"Now it would be a kindness to cheer Hans up a little bit and make him forget his misery," thought Billy. Lowering his head and backing off a little way, he gave a run and bumped Hans a good one which he felt he still owed him for the whipping of the morning. He struck harder than he knew, and Hans, a big part of his heavy body already lying far out over the rail, got such a boost that he lost his balance and went bumping down the side of the ship into the water.
"Man overboard!" shouted the first mate, who was up on the bridge, and immediately the ship was in great commotion. Sailors came tumbling up out of another stairway and Billy thought it was time for him to make himself scarce. He did not care to go back into the hold, so he ran in among the circus wagons and hid. The ship stopped and turned round. A small boat was hastily lowered and the sailors in it began rowing like mad to where Hans had gone down. Poor Hans did not know how to swim, but when a boy he had learned to float, and now, turning on his back, he kept his hands down to his sides and his face turned up. When the sailors got there with the row boat his fat round face was bobbing along above the little waves like a pumpkin in a pond.
"Ach, those dear mountains at home!" wept Hans, when they pulled him into the boat. "How I should wish I was back in Switzerland again. I said it that I wanted to die, but it iss not, aindt it? Thank you, gentlemens! Thank you!"
A little rope ladder was let down and Hans, all dripping, his clothes clinging around him and making him look like a wet balloon, climbed up on the deck.
"Where is that fire and brimstone goat?" he cried, having now had time to get over his fright and his seasickness enough to be angry. "When I find him I throw him in all the ocean what iss! Yes!"
Billy kept as still as he could, but one of the sailors saw his stubby tail and pointed him out. Then the chase began. Billy dashed around and around the deck with Hans and the sailors close after him, and at last, when they were almost upon him, he came to the open door of the hold. Seeing no other way to escape, he was about to dash down this and had already placed his forefeet on the topmost stair, when he saw two great greenish-yellow eyes close to him, staring up at him out of the dimness. One of the tigers had broken loose from his cage and had come slinking up the stairs, and Billy stood face to face with him!
CHAPTER VIII
AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER
illy felt his heart beat hard and fast, and for a moment his knees trembled under him. He backed slowly up to the solid deck and the great flaming eyes slowly crept up after him. Billy still backed away. The men who had been chasing him were now very close, but one of them saw the tiger's head coming up on the deck, and he yelled to the others, who immediately pressed back. As soon as he felt the firm deck floor under him and could see the animal's head as well as his eyes, Billy felt his courage coming back to him. He knew that he had to stand and fight. He felt that he could never run fast enough to get away from this powerful animal, and that before he could even turn and start to run the tiger would be upon him.