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Title: Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant
His Many Adventures
Author: Richard Barnum
Illustrator: Harriet H. Tooker
Release Date: May 24, 2007 [EBook #21599]
Language: English
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Produced by Mark C. Orton, Thomas Strong, Linda McKeown
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[Illustration: Whooo-ish! went more water from Tum Tum's trunk on the
blazing peanut wagon and straw. (Page 91) _Frontispiece_]
Kneetime Animal Stories
TUM TUM, THE JOLLY ELEPHANT
HIS MANY ADVENTURES
BY
RICHARD BARNUM
Author of "Squinty, the Comical Pig," "Slicko, the
Jumping Squirrel," "Mappo, the Merry Monkey,"
"Don, a Runaway Dog," etc.
_ILLUSTRATED BY_
_HARRIET H. TOOKER_
NEW YORK
BARSE & HOPKINS
PUBLISHERS
KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES
By Richard Barnum
_Large 12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume,_
_50 cents, postpaid_
SQUINTY, THE COMICAL PIG
SLICKO, THE JUMPING SQUIRREL
MAPPO, THE MERRY MONKEY
TUM TUM, THE JOLLY ELEPHANT
DON, A RUNAWAY DOG
DIDO, THE DANCING BEAR
BLACKIE, A LOST CAT
FLOP EAR, THE FUNNY RABBIT
TINKLE, THE TRICK PONY
LIGHTFOOT, THE LEAPING GOAT
(_Other volumes in preparation_)
BARSE & HOPKINS
Publishers New York
Copyright, 1915
by
Barse & Hopkins
_Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant_
VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY
BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I TUM TUM GOES SWIMMING 7
II TUM TUM IS CAUGHT 18
III TUM TUM AND MAPPO 31
IV TUM TUM IN THE CIRCUS 42
V TUM TUM AND DON 49
VI TUM TUM AND THE WAGON 60
VII TUM TUM LOOKS FOR MAPPO 69
VIII TUM TUM AND THE FIRE 77
IX TUM TUM AND THE BALLOONS 89
X TUM TUM AND THE LEMONADE 97
XI TUM TUM AND THE TIGER 110
XII TUM TUM'S BRAVE DEED 117
ILLUSTRATIONS
Whooo-ish! went more water from Tum Tum's trunk
on the blazing peanut wagon and straw. _Frontispiece_
PAGE
Through the forest jungle rushed the elephants, trampling
down the trees and bushes 24
He fell down on his knees, while Mappo sailed through
the air 41
All this while Tum Tum was holding Don high in the
air in his trunk 60
The big hippopotamus wagon rolled out of the mud, and
on to the firm, hard road 84
Right out of the ground the big elephant pulled the tree 98
He stayed under the tree where the tiger was, for he
knew that soon the circus men would come to hunt for
Sharp Tooth 120
TUM TUM, THE JOLLY ELEPHANT
CHAPTER I
TUM TUM GOES SWIMMING
Tum Tum was a jolly elephant. I shall tell you that much at the start of
this story, so you will not have to be guessing as to who Tum Tum was.
Tum Tum was the jolliest elephant in the circus, but before that he was
the jolliest elephant in the woods or jungle.
In fact, Tum Tum was nearly always happy and jolly, and, though he had
many troubles, in all the adventures that happened to him, still, he
always tried to be good-natured over them.
So I am going to tell you all about Tum Tum, and the wonderful things
that happened to him.
Once upon a time Tum Tum was a baby elephant, and lived away off in a
far country called India, with many other elephants, little and big, in
the jungle.
The jungle is just another name for woods, or forest, only the jungle is
a very thick woods. The trees grow big and strong, and between them grow
strong vines so that it is hard for any living creature except an
elephant, or maybe a snake to push his way along. A snake can crawl on
the ground under the vines, you know.
Well, Tum Tum lived in this jungle, and with him lived his father and
mother. His father was a great big elephant, named Tusky, and he was
called this because he had two big, long, white teeth, called tusks,
sticking out on either side of his long trunk, which was like a fat
rubber hose.
Tum Tum's mother was named Mrs. Tusky, but she did not have any long
teeth like her husband. Perhaps she had had some once, and had lost
them, breaking down a big tree, or something like that.
Tum Tum had no brothers or sisters, but there were other little boy and
girl elephants in the herd, or family of elephants, where he lived, and,
altogether, he had a good time in the jungle, Tum Tum did.
One day Tum Tum, who had been eating his dinner of leaves, with his
father and mother, heard a loud trumpeting in the woods back of where he
was standing. Trumpeting is the noise an elephant makes when he blows
through his long trunk, or nose. It is his way of speaking to another
elephant.
"Who's that calling?" asked Mrs. Tusky, of her husband.
"Oh, it sounds like some of the little boy elephants," said the old papa
elephant, as he pulled up a tree by the roots, so he could the more
easily take a bite from the tender top leaves.
"I hope it doesn't mean any danger for us," said Mrs. Tusky, looking at
Tum Tum, who was busy finishing his dinner.
Elephants, you know, no matter if they are big, are just as much afraid
of danger as are other wild animals. Of course they are not so much
afraid of the other beasts in the jungles, for the elephant can fight
almost anything, even a lion or a tiger.
But an elephant is afraid of the black men, or natives, who live in the
jungle, and an elephant is also afraid of the white hunters, who come
into the big forest from time to time.
"I hope no hunters are about, to make one of our elephant friends
trumpet that way," said Mrs. Tusky, speaking in a way elephants have.
"Oh, no, don't be afraid," said her husband, eating away at his tree
leaves. "There is no danger." But, as he said this, he put up his long
trunk-nose, and carefully sniffed the air. That is the way animals have
of telling if danger is near. They do it by smelling as well as by
listening and seeing. Only one cannot see very far in the jungle, as the
trees are so thick.
Mr. Tusky also lifted up his big ears, about as large as ten palm-leaf
fans, and listened for any sounds of danger. All he heard was the
crashing of tree branches and bushes, as some of the other elephants,
farther off in the jungle, pushed their way about eating their dinners.
Then, suddenly, some elephant called, trumpeting through his trunk:
"Tum Tum! Hello, Tum Tum! Can't you come out and play?"
"Oh, it's some of your little elephant friends," said Mr. Tum Tum, to
the little boy elephant. I say "little," though Tum Tum was really a
pretty good size. He was much larger than a horse.
"Oh, may I go and play with them?" asked Tum Tum, just as any of you
might have done.
Of course Tum Tum did not speak in words, as you or I would have done.
Instead he spoke in elephant language, though he could also speak and
understand other animal talk. And he could also understand man-talk,
just as, in my other books, I have told you how dogs, cats, pigs and
monkeys can understand what we say to them, though they cannot talk to
us.
"May I go out and play?" asked Tum Tum.
"Oh, I guess so," answered his father. "But do not go too far away. And
you must listen for the sound of the danger trumpet from Mr. Boom. When
he signals that there is danger, you must run back, for that will mean
we shall have to go off farther in the jungle, and hide."
"I'll be careful," promised Tum Tum.
Elephants in the jungle live in big families, or herds. At the head is
the largest elephant of them all, the leader. He is always on the
lookout for danger, and when he sees, hears or smells any, he gives a
signal, or trumpet, through his trunk, and then all the elephants run
away and hide.
Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, stopped eating his dinner, for he had had
enough, anyhow, and off through the jungle he crashed. He did not wait
to go by the path, for he was so big and strong. Even though he was a
little chap, as yet, he could crash through big thick bushes, and even
knock over pretty large trees, if they were in his way.
"I'm coming!" called Tum Tum to his play-fellows, the other elephants.
"I'm coming!"
Tum Tum came to a tree that stood in his way. He could just as well have
gone around it, but that was not what he was used to. He lowered his
head, and banged into it.
"Crash!" over went the tree, broken off short.
"I'll soon be with you!" Tum Tum called again, for he still could not
see his little friends. "Who's there?" he asked.
Back through the jungle came the answer:
"We're all here--Whoo-ee, Gumble-umble, Thorny and Zunga!"
These were the names of the elephants with whom Tum Tum played. Whoo-ee
was a boy elephant, and he had that name, because he used to make a
funny sound, almost like his name, when he whistled through his trunk.
Gumble-umble was another boy elephant, and he was called that because he
grumbled, or found fault, so often.
Thorny was a girl elephant, and she got her name, because she was so
fond of eating the tender, juicy leaves from the thorn tree. Zunga was
another girl elephant, and she was just called that name because her
mother thought it sounded nice--just as Tum Tum's mamma thought his name
was the nicest one in the jungle.
"I'm coming!" trumpeted Tum Tum, and then he came to another tree that
stood in his path.
"I guess I'll have to knock this out of the way," he thought to himself,
and he lowered his strong head and started toward it.
"Crack!" went his head against the tree, but the tree did not break. It
was very strong.
"Humph!" thought Tum Tum. "I guess I'll have to pull you up by the roots
if I can't break you off."
So he wound his trunk around the tree. Then he pulled and he pulled and
he pulled some more until, all of a sudden, the tree came up by the
roots.
It came up so quickly that Tum Tum tumbled over backwards, head over
heels.
"Smash!" down in the bushes went Tum Tum, holding up the tree in his
trunk.
"Ha! Ha!" came an elephant laugh from the jungle in front of Tum Tum.
"Oh, just look at him!" a voice called.
"What happened, Tum Tum?" asked a third elephant.
"Are you playing one of your tricks?" some one else wanted to know.
Tum Tum looked up from where he lay on his back in the bushes. He saw
Whoo-ee, Gumble-umble, Thorny and Zunga looking at him, their mouths
wide open, laughing.
And then, instead of getting angry, and being cross, Tum Tum just
laughed himself, such a jolly laugh!
"Ha! Ha!" he giggled. "I--I fell over backward pulling up this tree. Did
you see me?"
"Did we see you? Well, I guess we did!" cried Whoo-ee.
"Well, maybe you did, but I didn't," complained Gumble-umble. "Zunga got
right in my way, when I wanted to look."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Zunga. "I didn't mean to."
"Oh, don't mind Gumble-umble," said Tum Tum, with another jolly laugh.
"He's always finding fault. I'll pull up another tree, and fall again,
Gumble-umble, so you can see me do it, if you like."
"No, don't. You might hurt yourself," said Thorny, the other girl
elephant.
"Pooh!" cried Tum Tum. "I'm not afraid!"
"Well, never mind about pulling up more trees now," said Whoo-ee. "We
called you to come out, and have some fun with us. We are going
swimming."
"Where?" asked Tum Tum, as he got up off his back, and blew some dust
over himself to keep away the flies.
"Oh, we're going down in the river," said Zunga. "It's so hot to-day,
that a nice bath will cool us off. Come on."
"I'd better ask my mother," said Tum Tum. "I didn't know you were going
swimming, when you called for me to come and play with you. I'll go ask
her."
"All right, we'll wait for you. Only don't be all day," said
Gumble-umble. "We want to go in the water before night."
"Oh, you mustn't mind him," laughed Whoo-ee. "I don't know what's the
matter with him to-day; he's always finding fault. Did you get a thorn
in your foot, Gumble, that makes you so cross?"
"No, I didn't," answered the other boy elephant. "But I don't want to
stand here all the afternoon in a hot jungle, waiting for Tum Tum."
"I won't be long," promised the jolly elephant. He hurried back through
the woods to where his father and mother were still eating.
"Mother, may I go in swimming?" he asked, as he came to where Mrs. Tusky
stood.
"Yes, but don't go so far, that you can't hear any calls that may come
from Mr. Boom. There's no telling when the hunters may find us."
"I'll listen, and be careful," said Tum Tum.
Back he crashed through the jungle, and soon he and his elephant friends
were on their way to the river, that was not far from where the herd of
elephants was feeding.
"There's the river!" suddenly called Whoo-ee, as he caught sight of the
sparkling water through the trees.
"Let's see who'll be the first one in!" called Whoo-ee, as he began to
run.
"Oh, don't leave us behind," begged Thorny and Zunga.
"Oh, that's the way with girls--always making a fuss!" complained
Gumble-umble. "Why can't you run like we boys do?"
"Because you're bigger and stronger than we are," said Zunga.
"Well, we're not going to wait for you," said Gumble-umble.
"Never mind, I don't care whether I'm first in the water or not," said
Tum Tum. "I'll stay with you, Thorny, and Zunga."
"Isn't Tum Tum nice?" whispered Zunga to Thorny, as they went along
through the jungle.
"Yes," said Thorny.
Whoo-ee and Gumble-umble hurried on through the woods, and Whoo-ee was
the first to splash into the water.
"I beat!" he cried.
"Well, I'd have been first only I stumbled over a tree root," said
Gumble-umble.
He was always finding fault, it seemed.
Into the water splashed the five elephant children. They went out where
it was about deep enough to come up to their ears, and then they sucked
water up in their trunks and sprayed it over their backs, to drive away
the flies and gnats that bit them. Then they swam out into deep water,
and rolled and tumbled about, having great fun. They splashed each
other, squirted water all over, and soon were as cool as cucumbers on
ice.
All at once, through the jungle, there sounded a loud trumpeting.
"Hark!" cried Whoo-ee, as he stopped squirting water on Thorny. "What's
that?"
"It's Mr. Boom signaling that there's danger!" cried Tum Tum.
CHAPTER II
TUM TUM IS CAUGHT
Tum Tum, and the other elephants who were in swimming, made no more
noise than a fly walking up the window. They all kept quiet and
listened.
