TAMBA’S FUNNY TRICK
Bang! Crack! Crash! went the thunder, and the cage of Tamba, the tame
tiger, as it slid along the slippery, muddy road, and struck a tree,
made much the same noise, only not so loud.
Tamba himself, inside the iron-barred cage, was feeling much better
than when he had had the sliver in his paw. His foot was almost well
now, and he could step on it, though he limped a little.
“When my cage goes to smash I’ll slip out and run away,” thought Tamba.
“I’m going to have lots of fun when I get back to my jungle.”
Over and over rolled the cage, for the horses had broken loose from it
and were running away. Many other of the circus animal cages were being
broken in the storm.
Tamba’s cage struck one tree, bounced away from that and hit another.
Then it came to a stop, and Tamba, who had been rolling about inside,
being sometimes on his head and sometimes on his feet, and again
turning somersaults――Tamba, at last, found himself quiet.
“Now is my chance to get away!” thought the tame tiger, who wanted to
be wild again and live in a jungle. “Now I’ll get out of my cage!”
He surely thought the big wagon with the iron bars on two sides――the
cage in which he traveled――had been broken so he could get out. But
when he tried, he found that this was not so. The tiger’s cage was
broken a bit, here and there, but it was so strong that it had held
together, and when Tamba tried to force his way out he could not. He
was still a circus tiger, much as he wanted to go to the jungle.
“Oh, this is too bad!” growled Tamba to himself, as he tried to break
out, first through one side of the cage and then the other. “This is
too bad! I thought, when the storm wrecked the circus, that I could get
loose. Now I’ll have to wait for another time.”
But if Tamba had not got out of his cage when the great storm came,
some of the circus animals had. Nero, the circus lion, got loose, and
he had many adventures before he was caught again, as I have told you
in the book before this one. But Tamba had to stay in his cage.
After a while, when the worst of the storm had passed, the circus men
began going about, getting back on the road some of the cages, like
that of Tamba, that had rolled downhill.
“Tamba’s all right,” said a trainer, as he saw the tame tiger. “He
didn’t get loose, I’m glad to say. I want to teach him some new, funny
tricks, now that his paw is well again.”
“No, Tamba didn’t get away,” remarked another man; “but Nero, the big
lion, did. We’ll have to go out to hunt him.”
When morning came, and the circus was once more in order――except for
the broken cages and the animals that had gotten away――Tamba felt, more
than ever, that he would like to be back in his jungle.
“So Nero got away, did he?” thought the tame tiger, as he saw the
lion’s broken cage, and noticed that Nero was no longer in it. “Well, I
wish I were with him. Now he can go back to his jungle.”
But Nero did not do that, as those of you know who have read the book
about him. I’ll just say, right here, that Nero had many adventures,
but, as this book is about Tamba, I must tell about him, and the
adventures the tame tiger had.
A few days after this, when the circus was traveling on again, though
without Nero, who had not been caught, it came to a large city, where
it was to stay nearly a week to give shows.
“And now will be a good chance for me to teach Tamba some new and funny
tricks,” said the animal man who had charge of the tiger. “I want him
to make the people laugh when they come to the circus. The boys and
girls will like to see Tamba do some funny tricks.”
And the next day, his paw being again well, Tamba began to learn
something new. When his trainer entered the cage, Tamba, much as he
wanted to run away to the jungle, was glad to see the man. For the man
was kind to the tiger, and patted him on the head, and gave him nice
bits of meat to eat.
“Now, Tamba,” said the trainer, speaking in a kind voice, “you are
going to learn something new. Sit up!” he cried, and he held a little
stick in front of Tamba.
The tiger knew what this meant, as he had learned the trick some time
before. When the trainer spoke that way he meant that Tamba was to sit
up, just as your dog may do when you tell him to “beg.”
“That’s very good,” said the man, when Tamba had done as he was told.
“Now that is the first part of a new trick. Next I am going to put a
little cracker on your nose. It isn’t really a cracker, it is a dog
biscuit, and it has some meat in it. As you like meat I think you’ll
like the dog biscuit.”
As the man spoke he took from his pocket one of the square cakes called
dog biscuit. I dare say you have often given them to your dog. The
animal trainer broke off a bit of this biscuit and put it on Tamba’s
nose. Tamba could smell that it was good to eat, and he quickly shook
his head a little, jiggled the piece of biscuit to the floor of his
cage, and the next minute the piece of biscuit was gone. Tamba had
eaten it.
“Well, that’s what I want you to do,” said the man with a laugh, “but
not just that way. This is to be one of your new, funny tricks, but you
didn’t do it just right. I want you to hold the piece of biscuit on
your nose until I call ‘Toss!’ Then I want you to flip it into the air
and catch the piece of biscuit in your mouth. Now we’ll try it again.”
Tamba did the same thing he had done the first time, but the man was
kind and patient, and, after many trials, Tamba at last understood what
was wanted of him. He must hold the bit of dog biscuit on his nose
until the man said he could eat it.
Then the tiger was to give his head a little jerk. This would snap the
bit of biscuit into the air, and, if Tamba opened his mouth at the
right time, the biscuit would fall into it. That would be the funny
trick.
And, as I say, Tamba learned, after a while, how to do it just right.
But it took nearly a week. At the end of that time his trainer could
put a bit of dog biscuit on the tiger’s black nose. Then Tamba would
sit up on his hind legs, very still and straight, looking at his master.
“Now!” the man would suddenly call, and Tamba would jerk his head, up
the piece of biscuit would fly, and into his mouth it would go.
“That’s fine!” cried the man, after the second week, during which time
Tamba had practiced very hard. “Now we are ready to do the new trick in
the tent for the boys and girls.”
And when the trick was done the boys and girls laughed very much and
clapped their hands. They liked to see Tamba do his tricks. Nor was
this the only new one he learned. His master taught him several others.
Tamba would lie down and roll over when he was told; he would walk
around on his hind legs, wearing a funny pointed cap; and he would turn
a somersault, just as he had done the night his cage rolled downhill
in the storm. All these tricks were much enjoyed by the boys and girls
and by the men and women who came to the circus. Tamba was a very smart
tiger. But, for all that, he never gave up the idea of running away
when he got the chance, and going back to his jungle.
All this while Nero, the circus lion, had not returned. He had been
away since the night of the storm, and Tum Tum, and his other friends,
missed Nero.
[Illustration: And into his mouth it would go.]
“But he is having a much better time than we are, just the same,” said
Tamba, as he paced back and forth in his cage. “He is on the way back
to the jungle!”
If he could have seen Nero just then he never would have said that.
For the circus lion was in the kitchen of a country farmhouse watching
a tramp eat ham, and――but there! This book is about Tamba, not about
Nero, though I have to mention the lion once in a while.
About a week after Tamba had learned to do several new and funny
tricks, there was a sudden noise at the entrance of the circus animal
tent. It was after the afternoon show had ended, and not yet time for
the evening performance.
“What’s the matter, Tum Tum?” asked Tamba, who could not see very well
from his cage. “What has happened? Have some more of our animals gotten
away?”
“I think not,” answered the big elephant, who could see the tent
entrance. “I think they are bringing in a new lion. Maybe he is to take
the place of Nero. We’ll soon know. Here they come with him.”