CHAPTER IX
THE CHUMS RUN AWAY
The next day when Billy, Stubby and Button were resting on the grasson a side hill, Billy exclaimed in a petulant voice, "Say, fellows, Iam getting tired of this place and I feel that it is time we werecontinuing our journey."
"I am exactly of that opinion," said Stubby.
"Anything you fellows plan is all right to me," said Button.
"Then it is agreed we move on," said Billy.
"The sooner the better for me," replied Button, "for I know I am infor a siege this afternoon when Nellie comes from school. I heard herask Kittie to come over and bring Bella, and she said they would havea tea party under the trees, and make the cats sit in high chairs atthe party, with bibs on their necks, and drink tea. 'Won't it be funto see them sit up and drink tea?' she said.
"Now I have attended all the tea parties I want to, so unless we moveon I shall have to find a place to hide all the afternoon."
"What do you say to starting this minute?" asked Billy.
"Say we do!" replied Stubby and Button as with one voice.
"In which direction shall we go?" asked Stubby.
"Toward the north, silly! Always toward the north, where home andNannie are!" replied Billy.
"But the lake is north of us here," objected Stubby.
"I know it is, but we will follow its shore until we come to the endof it and then on north, or get a chance to cross the lake in a boat.And who knows but what we may come to a railroad track to follow whichwill be a short cut? Anyway, let's make for that high hill you see offthere to the north and perhaps when we reach the top of it we can seea good road to follow."
"Well, here goes!" said Button, and he put his head down and startedon a fast run, Billy and Stubby close at his heels.
They followed the lake shore as far as they could as it was bettertraveling there than in the high grass. They also kept as close to thewater's edge as they could and still dodge the waves. Frequently Billyand Stubby were caught by a wave but they did not care as it onlycooled them off. But Button contented himself by running along the wetsand out of reach of the waves.
They had gone about half a mile out of town and were still runningalong the beach when they came to a sawmill where there were a lot ofmen wading in the water up to their knees pushing the logs on to anarrow endless moving incline that carried them up into the mill wherethey would be sawed into lumber.
"Don't they look like big alligators being pushed up that plane to bekilled?" said Billy.
"They really do, but I never thought of that before," replied Stubby.
"They remind me more of cattle being driven into the slaughter pens atthe stockyards," said Button.
"There is something fascinating about watching those big logs beingcarried silently up into the mill to be turned into shingles, flooringand boards of various lengths to be made into furniture," remarkedBilly.
"There surely is. But we can't stand here all day or we won't get faron our journey."
The three had just started on a run again when they heard a big voicewhich they recognized as Mr. Noland's calling to them. He stood on atramway that ran from the mill to the boat landing.
"Here, you rascals, where are you going? And what are you doing so farfrom home? You'll get lost one of these days if you don't stopwandering around in a strange town the way you do. Here, come back, Isay! Don't you hear me calling you? I just bet this old mill makessuch a noise they don't hear me!" and he put his hands up to his mouthand tried to make a megaphone out of them, but it was of no avail. TheChums kept on at their rapid pace and turned neither to the right norto the left, pretending they did not hear him.
After they were out of sight and sound of the mill, they stopped torest and to get their breath for they had been running fast.
"I did not know Mr. Noland owned a mill, did you?" Billy asked.
"No. But he seems to own or at least have a hand in everything in thattown, I have observed," said Button.
"I really think they will be sorry when they find we don't come back,"said Stubby. "One could never find nicer people to live with. But weare too old travelers to settle down in any one place, no matter hownice it is. The wanderlust has surely got us by the throat."
"Billy," said Button, "you should go on a lecture tour through theU.S.A. and relate the different exciting experiences you have had inthe many different countries you have visited."
"How about you and Stubby doing the same thing? You have been with menearly everywhere I have been."
"I know, but you have so much more presence than we have and yourvoice carries so much further when talking than ours do," said Stubby.