Through the jungle again sounded the trumpet call:
"Umph! Umph! Boom! Boom! Toom!"
"That sure means danger!" cried Tum Tum. "Come on! We had better go back
to where our fathers and mothers are."
"Indeed we had!" said Thorny, as she and Zunga waded to the shore, water
dripping from them.
"That's always the way!" complained Gumble-umble. "Just as we are having
fun, something has to happen."
"Look here!" exclaimed Whoo-ee, "you don't want to be caught in a trap,
do you?"
"Of course not," said Gumble-umble.
"And you don't want a hunter to shoot you, or to carry you away far off
somewhere, do you?"
"You know I don't," and Gumble-umble did not speak quite so crossly this
time.
"Well, then," said Whoo-ee, "let's do as Tum Tum is doing, and start for
home. There must be some danger, or Mr. Boom wouldn't have called to us
that way."
"Indeed he wouldn't," said Tum Tum, and he did not laugh in his jolly
way now. "My mother told me to be sure and listen for a call from Mr.
Boom. She said he would be looking for danger, and when he called, I was
to hurry home."
Tum Tum was out on the bank of the river now. Gumble-umble was the last
one of the elephants to come from the swimming pool.
"Let's hurry," said Tum Tum.
"That's what I say!" cried Thorny. "I don't want to be caught by some
hunter."
The elephant children knew what hunters were, for their fathers and
mothers had often told them about the natives who tried to catch
elephants. Indeed, some of the older elephants had more than once been
caught in traps, but they had gotten out.
Without stopping to put on any clothes, for of course elephants do not
wear any, Tum Tum and the others hurried off through the jungle toward
where the rest of the herd was feeding. Several times as they hastened
along, they could hear Mr. Boom trumpeting, and it sounded as though he
said:
"Hurry along! Hurry along! There's danger! Danger!"
And Tum Tum and the others did hurry, you may be sure of that.
Before the elephant children reached the place where they had left the
herd feeding, Tum Tum saw something pushing through the jungle toward
them.
"Look out!" he warned his playmates. "Something is coming!"
The five elephants stopped short, and were beginning to get afraid when,
all at once, Tum Tum's mother burst through the bushes and came up to
him.
"Oh, I was so frightened!" she said, speaking through her trunk. "I
thought you were never coming!"
"Oh, we heard Mr. Boom," said Tum Tum, "and we came on as soon as we
could. But what's the matter, mamma?"
"Plenty is the matter, or, rather, is going to be, unless we can get
away," said the mamma elephant. "A big band of hunters is in the jungle,
and they are coming this way."
"Did you see them?" asked Whoo-ee.
"No, indeed! If we waited until they were close enough for us elephants
to see them, they would be so close, that we could not get away. Some
monkeys brought word that the hunters were on the march. So we are going
to start at once and go afar off, into a deep, dark part of the jungle,
where they cannot find us."
"Well, we had a swim, anyhow," said Tum Tum. "I'm hungry, mamma. Have we
time to eat?"
"No, indeed," said the lady elephant. "We'll just have to eat as we go
along. You children had better go to your fathers and mothers," she said
to Whoo-ee, Gumble-umble, Thorny and Zunga. "They are, very likely,
looking for you."
So the four friends of Tum Tum started off, and soon the whole herd of
elephants was moving off through the jungle, led by Mr. Boom, who had
heard of the danger from a monkey friend.
All that day the herd of elephants kept on, crashing their way through
the jungle. They did not follow any path, but made one for themselves.
Through the thick, strong vines they pushed their way, breaking down
trees, or pulling them up by their roots. Nothing could stop the
elephants when they were running away from danger.
"Oh, dear! This is no fun! I'm tired! I'm not going to run any more!"
complained Gumble-umble. "I don't believe there is any danger, anyhow."
"Oh, but there must be," said Tum Tum, who, with Whoo-ee, was hurrying
along beside his play-fellow. "Otherwise they wouldn't make us go so
fast," and he pointed with his trunk to Mr. Boom, and some of the older
men elephants, who were leading the herd.
"Well, I'm not going to go so fast," said Gumble-umble. "I'm going to
stop and have a rest."
"No, you're not!" exclaimed his father, who came up behind Gumble-umble,
just then. "I'm sorry," the papa elephant said, "but you must keep on.
It would never do to stop now, or the hunters would get us. Here, I'll
push you along," and with his strong head, Gumble-umble's father shoved
his son along, whether Gumble-umble wanted to go or not.
Tum Tum needed no pushing. He was glad enough to hurry along as fast as
he could. So were the other small elephants, for they did not want to be
caught.
Then, after a while, Mr. Boom signaled that they were far enough off
now, and need not hurry any more. They were safe, at least for a time.
"And I'm glad of it!" exclaimed Gumble-umble. "I can't walk another
step," and he lay down to rest. All the elephants were tired, and
hungry. But they had come to a place where there was plenty of food and
water.
Soon they were eating, drinking and getting ready to spend the night in
the jungle, for it was now almost dark. Tum Tum found a nice cozy place
between his mother and father, and soon he was sound asleep.
For some time after this, the herd of elephants was kept on the move by
the hunters. Then, finally, the men with guns were left so far behind
that there was no more danger for them. Then all the elephants were
glad. They did not have to run through the jungle any more, and they had
time to eat and drink.
Tum Tum and his friends went in swimming many times, and Tum Tum grew so
fat and large and strong, that he was soon the largest of all the
children elephants in the herd. In fact, he was almost as large as his
father and mother, and of all the elephants he was the strongest, except
only Mr. Boom. No elephant was stronger or braver than Mr. Boom. That
was what made him the leader.
One day, when Tum Tum had grown to be a big, fine strong elephant,
though as jolly as ever, something happened to him. I shall tell you all
about it now.
The herd of elephants was in the forest as before. They were eating
away, when, all of a sudden, Mr. Boom gave the signal with his trunk.
"Danger! Danger!" he cried, in his deep, booming voice, that was like
distant thunder.
"Oh, we've got to run again!" cried Mr. Tusky, who was the father of Tum
Tum.
It is a good thing elephants do not live in houses, and also good that
they have nothing to move with them, when they go from place to place,
or they would have trouble, because they have to run away from danger so
often.
Once again they were on the march, with Mr. Boom in the lead. Now Tum
Tum was so big and strong, that he was allowed to march at the head of
the herd with Mr. Boom.
"Oh, but I am afraid to have him there," said Mrs. Tusky to her husband.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the papa elephant. "He must learn to take his
place. Some day he will be the leader of the herd, and will warn the
others of danger."
Through the forest jungle rushed the elephants, trampling down the trees
and bushes. Behind them could be heard the shouts of the hunters, and
the firing of guns. There was also the noise of big wooden and tin drums
being beaten, and horns being blown. There was also the trumpeting of
other elephants--tame elephants. For hunters use tame elephants to help
them catch the wild ones.
[Illustration: Through the forest jungle rushed the elephants, trampling
down the trees and bushes. Page 24]
"Wait! don't run away! You will not be hurt!" called the tame elephants
to Tum Tum, and the other wild ones.
But the wild elephants did not want to be caught. They did not know they
would be kindly treated by their masters. All the wild elephants wanted
to do was to get away. So with Tum Tum and Mr. Boom at their head, away
they rushed through the jungle.
All at once the rushing herd of wild elephants came to a fence in the
jungle. It was a strong fence, made of big bamboo trees stuck in the
ground. It was such a strong fence that even Mr. Boom, try as he did,
could not break it down. When he found that after one or two blows from
his head would not break the fence, he called out to the other
elephants:
"Never mind the fence! We can't break through it, so we'll run along
beside it. Maybe there'll be a hole in it somewhere."
So the elephants rushed through the jungle, alongside of the fence, just
as you might do, until you came to a gate, or hole. That was what Mr.
Boom was looking for--a hole in the fence.
But he did not see any. In fact, this fence was a trap, and soon Mr.
Boom and the other elephants knew this.
"Run away from the fence! Run over this way!" called Mr. Boom.
The elephants ran, but soon they saw another fence in front of them--a
fence as strong as the first one. Mr. Boom and some of the strong
elephants, including Tum Tum, tried to break it down, but they could
not. If they had all gotten together, and pushed at one spot, they might
have broken it, but they pushed in different places, and the fence held
them back.
"Never mind!" called Mr. Boom. "Maybe this fence has a hole in it. We'll
run along it and find out."
"Why can't we turn around and go back?" asked Gumble-umble of Tum Tum,
behind whom he was now running.
"Because the hunters are behind us," said Tum Tum. "If we turned back,
they would surely catch us. The only thing to do is to run on."
Tum Tum was beginning to be a smart elephant, you see. He knew many
things about danger. But, had he only known it, there was something he
did not know--and this was that he and the others were, even then,
running right into a trap.
On and on rushed the elephants. The two lines of fences that had been
far apart, were now so close together that they could both easily be
seen at once. It was like going down a long lane, in the cow pasture,
with a fence on either side.
Then Mr. Boom saw the danger.
"Go back! Go back!" called the big leader elephant. "Go back!"
But it was too late. Right in front of the elephants was a big round
place, like a baseball park, with a high fence all around it--a very
strong fence. There was a gate by which the elephants could be driven
into this park, only it was a trap, and not a park. And there was no way
out of it. The fence ran all about it, except this one hole. And through
that hole the elephants were being driven.
"Go back! Go back!" cried Tum Tum, waving his trunk at the other
elephants as Mr. Boom was doing.
But the elephants were afraid to go back because the hunters were
rushing up behind them. The hunters had driven the elephants into the
trap, and were going to keep them there.
Up rode the hunters on tame elephants. Into the trap they drove the wild
ones, Tum Tum and all the others.
"Alas! We are caught!" cried Mr. Boom. "Come, let us see if we cannot
break through this fence!"
He rushed at it with his big head, but the fence was too strong for him.
Into the midst of the wild elephants came the tame ones, with the
hunter-men on their backs. The tame elephants talked to the wild ones.
"Be quiet!" said the tame elephants. "You will not be hurt! See us! We
were once like you, but we were caught and we like it. Be quiet!"
Some of the elephants quieted down, but others rushed about, trying to
break through the fence. Tum Tum was one of these. Then, all at once two
tame elephants, with men on their backs, rushed at Tum Tum. Chains and
ropes were thrown over his back, and around his legs. The chains and
ropes were pulled tight.
Tum Tum was caught in the trap.
CHAPTER III
TUM TUM AND MAPPO
Tum Tum was not now such a jolly elephant as he had been the day he went
in swimming, or as happy as when he pulled up the tree, fell over
backward, and laughed at his own joke. No, indeed! Tum Tum was feeling
very unhappy now.
"Oh, mamma!" Tum Tum cried. "Oh, papa! What has happened?"
Mr. and Mrs. Tusky were not able to answer Tum Tum. They, too, as well
as nearly all the other elephants, had been caught in the trap. Some of
them, like Tum Tum, were held fast with chains and ropes, and others
were trying to batter down the fence of the trap with their heads. But
they felt that they could not do it, as the fence was too strong.
"Let me go! Let me loose!" cried Tum Tum in his elephant language.
Of course the hunter men, who had taken Tum Tum and the others
prisoners, did not understand this talk, but they could see that Tum
Tum was very strong, and might break loose.
"Better put a couple more chains on that fellow," said one of the
hunters to another.
"I guess so," agreed the second hunter. "That is the finest and biggest
elephant we have caught in this herd."
At first Tum Tum thought they must be speaking of Mr. Boom, who surely
was the largest and strongest elephant in the jungle. But, when Tum Tum
looked around, Mr. Boom was not to be seen. He had gotten away. He had
turned, and run out of the trap, and he was so big and strong that even
the tame elephants, with the hunters on their backs, could not stop him.
Away he rushed into the jungle. But he was very sad, for he alone, of
all the herd, had escaped.
"I wonder of whom they can be speaking, so big and strong," thought Tum
Tum. He saw two tame elephants, with hunters on their backs, and
carrying chains, coming toward him.
"Why--why, they must mean me!" said Tum Tum to himself. He stopped
trying to break down the fence, which the hunters had built as a trap,
and waited.
"Look out for him," said one of the men. "He looks dangerous. He looks
like a bad elephant."
Tum Tum was not a bad elephant. He was very strong, but he was not bad.
"Oh, mamma, what shall I do?" cried Tum Tum, as he saw the tame
elephants, with chains, coming closer to him.
For all his great strength, Tum Tum was yet only a boy elephant. He was
not very wise. He did not know what to do.
"Listen," said Tum Tum's father. "You are now the leader of the herd,
Tum Tum. Mr. Boom is gone, and I am too old to be the leader. So you
must be. We elephants will do as you do. If you can break down the
fence, and get away from the hunters, we will follow you."
"I will try, once more, to break down the fence," said Tum Tum. "Let
some of the strong, young elephants come to help me. Come,
Whoo-ee--come, Gumble-umble! We will smash down the fence!"
But one of the tame elephants, who heard what Tum Tum said, called to
him, and spoke:
"Oh, brother. Do not break down the fence."
"Why not?" asked Tum Tum, who could easily understand the language of
the tame elephant. "Why should I not break the fence, and let my
friends, and my father and mother, out of this trap. Why not?"
"Because," answered the tame elephant, with the chains, "you cannot do
it. Already you are held with ropes, and soon we will put more chains on
you, so that you cannot move."
"And why would you--you who are elephants like ourselves--why would you
do this to us, who never harmed you?" asked Tum Tum.
