Every man of them jumped as if shot.
“This of course was my undoing. One of the staff dropped on one knee to look under the davenport. The General jerked his head back through the window, and heard the staff officer exclaim in a loud voice, ‘Only a measley, sneaking little poodle dog!’ and with that he stuck his sword under the davenport to prod me out. It would have cut my leg off, or run right through me, I am sure, but just then the cook opened the door to come in to remove the dishes and I jumped over the sword and ran between the legs of the staff officer who was standing between the davenport and the door, and simply flew back here.
“When I got outside I did sneak around under the window, and heard them all laughing over the fact that a little dog’s sneeze had given them such a fright. The General said ‘Better be on the right side than on the wrong, and many a warning as small as a sneeze gone unheeded has cost many lives. I would rather be too careful than not careful enough,’ You see they all thought I was a spy hidden in the room somewhere. Then I heard the cook say, ‘General, has the Regiment still got the big white goat they used to have as a mascot?’
“‘No, I am sorry to say he has been missing since a week ago to-day, and we cannot get any trace of him. One of our ambulance drivers saw him on the road to Paris, and tried to catch him, but he could not. He nearly had him when a friend fell off a bridge into a creek, and would have drowned had he not left the goat and gone to his assistance. I would not have lost that goat for a thousand dollars. He knows more than most men.’
“‘Well, General, you have lost your thousand dollars. I know where your goat is at this minute.’
“‘You do? Well, produce him and the money is yours. You know Billy is like the proverbial flea. Now you have him and now you don’t. If you will show me that goat now, we’ll have him in my office at camp headquarters to-morrow. I’ll give you a check for one thousand dollars, too.’
“‘I’ll do it for you gladly, General, as you have done me many a good turn, but I cannot accept your money. And now if you will step to the door, I will show you Billy, the Mascot of the Regiment, quietly eating out of a trough at the back kitchen door.’
“The General and his staff picked up their caps and swords and followed the cook around the house to the dogs’ trough, but as you know, no goat was there.
“The General had to laugh at the blank look on the cook’s face when he turned the corner of the hospital and saw that the goat and all his dogs too had disappeared as completely as if swallowed up by an earthquake.
“‘Well, that beats everything I ever saw! He was here a few minutes ago. In fact, just when you drove in eight or ten of our dogs with Billy in their midst were all standing here eating and now not an animal is in sight anywhere. It beats all! I can’t explain it!’