TUM TUM AND THE FIRE
Through the woods, near the circus town, went the men looking for lost
Mappo. They wanted to get back the monkey because he was such a good one
to do tricks, and because the children, many of whom came to the circus,
liked to see him ride on the back of a dog, or pony, and jump through
paper-covered hoops.
"We must find Mappo!" cried the keeper who had him in charge.
Mappo had run away, as I have told you in the book about his adventures,
because he was afraid Sharp Tooth, the big tiger, would get loose and
bite him. In the woods he had many wonderful adventures.
He met Slicko, the jumping girl squirrel, about whom I have told you,
and also Squinty, the comical pig. Mappo liked Squinty, the pig, very
much, for Squinty was a nice little chap.
On and on went Tum Tum and the men, looking for the lost monkey. After
the search had gone on for several hours, Mappo, who was walking along
through the woods with Squinty, saw the circus men coming after him.
"Here's where I have to run and hide," said Mappo.
"Why?" grunted Squinty, the comical pig.
"Because the circus men are after me. Look!" and the monkey chap pointed
through the woods to where could be seen some men in red coats.
"Oh, and look at that funny animal with two tails!" cried Squinty. "I'd
be afraid of him."
"You wouldn't need to be," said Mappo. "That is only Tum Tum, the
elephant, and he is very jolly. He would not hurt a fly. I guess he is
looking for me, but, as I don't want to go back to the circus just yet,
I'll go off in the woods and hide."
"And I guess I'll go hide, too," said Squinty, for he, also, had run
away, but not from a circus. He had run away from his pen at the
farm--the farm where Don, the dog, lived.
So Mappo hurried off to climb a tall tree. As Tum Tum went along through
the bushes, he saw his little monkey friend.
"Ha! There is Mappo!" said Tum Tum to himself, and he hurried on through
the woods.
"Wait a minute, Mappo!" called Tum Tum, in animal language.
But Mappo would not wait, and Tum Tum could not tell the circus men
with him that the lost monkey was just ahead of them. Tum Tum could not
speak man talk, you know, and the circus men had not yet seen Mappo. So
the little monkey got away.
Tum Tum saw a little animal with Mappo, and the elephant said to
himself:
"Ha! That must be Squinty, the comical pig, of whom Don, the dog, told
me. I would like to meet Squinty, but I don't see how I can. He can run
through these woods faster than I can. Well, maybe I will see him some
day. And I do hope Mappo comes back to the circus. It will be lonesome
without him."
But Mappo had many adventures before he came back to the circus.
"Well, I guess it's no use hunting for him any more," said one of the
circus men. "That monkey has gotten far away. We had better go back to
the tents."
"Yes, I think we had," said the man who was riding on the back of Tum
Tum.
The elephant knew that Mappo was not so very far off, but Tum Tum had no
way of telling his keeper about it.
Back to the circus went Tum Tum, and another monkey had to do the tricks
that Mappo used to do in the performances that day.
"What happened?" asked Sharp Tooth, the tiger, of Tum Tum, as the
elephant went past the cage of the striped beast. "Where did you go a
little while ago?"
"Out looking for Mappo, the monkey," answered Tum Tum.
"Did he run away?" asked the tiger.
"Yes, I guess he was afraid you would bite him."
"And so I would, if I could get him," snarled the tiger. "He is to blame
for me being shut up in this cage."
Tum Tum said nothing, for he did not want to get in a quarrel with the
tiger.
Day after day went past in the circus, and still Mappo did not come
back. Sometimes Tum Tum was lonesome for his little monkey friend, but
there was so much to do, that no one in a circus could be lonesome for
very long at a time.
Tum Tum was learning some new tricks, and this took up much of his time.
Each day he was growing bigger and stronger, for he was not a very old
elephant, when he had been caught in the jungle. Now he was very strong,
and he could easily have pushed two heavy animal cages at once. He was
the strongest elephant in the whole circus.
One day, when the circus was going along the road from one town to
another, one of the wagons became stuck fast in the mud, for it had
rained in the night. It was the wagon in which rode the hippopotamus,
with his big red mouth that he could open so wide.
The whole circus procession had to stop, or at least all the wagons
behind the hippopotamus cage, had to stop, as they could not get past.
"Bring up some of the elephants, and have them pull the hippo's cage out
of the mud!" cried the head circus man. He called him "hippo" for short,
you see.
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 pushing.
"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."
[Illustration: 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 pushing 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!
"Fire! Fire!" cried the peanut man. "Oh, somebody put out the fire, or
all my peanuts will be burned up!"
Tum Tum looked at the fire, and wondered if he could help put it out.