"Because it is for your good," said the tame elephant. "The white
hunters are very strong. You may get away from them now, but they will
come after you again. It is better to give in now. If you are good, and
do not try to break down the fence, you will wear no chains."
"But what will happen to us--to me and my father and mother?" asked Tum
Tum.
"You will be put to work, piling teak logs in the woods," said the tame
elephant. "You will have enough to eat, you will have shelter from the
rain and the flies. You will have water to drink and to wash in. It is a
good life. I like it."
"Is that all that will happen to me?" asked Tum Tum.
"Perhaps not," answered the tame elephant. "You may be sent far across
the big water, in a house that floats, and go, as other elephants have
gone, to a circus, or menagerie, for the boys and girls to look at, and
feed peanuts to."
"What are peanuts?" asked Tum Tum, who was hungry.
"I do not know, never having eaten any," said the tame elephant. "But
one of my brothers, who was in a circus in a far off land, and who came
back here, said they were very good. Now shall we put the chains on
you--I and my tame brothers--or will you be quiet--you and the others?"
Tum Tum thought for a minute. After all he was caught, and it would be
hard to get away, even if he were the strongest elephant in the herd,
now that Mr. Boom was gone. Then, too, it might be nice in a circus, and
Tum Tum certainly wanted to see what peanuts were like.
"I--I will be good, tame brother," he said. "You need not put the chains
and ropes on me."
"You are wise, Tum Tum," said the tame elephant. "We will put no chains
on you. And about the others?" he asked.
"The others will do as I do," said Tum Tum. "I am the leader now."
"Good!" trumpeted the tame elephant, whose name was Dunda. "My brother
from the jungle is wise."
So Tum Tum had no more chains put on his legs or back, and those that
were on him, with the ropes, were taken off.
"So we are not to try to break from the trap?" asked Whoo-ee.
"No, for we will be well treated here," said Tum Tum, "and some of us
may go to a circus."
"What is a circus?" asked Zunga.
"It is a place where boys and girls look at us, and feed us peanuts,"
answered Tum Tum.
"I will not go to any circus!" cried Gumble-umble. "I am going to break
out of this trap!"
"You must not!" cried Tum Tum. "I have said that we would all be good,
and I am the leader."
"You cannot lead me!" trumpeted Gumble-umble, and he rushed at the fence
of the stockade, or trap. But before he could reach it, two tame
elephants rushed at him, and Gumble-umble was soon bound with strong
chains and ropes, so that he could hardly move.
"It is all your fault!" he cried to Tum Tum.
"No, it is your own," said Gumble-umble's papa. "Now you must quiet down
and be a good elephant. We are caught, we can go no more to the jungle,
but perhaps it is best for us."
So Tum Tum and the wild elephants were thus caught.
For a time the herd of wild elephants was kept inside the fence. They
were given good things to eat, and plenty of water to drink, and to
blow over themselves with their trunks, to cool off. They did not try to
get away, though once, in the night, Mr. Boom came as close to the
outside of the trap, or stockade, as he dared, and trumpeted, trying to
call his herd back to him. But they would not go. They were beginning to
like it, with the tame elephants.
In a little while all the wild elephants, Tum Tum included, were quite
tame. Then they were taken out, a few at a time, out to the forest, and
shown how to pile up the heavy logs of teakwood, which is used for
building ships, and sometimes for making tables and chairs.
The tame elephants showed the wild ones how to carry the logs on their
tusks, or in their trunks, and how to pile them up as neatly as you can
pile up your building blocks.
Tum Tum learned to do this, and also how to push heavy wagons about with
his head. He also learned much of the man-talk, so that his driver, or
_mahoot_, as he is called, could, by a few words, make Tum Tum
understand just what was wanted.
One day Tum Tum was taken away from the rest of the herd, and he did not
even have a chance to say good-by. He was led up what seemed to be a
little bridge, and Tum Tum was afraid it would fall with him. But it did
not.
Next he walked down into a dark place, and he found other elephants
there. Some of them he knew.
"Where are we, and where are we going?" he asked.
"We are in a ship, and we are being taken across the ocean to a circus,"
answered Whoo-ee, who was one of the elephants in the dark place, which
was the inside of a steamship.
"A circus! Good!" cried Tum Tum. "Now I shall know how a peanut tastes."
The ship began to move and rock. It rocked and swayed for many days, for
it was on the ocean. And then, one day, a sailor came down to see the
elephants. He brought with him a queer little animal, with thick, brown
hair. And this animal chattered in jungle talk.
"Ha! I seem to know who that is!" thought Tum Tum.
"Chatter! Chatter! Chat! Chur-r-r-r-r-r!" went the little brown-haired
animal, as he sprang from the arms of the sailor.
"Umph! Umph!" trumpeted Tum Tum.
Then the little brown monkey, for such it was, gave a jump from the arms
of the sailor, and landed up on the back of the elephant.
"Hello, Tum Tum!" cried the monkey.
"Why, it's Mappo!" exclaimed Tum Tum. "How did you get here?"
"I was caught in a net, when I was eating some cocoanut," the monkey
said. I have told you how that happened in a book called, "Mappo, the
Merry Monkey."
[Illustration: He fell down on his knees, while Mappo sailed through the
air. Page 41]
"Caught in a net, eh?" said Tum Tum. "That is too bad. I was caught
myself. But where are you going?"
"To a circus," answered Mappo.
"So am I!" cried Tum Tum. "This is fine! We'll be in the circus
together!"
The monkey and the elephant were good friends, for they had known each
other in the jungle, Tum Tum often having passed under the tree where
Mappo's home was.
The sailor who had brought Mappo down to see the elephants, smiled as he
saw Tum Tum making friends with him.
"I guess I'll leave them together," said the sailor.
So Mappo went to sleep on Tum Tum's big back.
The monkey had not slept very long, before he was suddenly awakened, by
finding himself almost sliding off.
"What is the matter, Tum Tum?" asked Mappo.
"The ship is trying to stand on its head, I think," said the elephant.
"Oh, here I go!" and he fell down on his knees, while Mappo sailed
through the air and fell on a pile of hay.
CHAPTER IV
TUM TUM IN THE CIRCUS
With Mappo chattering in his monkey language, and the elephants in the
lower part of the ship trumpeting through their trunks, there was so
much noise, that it is no wonder many of the animals were frightened.
"Oh, what is it? What is it?" Mappo chattered.
"I don't know," answered Tum Tum, "unless the hunters are coming after
us again," and, raising his trunk, he gave the call of danger, as he had
heard Mr. Boom, the big leader elephant, give it in the jungle.
"Hush! Be quiet!" called an old elephant near Tum Tum. "Why do you call
that way, brother?" he asked in elephant language.
"There is danger," replied Tum Tum. "I must tell the others to get out
of here."
"That cannot be done," said the old elephant. "We are in a ship, on the
big water, and if we got out now, in the ocean, we would surely drown.
Be quiet!"
"But why am I tossed about so?" asked Tum Tum. "Why can I not stand up
straight?"
"Because the ship is in a storm," answered the old elephant. "I know,
for I have been on a ship before. The wind is blowing and tossing the
ship up and down.
"But there is no danger. Only keep quiet, and, since you are the new
leader of the elephants, tell them to be quiet, or some of them may be
hurt. See, down come the sailors to see what is the trouble."
Surely enough, down came a whole lot of sailors, in white suits, to see
why all the elephants had trumpeted so loudly, and why Mappo, the merry
monkey, had squealed.
"Hush! Be quiet!" called Tum Tum to the other elephants. "Be quiet or I
shall beat you with my trunk, and make you."
When Tum Tum spoke that way, all the other elephants heard him, and they
grew quiet. Some, who had fallen on their knees, when the ship tossed
from side to side, now got up. They placed their big legs far apart, so
they could stand steadily.
"We will be all right when the storm passes," said the old elephant who
had spoken to Tum Tum.
Mappo picked himself up off the pile of hay, and, just then, his friend
the sailor came to get him.
"I guess you have been here long enough, Mappo," said the sailor. "You
might get hurt down here, with all these big elephants."
Mappo was glad enough to go, not that he felt afraid of the elephants,
but he knew that one of them might, by accident, fall on him, and an
elephant is so large and heavy that, when he falls on a monkey, there is
not much left of the little chap.
"Good-by, Tum Tum!" called Mappo to his big friend. "I'll come and see
you, when the storm is over."
"All right," answered Tum Tum. "And I hope the storm will soon be over,
for I do not like it."
The ship was swinging to and fro, like a rocking chair on the front
porch when the wind blows. But finally the elephants became used to it,
and some of them could even go to sleep. But Tum Tum stayed awake.
"There might be some danger," he thought to himself, "and if there was,
I could warn the others. I am the leader, and must always be on the
watch for danger, just as Mr. Boom would be, if he were here."
But I am glad to say no more danger came to the ship. It rode safely
through the storm, and in a few days, it was gliding swiftly over the
blue sea.
"What will happen to us, when the ship stops sailing?" asked Tum Tum of
the old elephant, who seemed to know so much.
"After it gets to the other side of the ocean," said the old elephant,
"we shall be taken out--we and all the animals. Then we shall go to the
circus."
"Is the circus nice?" asked Tum Tum.
"I have been in one or two, and I like them," said the old elephant,
whose name was Hoy. "There is hard work, but there is also fun."
"Tell me about the fun," said Tum Tum. "I do not like to hear about the
hard work."
"The work goes with the fun," said Hoy, "so I will tell you about both.
The hard work comes in marching through the hard city streets, that hurt
your feet. That is when we go in the parade. I know, for I have been in
many parades. But it is fun, too, for we elephants have a little house
on our backs, and men and women ride in it. Then the bands play, and the
people laugh and shout to see us pass by. Yes, that is fun," and the old
elephant, who had been sent to make the voyage in the ship, so that he
might keep the new, wild elephants quiet, shut his eyes as he thought of
the circus days.
"Is there other hard work?" asked Tum Tum.
"A great deal," said Hoy. "You will have to push heavy wagons about with
your head, and lift heavy poles, as you did in the lumber yard when you
came from the jungle. And then you will have to do tricks in the circus
ring."
"What are tricks?" asked Tum Tum.
"Tricks are what I call hard work, but they make the people in the
circus laugh," answered Hoy. "You will have to stand on your head, turn
somersaults and do many things like that."
"Now tell me about the fun," begged Tum Tum.
"Yes, there is some fun," spoke Hoy, slowly. "You will get nice hay to
eat, and water to drink, and the children in the circus will give you
popcorn balls and peanuts to eat. Also, you will wear a fine blanket,
all gold and spangles, when you march around the ring in the tent. But
now I am tired, and I want to go to sleep."
So the old elephant slept, and Tum Tum stood there, swaying backward and
forward in the ship, wondering whether he would like a circus.
It took several weeks for the ship to make the journey from jungle land
to circus land, and, during that period, Mappo, the merry monkey, came
down to see Tum Tum several times.
"I am going to be in the circus, also," said Mappo, when one day Tum
Tum spoke of the big show under the white tent.
"Are you?" asked the jolly elephant. "That will be nice. We'll see each
other."
"And will you take care of me, so the tiger won't get me?" asked Mappo.
"Indeed I shall!" cried Tum Tum through his big trunk.
At last the day came when the ship reached her dock, and the animals
were taken out. The chains were loosed from the legs of Tum Tum and the
other elephants, and they were hoisted up from the lower part of the
ship, and allowed to go ashore. Tum Tum was glad of it, for he was tired
of the water. But his journey was not over, for, with the others, he was
put in a railroad car, and hauled by an engine. At last, however, he
reached a big wooden building, and the old elephant, Hoy, said:
"This is where the circus stays in winter. Now you will begin to have
hard work, and also fun."
"Well," thought Tum Tum, as, with the other elephants, he marched toward
the big barn-like building, "if there is enough fun, I shall not mind
the hard work."
Then, as he felt rather jolly, after getting out of the big freight car,
Tum Tum picked up a piece of stick from the ground, and began tickling
another elephant in the ribs with it.
"Yoump! Umph! Woomph!" trumpeted this elephant. This was his way of
saying:
"Hi, there! What are you doing? Stop it!"
"Oh, that's only in fun!" laughed Tum Tum.
"Well, my ribs are too sore to want that kind of fun," the other
elephant said. "Now you just quit!"
But Tum Tum was so jolly that he wanted more fun, so he tickled another
elephant. This elephant, instead of speaking to Tum Tum, just reached
over with her long trunk, pulled one of Tum Tum's legs out from under
him, and down he went in a heap.
"Ha! Maybe you like that kind of fun!" cried the elephant who had made
Tum Tum fall.
"It didn't hurt me!" said Tum Tum, as he got up. But, after that, he was
careful not to play any jokes on this elephant.
It was very cold in this new land to which Tum Tum had come, for it was
winter. It was not at all like his green, hot jungle, and he was glad
when he was led, with the other elephants, into the big barn, where the
circus stayed in winter.
CHAPTER V
TUM TUM AND DON
"Well, this is certainly a funny place," thought Tum Tum, the jolly
elephant, as he looked about him. And well might he say so.
He found himself inside a large barn, which was nice and warm, and for
this Tum Tum was glad, for it felt more like the warmth of his jungle,
and Tum Tum, who had been shivering in the cold, outer air, now felt
much better.
The earthen floor of the barn was covered with sawdust, and all around
the sides of the barn were cages containing many animals. There were
lions, tigers, wolves, leopards, monkeys, snakes, and many other strange
beasts, some of which Tum Tum had seen in his jungle home, and some of
which he had never before seen.
