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Page 27
Delightful as was this recreation to juvenile limbs, it was felt to
be dangerous to the adult public. Indignant protestations were
made, and as Billy could not be kept in the house, he may be said
to have at last butted himself out of that sympathetic family and
into a hard and unfeeling world. One morning he broke his tether
in the small back yard. For several days thereafter he displayed
himself in guilty freedom on the tops of adjacent walls and
outhouses. The San Francisco suburb where his credulous protectors
lived was still in a volcanic state of disruption, caused by the
grading of new streets through rocks and sandhills. In consequence
the roofs of some houses were on the level of the doorsteps of
others, and were especially adapted to Billy's performances. One
afternoon, to the admiring and perplexed eyes of the nursery, he
was discovered standing on the apex of a neighbor's new Elizabethan
chimney, on a space scarcely larger than the crown of a hat, calmly
surveying the world beneath him. High infantile voices appealed to
him in vain; baby arms were outstretched to him in hopeless
invitation; he remained exalted and obdurate, like Milton's hero,
probably by his own merit "raised to that bad eminence." Indeed,
there was already something Satanic in his budding horns and
pointed mask as the smoke curled softly around him. Then he
appropriately vanished, and San Francisco knew him no more. At the
same time, however, one Owen M'Ginnis, a neighboring sandhill
squatter, also disappeared, leaving San Francisco for the southern
mines, and he was said to have taken Billy with him,--for no
conceivable reason except for companionship. Howbeit, it was the
turning-point of Billy's career; such restraint as kindness,
civilization, or even policemen had exercised upon his nature was
gone. He retained, I fear, a certain wicked intelligence, picked
up in San Francisco with the newspapers and theatrical and election
posters he had consumed. He reappeared at Rocky Canyon among the
miners as an exceedingly agile chamois, with the low cunning of a
satyr. That was all that civilization had done for him!
If Mr. M'Ginnis had fondly conceived that he would make Billy
"useful," as well as companionable, he was singularly mistaken.
Horses and mules were scarce in Rocky Canyon, and he attempted to
utilize Billy by making him draw a small cart, laden with
auriferous earth, from his claim to the river. Billy, rapidly
gaining strength, was quite equal to the task, but alas! not his
inborn propensity. An incautious gesture from the first passing
miner Billy chose to construe into the usual challenge. Lowering
his head, from which his budding horns had been already pruned by
his master, he instantly went for his challenger, cart and all.
Again the scientific law already pointed out prevailed. With the
shock of the onset the entire contents of the cart arose and poured
over the astonished miner, burying him from sight. In any other
but a Californian mining-camp such a propensity in a draught animal
would have been condemned, on account of the damage and suffering
it entailed, but in Rocky Canyon it proved unprofitable to the
owner from the very amusement and interest it excited. Miners lay
in wait for Billy with a "greenhorn," or new-comer, whom they would
put up to challenge the animal by some indiscreet gesture. In this
way hardly a cartload of "pay-gravel" ever arrived safely at its
destination, and the unfortunate M'Ginnis was compelled to withdraw
Billy as a beast of burden. It was whispered that so great had his
propensity become, under repeated provocation, that M'Ginnis
himself was no longer safe. Going ahead of his cart one day to
remove a fallen bough from the trail, Billy construed the act of
stooping into a playful challenge from his master,--with the
inevitable result.
The next day M'Ginnis appeared with a wheelbarrow, but without
Billy. From that day he was relegated to the rocky crags above the
camp, from whence he was only lured occasionally by the mischievous
miners, who wished to exhibit his peculiar performances. For
although Billy had ample food and sustenance among the crags, he
had still a civilized longing for posters; and whenever a circus, a
concert, or a political meeting was "billed" in the settlement, he
was on hand while the paste was yet fresh and succulent. In this
way it was averred that he once removed a gigantic theatre bill
setting forth the charms of the "Sacramento Pet," and being caught
in the act by the advance agent, was pursued through the main
street, carrying the damp bill on his horns, eventually affixing
it, after his own peculiar fashion, on the back of Judge
Boompointer, who was standing in front of his own court-house.
In connection with the visits of this young lady another story
concerning Billy survives in the legends of Rocky Canyon. Colonel
Starbottle was at that time passing through the settlement on
election business, and it was part of his chivalrous admiration for
the sex to pay a visit to the pretty actress. The single waiting-
room of the little hotel gave upon the veranda, which was also
level with the street. After a brief yet gallant interview, in
which he oratorically expressed the gratitude of the settlement
with old-fashioned Southern courtesy, Colonel Starbottle lifted the
chubby little hand of the "Pet" to his lips, and, with a low bow,
backed out upon the veranda. But the Pet was astounded by his
instant reappearance, and by his apparently casting himself
passionately and hurriedly at her feet! It is needless to say that
he was followed closely by Billy, who from the street had casually
noticed him, and construed his novel exit into an ungentlemanly
challenge.
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