Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant Part 13

"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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Right out of the ground the big elephant pulled the tree.

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"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 b.a.l.l.s?" 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 b.a.l.l.s. 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.