"I suppose that is where Mappo will be put," thought Tum Tum, as he
looked at the cages full of lively little monkey chaps.
Then Tum Tum looked and saw a number of elephants, chained in a row on
another side of the circus barn, and he knew that would be his place.
Opening out of the big barn was a smaller one, and in that were many
horses and ponies.
There were many men in the circus barn, and they all seemed to be doing
something. Some were carrying pails of water to the animals, others were
feeding hay to the elephants, and meat to the lions, tigers and spotted
leopards. Tum Tum did not care for meat, but he was very hungry for some
of the juicy, green leaves that grew on trees in his jungle.
As he could get none of those now, he had to eat dry hay, and very good
that tasted, too. He had grown to like it on board the ship.
"Bring the elephants over here!" called one circus man to another, and
Tum Tum felt himself being led along by a man who had a stick with a
hook in the end of it. But the man did not stick the hook in Tum Tum,
because Tum Tum was good and gentle now.
Tum Tum, though he had been a wild elephant in the jungle only a few
weeks before, had learned many things, since he had been caught. He had
learned that men were his friends, and would not hurt him, though they
made him do as they wanted him to, and ordered him about as though he
were a little dog instead of a big, strong elephant. The men did not
seem to be afraid of Tum Tum, though he was a little afraid of them,
especially when they carried sharp hooks, which hurt one's skin.
"Come along!" cried the man who was leading Tum Tum and the others, and
over to one side of the circus barn they went, to be chained by a leg to
a very strong stake driven into the ground.
"Feed them up well," said the first man, "and then we'll see about
putting them through some tricks."
"Ha!" thought Tum Tum. "So the tricks are to begin soon, are they? I
wonder what kind I shall do, and whether I shall like them or not?"
Tum Tum waited anxiously to see what would happen next. What did happen
was that he got something to eat, and a little treat into the bargain.
For with the big pile of hay that was given him, there were some long,
pointed yellow things.
"Ha! What are those?" asked Tum Tum of Hoy, the big, tame elephant who
had been in a circus before.
"They are carrots," said Hoy.
"Are they good to eat?" asked Tum Tum.
"Try and see," answered Hoy, with a twinkle in his little eyes. He was
eating the yellow carrots as fast as he could.
Tum Tum took one little bite, holding the carrot in his trunk. And, as
soon as he chewed on it, he knew that he liked carrots very much.
"Ha! That is certainly good!" he said to Hoy. "I wish I had carrots
every day."
"Oh, but you won't get them every day," said the old elephant. "They are
just special, to get you to feeling jolly, so you will learn your tricks
more easily."
"Well, I feel pretty jolly anyhow," said Tum Tum. "I'll do any tricks I
can."
He did not know yet all that was to happen to him, before he learned to
do his tricks.
Tum Tum had been in the circus nearly a week before he was taught any
tricks. In that week he had plenty to eat, and good water to drink, some
of which he spurted over himself with his trunk. That was his way of
taking a bath, you see.
Then, one day, some circus men came to where Tum Tum was chained, and
one of them said:
"Now, we'll take out this big elephant, and teach him some tricks. Get
Hoy, so he'll show Tum Tum what we want done."
"Ha! So now the tricks begin!" cried Tum Tum to Hoy.
"Yes, and you want to watch out, and do as you are told, or you may not
like it," said Hoy.
Tum Tum and the older elephant were led to the middle of the circus
ring. The chains were taken off Tum Tum's legs, but a rope was put
around his front ones, and he wondered what that was for. Then Tum Tum
and Hoy were stood in a line with some other big elephants.
"All ready now!" cried a circus man, snapping his long whip. "Stand up!"
Hoy raised himself up on his hind legs, lifting his trunk high in the
air.
"Do as I do! Do as I do!" called Hoy to Tum Tum. "Stand up on your hind
legs."
"I--I can't!" answered Tum Tum, who tried. But he found he could not.
Then a funny thing happened. All of a sudden Tum Tum found his front
legs and head being pulled up in the air by the rope, and, before he
knew it, he was standing on his hind legs whether he wanted to or not.
The circus men had pulled on the end of the rope, which ran through a
pulley, hoisting Tum Tum in the air. That was the way they had of
teaching him to stand up. Several times Tum Tum was let down to the
ground, and hauled up again, and each time he was pulled up, the circus
man would call out:
"Stand up on your hind legs! Stand up on your hind legs!"
"Is this a trick?" asked Tum Tum of Hoy, who did not have to have a rope
around him to pull him up.
"Yes, it is one trick," answered the old elephant. "There are many more,
though, to learn."
Tum Tum was beginning to be tired of being hauled up this way. So were
some of the other elephants, and one of them tried to break loose. But
he was hit with a rope, and squealed so that none of the others tried to
get away.
"Now then, take off the ropes, and we'll see how many have learned their
lesson," said the head circus man.
"Now's your chance to show how smart you are," whispered Hoy to Tum Tum.
"When he tells you to stand up next time, do it all by yourself. Then
you'll have learned this one trick."
"I'll try," promised Tum Tum.
The elephants stood in a row. The head circus man cracked his whip, and
called:
"Up on your hind legs!"
Tum Tum gave a little spring, and raised his front legs from the ground.
He settled back on his strong hind legs, and there he was, doing just as
Hoy was doing! Tum Tum had learned his first lesson, just as he had
learned to pile teakwood logs in straight piles.
"Ha! We have one smart fellow in the bunch, anyhow!" cried the circus
man.
Tum Tum was glad when he heard this, just as you would be, if you had
learned your lesson in school. For it is a good thing to learn to do
things, even for an elephant.
But if Tum Tum thought he would get a rest after he had shown that he
could do the trick without being hauled up by a rope, he was sadly
mistaken. Over and over he had to do the trick, until he felt tired,
large and strong as he was.
Some of the elephants could stand up on their hind legs for a second or
so, and then they fell down again. They were made to practice again with
ropes, but no ropes were needed for Tum Tum.
"Well, that's enough for one day," said the head circus man finally.
"Give them all some carrots with their hay. To-morrow we shall try
having them stand on their front legs."
"Will that be harder?" asked Tum Tum of Hoy as he marched to the side of
the barn where the elephants were kept.
"Much harder," said the old elephant. "But I think you can do it."
"I'll try, anyhow," spoke Tum Tum, with a jolly laugh. "I think tricks
are fun."
Standing on his front legs, with his hind ones in the air, was not as
funny as he had thought. In the first place, he had to start with the
rope, and, before he knew it, his hind legs were pulled out from under
him, by the circus men, and Tum Tum was almost standing on his head. Hoy
told him what to do, and how to balance himself, just as he told the
other elephants, and soon Tum Tum could do it very well. When this
practice was over, and when Tum Tum could stand on either his front or
hind legs, without being pulled by a rope, he was given more carrots to
eat.
Tum Tum could now do two tricks, but, as you children know, who have
seen elephants in a circus, there are many others that can be done.
Elephants can be made to sit down in a low, strong chair, they can be
made to stand on top of a small tub, to play see-saw, to ring bells,
play hand organs with their trunks, and do many other queer things they
never thought of doing in the jungle.
Why, I have seen elephants fire cannon, wave flags, and play baseball.
Elephants are very wonderful, and very wise and lively, for such big
animals.
As the winter days went by, Tum Tum learned many tricks in the circus.
He learned to stand with other elephants, in a long row, and let the
acrobats jump over him, and he also let the clowns jump right on his
broad back. Tum Tum learned to do a little dance, too, but he never
danced as well as the ponies could, for Tum Tum was very heavy. Tum Tum
also learned how to walk across, and kneel down over his master, who lay
flat on the sawdust, and though Tum Tum, with his big body, came very
close to the man, he never touched him. If Tum Tum had stepped, even
with one foot, on the man, he would have hurt him very much. But Tum Tum
was careful.
One day, when spring was near at hand, and when it was nearly time for
the circus to travel on the road, from one town to another, Tum Tum was
out in front of the barn, helping push some of the big circus wagons
about. He pushed them with his strong head.
All at once Tum Tum felt something bite him on the hind leg, and he
heard a barking noise, such as monkeys sometimes make.
"Is that you, Mappo?" asked Tum Tum quickly. He could not turn around,
for he was pushing the wagon up hill.
"Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" was the barking answer, and Tum Tum felt
his legs nipped again.
"Stop that, Mappo, if you please," said the big elephant. "Please don't
do that, when I am pushing this wagon."
But Tum Tum's leg was bitten again, and he cried:
"Mappo, I shall squeeze you in my trunk, if you do not let me alone. I
like a joke as well as you do, but it is no fun to have your legs nipped
when you are pushing a heavy wagon. Stop it!"
"Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" came the answer.
"That doesn't sound exactly like Mappo," said Tum Tum. "I wonder who it
can be?"
When Tum Tum had pushed the wagon to the top of the hill, he could turn
around. Then, instead of seeing the merry little monkey, he saw a big
black and white dog, who was barking and nipping at his heels.
"Oh, ho! So it is you, eh?" asked Tum Tum. "Who are you, and what are
you biting me for?"
"My name is Don," barked the dog, "and I am biting you to drive you
away. I am afraid you might hurt my master. I never saw such an animal
as you, with two tails. Go away!" and Don barked louder than before, and
once more tried to bite the elephant's feet.
"Here, Don! Don!" called a man's voice. "Come away from that elephant!"
"Bow wow!" barked Don. "I am going to bite him!"
"Oh, are you?" asked Tum Tum. And with that he reached out with his
trunk, caught Don around the middle, and lifted him high in the air. Don
did not bark now. He howled in fear.
CHAPTER VI
TUM TUM AND THE WAGON
"Please let me down! Oh, please do!" begged Don, the dog, of Tum Tum,
the jolly elephant, as the big creature from the jungle held the dog
high up in the air.
Tum Tum did not feel so very jolly just then. He did not want to hurt
Don, but neither did the elephant like to be nipped on his hind legs,
when he was pushing a wagon.
"Oh, the elephant has our dog!" cried a boy who was with the man who had
called after Don. "Oh, papa, will he hurt him?"
"No, Tum Tum won't hurt anyone," said a circus man. "I'll get your dog
back for you, but he must be careful of elephants after this."
"He never saw one before," said the boy's father.
All this while Tum Tum was holding Don high in the air in his trunk.
"Oh, won't you let me down?" begged Don.
"I will, if you won't bark at me again, and bite me," said Tum Tum. "I
don't want to hurt you, doggie boy, but I can't have you bothering me,
when I'm doing my circus work."
[Illustration: All this while Tum Tum was holding Don high in the air in
his trunk. Page 60]
"Oh, I'll be good! I'll be good!" promised Don, and with that Tum Tum
lowered him gently to the ground, uncoiled his trunk from around Don's
middle, and the dog ran howling to his master and the boy.
"Don, what made you bite the elephant?" asked the boy.
Don only barked gently in answer. He could not speak man or boy talk,
you know, any more than an elephant could, though he understood it very
well.
"I told you the elephant wouldn't hurt your dog," said the circus man.
"Tum Tum is very gentle."
Don crept behind his master, and looked at Tum Tum. The elephant walked
down to get another wagon to push up hill, as all the circus horses were
too busy to pull it.
"Bow wow!" barked Don, but this time he was talking to Tum Tum, and not
barking angrily at him. "Are you an elephant?" asked Don, in his own
language, which the elephant understood very well.
"Yes, I am an elephant," said Tum Tum.
"And you have two tails," went on Don.
Almost anyone who sees an elephant for the first time thinks that.
"No, I have only one tail," Tum Tum answered. "The front thing is my
trunk, or long nose. I breathe through it, pick up things to eat in it,
and squirt water through it."
"My! It is very useful, isn't it?" asked Don, wagging his tail.
"Indeed it is," said Tum Tum. The elephant and the dog were fast
becoming friends now, and were talking together, though the boy and his
father and the circus men did not know this.
"Then was it your trunk that you picked me up in?" asked Don, of the
elephant.
"Yes," replied Tum Tum, "and I am sorry if I frightened you."
"Oh, well, that's all right," answered Don. "I am all right now, and I
suppose I did wrong to bark at you, and bite. I am sorry."
"Then I'll excuse you," spoke Tum Tum. "But what is your name, and where
do you live?"
"My name is Don, and I live on a farm," answered the dog. "We have a
comical little pig on our farm named Squinty. Did you ever see him?"
"I think not," answered Tum Tum. "You see I haven't been in this country
very long. Did you bring the pig to the circus?"
"Gracious, no!" barked Don. "He had to stay home in the pen. But my
master, his boy and I came to see you elephants, and other circus
animals. Only I never knew what an elephant was like before."
"Well, now you know," said Tum Tum, "so you won't bark at, or bite, the
next one you see."
"Indeed I shall not," said Don. "I have to bark at Squinty, the comical
pig, once in a while, when he gets out of the pen, and once I took hold
of his ear in my teeth."
"I hope you didn't hurt him," said Tum Tum.
"No, I wouldn't do that for the world," said Don. And those of you who
have read about "Squinty, the Comical Pig," know how kind Don was to
him.
"So you came to see the circus?" went on Tum Tum to Don, as the dog's
master and his boy looked about at the strange sights.
"Yes, though I don't know exactly what a circus is," said Don.
"Well, this is the start of it," Tum Tum said. "These are our winter
quarters. Soon we shall start out on the road, and live in a tent. Then
I shall do my tricks, the children and the people will laugh and shout,
and give me popcorn balls and peanuts. Oh, yum-yum!" and Tum Tum smacked
his lips because he thought of the good things he was going to have to
eat a little later on.
