Billy Whiskers, Jr.

by Frances Trego Montgomery

They did not know then that the big buzzard’s neck was broken.

They were now so near the ranch, it began to look as though some of the boys would fail to find anything to lasso, and they had agreed that those who had not succeeded in getting anything by the time they reached the ranch should clean and cook whatever had been caught.

“Well, I’ll be switched if I’ll do that,” said a great, tall cow-boy. “I’ll find something or die.”

As he said this, his eyes detected a gray something sneaking away behind some rocks, so he gave chase, not knowing what it was going to be. When this gray object heard his pony’s hoofs on the stone, it got frightened and left its hiding place behind a great boulder and took to its heels. Whizz! went the lasso, but instead of catching the wolf, for that is what it was, it coiled around the boulder, and the wolf had several leaps and strides the advantage. His failure to catch the wolf the first time, only made the cow-boy the more determined to have it at all costs in the end, and then the chase began: Over the rocks, round clumps of cacti, across ditches, the cow-boy steadily gaining, until with one long, mighty sweep of his arm the lasso stretched out and fell over the gray wolf’s head and he was captured.

Then like Billy, he was made to trot along behind the cow-boy’s pony until they came into the corral at the ranch. Once there, the cow-boys threw their saddles and bridles up on pegs in the stable and turned their ponies loose in the corral with a bunch of alfalfa to feed on. And now for the fun of seeing the boys, who failed to lasso anything, clean and cook the pig and goat. A coin was tossed to see which should be killed first. The head stood for the goat and the tail for the pig. The coin was flipped and up came tail so it was poor piggy’s fate to be killed first.

While two of the boys went to get a big iron kettle to boil water to scald him with, so they could scrape the bristles off, the others thought they would have some fun teasing Billy, but little did they suspect that their goat was the same goat they had seen that afternoon at the Bull-fight, clear the entire ring of horses, riders and toreadors, or they would not have been so anxious to tease him.

Billy bleated to Stubby to stay near him as he was going to watch his chance to jump the wall of the corral and make his escape before they had time to kill him and cut him up into goat chops.

“I am going to appear very gentle until they take this lasso off my neck and then we will see ‘Who is who and what is what.’”

Stubby barked back “All right, I will watch you and if you get into a fight, I will help you by biting the legs of whoever bothers you.”

“Say, Sam, that is too nice a looking goat to cut up into chops. I say we keep him and turn him loose with our goats on the range. Come here Mr. Billy and I will take the lasso off your neck.” He walked up to Billy and slipped the lasso off, giving his whiskers a parting pull. That settled it. Billy’s docility disappeared in a minute and before the cow-boy had taken a step he felt something sticking into him as if he had sat down on two darning needles and these needles were pushing farther and farther into him and urging him along at a fast trot until he felt a sudden boost and he found himself sitting on top of the corral wall, while the black goat landed on the other side followed by a little stubby-tailed yellow dog and both disappeared down a deep ravine and were lost sight of, and what is more, no one followed them or tried to bring them back.