Billy Whiskers at Home

by Frances Trego Montgomery

“I trotted along behind the wagon and talked to them, telling them to cease crying or they would make themselves sick, and that I would go along with them and see what I could do.

“When we were passing the mill, who should come out but Button. He followed too, and I explained the situation to him and told him to stay with the Twins and find out where the butcher took them; that as soon as he knew this, he was to hurry back here and tell you; that if someone did not go along with them and tell us where they had been taken, we never could find them in a big city like Milwaukee. While he was doing that, I would return to the farm for you and then we would all go and rescue the Twins from the butcher. Picking them up on the road the way he did was nothing less than stealing.”

“Come, let’s not stop to talk another minute,” said the Twins’ father, as he kissed his wife good-by and told her not to cry, assuring he would bring their darlings back with him when he came.

“I know, Billy Junior, but it is a butcher who has them, and he will probably try to kill them to-night so that in case anyone searches for them it will be impossible to find them, while if they were alive it would be comparatively easy to locate them.”

“Oh, mother, isn’t it awful to think of those darling babies being butchered? And they are all alone! I shall go crazy if they are not brought back,” wailed Daisy to Nannie after Stubby, Billy and Billy Junior had departed.

“I know, my dear, just how you feel,” answered Nannie, “but let us trust in God and wait. I feel sure Billy and their father will reach the Twins in time to rescue them. Probably while the butcher is eating his supper they will butt down the stable door and save them. Let us hope so, at any rate.”

While Daisy and Nannie were trying to cheer one another, the two goats and Stubby were running like mad down the road towards Milwaukee. The sun was setting when they saw a big cloud of dust in the distance, and at last who should they discover to be making it but Button! He had followed the butcher home and as soon as he had seen the Twins taken from the wagon and put in an open pen in the stable yard, he started back to tell the others where the Twins were. Button reported all this the moment they met on the road and he turned to hasten back to Milwaukee with them. When they arrived at the butcher’s home, they were glad to see that his house was on the outskirts of the city and quite detached from those of his neighbors. It was now dark, but through the lighted window they could see the butcher eating his supper.

“Now is our time,” said Billy. “I’ll just butt down a rail in this fence and make a place large enough for us to crawl through. Then I will do the same thing with the pen where the Twins are imprisoned. We will have them out of here and on the way home in a jiffy. Billy Junior, you stand at the foot of the kitchen steps and if the butcher starts to come outdoors, butt him hard enough to make him senseless so as to give us ample time to get away.”

Just then a dog came bounding out of the barn, but he soon wished he had stayed where he was for in a moment Stubby and Button both were on him. His howl brought the butcher to the kitchen door. Seeing two dogs (he supposed Button was a dog) he grabbed a mop that stood beside the door and ran to the dog’s rescue—but what was that which first struck him in the middle of the back and then chased him into the barn, where he received a butt that sent him up into the haymow?