"Can you do tricks?" asked Don.
"Indeed I can, a great many," the elephant said. "I can stand on my hind
feet--so!" and up he rose in the air, until his little short tail
dangled on the ground.
"Anything else?" asked Don. "That's a good trick. Let me see you do
another."
"Look!" cried Tum Tum, and this time he stood on his front legs, and
raised his hind ones in the air.
"That's harder to do," said the jolly elephant.
"I should think so," agreed Don. "I'm going to try it myself." Don did
try, but when he wanted to stand on his front legs, he fell over and
bumped his nose. And when he tried to stand on his hind legs, he fell
over backward and bumped his head.
"I--I guess I can't do it," he said to Tum Tum.
"It needs much practice to do it well," spoke the jolly elephant.
"Here, Tum Tum!" called one of the circus men. "This is no time to be
doing tricks. Come and help push some more of these wagons. If the
circus is ever to start out on the road, to give shows in the tent, we
must start soon. Come, push some of these wagons, with your big, strong
head."
"I'll have to go now," said Tum Tum to Don, the dog, for they were now
good friends. "I may see you again, sometime."
"I hope you will," spoke Don. "Your circus is coming to our town, I
know, for the barns on our farm are pasted over with posters, and
bills."
"Then I may see you when we get there," said Tum Tum, as he walked
slowly forward to push the wagon pointed out by the circus man.
That is how Don and Tum Tum became acquainted. As the dog went off with
his master and the boy, he barked a good-by to Tum Tum, saying:
"If you come near our place, I'll show you Squinty, the comical pig. One
eye is wide open, and the other partly shut."
"He must be a funny chap," said Tum Tum. The big, jolly elephant pushed
into place the heavy wagon. Then it was dinner time. But as Tum Tum was
eating his hay and carrots in the animal tent, for he was kept in that,
now that the weather was warmer, all at once Tum Tum heard a loud
shouting.
"Look out for that wagon. The tiger cage wagon is rolling down hill. It
will turn over, be smashed, and the tiger will get out! Stop that
wagon, somebody!"
Tum Tum heard this shouting, and looking out of the side of his tent, he
saw a big red and gold wagon rushing down the hill backwards.
"I must stop that wagon," said Tum Tum.
CHAPTER VII
TUM TUM LOOKS FOR MAPPO
Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, pulled hard on the chain that held his big
leg fast to a stake driven into the ground. He wanted to get loose so he
could stop the wagon from rolling down hill, maybe upsetting and letting
the big tiger out.
"I know I can stop the wagon, if they will only take this chain off my
leg, so I can get out there," thought Tum Tum, as he pulled and tugged
at the chain and peg.
Outside the tent men were running and shouting. Some of them tried to
put stones in the way of the wagon wheels, but the tiger's cage was so
heavy that it rolled right over the stones.
The tiger was frightened and angry, and he growled and snarled, until
you would have thought he was back in the jungle again.
"Let me loose! Let me loose!" trumpeted Tum Tum through his trunk, as he
waved it to and fro. Of course none of the circus men could understand
this language, but Tum Tum's keeper knew what the big elephant meant.
The keeper came running in the tent.
"Tum Tum!" he cried. "I believe you can stop that wagon. Stop the tiger
cage! Get in front of it, and push on it with your big head. That will
stop it from rolling down hill!"
"I will! I will!" said Tum Tum, only, of course, he spoke in elephant
language.
The keeper soon took the chain off Tum Tum's leg, and the big elephant
rushed out of the tent, and toward the rolling wagon. None of the men
had yet been able to stop it, and it was half way down the hill now,
going faster and faster. Inside, the tiger was growling and snarling
louder than ever, and trying to break out through the iron bars.
"Look out! He'll get away!" cried Mappo, who had run and jumped inside
the cage with the other monkeys. "Old Sharp Tooth will get loose."
"No, he won't!" said Tum Tum, who was now going toward the tiger's cage
as fast as he could. "Don't be afraid, Mappo," the elephant went on, for
he knew monkeys are very much afraid of tigers. "I won't let him get
you, Mappo," said Tum Tum.
On rushed the big elephant toward the rolling cage. He got in front of
it, and then he stood still, in the middle of the hill, waiting for the
tiger's cage, on wheels, to roll down to him.
"Look out, Tum Tum, or it will hit you!" chattered Mappo.
"That's what I want it to do," said Tum Tum. "But it can't hurt me, as
my head is so big and strong. Now you watch me!"
On came the tiger's cage. Tum Tum stood there ready to let it bunk into
him. His legs were spread far apart so he himself would not be knocked
over.
Bang!
That was the tiger's cage hitting Tum Tum on the head.
"Ouch!" yelled the big elephant through his trunk, for though it did not
hurt him much, he felt a little pain.
Then he stood there, and pushed so hard on the big wagon, that it could
not roll down hill any more. Instead, it began to roll back up the hill,
as Tum Tum pushed on it.
"That's the way to do it, Tum Tum!" cried the elephant's keeper. "I knew
you could do it. Come on now, old fellow. Push the cage right back where
it belongs."
Tum Tum did so. Soon the tiger's cage was in line with those of the
lions, wolves, bears and other animals, ready for the circus to begin.
"Oh, but I'm glad the tiger didn't get loose," said Mappo, to Tum Tum.
"I was so afraid!"
"Why were you afraid?" the big elephant wanted to know.
"Oh, because Sharp Tooth, the tiger, does not like me. I am sure he
would bite me, if he got loose."
"Why would he do that?" asked Tum Tum.
"Because I would not let him out of his cage, when he and I were caught
in the jungle," answered the monkey.
Then he told about the time Sharp Tooth had tried to get out of his
cage.
"Never fear, Mappo," said Tum Tum. "I'll not let Sharp Tooth hurt you as
long as I am around."
"Thank you," said Mappo.
For several days after this the circus went from town to town, traveling
after dark each night, so as to be ready to give a show in the day-time.
One day Sharp Tooth, the tiger, spoke to Tum Tum as the elephant was
passing the cage.
"Why did you stop my wagon from rolling down hill, Tum Tum?" asked the
tiger.
"Because I did not want to see it smashed, and see you thrown out, Sharp
Tooth," answered Tum Tum.
"But that is just what I wanted to do--get out," spoke the tiger. "I
want to get loose! I am tired of staying in the cage!"
"But if you got out, you might bite someone," went on Tum Tum.
"Yes, that is just what I would do," growled the tiger. "I would bite
and scratch until the men would be glad to let me go back to my jungle
again. I am mad at you for not letting my cage run on. If you had, I
would now be free."
"Well, I am glad you are not free," said Tum Tum, as he looked at the
sharp teeth and sharp claws of the tiger, and thought of little Mappo.
"Then I am mad at you, and I am going to stay mad," said the tiger, and
he sulked in his cage.
Tum Tum was not very much afraid of the tiger now, even though he knew
the bad animal might some day get loose and scratch him.
"I don't believe Sharp Tooth will ever get out," said Tum Tum to
himself.
The big elephant had good times in the circus. He had to do only a few
tricks in the afternoon, and some more in the evening. The rest of the
time he could eat or sleep, except when the circus moved from place to
place. Then he would have to help the other elephants push the heavy
wagons up on the railroad trains. But Tum Tum did not mind this.
What he liked, best of all, was to stand in the animal tent, before and
after his trick performances, and watch the children and grown people
come in to look at him and the other animals. Some of the little
children seemed afraid of the elephants, but when Tum Tum saw one of
these frightened little tots, he would just put out his trunk, and
gently stroke some other little boy or girl, so as to show how gentle he
was. Then the frightened one's mother or father would say:
"See, the good elephant will not hurt you. Come, give him some peanuts
or popcorn."
Then the child would hand Tum Tum a peanut, and Tum Tum would eat it
with a twinkle in his little eyes.
Of course Tum Tum would much rather have had a whole bag full of peanuts
at a time, for he could put them all in his mouth, and more, at once.
Still, Tum Tum was glad enough to get single peanuts at a time, and
though it was hard work to chew a single one in his big mouth, just as
it would be hard for you to chew just one grain of sugar, still Tum Tum
was very polite, and he never refused to take the single peanuts.
"A big ball of popcorn makes something pretty good to chew on," said Tum
Tum to one of the elephants chained near him. "I like that, don't you?"
"Indeed I do," the elephant said. "We never got anything as nice as
popcorn and peanuts in the jungle, did we?"
"No," answered Tum Tum, thinking of the days in the dense jungle. Tum
Tum wondered what had become of Mr. Boom and where his father and
mother, and his other elephant friends, might be.
"I suppose they are still back in the lumber yard, piling up teakwood
logs," thought Tum Tum. "I am glad I am in the circus, even if I did
have to be pulled up with a rope to make me learn how to stand on my
head and my hind legs."
Tum Tum could do many other tricks besides these now, and he was such a
jolly old elephant, always doing as he was told without any grumbling,
that all the circus men liked him.
If there was anything hard to do, or any trick that none of the other
elephants could go through, Tum Tum was sure to be called on.
"He is the smartest elephant of all," his keeper would say, and this
made Tum Tum feel very proud and happy.
One day there was much excitement in the animal tent, and at first Tum
Tum thought maybe the tiger had gotten loose again, or that another big
cage had rolled down hill.
When one of the animal men rushed in and called out something, Tum Tum
knew it was not that.
"One of the monkeys is missing," said one trainer to another. "It is
Mappo, that smart one."
"Ha! Is that so?" asked the other. "How did he get loose?"
"He must have slipped out of the cage, when we were on the road. Come,
we are going to try to find him."
"I know a good way," said the keeper of Tum Tum. "I shall take my
elephant with me. My elephant and that monkey Mappo were good friends.
If Mappo sees Tum Tum, he will be glad to come back. So we will take Tum
Tum to hunt Mappo."
"Ha! That is good!" thought Tum Tum, as he listened.
Soon the hunt for Mappo began. Many of the circus men started for the
woods to look for the lost monkey. Tum Tum went along also, his keeper
riding on his back.
"I wonder if we will find Mappo?" thought Tum Tum.
CHAPTER VIII
TUM TUM AND THE FIRE
Through the woods, near the circus town, went the men looking for lost
Mappo. They wanted to get back the monkey because he was such a good one
to do tricks, and because the children, many of whom came to the circus,
liked to see him ride on the back of a dog, or pony, and jump through
paper-covered hoops.
"We must find Mappo!" cried the keeper who had him in charge.
Mappo had run away, as I have told you in the book about his adventures,
because he was afraid Sharp Tooth, the big tiger, would get loose and
bite him. In the woods he had many wonderful adventures.
He met Slicko, the jumping girl squirrel, about whom I have told you,
and also Squinty, the comical pig. Mappo liked Squinty, the pig, very
much, for Squinty was a nice little chap.
On and on went Tum Tum and the men, looking for the lost monkey. After
the search had gone on for several hours, Mappo, who was walking along
through the woods with Squinty, saw the circus men coming after him.
"Here's where I have to run and hide," said Mappo.
"Why?" grunted Squinty, the comical pig.
"Because the circus men are after me. Look!" and the monkey chap pointed
through the woods to where could be seen some men in red coats.
"Oh, and look at that funny animal with two tails!" cried Squinty. "I'd
be afraid of him."
"You wouldn't need to be," said Mappo. "That is only Tum Tum, the
elephant, and he is very jolly. He would not hurt a fly. I guess he is
looking for me, but, as I don't want to go back to the circus just yet,
I'll go off in the woods and hide."
"And I guess I'll go hide, too," said Squinty, for he, also, had run
away, but not from a circus. He had run away from his pen at the
farm--the farm where Don, the dog, lived.
So Mappo hurried off to climb a tall tree. As Tum Tum went along through
the bushes, he saw his little monkey friend.
"Ha! There is Mappo!" said Tum Tum to himself, and he hurried on through
the woods.
"Wait a minute, Mappo!" called Tum Tum, in animal language.
But Mappo would not wait, and Tum Tum could not tell the circus men
with him that the lost monkey was just ahead of them. Tum Tum could not
speak man talk, you know, and the circus men had not yet seen Mappo. So
the little monkey got away.
Tum Tum saw a little animal with Mappo, and the elephant said to
himself:
"Ha! That must be Squinty, the comical pig, of whom Don, the dog, told
me. I would like to meet Squinty, but I don't see how I can. He can run
through these woods faster than I can. Well, maybe I will see him some
day. And I do hope Mappo comes back to the circus. It will be lonesome
without him."
But Mappo had many adventures before he came back to the circus.
"Well, I guess it's no use hunting for him any more," said one of the
circus men. "That monkey has gotten far away. We had better go back to
the tents."
"Yes, I think we had," said the man who was riding on the back of Tum
Tum.
The elephant knew that Mappo was not so very far off, but Tum Tum had no
way of telling his keeper about it.
Back to the circus went Tum Tum, and another monkey had to do the tricks
that Mappo used to do in the performances that day.
"What happened?" asked Sharp Tooth, the tiger, of Tum Tum, as the
elephant went past the cage of the striped beast. "Where did you go a
little while ago?"
"Out looking for Mappo, the monkey," answered Tum Tum.
"Did he run away?" asked the tiger.
"Yes, I guess he was afraid you would bite him."
"And so I would, if I could get him," snarled the tiger. "He is to blame
for me being shut up in this cage."
Tum Tum said nothing, for he did not want to get in a quarrel with the
tiger.
