CHAPTER III
AN EXCITING EVENING
The first dog called upon to lecture was an Eskimo dog with bright,snappy eyes, short, sharply pointed ears, strong legs and a bushy tailthat gave him the appearance of a wolf, especially as his coat wasjust the color of that animal. And what more natural, as the Eskimodog is the direct descendant of the timber wolf of the North? Andthough they may appear docile at times, still they always retain thathalf wild, ferocious look and manner.
He was a handsome, alert dog and spoke in quick, short sentences andto the point. He began by saying:
"I expect that none of you are familiar with the far North, where itis day six months of the year and night the other six. But though thesun does not shine, don't think for a moment that we live in pitchdarkness, for the stars and the Northern Lights make our nights mostbeautiful. In fact, they are more beautiful and varied than our days.Instead of the blazing rays of the sun that blind one, we have theever varied, many colored rays of the Aurora Borealis, shooting starsand electrical displays of all kinds that far surpass even your mostelaborate Fourth of July celebrations.
"One moment the sky will be a sea-shell pink, with bars of vividgreen, lavender and purple playing across it, while in the center willbe a misty golden ball as if the sun was trying to shine through. Thenext instant all may be pitch darkness until this too is chased awayby another electrical outburst. These go on constantly for the wholesix months until they become so common an occurrence that theinhabitants pay no more attention to those magnificent displays thanyou do to your sun on a summer day.
"Picture to yourself this wonderful sky, against which huge icebergsare seen, taller than your tallest church steeple, and more beautifulto look upon with their lacelike frostwork than your most elaboratelycarved white marble cathedral. All of this is reflected in detail inthe clear, cold, deep green waters of the Arctic Ocean, where the bigwalruses, whales and seals live, to say nothing of the clumsy whitepolar bears that sit idly on a cake of ice waiting for an unwary fishto swim by so he may catch it and make a breakfast on it.
"In round-topped, oven-like mounds made of ice and snow live ourmasters, the Eskimos. They live on whale oil, blubber, fish and themeat of the musk ox, bear and other animals that inhabit the farNorth. You dogs and cats who live so far from us in a country wherethere are noisy cities cannot imagine the silence of a citylesscountry or a land where the only sounds are the crunching of oneiceberg against another or the roar and thunder of a glacier as itfalls to pieces when melted by the sun. This world of ours seems likea dead world when compared to yours, but underneath this eternalcovering of snow, down deep in the green water of the ocean aremyriads of living, moving creatures as lively as any in your moresultry climate.
"But I see I am taking up too much time, so will stop and extend aninvitation to one and all of you to come and visit my Land of theMidnight Sun, and see for yourselves how things look and how we live.I thank you for your courtesy in listening to my stupid speech," andbowing low his head he left the platform.
His speech was followed by loud barks and meows and a great scratchingof claws upon the bare floor.
At last it was Billy's turn to go on the platform. He had just beenintroduced to the large audience and had started to speak in theold-fashioned way by saying, "Friends and fellow countrymen!" whenthere was a terrific explosion and the window panes were blown in orshattered, while through the open windows could be seen vivid red andyellow lights and columns of black smoke. Every heart in that largeassembly stood still for a moment, then one and all started for theexit.
"Some one is trying to blow up the docks. We better get out of herebefore this building goes up in smoke," said Billy. "All sticktogether, though. If we do become separated, come to our back yard."
Bing! Bang! Bang! and the walls of the building they were in began totumble around them and the floor crashed in, falling on those thatwere in the cellar. As it happened, our friends had not been near theexit, so were not among the first to get out. This probably savedtheir lives as it kept them from being among those in the cellar whenthe floor fell.
"I say we take our chance and jump from one of the windows," saidBilly, "before the whole building falls in on us or it blows up."
It was a long way to the ground, but the cats and dogs jumped down onthe heads of the crowd that had gathered, and this broke their fall.Being very large, Billy could not do this so he ran to another windowand leaped down on a high pile of baled stuff which was nice and softon which to alight.
When they were all safely on the ground they made for the back yard ofthe chop-house as fast as their legs would carry them. But somehowthey became separated from the bulldog and Tiger, so lost their wayand never again were they able to find the old uncle of the sailor.
They wandered around for the rest of the night looking for a place tosleep, but they were careful to keep close together so they would notlose each other.
About daylight they found themselves on the bank of the Hudson Riveropposite a dock where lay a big pleasure boat. No one was astir on it,so they cautiously crept on board, thinking to get a free ride up theriver. This would give them a lift on their journey north. All threefound good places to hide in different parts of the boat, and they laydown and fell asleep for they were both tired and sleepy after all theexcitement they had been through.
Billy was awakened by the scrubbing of the decks over his head.
"I can't see why the captains of boats always insist on scrubbingdecks so early in the morning. I guess it is just because they areafraid the sailors will get fat unless they keep them working fromsun-up to sun-down. I smell bacon cooking, and I just love it, thoughI am a goat. I can't get to sleep now that I have once been wakened,so I think I will go and see if I cannot get some of it to eat."
