IN WHICH DAN AND GRAY EARS ARRIVE AT THEIR GOAL
“Some day I may relate the happenings that fell to our lot between the
heart of the woods and the great river’s edge,” continued Diggeldy Dan.
“But I fancy you are just now most impatient to learn exactly what came
to pass when Gray Ears and I reached our long journey’s end. So, suppose
we all shut our eyes very tight, give a marvelous jump and, thus leaving
the point where breakfast was had, land plump on the spot from whence I
got my first glimpse of the tents that were to be my new home.
“The day was most done when, forcing his way through a thicket, Gray
Ears emerged on a grass-covered ridge that reclined with its head in the
woods and its feet at the brim of a river. The stream wound to the north
and to the south, while just across it—and so very near the bank that
one wondered the buildings did not tumble into the water—lay a city. And
within the city—close by the edge that was nearest us—sprawled a great,
billowing something of dazzling white. This something swayed gently in
the sun’s lowering rays or waved to the breeze with its pennants and
flags of yellow and blue. Yes, there it lay, quite as if it awaited our
coming—the home of the biggest circus of all.
“‘And to-night, when darkness has come, we shall both cross the river
and so reach the very rear of the tents,’ said Gray Ears, as his eyes
followed mine over the face of the stream.
“‘Is it there we will cross?’ I asked, as I pointed toward a massive
iron bridge.
“‘What! And meet no end of persons and things! Certainly not. I have a
far better way. But we must bide our time and meanwhile gather a supply
of long, trailing vines, the purpose of which you will learn later on.’
“So the last hour of the day was spent in searching the woods for vine
branches, being careful to select only those that were well strung with
leaves. By the time we had completed this task and returned to the
ridge, darkness had fallen and the lights been set twinkling in the city
and tents that lay over the stream.
“‘Now all is ready,’ said Gray Ears. And bidding me take the mass of
vines in my arms, he put his trunk about my waist and lifted me—not to
my place on his foot—but to the very tip-top of his head. And as I knelt
there, with the vines between my knees and my hands clasping fast to the
upper edge of his ears, the big fellow swung straight down the slope and
walked smack into the river!
“So carefully did Gray Ears advance that his great feet made hardly a
splash. I could hear only a soft, gurgling sound that came from where
the current, suddenly meeting the side of what it probably mistook for a
queer-fashioned rock, protested in some little surprise before slipping
around the ends of it. Finally even this murmuring ceased. All movement
seemed stilled. Looking about I saw that the whole of Gray Ears—not
counting the top of his head and a part of his trunk—had become
submerged in the depths of the stream. And so, while I perched in my
place—quite as though I were voyaging on the back of a turtle—Gray Ears
swam on.
“All went as it should until we reached the very middle of the river.
Then a rowboat suddenly shot into view from the lee of a low, wooded
island. Two men were in it—one at the oars and the other idly dangling a
lantern from his place in the bow. It was headed straight for us. Even
as I looked, the rays of the light fell full on my face. I quickly
crouched down, but not before the man in the bow had caught sight of me.
“‘A clown! A clown! A sure-enough clown!’ cried he to the one at the
oars. ‘Pull to just a bit. There! No, I have lost him.’ And he began to
cast about with the lantern.
“Meanwhile I felt the tip of Gray Ears’ trunk pressed close to the side
of my head. Grasping the end of it, I held it up to my ear while through
it came a whisper in warning:
“‘Quick! Down on your knees—with one arm thrust in the air. We must
escape them and their questions, for we cannot afford the delay!’
“Even as I obeyed I could feel the great trunk winding in and about me,
and knew that Gray Ears was wrapping me round with the trailing ends of
the vines!
“Meanwhile the man with the lantern was pointing it this way and that,
while his companion kept insisting that he had seen nothing at all.
“‘But I did,’ he protested. ‘I saw the whole of his round, funny face
and, believe it or not, he was sliding along on the top of the water.’
“At this reply the one who was rowing almost tumbled over with laughter.
In doing so he loosed his hold on the oars so that the boat swung about
and so almost bumped into Gray Ears and me.
“‘There goes an old log with a broken-off limb all covered with
vines—how would it do for your clown who sits on the water?’ jeered the
doubting one. And, he still poking fun and the other still looking, the
two of them passed on, while we again took to our course, to finally
land on the coveted shore.
“We found ourselves standing in what seemed to be a yard of considerable
size and skirted on all but the river’s side by a very tall fence. To
the right and the left were gigantic bunkers piled high with coal.
Between these we advanced, but had gone scarcely three paces when we
came face to face with a big, bearded watchman who carried a glaring
white light in one of his hands and a knotted, black stick in the other.
“‘Hey, there!’ he cried. ‘You can’t come in here. It’s ’gainst the
rules.’
“‘But, sir, we must do so,’ I pleaded. ‘We’ve just got to go on.’
“‘Got to nuthin’,’ retorted the man. ‘There’s orders writ plain as
paint. Now you two gwan right back into the river.’