Day after day went past in the circus, and still Mappo did not come
back. Sometimes Tum Tum was lonesome for his little monkey friend, but
there was so much to do, that no one in a circus could be lonesome for
very long at a time.
Tum Tum was learning some new tricks, and this took up much of his time.
Each day he was growing bigger and stronger, for he was not a very old
elephant, when he had been caught in the jungle. Now he was very strong,
and he could easily have pushed two heavy animal cages at once. He was
the strongest elephant in the whole circus.
One day, when the circus was going along the road from one town to
another, one of the wagons became stuck fast in the mud, for it had
rained in the night. It was the wagon in which rode the hippopotamus,
with his big red mouth that he could open so wide.
The whole circus procession had to stop, or at least all the wagons
behind the hippopotamus cage, had to stop, as they could not get past.
"Bring up some of the elephants, and have them pull the hippo's cage out
of the mud!" cried the head circus man. He called him "hippo" for short,
you see.
Up came two big elephants, and chains were put about their necks, and
made fast to the hippopotamus wagon.
"Now, pull!" cried the circus men, and the elephants strained and pulled
as hard as they could.
But the wagon did not move out of the mud.
"Pull harder!" cried the circus man, and he cracked his long whip, but
he did not hit the elephants with it.
But, no matter how hard the elephants pulled, they could not pull the
hippopotamus wagon out of the mud.
"Well, what are we going to do?" asked the head circus man. "We cannot
stay here all day."
"Suppose you let my elephant, Tum Tum, try to pull the wagon out of the
mud," said Tum Tum's keeper. "My elephant is very strong."
"Ha! But is he as strong as two elephants?" asked the head circus man.
"I think so," said the keeper. "Let us try. But Tum Tum can push better
than he can pull, so I shall put him in back of the wagon, and let him
push it out of the mud with his head. Let some of the men steer the
wagon in front, when Tum Tum pushes from behind."
"Very well, we shall try," said the head circus man.
The ten horses who pulled the hippopotamus wagon had been unhitched when
the two elephants tried to pull it. Now the two elephants were led to
one side, and Tum Tum came up.
"Ha! He thinks he can push that wagon out of the mud, when we two could
not pull it," said one elephant to the other.
"Yes, he is very proud," spoke the other.
Tum Tum heard them.
"No, I am not proud," said Tum Tum, "and I am not sure that I can push
the wagon out of the mud, but I am going to try."
His keeper led him up in back of the hippopotamus wagon. It was very
large and heavy, and had settled far down in the soft mud of the road.
The hippo was still in it, and the hippo was very heavy himself,
weighing as much as two tons of coal. The circus men could not let the
hippopotamus out of his cage, because he was rather wild, and might
have run away or made trouble. So they had to leave him in.
"Now, Tum Tum, you have some hard work ahead of you!" said his trainer,
as he led the elephant up behind the wagon. "Let me see, if you can push
this out of the mud hole."
"Umph! Umph!" grunted Tum Tum through his trunk. That was his way of
saying that he would do his best.
Tum Tum went close up to the wagon, and stuck his four big feet well
down in the mud to brace himself. Then he put his large head against the
wagon, and began to push.
Tum Tum took a long breath, and then he pushed, and pushed and pushed
some more.
"He can never do it," said one of the two elephants who had tried to
pull the wagon.
"Indeed he cannot," spoke the other.
"Wait and see!" grunted Tum Tum. "I have not finished yet."
He pushed harder and harder. His head was hurting him, and his feet were
slipping in the mud of the road. Still he kept on pushing.
"I don't believe your elephant can do it," said one of the circus men.
"We had better hitch about four of them to the wagon."
"No, let Tum Tum try once more. I am sure he can do it," spoke the
elephant's kind keeper.
When Tum Tum heard this, he felt himself swell up inside. It was as
though he had new strength.
"I _will_ push that wagon!" he said to himself. "I _will_ push it out of
the mud!"
Then he took another long breath, and pushed with all his might on the
wagon.
"Now it's going!" cried Tum Tum.
Slowly at first, and then faster, the big hippopotamus wagon rolled out
of the mud, and on to the firm, hard road.
"There it goes!" cried a circus man.
"Hurray! Tum Tum has done it!" shouted another.
"I told you he was strong," said Tum Tum's keeper.
"He surely is," spoke the head circus man. "But I never thought he could
push that wagon."
Tum Tum had not thought so himself, but even an elephant never knows
what he can do until he tries.
"Huh! I s'pose he thinks he's smart, because he pushed a wagon we
couldn't," said one of the two elephants to the other.
"Yes," said the second one, "but if they'd given us another chance, we
could have done it, too."
[Illustration: The big hippopotamus wagon rolled out of the mud, and on
to the firm, hard road. Page 84]
But I do not believe they could. And Tum Tum did not think he was
"smart," either. He only felt that he had done what he had been told to
do, even though it was hard work, and did hurt his head.
So the hippopotamus wagon was pushed out of the mud, and the circus
procession went on down the road.
It was not long after this that something else happened to Tum Tum. The
elephant seemed to be having many adventures since he came from the
jungle.
The circus had gone on and on, showing in many different places. Tum
Tum, in each place, had looked to see if Mappo had come back, but the
little monkey had not. Perhaps he was still off in the woods with
Squinty, the comical pig.
It was a very hot day, and the animals in their cages, and the
elephants, camels and horses, in the tent, had hard work to get a cool
breeze or find any fresh air to breathe. In the west were some black
clouds that looked as though they would bring a thunder shower.
Just before the show began, Tum Tum was taken out of the tent to help
push some of the heavy wagons into place.
"Oh, look at the elephant!" cried some boys who had no money to go
inside and see the show. They were glad to see even an elephant.
Tum Tum finished his work of pushing the wagons into place and his
trainer led him toward a big tub filled with water, for he knew his pet
elephant would want a drink, as it was so hot.
Near the water tub stood a peanut wagon, and the smell of the roasting
nuts made Tum Tum hungry for some. But he knew the children in the
circus would soon give him plenty.
All of a sudden some boys, who were trying to get closer to Tum Tum, ran
into the peanut wagon, and tipped it over. All at once the red-hot
charcoal that kept the peanuts warm, spilled out, and the wagon, and
some straw near it, caught fire. My, how it blazed!
"Fire! Fire!" cried the peanut man. "Oh, somebody put out the fire, or
all my peanuts will be burned up!"
Tum Tum looked at the fire, and wondered if he could help put it out.
CHAPTER IX
TUM TUM AND THE BALLOONS
"Come away, Tum Tum!" cried the elephant's keeper. "I don't want you
getting all excited about a fire, and maybe burned. A few peanuts are
not worth it. We'll let some of the tent men put out the fire. Come
away!"
But Tum Tum did not want to go away from the fire. He was not much
afraid of it. Most wild animals are afraid of fire, but Tum Tum was tame
now, and he knew that though fire burns, it also does good, in cooking
food, even for animals. Besides, Tum Tum had seen so much of fire, since
he had come to the circus, and had seen so many flaring lamps at the
night performances, that he was not afraid of just a blazing peanut
wagon.
"I'm sorry to see all those peanuts burned up," thought Tum Tum. "I
wonder if I can't save them--maybe I'll get some for myself, if I do."
Tum Tum thought quickly. There was a great deal of excitement around
him, for the straw was now blazing in many places and the peanuts and
wagon were all in flames.
"Come away, Tum Tum!" called his keeper.
"Fire! Fire! Fire!" yelled the peanut man.
"Bring water here, somebody!" shouted another man.
"Get a pail! Get a pail!" one of the boys yelled.
"Call out the fire engines!" said another.
But Tum Tum knew a better way than that. His trunk was just like a hose,
only, of course, not so long. He could suck it up full of water, and
squirt it out again, just like a pop gun shoots out a cork. And that was
what Tum Tum did.
He put his trunk into the tub of water, and sucked up as much as he
could. Then Tum Tum aimed his trunk right at the blazing peanut wagon
and the straw.
Whooo-ish! went the water, as Tum Tum squirted it out of his trunk. On
the fire it spattered.
Hiss-s-s-s-s! went the fire, like an angry snake.
"Ha! That's the way to do it, Tum Tum!" cried his keeper. "You know how
to put out a fire! That's the way. You're as good as a fire engine
yourself!"
Tum Tum did not answer. In the first place, he could not talk to his
keeper except in elephant language, which the circus man did not
understand. And, in the second place, Tum Tum was going to suck up more
water in his nose, for the fire was not quite out yet. And you know it
is hard to talk when you have your nose full of water, even if you are
an elephant.
Whooo-ish! went more water from Tum Tum's trunk on the blazing peanut
wagon and straw.
Hiss! went the fire again, as it felt the wet water. Fire does not like
water, you know.
"Once more, Tum Tum! One more trunk full, and you'll have the fire out!"
cried the elephant's keeper.
Again Tum Tum dipped his trunk into the tub of water, and spurted it on
the fire.
This time the fire went out completely. Tum Tum had made it so wet, with
water from his trunk, that it could no longer burn.
"Oh, what a smart, good elephant!" cried the peanut man. "He saved my
wagon from burning up. I must give him some peanuts!"
A few of the peanuts were burned, but there were plenty left, and,
though some of them tasted a little like smoke, Tum Tum did not mind
that. He chewed several bags full--shells and all--and was hungry for
more.
But now it was time to go back into the circus tent, and have his
handsome blanket put on, to take his place in the procession. The boys,
one of whom had accidentally upset the peanut wagon, looked at Tum Tum
eagerly.
"Say, he's a smart elephant all right!" he cried.
"That's what he is!" said another. "I'd like to have him!"
"Huh! What would you do with an elephant?" asked his friend. "An
elephant would eat a ton of hay a day."
"Would he?"
"Sure he would."
"Well, then, I don't want an elephant," said the boy. "I guess a dog is
good enough for me. A dog can eat old bones; he doesn't need a ton of
hay a day."
The boys helped the peanut man turn his wagon right side up, and they
also helped him gather the scattered peanuts. Then the man built another
fire, and went around the tent, selling his peanuts.
"Tum Tum, you are getting smarter and smarter each day," said his
keeper, as he led him back to get ready for the parade. "I am proud of
you. You are the best elephant in the circus."
Tum Tum heard what was said of him, but he only flapped his big ears,
that were nearly the size of washtubs. Then he stood in line with his
companions, and ate the peanuts and popcorn balls the children fed to
him over the ropes.
"My, I s'pose Tum Tum will be so stuck up, and proud, that he won't want
to speak to us, after he has done so many wonderful things," said one of
the jealous elephants. "He pushed the wagon out of the mud, and now he
has put out a peanut wagon fire. Some elephants have all the luck in
this world."
Tum Tum's eyes twinkled, but he said nothing. He just ate the popcorn
balls and peanuts. But he was not at all proud or stuck up.
Tum Tum was now such a gentle and tame elephant, that children could
ride on his back. At first, some of the circus performers, who had their
children with them, let them get up on Tum Tum, and then, when his
keeper found that Tum Tum did not mind, some of the boys and girls who
came to see the show each day were allowed to ride. Up and down the tent
they went on Tum Tum's back, sitting in the little house that was
strapped fast to him.
Tum Tum was led about by his keeper when the children thus rode, and
very glad Tum Tum was to give the boys and girls this fun, for he liked
children very much.
Tum Tum would have been very glad if Mappo, the merry monkey, had come
back to ride on his back, as he did sometimes. But Mappo was far away;
where, Tum Tum did not know.
Nearly every day something new happened to Tum Tum in the circus. Every
day he saw new faces, new boys and girls and once in a while, he did
some new tricks. He had enough to eat, a good place to sleep, he did not
have to work very hard, and, best of all, he was in no danger.
So, altogether, Tum Tum liked the circus life much better than he had
liked being in the jungle. Still, now and again, he would wish himself
back in the cool, dark woods, smashing through the thick bushes, and
breaking down, or pulling up, big trees by their roots.
In the circus were some men from India, where Tum Tum had worked in the
lumber yard, piling up teakwood logs, and these Indians could talk the
language spoken in India--the man-language Tum Tum had first learned. He
liked to have them come to see him, rub his trunk, and talk to him in
their queer words.
One day another adventure happened to Tum Tum. He was out in front of
the circus tent, after he had helped roll some of the heavy animal
wagons into place, when he saw some children, with their papa, coming to
the circus.
"Oh, papa!" cried a little boy, "couldn't we ride on the elephant's
back?" and he was so excited, this little boy was, that he danced up and
down with his red balloon. All the children had these toy balloons.
"Oh, I don't believe you could ride on the elephant's back," said the
little boy's papa.
"They can, if you will let them," said Tum Tum's keeper. "My elephant is
very kind and gentle, and many children ride on him. I will hold them
on, if you are willing."
"Oh, let us, papa!" cried a little girl.
"All right, I don't mind," he said.
Tum Tum was led close to a wagon, from which the children could easily
get into the little house on his back. In that they sat with their papa
and the keeper, and around the circus grounds they went. It was not yet
time for the show, and Tum Tum did not have to go in.
"Oh, what a lovely ride!" cried the little boy, when it was over. "Thank
you so much!"
Tum Tum was glad the children had enjoyed it.
Then, as the boy and girl got down from the elephant's back, their toy
balloons slipped out of their hands and floated off through the air.
"Oh, there goes my balloon!" cried the little girl.
"And there goes mine, too!" cried the little boy. "Oh, papa!"
"Never mind, I'll get you some others," said the man.
"But I'd rather have that one," the little boy said, half crying.
"I would, too," added his sister.
