TAMBA IN A WRECK
Down on the black nose of the sleeping lion went the soft, fuzzy tip of
Tamba’s tail. And Tamba tickled Nero so hard that the lion gave a big
sneeze and awakened with a jump.
Then Nero threw himself against the bars of his cage until they shook
where they were fastened into the wood, and the lion roared in his
loudest voice:
“Where’s that fly? Where’s the tickling fly that wouldn’t let me sleep?
If I catch that fly I’ll tickle him!” and Nero roared so loudly that
the ground seemed to tremble, as it always does near a lion when he
roars. I have often felt it in the zoölogical park where I sometimes go
to look at the lions and the tigers.
“Where’s that fly? Where’s that fly?” roared Nero. For you see he
thought the tickling tip of Tamba’s tail was a fly on his nose.
“What’s the matter here? What’s the trouble?” cried one of the circus
men, as he ran into the animal tent, having heard Nero roar.
“Are some of the lions or tigers trying to get loose?” asked another
man.
“No, it seems to be Nero,” replied the first. “What’s the matter, old
boy?” he asked, as he saw how angry Nero was. For the lion was lashing
his tail from side to side and roaring:
“Where’s that fly? Where’s that fly?”
Of course the circus men didn’t know exactly what Nero was saying,
but they could tell he was angry, and they were afraid, if he bounded
against the bars of his cage much more, he might break some.
“I don’t see what makes Nero act that way,” said the man who had charge
of the lion, and who had taught him to do tricks. “Once before he acted
like this, but it was when a bee stung him on the nose.”
“Maybe that is what happened this time,” said the second man.
“I don’t see any bees flying around,” went on the lion’s keeper. Just
then Tamba, seeing that he had awakened Nero, and had played all the
tricks he wanted to, pulled his tail out from between the bars of the
lion’s cage. And, just as he did so, the keeper saw him.
“Oh, ho! I know what the matter was,” the man said. “The tiger tickled
the lion. Tamba tickled Nero with his tail through the bars of the
cage. That’s what made Nero angry. Tamba, you’re a bad, mischievous
tiger!” and he shook his finger at the striped animal. Tamba walked
over to the corner of his cage and curled up.
“Well, I had some fun, anyhow!” he thought. “I waked Nero up all right!”
And so he had. And now Nero knew what had happened, for Tum Tum, the
jolly elephant, had seen it all, and Tum Tum said:
“It wasn’t a fly on the end of your nose, Nero; it was the fuzzy tip of
Tamba’s tail. I saw him tickle you!”
“Oh, you did, did you?” cried Nero, and this time he did not roar. “Why
did you tickle me, Tamba?”
“Oh, I didn’t like to see you sleeping so nicely when I couldn’t sleep,
because I’m thinking so much of the jungle,” answered the tiger.
“Besides, it was only a joke. I wanted to see if I could make you think
my tail was a fly on your nose. I did.”
“Yes, you surely did,” admitted Nero. “I felt the tickle, even in my
sleep. But if it was only a joke, Tamba, I won’t be angry. I like a
joke as well as any one,” and Nero laughed in his lionish way. “But,
after this, I’m going to sleep in the far corner of my cage, where your
tail won’t reach me. A joke is all right, but sleep is better. Now it
will be my turn to play a joke on you, Tamba.”
“Yes,” said Dido, the dancing bear, “you want to look out for yourself,
Tamba. A joke is a joke on both sides.”
“Oh, well, I don’t care,” said Tamba, but he was not as jolly about it
as he might have been.
The circus men saw that something was wrong between Tamba and Nero, so
they moved the cages farther apart, and then Nero and Tamba could not
have reached each other if their tails had been twice as long. And then
Nero went to sleep, and so did Tamba, waiting for the evening show to
start. And as Tamba slept he dreamed of the Indian jungle, and wished
he could go back there.
And soon something wonderful was going to happen to him.
That night in the big tent, which was bright with electric lights,
Tamba did his tricks――catching a piece of dog biscuit off his nose,
leaping through a paper hoop, and walking around on his hind legs. Nero
also did his tricks, one of which was sitting up like a begging dog on
a sort of stool like an overturned wash tub.
And Dido, the dancing bear, did his funny tricks on the wooden
platform, which was strapped on the back of Tum Tum, the jolly
elephant. So the boys and the girls, and the big folks, too, who went
to the circus had lots of fun watching the animals.
But, all the while, Nero was watching for a chance to play a trick on
Tamba. And at last he found a way. It was three or four days after
Tamba had tickled Nero with the tail tip, and the circus had traveled
on a railroad to a far-distant town.