“And he turned his light on a huge board of white on which there
appeared in very black letters:
NOTICE
All Persons Are Warned to Keep Off These Premises
“‘Yes,’ I cried, ‘but that can’t possibly mean us because we’re not
persons but just Gray Ears and Diggeldy Dan.’
“‘Not persons, eh,’ repeated the watchman as he scratched his head,
‘Well, now, I don’t know about that—’
“‘Besides,’ rumbled Gray Ears, ‘you see the—’
“And he placed the nose of his trunk near the big watchman’s ear and
whispered something I couldn’t quite hear.
“‘Oh!’ came the reply, ‘Oh, in that case—of course. Why in the world
didn’t you say so at first!’
“While to my utter surprise, he hurried to the gates that led to the
street, unfastened the lock and threw them apart with so much of a
flourish that one might have supposed us a prince and his train.
“Through the opening strode Gray Ears and we were once more on our way.
Long rows of warehouses as dark and as silent as the depths of the night
now shut the Very Biggest Circus from view. But over the edge of their
frowning black tops a warm, yellow glow lighted the face of the sky. And
we knew that this came from the tents for which we were bound.
“Up street and down street the two of us went, meeting no one at all.
And then, of a sudden, our path was beset by a burly policeman who
seemed not one whit less than a whole half-mile tall. There he
stood—twirling his moustache and his round, polished club, and whistling
a tune from over the seas. But at sight of us he shut his lips with a
start, brought his club to his side and, raising one hand, signaled an
immediate halt.
“‘Stop!’ he commanded. ‘You cannot come down this street.’
“But Oh!—Mr. Policeman, we just have to,” I cried.
“‘Sorry, but this is a one way thoroughfare. Vehicles can’t move in the
direction you are going. You’ll have to turn back.’
“‘Yes,’ argued I, ‘but Gray Ears isn’t a vehicle—he’s only an elephant.’
“‘Makes no difference,’ answered the policeman. ‘Orders are orders and
no exceptions made.’
“And with that he began to twirl his club once again and to parade back
and forth as if to guard the whole width of the street.
“‘But, you see, Mr. Blue-Coat,’ began Gray Ears. And he finished the
sentence in a whisper with his trunk against the other’s right ear.
“‘O—o—oh!’ exclaimed the policeman. ‘Oh—why, go right ahead. Oh, I’m
sorry to have delayed you.’
“While he actually stood at salute as we once more moved on our way!
Determining to ask my companion very soon what it was he had said to the
watchman and to the one in buttons and blue, I held fast to the big
fellow’s ears and, peering ahead, awaited a glimpse of the tents. Then,
turning a corner, we came into a street and there—away at the foot of
it—lay the goal that we sought, all flooded with lights of amber and
gold.
“At sight of the tents Gray Ears came to a stop in the shelter of a
well-shadowed wall and, placing his trunk round my waist, lifted me from
his head to the ground.
“‘Here, Friend Dan, we find ourselves at our journey’s end. A minute
more and we shall have entered the great tent and you claimed the reward
of finding and returning Gray Ears, the Elephant. It is then that you
will take your place among the clowns and I go back to my station. We
have had our holiday together and a right merry one it has been. Who
knows—perhaps we shall one day repeat it again. In the meantime do not
be surprised if I cease speaking to you. For, unless I am away from the
circus, I rarely talk to anyone. Indeed you might spend months upon
months with the Very Biggest Circus and yet never hear one of its
animals utter so much as a word.
“‘And now,’ he added, in that business-like tone which he assumed at
times, ‘let us decide upon the manner in which we will enter the
greatest tent. First of all we will arrange the placard that I found
tacked to the tree and which I believe you have in the top of your hat.
Here is a stick of charcoal which I picked up in the coal yard as we
passed through the gates. On the side of the card that is blank you must
write in a very bold hand:
FOUND
By Diggeldy Dan
“Taking the marker I did as he wished.
“‘Excellent,’ approved Gray Ears. ‘This I will take charge of and
display in proper fashion when we make our grand entrance. You, on your
part, will stand on my back. Now then—up you go!’
“And with that I was swung into place. Next, Gray Ears wrapped the long,
leaf-covered streamers around his neck and looped one of them well into
his mouth quite as a horse wears a bridle and bit. Then he tossed me the
ends which I wound around my wrists just as you have seen the driver of
many horses do with the ends of his reins. Next I sprang upright on Gray
Ears’ broad back. There I stood, feet apart, my head held erect, leaning
backward and aslant, but kept well in place by the vine-reins that led
from my ponderous mount’s mouth.
“‘Are you ready, Friend Dan?’ came the rumbling cry.
“‘Every bit of me,’ I called in reply.
“Then, not answering in words but with a trumpeted note of much triumph,
Gray Ears moved forward while I, my suit flapping in the breeze brought
about by his speed, lay back on the reins much as the driver of a
thundering chariot rests upon his, and wondered and waited and watched.”