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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 waswalking 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 Tumcould 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, thetiger, 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 rainedin 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 hewas 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.
"Iwillpush that wagon!" he said to himself. "Iwillpush 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."
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The big hippopotamus wagon rolled out of the mud on to the firm hard road. Page 84.
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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. Heonly 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 thewagons 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.
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"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 thestraw 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 elephantlanguage, 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, totake 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 hiscompanions, 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 toride 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 weride 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.
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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 feelhappier. 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.
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Right out of the ground the big elephant pulled the tree. Page 98.
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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, nomatter 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 TumTum 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 afew 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 ofwater 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 TumTum, 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."
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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 SharpTooth; 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!"