CHAPTER VI
BILLY WHISKERS MAKES TROUBLE AT SCHOOL
The next morning Mr. Noland took Stubby away out into the country withhim in his auto, and Nellie carried Button over to her friend's toshow her the big, fine cat she had found out on the rocks.Consequently Billy was left alone to amuse himself as best he could.
He wandered around for a while and at last went down to the lake andtook a swim, coming out as clean and white as a fresh bale of cotton.Then not knowing what to do with himself, he decided to go up into thetown and see how it looked to him. Not being a very large town, he hadno difficulty in locating the main street and then the largest church,the movie theater and the schoolhouse. As he walked down the street,he stopped to help himself to a peach here and a plum there at thedifferent fruit stands, as well as to several bunches of asparagus anda peck or two of green peas that he saw in baskets outside the grocerystores.
When he reached the schoolhouse he found it was recess time and allthe children were out in the yard playing tag, leap frog,crack-the-whip and such games as children always play at school. Billystood watching them for some time and as they seemed to be having suchgreat fun, he thought he would go in and join in a game ofpussy-wants-a-corner he saw four or five girls and boys playing. Muchto the surprise of this group, the first thing they knew a big, whitegoat was running from tree to tree to get an empty corner just as theywere doing. At first they were so astonished that they stoppedplaying, but soon they went on as Billy kept running from tree totree, frisking his little paint brush of a tail and kicking up hislegs with glee. You remember he had lost part of his tail in France inthe war where it was blown off by a bomb which had sent him flying upin the air.
Presently all the children had stopped their games to watch Billy playpussy-wants-a-corner. He was just beginning to grow tired of the sportwhen the school bell pealed out that recess was over and all thechildren ran to form in line to march back to their rooms. Each roomhad a separate line of its own. When Billy saw this, he too went andstood in line. As he knew nothing about the different rooms, heselected a line in which stood a pretty little girl with yellow hairhanging in long braids down her back. She was the last one in theline, and being very busy talking to the little girl just in front ofher, she did not notice that any one was standing behind her.
Billy overtook her and gave her a gentle butt that landed her in the middle of the bed. (Page 47)]
"Her hair looks just like straw. It is just the color of it,"thought Billy. "I wonder if it tastes like it too." And thereuponhe began to chew the end of one of her braids.
"Stop pulling my hair, Jimmy Jones!" she cried, without turningaround. Jimmy Jones and Tommy Green were in the habit of pulling herhair or giving it a twitch whenever they passed her. So now she tookit for granted it was one of them when Billy pulled it while chewingon it.
"Didn't I tell you to stop pulling my hair? I'll tell teacher if youdon't stop this minute!"
Billy did try to stop, but somehow her hair got between his teeth andhe could not let go, much as he wished to do so. Of course the more hetried the worse it pulled. She turned quickly to slap the tease whowas hurting her. But horror of horrors! She found herself face to facewith the big goat that had been playing with them in the yard. Shewas terribly afraid of goats, and had stopped playing when Billyentered the game and had sat down on the school steps to watch them,so now she screamed as if she was being killed. This brought a teacherand some of the big boys to the rescue. By this time Billy was reallypulling very hard in his frantic efforts to get loose, but he wasunconscious that he was doing so. The little girl stood facing him,which wound her braid around her head and made it pull more than ever.Then too if she had only stood still, but she kept jumping up and downand calling out, "Take the nasty old goat away!"
When the teacher arrived, she soon saw what the trouble was and withthe help of some boys she quickly removed the strand of hair fromBilly's teeth, which released the little girl, who fell half faintingand crying in the teacher's arms.
On being freed, Billy trotted out of the schoolyard mumbling tohimself that he would never try to eat hair again, even if it did looklike straw. He was just about to run out of the school yard when hesaw a boy enter eating a big red apple, with another still larger andmore luscious looking in his hand.
"My, but those apples look good! I must have one, no matter whathappens," thought Billy.
On seeing Billy coming toward him, the boy ran for dear life, tryingto make the school door before Billy could overtake him. He did, butthat was all. Billy had gotten a good whiff of the apples, and thatsettled it. He _would_ have one of those apples, even if he had tochase the boy all over the school. He was hoping the boy would be soafraid of him that he would throw one of the apples at him. But nosuch good luck. Up the stairs ran the boy, trying to reach the roombefore Billy could catch him. Close on his heels came Billy. The boydodged into his room and tried to shut the door but Billy was tooclose on his heels. So he ran around to the far side of the room,thinking surely the goat would not follow him there. But on came Billymore determined than ever to have one of those apples. Round the roomthey chased each other, with all the scholars standing up in theirseats screaming and laughing and hugely enjoying the chase. By thistime the boy was so afraid that his hair was standing straight up onend, and he was crying lustily. Had he known it was the apples thatthe goat wanted, he would gladly have given up both. He thought, ofcourse, it was himself Billy wanted to butt. Now the extra large applehad been for his beloved teacher, and the second time around the roomas the boy reached the platform where she stood, he made a dive forher and threw his arms around her waist, calling to her to save him,save him!
The teacher picked up a bottle of ink, the only thing on the table shecould see to throw at Billy. It hit him on one horn and broke, and theink began to run down into his eyes. This made Billy angry, so insteadof chasing the boy, he decided to go for the teacher, butt her, grabthe coveted apple from the boy and make his escape. Up on the platformhe leaped, upsetting chairs as he went and overturning the tablebehind which the teacher and the boy had taken refuge. Billy shook theink out of his eyes, leaped over the table and chairs, grabbed theapple out of the boy's hand, brushed against the teacher so hard thathe knocked her over, stepped on her and then left the room.
On the way he ran into the principal of the school who had heard allthe commotion and was coming to see what was causing it. Billy, neverslackening his speed, ran straight into him, and landed the principalon his back, and as his head touched the floor his wig fell off. Thismortified him so he let Billy go, and thought no more about him. Allhis effort was to get his wig on straight before any of the young ladyteachers should see him. For he was very vain and he did not wish anyof them to know he wore a wig. But alas! The more he tried tostraighten it, the more it persisted in turning inside out and backend foremost. And there he sat with his bald head shining like abilliard ball when a sweet voice said, "I hope you are not hurt, Mr.Wheeler!" and looking up he saw standing before him the prettiestteacher in the whole school, the one above all others he would nothave had see him in such a predicament for a whole year's salary.
"Oh, no, not at all, thank you!" he replied, as his nervous fingerstried to adjust his wig. He jumped to his feet and walked off asquickly as he could, trusting his wig was on straight. But when hereached his office and looked in the mirror, he found it was on hindside before, and the part at the back of his head when it should havebeen on top. From that day the boys nicknamed him Baldpate, thoughthey took very good care that he never heard them call him that.
As for Billy, he found his delicious looking apple had a false heartand was worm eaten, so he had had all his trouble for nothing andgotten a nasty spot of black ink on his snow-white whiskers and hair.
"I guess I'll go back to Mr. Noland's and see if Stubby and Buttonhave returned," he thought, and as he rounded the corner of the streeton which Mr. Noland's house stood, he saw the auto turn in the otherend of the very
short block. Stubby jumped out and when he saw Billyhe ran joyously to meet him, barking as he came, "Oh, Billy, youshould have been with us! I never had more fun in my life. But whathas happened to you? I bet you have been in mischief somewhere.
"Come down by the lake while I try to wash this ink off, and I willtell you what I have been up to while you were away, and you may tellme what has happened to you."
So the two of them trotted off toward the lake to recount theiradventures. And as you are interested in the doings of Billy, Stubbyand Button, perhaps you might like me to relate to you in anotherchapter what happened to each of them.