Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant Part 11

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 pus.h.i.+ng.

"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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 pus.h.i.+ng 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!