SHAGGO MEETS DON
Shaggo himself, in his circus cage, soon began to feel that something
was wrong. It was not that he minded rolling along in his strange
house on wheels, but this time he was not being drawn by horses as he
had been at first. He could look out through the bars and see that no
horses were hitched to his cage. They had been taken back into the
circus barn. And yet Shaggo’s cage was rolling along. It was rolling
downhill, and going faster and faster all the while.
“Stop it! Somebody stop the buffalo’s cage!” cried the circus men, and
several of them ran after it. But they were too far away, and Shaggo’s
cage might have gone down the hill and been broken open on the rocks
and trees at the bottom, only for what Tum Tum did.
The jolly elephant saw that something was wrong, and, in a way, Tum Tum
understood men’s talk. His trainer had taught him to stand on his head
and lie down, and whenever he heard these words Tum Tum knew what to
do. So, when the big, jolly elephant heard the men shouting he knew
something had happened. He looked toward the rolling cage, with the
buffalo in it. By this time Shaggo was beginning to feel frightened.
“If there’s a smash my sore shoulder will be hurt again! Ouch! I don’t
want that to happen!” thought Shaggo. Then he bellowed out:
“Somebody stop my cage from going to smash!”
“I’ll save you! I’ll stop your cage!” cried Tum Tum.
The big elephant ran down the little hill until he was in front of the
buffalo’s cage. Even if he was almost as large as a small house, Tum
Tum could run fast. It did not take him long to put himself in front of
the rolling cage. Then with his big head lowered, Tum Tum stood still,
and when the cage came along it bumped gently into the elephant and
came to a stop. Shaggo was not shaken up at all.
“Oh, look!” cried the circus men. “Tum Tum stopped the buffalo’s cage
from going to smash.”
“Yes, you can always depend on Tum Tum,” said the elephant’s keeper.
“He’s a smart beast.”
“Thank you, so much, Tum Tum,” said Shaggo, in animal talk, as he
looked out through the bars and saw what his new friend had done. “You
saved my lame shoulder from being bumped.”
“I’m glad I did,” replied the elephant. “Now keep still, Shaggo, and
I’ll push your cage back up the hill where you’ll be all right.”
Shaggo was a very strong and mighty buffalo, but as he looked at the
immense head and legs of the elephant while Tum Tum pushed the wagon
back up the hill, Shaggo thought:
“Here is one who is mightier than I.”
There were busy times for the next few days. The cage of Shaggo, as
well as the cages of the other animals, together with the tents, the
stoves, the band wagons, the steam calliope wagon and all the other
things that go to make up a circus were loaded on railroad cars, and
the circus started on its summer wanderings.
By this time Shaggo was getting used to traveling on a railroad, and
did not mind it much. In the same car with him was a cage in which a
handsome black and yellow striped animal paced up and down.
For some time this animal did not speak to Shaggo. He kept marching up
and down in his cage, and, now and then, he would rise up on his hind
legs and paw at the iron bars.
“Excuse me,” said Shaggo, after a while, “but are you trying to get
loose?”
“No. I know better than to try that,” was the answer. “I have been in
my cage so long I am used to it now. But at times I wish I might go
back to my jungle.”
“I have heard Tum Tum and Mappo speak of the jungle,” said Shaggo. “You
are neither an elephant nor a monkey. What are you?”
“I am a tame tiger, and my name is Tamba,” was the reply.
“I am glad to meet you,” said Shaggo, and he told his name. “I am a
buffalo.”
“Yes, I know you are,” said the tiger.
“You did? How?” asked Shaggo in surprise. “I am the only buffalo in the
circus, and――”
“Oh, but I have seen buffaloes in the jungle,” said Tamba. “They are
not exactly like you, and their horns are longer. We call them water
buffaloes, but they are near enough like you so that I knew who you
were. But you seem to have two humps; how is that?”
“That swelling on my shoulder is not a hump,” answered Shaggo. “It is
where I hurt myself when I leaped over the fence as I ran away from the
range.”
“Then you are a runaway!” exclaimed Tamba.
“Yes,” answered Shaggo, somewhat sadly, for his shoulder hurt him more
than ever. “I thought I was such a mighty buffalo that the preserve,
in the Park, was too small for me. I thought I was the strongest animal
in the world――until I saw Tum Tum. He would make two of me.”
“Yes, Tum Tum is the greatest of all animals,” said the tiger. “But,
with all that, he is kind and gentle, and the jolliest friend you could
ever have.”
“I can easily believe that,” rumbled Shaggo. “Well, I ran away, and now
I can not get back. I must make the best of it.”
“Oh, you’ll like it here in the circus,” said Tamba. “We have good
times after we get started, and it is fun to watch the people come and
see us. Besides we do tricks. Do you know any?”
“No,” Shaggo answered, “I don’t know any tricks.”