"Just for sport I am going to enumerate some of the things that youcould make into a dandy lecture," said Button. "You could begin withyour experiences in the circus when you were young and before you weremarried. Then when you were hunting for the Kids the time they ranaway and were carried off to Constantinople and you thought them dead.Next, some of the tales you told when you came home from Japan afterbeing in the war between the Japanese and the Russians, and afterwardhow you found yourself down in Mexico. Next you could tell what youand your friends did along with Billy Junior, and your grandchildren,to say nothing of the scrapes you were in when you went on thatmemorable vacation and left Nannie at home. After that you could makea whole lecture on your hairbreadth escape in an aeroplane, what yousaw in town and in Panama, on the Mississippi, in the West, at theWorld's Exposition in San Francisco, and last but not least in Europeduring our Great War. And then you might end with our escape fromFrance and the return to America. There would be a wonderful chancefor a series of lectures and I bet before the audience heard them alltheir hair would be standing on end and they would be holding theirbreath from excitement at your many narrow escapes from death."
"There, Billy," said Stubby, "your life work is laid out for you. Youtravel and lecture while Button and I will be your press agents and goahead and find a place for you to lecture in all the big cities andtowns. If you did this, then Nannie could travel with you all thetime. And I know you would both like that. Then too you would not growso restless as it would keep you on the move all the time, for wewould plan it so that you would give only three lectures in any oneplace and then go on to the next."
"The more I think of it, the more the idea appeals to me," saidButton.
"Why not make our journey north into that kind of a trip right now?"said Stubby. "We could send word to Nannie to journey south to meetus."
"It _does_ sound rather attractive," admitted Billy.
"Of course it does!" seconded Button. "And you owe it to the pooruntraveled animals to give out some of your experiences to them, toenliven their humdrum lives and tell them about the outside world.Just see what a lot of pleasure the Dog and Cat Club give thosestay-at-homes who have never been outside the suburbs of New YorkCity--and most of them have never ventured ten blocks from where theywere born."
"Hark!" exclaimed Billy. "I hear the most peculiar whistling, whizzingsound. It sounds up in the clouds, but I can't see a thing."
"It must be an aeroplane then, but I can't see a thing in the sky,"said Button, but as he spoke a huge dirigible balloon poked its noseout of a cloud over their heads. It was so directly overhead that theycould see every part of it distinctly.
"Isn't it a whale of a balloon? I never saw as large a one even inEurope," said Billy.
"Nor I either," said Stubby, full of wonder at its size.
"Look! It is slowly coming to earth. I believe they are going to landover in that clover field," said Button.
And sure enough they did. This great big dirigible, the first of itssize to cross the Atlantic Ocean, was landing right before their eyes.
"Let us run over and get as near it as we can," Billy said.
When the monster airship landed, the Chums were not fifty feet away,and stood taking in everything as it slowly settled to earth.
Presently little windows and doors were seen to open in i
ts sides andpeople came walking out. The Chums went nearer and found out by theconversation they overheard that they were forced to land as somethingwas the matter with the machinery. The longer Billy looked, the morehe wanted to see what the dirigible was like on the inside, until atlast his curiosity got the better of him and he walked boldly up tothe balloon and poked his head in one of the doors and gazed in. Notbeing driven away, or seeing any one, he stepped in and soon wasexploring the balloon from one end to the other, with both Stubby andButton at his heels.
"Isn't it wonderful?" said Billy. "Just as cozy and nice as a shipthat sails the sea. Staterooms, lounge, dining saloon, kitchen andstorerooms galore! Let's hide and be carried off with her when shestarts. It is worth being delayed on our journey to have such anexperience."
"Indeed it is!" replied Button.
"Quick, get under that table! I hear some one coming," warned Stubby.
Billy dodged under the table in the dining saloon while Stubby hidunder a chair and Button ran up a curtain and settled himself on thecurtain pole near the ceiling. The person they had heard coming soonpassed through the room, and they came out of their hiding places andcontinued their explorations.
Presently they found it difficult to stand on their feet, and lookingfrom a window they discovered they were slowly rising from the ground.At the same time they found it was exceedingly hard to stand still andkeep their balance. Before it should grow any worse, they ran back andhid where they had before, to await further developments.
"I hope if they find us they don't pitch us overboard when they get uptwo or three thousand feet," said Stubby.