the waist and in another second he would have been dragged out and on the ground, but just in the nick of season the long thin arm of Colonel Mandrill shot out once more, but this time it grasped not Billy Whiskers but the neck of Mike, the keeper. We already know from Billy Whiskers’ former experience the terrible strength of old Blue Nose’s right arm. Mike was learning it now. He let go Billy and pulled and tore at the thing that was tightening about his throat. He would have called to Jim but could make no sound. He tried to pull away but all in vain.
Jim, of course, very soon discovered that there was something wrong. He crowded in by the side of Mike to find out what it might be. Quicker than it takes to tell it, a dozen lean arms, big and little, had grabbed him wherever they could lay hold, and in two seconds he was as helpless as Mike.
Billy did not try to interfere for a minute or two. Then he took matters in hand. He commanded Colonel Blue Nose to let go, but he did not obey. He ordered the other monkeys to drop Jim, but they followed old Blue Nose’s bad example.
Billy was now frightened for the lives of the two men. He didn’t want to be responsible for their deaths in such a dreadful way. He reminded the monkeys that they had chosen him their leader and once more ordered them to give over their prey. At this Colonel Mandrill reluctantly obeyed and Mike dropped limp and insensible at the side of the cage. The others followed the example of old Blue Nose and Jim fell by the side of his pal in no better condition.
Billy and the monkeys might now have made their escape. They even spoke of it, but all were of the opinion that they were being treated too well at the time and the prospects of fun were too good to think of taking such a step just then. They agreed among themselves that they might consider the subject later on if things did not go to suit them.
Presently Mike began to collect his scattered senses. They laughed in the cage when they heard him grunting and groaning.
Just then he evidently touched Jim who was also coming to, for they heard them whispering together. It would seem that they were both thanking their lucky stars that they had escaped with their lives.
“We’ll have to give it up,” 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 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.