Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant Part 9

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 pa.s.sing 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."