Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant Part 6

"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 s.h.i.+vering 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 s.h.i.+p.

"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.