Just then the wind blew the two balloons into the top of a tall tree. It
was a tall, slender tree, too little for any one to climb up, or put a
ladder against.
"Oh, now we can never get our balloons!" sobbed the little girl, as the
toys bobbed about in the wind, the strings fast to a tree branch. Then
Tum Tum made up his mind, just as he had done at the peanut fire.
"I'll get those balloons back for the children," thought the big, kind,
jolly elephant.
CHAPTER X
TUM TUM AND THE LEMONADE
The little boy and girl, who had ridden on the back of Tum Tum, the
jolly elephant, stretched up their hands toward the balloons that had
caught in the tree. They even got up again into the little house, and,
standing up, tried to reach their floating toys.
"Sit down! Sit down!" called their father.
"Yes, you might fall," said Tum Tum's trainer, or keeper, who was also
riding in the little house on the elephant's back.
"But we want our balloons!" cried the little boy.
"Yes, our nice toy balloons!" said the little girl, and there were tears
in her eyes. Tum Tum felt sorry for her. He did not like to see little
girls cry.
"I must get those balloons back for them," Tum Tum said to himself, over
and over again.
"I'll get you other balloons," said the children's papa again, trying to
make them feel happier. But the boy and girl wanted the same balloons
they had had first.
"Now if Mappo were only here," thought Tum Tum, "he could easily climb
up that tree, even if it is a slender one, and will easily bend. For
Mappo is not very heavy, and he could go away up to the top of the tree.
"But no one else can, and none of the monkeys but Mappo is smart enough
to do it. So I'll have to get the balloons myself."
And how do you think Tum Tum did it? Of course he could not climb a
tree--no elephant could, even if it were a big tree. But Tum Tum was
very strong, and, just as he had often done in the jungle, he wrapped
his long, rubbery hose-like nose, or trunk, around the tree.
"Here, Tum Tum, what are you doing?" called his keeper.
"Umph! Umph! Wumph!" Tum Tum answered. That meant: "You just watch me,
if you please, and you'll see."
Then Tum Tum just pulled and pulled as hard on that tree, and up he
pulled it by the roots. Right out of the ground the big elephant pulled
the tree, and then, holding it in his strong trunk, he tipped it over so
the top branches were close to the children on his back.
And, tangled in the branches were the cords of the toy balloons, that
still bobbed about.
[Illustration: Right out of the ground the big elephant pulled the tree.
Page 98]
"Oh, look!" cried the boy. "Here are our balloons, sister!"
"Oh, so they are!" exclaimed the little girl. "Oh, what a good elephant
he is to get our balloons back for us!"
"I should say he was!" cried the papa. "That is a smart elephant you
have," he said to the keeper.
"Yes, Tum Tum is very good and smart," said the circus man. He reached
over, loosed the strings of the balloons from the tree branch, and gave
the ends of the cords to the children.
"Now you may let go of the tree, Tum Tum," the man said to the elephant,
and Tum Tum dropped the tree on the ground.
"Oh, papa, the elephant was so good to us, can't we buy him a bag of
peanuts?" asked the little girl.
"I guess so," answered her papa, with a laugh.
"And may I buy him some popcorn balls?" asked the boy.
"Oh, yes, but I hope Tum Tum doesn't become ill from all that sweet
stuff," said the papa.
"Oh, I guess he won't--he's used to being fed by the children," the
circus man said.
When Tum Tum heard the boy and girl talking about getting him good
things to eat, the big elephant felt very glad. For he was such a big
fellow that he was nearly always hungry, and, no matter how many
peanuts or popcorn balls he had, he was always willing to eat more.
It was now nearly time for the circus to begin, and Tum Tum was led back
toward the tent, the children still riding on his back, holding tightly
to the strings of their balloons. They were not going to lose them a
second time, if they could help it.
Near the tent was the same peanut man whose stand had nearly burned up
the time Tum Tum put out the blaze with water from his trunk. The boy
and girl bought two bags full of peanuts from this man, and from another
man they bought popcorn balls. These they fed to Tum Tum, who reached
out his trunk for them, and put them into his mouth.
"Good-by, Tum Tum!" called the little girl to him, waving one hand,
while in the other she held her balloon.
"Good-by, elephant!" called the little boy, also waving his hand. "I'll
see you in the circus," he added.
Tum Tum waved his trunk. He was too busy chewing popcorn and peanuts to
speak, even if he could have talked boy and girl language, which he
could not.
Later on, in the show, Tum Tum, as he went through his tricks, saw the
little boy and girl sitting near the ring, with their papa, watching
the animals and performers.
Two or three days after that something else happened to Tum Tum, and it
made him very happy.
He was in the tent, after the show, eating his hay, and blowing dust
over his back now and then to keep away the flies and mosquitoes, when,
all of a sudden, in came a monkey. Tum Tum gave one look at the monkey,
and then another look.
"Why--why!" cried Tum Tum, in elephant language. "That looks like
Mappo."
"I am Mappo!" cried the little chap. "Oh, don't let him get me!"
"Let who get you?" cried Tum Tum. "What is the matter?" for Mappo looked
very frightened.
"The hand-organ man is after me!" chattered Mappo, and with that he gave
a jump, and landed right upon Tum Tum's broad back.
"Don't be afraid," said the elephant. "No one will get you while I am
here, Mappo," and Tum Tum swung his long trunk.
Then in came the hand-organ man after the monkey, just as I have told
you he did in the book about Mappo. But the circus men and Tum Tum would
not let Mappo go. And Tum Tum looked so big and fierce and strong that
the hand-organ man was afraid to try to take Mappo away.
So that is how Mappo came back to the circus again, after having had
many adventures. He told Tum Tum all about them.
"Are you going to run away again?" asked Tum Tum.
"No, I guess not," answered Mappo, hanging by his tail.
Tum Tum was glad Mappo had come back, for the big elephant was lonesome
for his little friend, and I guess Mappo was also lonesome for Tum Tum.
At any rate, the two were soon as good friends as before.
The show went on from town to town, and it was nearing the time for the
circus season to be over. Then the animals would be taken back to the
big barn, there to stay all winter, until spring and summer should come
again.
One day a bad man came into the tent where the elephants were standing,
eating their hay, and held out something in his hand. Tum Tum, and the
other elephants, stretched out their trunks, for it seemed as if the man
had something good for them to eat. And Tum Tum, being the nearest,
reached it first.
The thing the man held out was in a bag, and it smelled like peanuts. In
fact, there were a few peanuts, and shells, in the bag but, besides
that, there were also some sour lemons, which Tum Tum did not like at
all. But he had chewed on them before he knew what they were, not
stopping to open the bag the bad man gave him.
As he felt the sour juice running down his throat, Tum Tum gave a
squeal. He was angry at the man who had played this trick on him.
"Ha! Ha!" laughed the man. "I fooled you that time, Mr. Elephant. How do
you like lemons?"
Tum Tum did not answer.
He just reached his trunk in his mouth, and pulled out the sour stuff,
and threw it away. The man laughed very hard at his mean trick, and one
of the keepers said to him:
"You had better look out. Elephants have good memories, and if ever you
get near Tum Tum, where he can reach you, you may be sorry for what you
did."
"Oh, I'm not afraid of an elephant!" cried the man with another laugh.
"If ever I can reach that man with my trunk, I'll make him wish he'd
never given me lemons," thought Tum Tum. But, try as he did, he could
not stretch himself far enough to reach the man, for there were chains
about the legs of the elephant.
Later on that day, the same man came walking past the elephants in the
animal tent, after the circus was over. I guess he had forgotten about
the trick he played. But Tum Tum and the other elephants had not
forgotten.
All of a sudden Maggo, the elephant standing next to Tum Tum, saw the
bad man, and, reaching out her trunk, Maggo caught him around the waist,
and lifted him off his feet.
"Oh! Oh! Put me down! Oh, an elephant has me!" cried the man.
Instantly there was great excitement in the animal tent. The people
yelled, and the trainers came running over to see what was the matter.
They saw the man lifted high in the air in Maggo's trunk.
"Put him down! Put him down at once!" cried Maggo's keeper.
But Maggo was not going to do that at once.
"Now is your chance, Tum Tum," said Maggo. "I'll hold this bad man, who
gave you lemons instead of peanuts, and you can hit him with your
trunk."
"No, I'll not do that," said Tum Tum, who was very gentle. "If I did, I
might hurt him, for I strike very hard with my trunk. But I will fix
him, so he will not play any more tricks on elephants."
Then Tum Tum dipped his trunk in a tub of water near by, and, suddenly,
spurted it all over the man, making him as wet as if he had gone in
swimming.
"Oh, my! Oh, dear! Oh, stop it!" cried the man excitedly, with the water
squirting all over him.
"Let him down now, Maggo," said Tum Tum, with a queer little twinkle,
like laughter, in his eyes. "I guess he won't want to play any more
tricks."
Maggo set down the dripping man, who was glad enough to run away. He did
not once look back.
"It served you right, for giving Tum Tum lemons," said a keeper. "Some
elephants would have done worse than just to squirt water on you."
One afternoon it was very hot in the circus. It was so hot that the
sides of the animal tent were lowered to let in the air, but, even at
that it was not very cool.
"Don't you wish we were back in the jungle, near some river, where we
could wade in and float until the sun went down?" asked Maggo of Tum
Tum.
"Indeed I do," was the answer. "But there is no use wishing."
"It doesn't seem so," spoke Maggo, and she fanned herself with her large
ears, in a way elephants have. "I wish I had something cool to drink,"
went on Maggo.
"Yes, a nice, cool drink would be just fine," said Tum Tum. "But I do
not see where we are going to get it," he went on.
Then he happened to look over the side of the tent, which had been let
down low, to allow the breeze to come in. What Tum Tum saw made him feel
very good.
Just outside the tent, was a lemonade stand, and on the ground by it was
a big washtub full of pink lemonade, the kind they always sell at
circuses. Tum Tum stretched out his trunk, and found that he could
easily reach the pink lemonade.
"I say, Maggo," called Tum Tum, in an elephant whisper. "I know how to
get a cool drink."
"How?" asked Maggo. "Now, don't play any joke on me. I could not bear
that. I am so thirsty!"
"No, this isn't a joke," said Tum Tum. "At least it isn't a joke on you.
Come, we shall both have a drink. Put your trunk out over the side of
the tent. On the ground outside is a big washtub, full of pink lemonade.
We can easily suck it up through our trunks and drink it. Come on, I'll
show you how to do it."
"Oh, fine!" cried Maggo. Then she and Tum Tum, not thinking it was
wrong, put their trunks down in the pink lemonade, and sucked it all
out, putting it into their mouths.
"Oh, but that's good!" cried Tum Tum, for the lemonade happened to be
very sweet.
"It certainly is," said Maggo. "I wish there were more."
CHAPTER XI
TUM TUM AND THE TIGER
The two elephants sucked up all the pink lemonade from the washtub near
the stand outside the tent. Then they felt much better, and cooler. They
did not mind the heat so much.
But, in a little while, there was a great sound of some one shouting and
calling outside the tent. It was the voice of the man who had made the
pink lemonade to sell to those who came to see the circus.
"Oh, my lemonade!" cried the man. "My pink lemonade! It is all gone!
Some one drank it all up, or else it leaked out of the tub! What shall I
do? What shall I do?"
The man ran up and down, trying to find his lemonade, but it was all
gone.
"Say, Tum Tum," said Maggo, "was that his lemonade we drank?"
"I--I guess it must have been," said Tum Tum. "But I didn't know it
belonged to anybody. I thought it was just standing there in the tub,
and that we might as well take it as anyone else."
"Well, it's too bad if we've taken the poor man's lemonade, that he was
going to sell for money," said Maggo.
"Yes, it is," agreed Tum Tum. "But we can't help it now."
"Yes," spoke Maggo. "We can't do anything."
Just then the man who owned the lemonade looked up, and saw the trunks
of the two elephants sticking out over the top of the tent. The man
guessed what had happened.
"Ha! They took my lemonade!" the man cried. "They sucked it up through
their trunks. Oh, they took my lemonade, and I'll make the circus pay
for it!"
Tum Tum's keeper heard the noise the man was making, and came running
up.
"What is the matter?" asked the circus man.
"Oh, yoy! Yoy!" cried the man. "Your elephants took all my pink
lemonade, from the washtub where I had ice in it! They sucked it up in
their rubber-hose trunks!"
"Tum Tum, did you and Maggo do that?" asked the keeper.
Tum Tum could not answer, of course. But the circus man looked at Tum
Tum's long, white ivory tusks, and on one of them were some splashes of
pink lemonade.
"Yes, Tum Tum, you did it," said the man. "Well, I won't punish you,
for you did not know any better, I suppose."
"But what about my lemonade?" asked the peddler. "Don't I get paid for
it?"
"Yes, I guess the circus will have to pay you," spoke the keeper. "After
all, I am glad Tum Tum had it, for he has been a good elephant, and so
has Maggo. I am glad they had it!"
The other elephants wished they had had some also, but there was not
enough to go around. The keeper paid the man for the lemonade the
elephants had taken, and the man made another washtub full. But this he
took care to place far enough away from the tent, so the elephants could
not reach over and suck it up in their trunks.
"Well, we made a lot of trouble, even though we did not mean to," said
Tum Tum to Maggo that evening, when they were cooling off after the
show. "But that lemonade tasted good, didn't it?"
"It certainly did," said Maggo with a sigh that almost shook the tent.
