Billy Whiskers in France

by Frances Trego Montgomery

“Well, well, well! Where did you all come from, I should like to know? And if here isn’t another Red Cross dog! But no, I am mistaken. You are a cat, but a cat with a regimental tag around your neck. Come here, little dog, and let me read what your tag says,” but when Stubby got up and tried to limp to him, the farmer saw that his leg was hurt, so he went to him and taking him in his arms, he felt of the injured leg and found it had been broken. As he had set many broken legs for dogs, he knew what to do for Stubby and he said, “You two follow me. I am going to take this little dog to my office and rub his leg with some strengthening liniment I have which will make it heal quicker. And I am also going to give him a tonic to brace him up for I see he is very thin and weak.”

Stubby licked the farmer’s hand to show how he appreciated all this kindness.

When they reached the office, the farmer put his glasses on and read the tags on all their necks, and when he got through he called to his wife to come quickly, that he had made a wonderful discovery. “Just you read that, wife,” he said, after he had read Stubby’s tag once again. “This cat and dog are the long lost and much advertised mascots of two American regiments, which are offering large sums for their recovery. Bless me but this is lucky! For I was just needing some extra money to repair the roof of the house and to fix up the place.”

“And I too. I need a new dress and bonnet badly,” said his wife.

“We’ll just fix them comfortably here in the office for to-night, so there will be no danger of them getting away while I am making arrangements for returning them to their own regiments and collecting the reward money. A thousand dollars for each! To think that that cat is the celebrated black cat from the Black Cat Regiment, and the dog the yellow dog from the regiment called after him, the Yellow Dog Regiment!”

The two dogs and Button looked at one another and either winked or rolled their eyes to let the others know that they were in a pretty fix and in danger of being carried back to the army. Then they all thought of Billy waiting on the outskirts of the town for them to come.

“One thing,” thought Button, “he won’t wait long. If we don’t come along on the third day, he will come back to look for us for he will know that trouble has detained us. A day’s rest here with the excellent care the farmer is going to give Stubby and plenty of good food for us all will help us along on our journey more than anything else would, as we are all run down, first from our hard work in the front and then from our wounds.”

Presently the farmer and his wife had them all fixed comfortably for the night, with Stubby on a nice soft sofa, and Duke and Button on old shawls and blankets in one of the corners of the room, and a dish of water for them to drink should they grow thirsty. As soon as the farmer and his wife left them alone they talked over their predicament, but all agreed it was for the best and soon they all fell asleep.

For two days they stayed with the farmer and each morning and evening he rubbed Stubby’s leg and gave him a tonic. He fed Duke and Button up fine too until they were so fat they could scarcely run. All day long all they did was to eat and sleep, “getting in condition to travel fast,” said Button.

The third day the farmer became very much excited when he read the mail for in it were two letters for him from the colonels of the regiments of which Stubby and Button were the mascots. They stated that they would give the reward to the person who delivered the dog and cat to them unhurt and in perfect health.