He could not hear a word of what they said, but he called it silly because he was so cross at them for not going to bed. And as they talked, a big black wharf rat sneaked up behind them and began to help himself to the meat on the plate. It was too much for the hungry Button to lie there and see his supper or what he considered his, eaten up before his eyes by a nasty old rat. Forgetting that he might be caught by the sailors, he sneaked off the pile of hops and crept to within jumping distance of the rat. Then with one long flying leap, he landed on the rat’s back and buried his teeth in his neck and his claws in his sides. It was a powerful rat, as I said before, and gave fight. Soon the two of them were rolling around on the deck, with first one on top and then the other. The scuffle they made added to the squeal of the rat brought all the sailors to their feet and there they stood watching the fight and wondering where the big black cat came from.
All of a sudden the rat let go of Button’s ear and buried its teeth in his neck, causing the blood to flow freely. On seeing this Stubby forgot all caution and came running to Button’s assistance.
“Holy Moses! And where did this dog come from?” asked the Captain. “He must have dropped from the sky.”
Stubby tried to grab the rat by the back of its neck as it clung to Button’s throat, but he could not as they kept rolling over and over each other so that first one was on top and then the other. At last in trying to stoop and get a grip he turned his broken leg the wrong way and the pain was so intense that he fainted dead away and the sailors thought he was dead. So did Duke, who was watching the struggle from the top of the hop pile with Billy. When they saw Stubby roll over and stretch out they both bounded off the hops and appeared on the scene.
“Jumping Jupiter! What have we here? A menagerie?” exclaimed the Captain. The sailors all stared at Duke and Billy as if an elephant had appeared in their midst, while from the other end of the boat came the yellow cat and Mouser. And still the fight went on, with the Captain, three sailors, two cats, one dog and a goat watching, all having formed a ring around the fighters.
Billy saw that Button was growing weak from loss of blood and though he did not wish to interfere in Button’s fight, still he felt it best under the circumstances to do so. So he watched his chance and ran one long horn right through the rat, killing him instantly. Then with the rat still sticking to his horns, he walked to the side of the boat and scraped it off, and it fell into the water.
This was such a smart thing for a goat to do that the Captain clapped his hands and cried, “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” in which all the sailors joined him. Their clapping and cheering brought the Captain’s wife on deck to see what all the commotion was about, and when she saw the strange animals on board, she said,
“When did you buy this menagerie? I never laid eyes on them before.”
“Nor any of us,” answered the Captain, “until two or three minutes ago,” and he related to her what had taken place.