Billy crept to the head of the stairs that led down into that part ofthe boat where the kitchen was located, but just as he was about toventure down, he saw a sailor coming up. He dodged out on deck, andran toward the prow of the boat. Here he spied another flight ofstairs going down into the boat he knew not where. But what cared he?He would go down and see. They led down into the dining saloon and atthe further end he could see a swinging door through which came thesmell of frying bacon.
"I know the kitchen must be behind those doors. I'll just stick mynose against one of them and peek in."
Billy was just about to push one of the doors open when bang! came oneof them against his head with such force that it knocked him over. Italso rebounded with such force that it knocked over a sailor who wascarrying a tray of glass tumblers to set on the table. Over went theman, rolling over and over amidst the broken glass and rattling tintray.
Of course all this racket brought the cook and all the other deckhands who heard it. The cook still carried the frying pan in his hand,being too much surprised to set it down when he heard the noise. Theman with mop and pail who had been scrubbing the deck came and alsotwo or three other deck hands. There they all stood, staring with openmouths and bulging eyes at Billy, who had risen to his forefeet andstood surveying the wreck he had made. He still felt a little dazedbut came to his senses in a hurry when he saw the man with the pailand mop raise the mop to come after him. Before the fellow had takentwo steps, Billy had risen to his hind feet, gave a spring and buttedhim straight into his pail, where he stuck fast and could not get upwithout the pail sticking to him. Then Billy whirled and hooked thepan of bacon out of the cook's hands, which sent it flying out theopen window onto the deck. Then he turned and started for the othertwo men who were standing there, but they had seen enough anddisappeared while there was yet time. Seeing the coast was clear,Billy wheeled around and ran out on deck, where he saw Stubby andButton eating up the bacon that had spilled out of the frying pan asit went through the window.
"Leave me a slice of that bacon and then run, for we shall have to getoff this boat in double quick time if we expect to save _our_ bacon,"said Billy, thinking the slang expression very fitting indeed.
/> "Why, what is up?" asked Stubby.
"Didn't you hear a racket going on in there?"
"No. We just came down from the upper deck."
"Well, take my word for it and vanish before you are hit with a clubor thrown overboard. I'll be with you as soon as I lick up thisgrease. Since you have eaten all the bacon I had so much trouble toget, I am not going to lose this grease anyway."
Splash bang! came water, bucket and all down on Billy's head. Quick aslightning, Billy jumped through the window through which it had come,and found himself standing face to face with the cook, who had themost astonished expression on his face you ever saw when he beheldBilly coming through the high, small window.
Billy stood on his hind legs and knocked the jaunty little whitecook's cap off the man's head with one of his fore legs before thecook could defend himself or turn to run. They were in very closequarters as a ship's kitchen is not the largest room in the world. Atlast the cook got up enough courage to strike out at Billy. Heintended to hit the goat in the stomach as he stood towering beforehim, but alas! his knuckles hardly touched Billy's stomach when hefound himself flying backwards across the long, narrow room, outthrough the opposite door and hit the railing of the boat so hard itbroke and let him fall splash into the water.
On perceiving this, Billy turned and ran off the boat, and soon foundStubby and Button, who were waiting for him. When they had gotten farenough away for safety, they stopped under a large shade tree and hada good laugh at Billy's recital of how he butted the cook overboard.
"It will do him good," said Button. "I bet it will be the first bathhe has had in weeks."
"Bet so too," agreed Stubby.
"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Billy. "That bacon has mademe more hungry than ever. The salt in it has just whetted myappetite."
"Mine too," said Stubby. "I feel as if I could drink the river dry, Iam so thirsty."
"Say we trot along this drive that runs by the river until we come tosome house that has a yard around it, where we can hide until we havea chance to sneak into the house or stable to see what we can find toeat," proposed Button.
They had to travel several miles to find such a place for they werestill in the suburbs of New York City and not far enough out for thesummer homes with their beautiful grounds. Once they passed aroadhouse where they got a drink out of a watering trough for animalsand stole a few mouthfuls of food from some baskets a greengrocer hadleft outside the kitchen door. Button and Stubby stole only meat andwent running off, Button with a big lamb chop between his teeth andStubby with a huge steak, while Billy contented himself with a head oflettuce. They were just rounding a bend of the road when they heard anexcited Frenchman calling to them. Turning to look, they saw theFrench cook wildly waving his arms at them and calling to them tobring back his things. But they only kicked up their heels at him anddisappeared from his view around the bend in the road.
"Gee!" exclaimed Stubby, "this steak is the best thing I have had toeat in a fat goose's age."
"Yum! Yum!" replied Button. "It can't beat this chop for tendernessand juiciness."
"Nor my head lettuce. It is as sweet as sugar and as cold as ice. Ijust dote on cold, crisp lettuce. The colder and more crisp, thebetter. But I am afraid that cook will have an apoplectic fit if heisn't careful, the way he was waving his arms and carrying on.Excitement such as that is very bad for a fat old cook of forty."
"Hark! I hear an auto coming from the roadhouse. We better get backfarther in the bushes and hide until it passes. They might be afterus," said Stubby.
But they were not pursuers, but only two young fellows chatting andlaughing over the dismay of the cook, for he had called to them thatif they saw a big goat, small dog and black cat to run over them andkill them dead, dead, dead!