In the animal tent the lions, tigers, elephants, monkeys and ponies had
been given their dinners and were being watered. Tamba was taking a
long drink from his tin of water, and wishing it could be turned into a
jungle spring, when, all of a sudden:
Splash!
A lot of water spurted up into his face, and some, getting into his
nose, made him sneeze. Then he looked and saw that a bone, off which
all the meat had been gnawed, had come in through the bars of his cage
and had fallen into his water-pan. It was the falling of the dry bone
into the water that had made it splash up.
“Who did that? Who threw that bone at me?” growled Tamba. “Who made it
splash water all over me?”
“Oh, I guess I did that,” said Nero with a loud, rumbling lionish
laugh. “I wanted to see if I could toss it from my cage into yours,
Tamba, and I did. So the water splashed on you, did it?”
“Yes, it did! You know it did!” growled Tamba. “It made me sneeze, too!”
“Oh, did it?” asked Nero. “Well, that was just a little joke of mine,
my tiger friend. I wanted to see if I could tickle your nose the way
you tickled mine with your tail. It was only a joke, splashing water on
your nose. Only a joke! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Yes, it was only a joke!” said Tum Tum and all the other animals.
“Only a joke, Tamba! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Of course the striped tiger had to laugh, too, for really he had not
been hurt, and he must expect to have a joke played on him after he had
played one on Nero.
“Well, I’ll gnaw this bone after I take a drink,” said Tamba, as he
dried his nose on his paw. “Much obliged to you for tossing it into my
cage, Nero.”
“Oh, you’re very welcome, I’m sure!” laughed the lion. “Oh, you did
jump and sneeze in such a funny way, Tamba, when the water went up your
nose!” and Nero laughed again, as he thought of it.
And “Ha! Ha! Ha!” echoed Tum Tum.
And so life went on for the circus animals, something a little
different happening every day. Now and then Tamba played other tricks,
and so did Nero, and the first crossness of Tamba seemed to wear off.
He was still as anxious as ever to go to the jungle, but he did not
see how he could get out of his cage. He watched carefully, every day,
hoping that some time the man who came in to make him do his tricks
would forget to fasten the door when he went out.
“If he only left it open once,” thought Tamba, “I could slip out and
run away. Then I’d go back to the jungle.”
But the trainer never left the door open. Besides, it closed with a
spring as soon as the man slipped out, and, quick as he was, Tamba
could not have slipped out. However, he kept on the watch, always
hoping that some day his chance would come.
And it did. I’ll tell you all about it pretty soon.
Sometimes, as I have told you, the circus went from town to town by the
way of country roads, the horses pulling the big wagons with the tents
on them and also the wagons in which the wild beasts were kept. It took
eight or ten horses to pull some of the heavy wagons uphill.
At other times the wagons would all be put on big railroad cars, and an
engine would haul them over the shiny rails. This was when it was too
far, from one town to the next, for the horses to pull the wagons, or
for the elephants and camels to walk. For when the circus traveled by
country road these big animals――the camels and elephants――always walked.
And one night after a stormy day the circus wagons were loaded on the
railroad cars for a long journey to the next city in which the show was
to be given.
“Well, you haven’t gone to your jungle yet, I see, Tamba,” said Tum
Tum to the tiger. The big elephant was moving about, pushing the heavy
wagons to and fro.
“No, I haven’t gone yet,” sadly said the beautifully striped beast.
“And, oh, how I wish I could get loose!”
On through the night rumbled the long train of circus cars. There was
no moon, and the stars did not shine. The night was very dark after the
storm.
Suddenly there were some loud whistles from the train engine.
Toot! Toot! Toot! it went, and that meant there was danger. The
engineer had seen danger ahead, but not in time to stop his train. One
of the circus trains had run off the track and could not go on. It had
come to a halt, and another train that was running not far behind the
first one crashed into it.
There was a terrible noise, a clanging of iron and a breaking of wood.
The cars were smashed, and so were some of the animal cages.
“What is it? What’s the matter? roared Nero.
“We’re in a wreck!” trumpeted Tum Tum, the elephant, who was not quite
so jolly, now. “The circus train is wrecked! I was in a wreck once
before. It’s very bad! I hope none of our animal friends are hurt!”
But some were, I am sorry to say, and so were some of the circus men.
Tamba, the tame tiger, felt his cage slide off the flat car on which it
had been fastened. The car was smashed and tossed to one side. Off slid
the tiger’s cage, and then it fell down the railroad bank and into a
ditch. Tamba’s cage broke open, and the tiger was cut and bruised, but
he knew that he was free. He was no longer in the cage.
“At last I am out!” he cried. “Now I can run away to my jungle! Now I
am free!”
[Illustration: Off slid the tiger cage.]