Billy Whiskers at the Circus

by Frances Trego Montgomery

“I must get out of here now as quick as ever I can for they will be back in a few minutes. 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.

He stopped to talk with a number of them, but their stories were all more or less like those of the wolf and the lion. Every one of them told Billy that he would be glad to exchange places with him, and not a few warned him to take care and on no account let any of the keepers capture him. Whatever else you do, they all agreed, keep out of this show for it’s slavery of the very worst kind.

The royal Bengal tiger, who told Billy that his home was in the jungles of India, made him feel more thankful than any of the others that he was free and could go and come when and where he pleased. The things which the tiger said were something awful, and the savage way he said them made his listener tremble from head to foot. He felt a special spite, it seemed, against a keeper named Mike, whom he said he would eat alive without a grain of salt if ever he got hold of him.

Billy was sure from the name that this Mike was one of the two men who had come so near finding him, and he was more glad than before that he had escaped when he learned what a cruel master he was.

It would be very interesting to describe all the animals Billy Whiskers saw and tell their stories, but it would take too long and doubtless the readers of Billy Whiskers’ life and adventures know about them already. If not, they can all be found in the Natural History books in the library.

The bears, probably, interested Billy as much, if not more, than any of the rest. They were very good-natured, especially the young ones, and seemed very glad to make his acquaintance.

Billy, who by this time was beginning to be very hungry indeed, told them how hollow he was, and they said that they would soon fix him up all right. With that Teddy B. and Teddy G. both began to push good things to eat through the bars of their cage that fell to the ground where Billy could get at them. There were apples, cakes, peanuts and other rich food which people had thrown to the bears in great abundance.

The crowd of on-lookers when they saw the Teddy Bears feeding the goat thought it a great joke and laughed at the comical sight. Billy could hear them saying that they guessed that he was the same goat the big elephant had put on his back; others were telling their friends how he had jumped at the fat lady, and then someone said that he believed that his name must be Billy Whiskers for he had heard a couple of fine-looking boys inquiring for a runaway goat by that name. And so it came to pass that many people were beginning to talk about him, and he felt that he already had good friends in the crowd.

While it made him proud to hear his little masters called fine-looking, for he never doubted but that the two boys searching for him were Tom and Harry Treat, at the same time it put him on his guard, for after going through so much to see the Circus, he didn’t propose to be stopped yet awhile.