CHAPTER VITUM TUM AND THE WAGON"Please let me down! Oh, please do!" begged Don, the dog, of Tum Tum,the jolly elephant, as the big creature from the jungle held the doghigh up in the air.Tum Tum did not feel so very jolly just then. He did not want to hurtDon, but neither did the elephant like to be nipped on his hind legs,when he was pushing a wagon."Oh, the elephant has our dog!" cried a boy who was with the man who hadcalled after Don. "Oh, papa, will he hurt him?""No, Tum Tum won't hurt anyone," said a circus man. "I'll get your dogback for you, but he must be careful of elephants after this.""He never saw one before," said the boy's father.All this while Tum Tum was holding Don high in the air in his trunk."Oh, won't you let me down?" begged Don."I will, if you won't bark at me again, and bite me," said Tum Tum. "Idon't want to hurt you, doggie boy, but I can't have you bothering me,when I'm doing my circus work.""Oh, I'll be good! I'll be good!" promised Don, and with that Tum Tumlowered him gently to the ground, uncoiled his trunk from around Don'smiddle, and the dog ran howling to his master and the boy."Don, what made you bite the elephant?" asked the boy.Don only barked gently in answer. He could not speak man or boy talk,you know, any more than an elephant could, though he understood it verywell."I told you the elephant wouldn't hurt your dog," said the circus man."Tum Tum is very gentle."Don crept behind his master, and looked at Tum Tum. The elephant walkeddown to get another wagon to push up hill, as all the circus horses weretoo busy to pull it."Bow wow!" barked Don, but this time he was talking to Tum Tum, and notbarking angrily at him. "Are you an elephant?" asked Don, in his ownlanguage, which the elephant understood very well."Yes, I am an elephant," said Tum Tum."And you have two tails," went on Don.Almost anyone who sees an elephant for the first time thinks that."No, I have only one tail," Tum Tum answered. "The front thing is mytrunk, or long nose. I breathe through it, pick up things to eat in it,and squirt water through it.""My! It is very useful, isn't it?" asked Don, wagging his tail."Indeed it is," said Tum Tum. The elephant and the dog were fastbecoming friends now, and were talking together, though the boy and hisfather and the circus men did not know this."Then was it your trunk that you picked me up in?" asked Don, of theelephant."Yes," replied Tum Tum, "and I am sorry if I frightened you.""Oh, well, that's all right," answered Don. "I am all right now, and Isuppose I did wrong to bark at you, and bite. I am sorry.""Then I'll excuse you," spoke Tum Tum. "But what is your name, and wheredo you live?""My name is Don, and I live on a farm," answered the dog. "We have acomical little pig on our farm named Squinty. Did you ever see him?""I think not," answered Tum Tum. "You see I haven't been in this countryvery long. Did you bring the pig to the circus?""Gracious, no!" barked Don. "He had to stay home in the pen. But mymaster, his boy and I came to see you elephants, and other circusanimals. Only I never knew what an elephant was like before.""Well, now you know," said Tum Tum, "so you won't bark at, or bite, thenext one you see.""Indeed I shall not," said Don. "I have to bark at Squinty, the comicalpig, once in a while, when he gets out of the pen, and once I took holdof his ear in my teeth.""I hope you didn't hurt him," said Tum Tum."No, I wouldn't do that for the world," said Don. And those of you whohave read about "Squinty, the Comical Pig," know how kind Don was tohim."So you came to see the circus?" went on Tum Tum to Don, as the dog'smaster and his boy looked about at the strange sights."Yes, though I don't know exactly what a circus is," said Don."Well, this is the start of it," Tum Tum said. "These are our winterquarters. Soon we shall start out on the road, and live in a tent. ThenI shall do my tricks, the children and the people will laugh and shout,and give me popcorn balls and peanuts. Oh, yum-yum!" and Tum Tum smackedhis lips because he thought of the good things he was going to have toeat a little later on."Can you do tricks?" asked Don."Indeed I can, a great many," the elephant said. "I can stand on my hindfeet--so!" and up he rose in the air, until his little short taildangled on the ground."Anything else?" asked Don. "That's a good trick. Let me see you doanother.""Look!" cried Tum Tum, and this time he stood on his front legs, andraised his hind ones in the air."That's harder to do," said the jolly elephant."I should think so," agreed Don. "I'm going to try it myself." Don didtry, but when he wanted to stand on his front legs, he fell over andbumped his nose. And when he tried to stand on his hind legs, he fellover backward and bumped his head."I--I guess I can't do it," he said to Tum Tum."It needs much practice to do it well," spoke the jolly elephant."Here, Tum Tum!" called one of the circus men. "This is no time to bedoing tricks. Come and help push some more of these wagons. If thecircus is ever to start out on the road, to give shows in the tent, wemust start soon. Come, push some of these wagons, with your big, stronghead.""I'll have to go now," said Tum Tum to Don, the dog, for they were nowgood friends. "I may see you again, sometime.""I hope you will," spoke Don. "Your circus is coming to our town, Iknow, for the barns on our farm are pasted over with posters, andbills.""Then I may see you when we get there," said Tum Tum, as he walkedslowly forward to push the wagon pointed out by the circus man.That is how Don and Tum Tum became acquainted. As the dog went off withhis master and the boy, he barked a good-by to Tum Tum, saying:"If you come near our place, I'll show you Squinty, the comical pig. Oneeye is wide open, and the other partly shut.""He must be a funny chap," said Tum Tum. The big, jolly elephant pushedinto place the heavy wagon. Then it was dinner time. But as Tum Tum waseating his hay and carrots in the animal tent, for he was kept in that,now that the weather was warmer, all at once Tum Tum heard a loudshouting."Look out for that wagon. The tiger cage wagon is rolling down hill. Itwill turn over, be smashed, and the tiger will get out! Stop thatwagon, somebody!"Tum Tum heard this shouting, and looking out of the side of his tent, hesaw a big red and gold wagon rushing down the hill backwards."I must stop that wagon," said Tum Tum.