That night Tum Tum, and all the elephants, had to work very hard,
pushing the heavy animal cages down the road to where they were loaded
on the railroad cars to go to a distant city. As Tum Tum was pushing the
cage of Sharp Tooth, the big tiger, he heard that striped animal
talking with Roarer, the lion.
"Can you hear me, Roarer?" asked Sharp Tooth, as her cage was pushed
alongside that of the King of Beasts.
"Yes, I can hear you, Sharp Tooth," said Roarer. "What is it you want to
say?"
At this Tum Tum lifted wide his ears away from his sides, so he could
hear better.
"I think something is going to happen," mused Tum Tum.
Then Tum Tum made up his mind that he would listen and find out what it
was. He knew the tiger and lion were dangerous animals. They had never
become tame, and were always trying to find a way to escape, or get
loose from their cages.
"And if that's what they're trying this time, I'll stop them if I can,"
thought Tum Tum.
So, while he was pushing first the tiger, and then the lion cage along,
he listened, though he pretended not to hear anything.
"What is it you want to tell me, Sharp Tooth?" asked Roarer.
"Listen carefully," answered the tiger. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, yes," growled the lion again. "What is it? Be quick!"
"I know a way to get out of our cages," said the tiger. "If I tell you,
will you come with me? Then we can run off to the woods, and live there
until we can find our way back to the jungle. Will you come with me,
Roarer?"
"Yes," said the lion, "I will. Tell me how to get out of my cage and
back to the jungle."
The lion and tiger did not know that the jungle, where they had lived,
was many miles away, across the big ocean.
"This is how we can get out," said Sharp Tooth. "You know when the man
cleans our cages each night, he leaves the door unlocked so the feeding
man can follow and put meat in easily."
"Does he do that?" asked the lion. "I never noticed."
"Yes, he always does that," said the tiger. "For a little while each
evening, just before we are fed, the doors of our cages are not locked.
We can easily push them open, before the meat man comes to feed us and
closes them. We can get out then."
"But if we go before we get our meat, we shall be hungry," roared the
lion.
"What of it, silly?" cried Sharp Tooth. "Is it not better to get away,
and be hungry for a little while, than to stay here shut up in a cage
all your life?"
"Well, I suppose it is," said the lion with a big sigh. "Then we are to
come out of our cages to-night?"
"Yes, soon after the man has finished cleaning them, and has left the
door unlocked. He does not know that I know about the door. I suppose he
imagines I think it is as tightly shut as ever. But it isn't!"
"Good!" cried the lion. "Then we'll run away! But when?"
"To-night," hissed the tiger. "Be quiet now, some one may hear us."
"Ha! Some one has already heard you," thought Tum Tum. "So you are going
to get away to-night, are you? Well, not if I know it! I'll stop you all
right! It would never do to have you loose in the woods; all the people
would be scared. Let me see, how can I stop you?"
Tum Tum wished he could speak man-talk, so he could tell the keepers
what the lion and tiger were going to do. But Tum Tum could speak only
animal language.
"But I can stay near the tiger's cage, and when he does get out, I can
grab him in my trunk, before he has time to scratch me, and push him
back in his cage again," thought Tum Tum. "By that time the keepers will
come, and shut the cage doors. Yes, I'll do that with Sharp Tooth; but
what about Roarer? I need help there. I'll get Maggo."
So Tum Tum told Maggo, about the lion and tiger going to escape from the
circus.
"And if you'll stand in front of the lion's cage, he won't dare run very
far," said Tum Tum to Maggo. "If you'll look after the lion, I'll look
after the tiger."
"All right," said Maggo, "I shall. It would not be right for those
fierce animals to get away."
Toward evening, when the show was over for the afternoon, Maggo and Tum
Tum were allowed to roam about the animal tent a little, the chains
being taken off their feet.
"Now's our time, Maggo," whispered Tum Tum. "You go over by the lion's
cage, and I'll stay by the tiger's."
"All right, I will," said Maggo.
Over she went to stand in front of the lion's cage. The cleaning man had
been around, and the doors of the cages were open.
Then, before Tum Tum could get to the tiger's cage, that big, striped
beast gave one blow with his paw on the unlocked door, pushing it open.
He sprang out, crying:
"Come on, Roarer! Come on with me. I'm out! Jump out through the door
and we'll go to the jungle!"
CHAPTER XII
TUM TUM'S BRAVE DEED
Tum Tum tried to get in front of Sharp Tooth and stop the tiger from
getting out of his cage, but the big elephant was not quick enough.
Besides, the tiger moved so swiftly, that hardly any one could have
stopped him.
"Come back here! Come back!" cried Tum Tum, when he saw Sharp Tooth
running out of the tent.
"Indeed I will not! I'm off to the jungle!" snarled the striped beast.
"Come on, Roarer!" she called.
But Roarer could not, for Maggo, the big elephant, had placed herself in
front of the door of his cage, and was leaning against it. And Maggo was
so big and heavy that Roarer could not push open the iron-barred door.
"Get out of my way!" cried the lion to the elephant.
"No, no! I will not!" answered brave Maggo.
Then the lion put his paws through the bars of the cage and scratched
Maggo, but the lady elephant did not mind that. She made a loud noise
through her trunk, and this call brought the keepers on the run. One of
them saw what the matter was.
"Quick!" cried this keeper. "The lion's cage door is not fastened. He is
trying to get out, but the elephant is holding him in. Quick! Fasten
shut the door!"
Then the circus men, very quickly, made the door tightly shut, and that
was the end of Roarer's chances for getting out. Oh, but that lion was
angry!
He sprang about the cage, roaring loudly, but he could not get out to go
and join Sharp Tooth, the tiger.
"Some of you put some salve on the elephant's scratches," said the head
circus man, "while I look to see if any other animals have gotten
loose."
Then he saw the open door of the tiger's cage, and he cried:
"Sharp Tooth is loose! We must go and find that tiger!"
Then some one else called:
"And Tum Tum is gone also!"
"What, Tum Tum gone!" cried the elephant trainer. "That's so," he said,
as he saw that the place where Tum Tum used to stand was empty.
"I wonder where Tum Tum can be?" said the keeper. Maggo wished she
could tell how Tum Tum had tried to stop the tiger from running away,
but how the big elephant had not been in time. However, the head keeper
must have guessed it.
"I don't believe Tum Tum ran away," he said. "He must have gone out
after the tiger. Come on, we must find them both."
As it happened, the circus performance was over, so there were no boys
or girls, or men and women, to be frightened by hearing that the tiger
was loose. Sharp Tooth was so excited at getting out of the cage, that
she did not try to bite anybody. She slipped out of the tent, and ran
toward some woods near the circus lot.
But Tum Tum was right after her. The tiger could go along very fast, but
the elephant could travel almost as quickly, and he kept right behind
the striped beast.
"Ha! Go on back! Stop following me!" snarled Sharp Tooth.
"No, I'll not," answered the brave elephant. "I want you to come back to
the circus."
"I'll never come!" snapped the tiger.
"Oh, yes, you will," the elephant said.
The tiger kept on, and Tum Tum followed. Finally the tiger ran up a tree
and crouched out on a big limb.
"Ha! Now you can't follow me!" she said to the elephant. "You can't
climb up this tree!"
"No, but I can stay here until you come down," said Tum Tum, "and that's
what I'll do."
"Bah!" snarled the tiger. "Go away and let me alone!"
But Tum Tum would not. He stayed under the tree where the tiger was, for
he knew that soon the circus men would come to hunt for Sharp Tooth, to
put her back in her cage.
And, surely enough, that is just what happened. The head keeper could
easily see which way the tiger and elephant had gone, for, though Sharp
Tooth did not make much of a track, Tum Tum did. An elephant cannot
crash and push his way through the bushes and trees without making a
broad path. And this path the circus men followed. Soon they came to the
tree in which Sharp Tooth was crouching.
"Here she is!" cried one. "Bring up the cage!"
The tiger's empty cage was wheeled under the tree, and the door was
open. Inside was put a nice piece of meat, such as the tiger loved, and
she was very hungry now.
"You had better go down in your cage and behave yourself," said Tum Tum.
"No, I will not!" snarled the tiger. But when the circus men snapped
their whips, and fired off guns, and brought blazing torches,
Sharp Tooth was afraid. Besides, she was very hungry, and as the lion
had not run away with her, she was afraid she could never get to the
jungle alone.
[Illustration: He stayed under the tree where the tiger was, for he knew
that soon the circus men would come to hunt for Sharp Tooth. Page 120]
"I guess I had better go down in my cage," said the tiger. "But," she
added to Tum Tum, "if ever I get a chance to scratch you, I will."
Into the cage she jumped, and the circus men slammed the door shut. The
tiger was caught again.
"Good old boy, Tum Tum!" called the elephant's keeper to him, as they
were going back to the animal tent. "You saved the tiger from getting
away, and that was a good thing, for Sharp Tooth might have bitten
someone. You are a very good elephant!"
This made Tum Tum feel quite happy, more happy even than did the nice
big lumps of sugar, and loaves of bread, he was given for his supper as
a reward.
For you know animals like to be spoken kindly to, as well we do, boys
and girls. You just try it with your dog. Speak harshly to him, or scold
him, and see how he cringes down, and tucks his tail between his legs.
He knows when you are not kind to him.
And then try speaking nicely. Tell him what a good dog he is, and how
much you like him, and see what a change there is.
He will jump up, and wag his tail, and bark, he is so glad because you
are speaking kindly to him. And, if you let him, he will try to kiss you
with his red tongue. Oh, yes, indeed, animals know a great deal more
than most persons think they do.
So that was how Sharp Tooth got out of her cage, and how Tum Tum helped
to catch her again. After that the animals' cages were never left open,
even for a second.
"Did you get very scratched?" asked Tum Tum of Maggo, when everything
was once more quiet in the animal tent.
"No, not much," answered the lady elephant.
"I'm sorry I was not quick enough for the tiger," said Tum Tum. "Never
mind, it is all over now."
Then the two elephant friends stood side by side in the tent and ate hay
and talked to each other in elephant language.
And now my story of Tum Tum is drawing to a close. I shall tell you one
more thing that happened to him, and then I am finished.
One day the circus was showing near a large city, and great crowds of
people came out to see it. There were boys and girls--more than Tum Tum
had ever seen before. The big tent was full.
Tum Tum did all his tricks as best he could. He stood on his head, and
on his hind legs. He sat up at the table, and made believe eat a meal.
In this trick Mappo, the merry monkey, had a part, for he sat up with
Tum Tum, and they both ate.
When the circus was almost over, and Tum Tum had played soldier, and
marched out of the ring carrying Mappo on his back, while Mappo waved a
flag, the little monkey, who could see out of the top of the tent said:
"Tum Tum, we are going to have a big thunder shower. I can see the
lightning and the black clouds."
"Well, it will not hurt us," said Tum Tum. "We often used to have
thunder storms in the jungle, and here we are under a tent."
Then, suddenly the storm came. It grew very black, and the thunder and
lightning frightened the big crowds in the circus tent. It rained very
hard, too, so that some of the tent ropes were made loose and slipped.
"Run out, quick!" suddenly called a man. "The tent is going to fall on
us! Run, everybody!"
"No! Sit still! Keep your seats!" the circus men cried, but the crowd
was frightened and ran.
Just then, one of the big poles of the tent began to fall.
"That pole must not fall!" cried Tum Tum's keeper. "But how can I hold
it up? I am not strong enough."
Then he looked at Tum Tum, the big elephant.
"Ha! Tum Tum will hold up the pole, until all the people get out of the
tent!" cried the circus man. "Here, Tum Tum," he called. "Hold up this
pole."
Tum Tum knew what was wanted of him. He pushed his strong head against
the pole, and it did not fall over. Tum Tum held it up, and the tent did
not come down.
"Tum Tum, you are a fine elephant!" cried his master. "I love you!"
The rain was soon over, and that night, after the evening performance,
the circus went on to another town.
That brings me to the end of Tum Tum's adventures. But I have some
stories about other animals, and in the next book I'll tell you about
"Don, a Runaway Dog; His Many Adventures."
As for Tum Tum, he lived in the circus for many, many years, growing
older and stronger and wiser every day, and everybody thought he was the
jolliest elephant in all the world.
THE END
STORIES FOR CHILDREN
(From four to nine years old)
THE KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES
BY RICHARD BARNUM
[Illustration]
In all nursery literature animals have played a conspicuous part; and
the reason is obvious for nothing entertains a child more than the
antics of an animal. These stories abound in amusing incidents such as
children adore and the characters are so full of life, so appealing to a
child's imagination, that none will be satisfied until they have met all
of their favorites--Squinty, Slicko, Mappo, Tum Tum, etc.
1 SQUINTY, THE COMICAL PIG.
2 SLICKO, THE JUMPING SQUIRREL.
3 MAPPO, THE MERRY MONKEY.
4 TUM TUM, THE JOLLY ELEPHANT.
5 DON, A RUNAWAY DOG.
6 DIDO, THE DANCING BEAR.
7 BLACKIE, A LOST CAT.
8 FLOP EAR, THE FUNNY RABBIT.
9 TINKLE, THE TRICK PONY.
10 LIGHTFOOT, THE LEAPING GOAT.
11 CHUNKY, THE HAPPY HIPPO.
12 SHARP EYES, THE SILVER FOX.
_Cloth, Large 12mo., Illustrated, Per vol. 50 cents_
For sale at all bookstores or sent (postage paid) on receipt of price by
the publishers.
BARSE & HOPKINS
Publishers 28 West 23rd Street New York
End of Project Gutenberg's Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant, by Richard Barnum
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