“Aggie!” I called in a low tone. “Aggie! Where are you?”
There was a silence, then from somewhere above came a sneeze, followed
by Aggie’s voice, broken and trembling.
“On--on a r-r-rafter, Lizzie,” she said.
I could not believe my ears and advanced towards the sound. Suddenly
Aggie yelled, and at the same moment the smaller balloon lurched and
came toward me.
“Run!” Aggie yelled. “Run. She’s after you!”
Unfortunately, the warning came too late. Something reached out from
the running balloon and caught me around the body, and the next
moment, to my horror, I was lifted off the ground and thrust up into
the timbers which supported the roof of the building. I am a heavy
woman, and only by a desperate effort did I catch a rafter as the thing
let go of me, and drew myself to safety. Aggie was somewhere close at
hand, sobbing in the darkness.
It was a moment before I could speak. Then I managed to ask what had
happened to me.
“It’s Katie, Lizzie,” Aggie said between sobs. “I think she must have
found the blackberry cordial we left here, and it’s gone to her head!”
Our position was very unfortunate, especially as time was important.
Katie was merely playful, but on any attempt to move on our part she
would trumpet loudly and reach up for us. Most annoying of all, she had
taken a fancy to one of my shoes and kept reaching up and pulling at it.
“Let her have it, if it keeps her quiet,” Aggie said tartly when I told
her. “Give her anything she wants. Give her your bonnet. I never liked
it, anyhow.”
It was then after midnight, but fortunately it was very soon after that
that we saw an electric flash and heard our dear Tish’s voice.
“Aggie! Lizzie!” she called. And then she saw the elephant and advanced
toward her.
“Katie!” she said. “What are you doing here? I’ve been looking for you
all over the lot!” She then turned the flash on Katie and beheld her
swaying. “Shame on you,” she said. “I believe you’ve been drinking.”
“Don’t reprove her; kill her”; Aggie said suddenly from overhead, and
Tish looked up.
“I thought so,” she said rather sharply. “I cannot count on the
faintest coöperation. I need two courageous hearts, and I find you
roosting like frightened chickens on a beam. That elephant’s harmless.
She’s only playing.”
“I don’t like the way she plays, then,” I protested angrily. “If you
do, play with her yourself.”
But Tish had no time for irony. She simply picked up a piece of wood
from the ground and hit Katie on the trunk with it.
“Now!” she said. “Bring them down, you shame to your sex. And be
gentle. Remember you are not quite yourself.”
Thanks to Tish’s dominance over all types of inferior minds, Katie at
once obeyed, and brought us down without difficulty.
Then she ambled unsteadily to a corner, and proceeded to empty another
bottle of cordial we had concealed there.
I have always considered, in spite of its dénouement, that Tish’s
idea of using Katie to drag the blimp out of the shed was a brilliant
one. Katie herself made no demur. She stood swaying gently while we
harnessed her to the balloon and at the word she bent to her work. Tish
was in the car, examining the controls at the time, and turning up what
I believe are called the flippers, which direct its course away from
Mother Earth.
But I have blamed her for her impatience in starting the engine before
we had unfastened Katie’s harness. Tish has a tendency now and then
toward hasty action, which she always regrets later. There is this
excuse for her, however: She had apparently no idea that the balloon
would rise the moment the propeller reached a certain number of
revolutions. But it did.
It seemed only a moment after we heard the engine start that I felt the
car lifting from the earth, and in desperation flung myself into it, as
Aggie did the same thing from the other side.
The next instant we were well above the ground, and from below there
was coming a terrible trumpeting and squealing. We all looked over the
side, and there beneath us was Katie, fastened to us by her harness and
rising with us!
I shall never forget that moment. One and all, we are members of the
Humane Society. And if Katie’s ropes and straps gave way, she would
certainly fall to a terrible death. Even Tish lost her sang-froid and,
frantically starting the engine, endeavored to maneuver the thing to
earth again. But anybody who has traveled in a blimp knows that it
cannot be brought to earth again without outside aid.
Moreover, we were already outside the studio grounds, and traveling
over roofs which Katie barely escaped. Indeed, from certain sounds,
we had reason to believe that she was striking numerous chimneys, and
I think now that this may account for the stories of a mysterious
electric storm that night, which destroyed a half dozen chimneys in one
block.
It was a fortunate thing that Tish remembered in time to elevate the
flippers still further, thus giving us a certain amount of leeway. But
a strong breeze from the sea had sprung up and was carrying us toward
the city, and it became increasingly evident that, even if we cleared
the highest buildings, Katie would not.
It was a tragic moment. Aggie proposed lightening the craft by throwing
out the bottles of liquor, which had been a part of the smugglers’
cargo in the picture, but Tish restrained her.
“Better to kill an elephant,” she said, “than to brain some harmless
wretch below.”
Katie meanwhile had lapsed into the silence of despair, or possibly
had fainted. I do not know, nor is it now pertinent, for in a few
moments the situation solved itself. We had barely missed the roof of
the First National Bank Building when the blimp gave a terrific jar,
and momentarily stopped.
On looking over the side the cause of this was explained. Katie had
landed squarely on the flat roof of the building, and had immediately
thrown her trunk around a chimney and braced herself. Even as we
looked, her harness parted and left her free of us.
Katie was saved.
Glancing again over the side as we quickly rose, we could see her in
the moonlight still hugging her chimney and gazing after us. What
thoughts were hers we cannot know.
I am glad to solve in this manner a problem which caused much
perplexity throughout the country--namely, how an elephant could have
reached the roof of the First National Bank Building, to which the
only possible entrance was through a trapdoor two feet six inches each
way. As will be seen, the explanation, like that of many mysteries, is
entirely simple.
* * * * *
It is necessary to touch but lightly on the unfortunate incident which
concluded our escape. That the apparently friendly villagers who, the
next morning, ran out from their peaceful businesses to haul on our
ropes and bring us to a landing, should so change in attitude in a few
moments has ever since been a warning to us of the innate suspicion of
human nature.
How could they look at Tish’s firm and noble face, and so misread
it? Why did they not at once open the smugglers’ rum cargo which had
remained in the car, and discover that the liquid in the bottles was
only cold tea?
Can it be possible that Charlie Sands’ explanation is correct, and that
the fact that many of them purchased the stuff from the sheriff and
later threatened to lynch him, can account for his peculiar malignity
to us?
One thing is certain--they held us in the local jail for days, until
Charlie Sands was able to rescue us.
We never saw Mr. Stein again. Nor, frankly, did we ever expect to see
Tish’s picture, since she had not finished it. But, as all the world
now knows, it opened in June of this current year, and made a great
success.
But our surprise at this was as nothing compared with the fact that
Tish’s name did not appear in connection with it, and that the
announcements read: “Featuring Miss Betty Carlisle.”
There had been no Miss Carlisle in Tish’s cast.
On the opening night we went to see it, accompanied by Charlie Sands.
He said very little while watching Tish perform her various exploits,
but when, after the shooting scene, Tish prepared to depart he
protested.
“I’ve stood it up to this point,” he said grimly. “I propose to see it
through.”
“There will be no more, Charles,” Tish explained in an indulgent
manner. “I quit at the end of this scene. Be glad of one picture which
does not end with an embrace.”
But she had spoken too soon!
Judge of our amazement when we saw our Tish, on the screen, disappear
through a doorway, and return a moment later, a young and beautiful
girl, who was at once clasped in Mr. Macmanus’ arms.
The title was: Her Elderly Disguise at Last Removed!