“And I don’t believe you are the kind of animal they would teach tricks
to,” said the tiger. “Never mind, you are good to look at, and very
odd, with your two humps. I shouldn’t be surprised but what they would
advertise you, and put you in a book.”
“I know a little of what it means to be in a book,” said Shaggo. “I
heard Tum Tum and Mappo speak of that. But what is ‘advertise’? That is
a word I never heard before.”
“It means put your name and your picture on the billboards and on the
posters that go up all over town when the circus is to show,” explained
the tiger. “I’m on the pictures, and so is Nero and Tum Tum, and also
Chunky, the happy hippo. He always has his picture taken with his mouth
wide open.”
“What for?” asked Shaggo.
“Oh, it’s the biggest part of him; and I suppose he is rather proud of
it,” answered Tamba. “It is my stripes that show best. You should see
some of my latest pictures.”
“I hope I may,” said Shaggo, politely.
“And I hope I shall see yours,” went on Tamba. “Not all circus animals
get their pictures on the posters, but I think you will. And now,
if you will excuse me, I think I’ll go to sleep. We may have a long
ride before our cages are taken off the train and put in the tents.
Good-night.”
“Good-night,” answered Shaggo, and then he saw the tame tiger curl up
and go to sleep. Shaggo also closed his eyes, but he did not sleep at
once.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have trouble with that shoulder before it gets
better,” thought the mighty buffalo, just before, at last, he finally
dropped off into a sleep.
When Shaggo awoke he found a great deal of excitement going on around
the circus train, which had come to a stop. There was the rumble of
heavy wagons and the tramping of horses, mingled with the shouting and
calling of men.
“What’s the matter?” asked Shaggo of Tamba.
“Oh,” answered the tiger, giving a yawn, “we have reached the first
city in which the circus is to give a performance. Now we shall be put
in a tent, and people will come to see us.”
“What’s a tent?” asked Shaggo, who had never seen one.
“It’s a sort of a white, cloth house,” the tiger answered. “You’ll like
it. This sort of life is much more fun than being cooped up in the
winter barns.”
Pretty soon the cages of Tamba and Shaggo and the rest were taken from
the railroad car and drawn to the circus grounds.
A large crowd of boys and a number of men came to the place where the
train stopped to see the circus unload, and, later, they watched the
big tent being put up. Of this Shaggo saw very little, for his cage
remained covered. At last, however, his wagon, and that of the other
animals, was wheeled inside the big, white cloth house, and Shaggo
found himself in a sort of ring of which many other cages formed a
part.
“Now the circus will soon start, after we have been in the parade,”
said Tamba.
“What’s a parade?” asked Shaggo.
“My! You don’t know anything about a circus, do you?” laughed Tamba. “A
parade is where the animals march, or are drawn, through the streets so
the people can see them――at least see some of them, and that makes them
want to come and see more. The elephants, camels and horses march, but
you will be kept in your cage, I think, as I am, and as Nero is also.”
A little later the cages were hauled out again and, for the first time
in his life, Shaggo took part in a circus parade. He looked out through
the bars of his cage and saw crowds of people lining the streets.
The bands played, the steam calliope tooted its queer music, and the
wagon-load of clowns made the children laugh.
Then, once more, back to the circus grounds the mighty buffalo was
taken, and a little later the circus performance started. Of the part
that went on in the main tent, where the acrobats did their tricks, the
clowns cut up funny capers and Tum Tum and Tamba went through their
acts, Shaggo saw nothing.
The buffalo was kept in his cage, as were some of the other animals.
It was their part in the show to be looked at, and a great throng
gathered around Shaggo’s cage.
He stood and watched the people passing his cage. Once a man came along
carrying a cane. Shaggo was standing still in one corner, for his
shoulder hurt him.
“Hi there!” called the man sharply. “Move about there, Buffalo, and
let’s see what you look like!” As he said this the man poked Shaggo
with the cane. He prodded the buffalo on his sore shoulder, and Shaggo
let out a loud bellow of pain and jumped to one side.
“Ha! I made him step lively!” cried this unkind man.
A moment later a small, shaggy animal, with a pointed nose and bright
shining eyes, leaped at the man, showed his teeth and growled.
“Here! Let that buffalo alone!” Shaggo heard this new animal bark, and
saw the man leap back in fright and run out of the tent.
“Thank you for not letting him poke me again,” said Shaggo to this
shaggy animal. “Are you a wolf?”
“No, I am Don, and once I was a runaway dog,” was the answer. “I could
see that this man was hurting you, so I drove him away. If he comes
back I’ll nip him,” and Don growled again.
The man who had poked Shaggo with the cane, hurting the buffalo’s lame
shoulder, did not come back, however. I think he was rather afraid of
Don, who growled so fiercely. Don was a good and gentle dog, but he did
not like bad men.