Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant Part 16

"Good!" cried the lion. "Then we'll run away! But when?"

"To-night," hissed the tiger. "Be quiet now, some one may hear us."

"Ha! Some one has already heard you," thought Tum Tum. "So you are going to get away to-night, are you? Well, not if I know it! I'll stop you all right! It would never do to have you loose in the woods; all the people would be scared. Let me see, how can I stop you?"

Tum Tum wished he could speak man-talk, so he could tell the keepers what the lion and tiger were going to do. But Tum Tum could speak only animal language.

"But I can stay near the tiger's cage, and when he does get out, I can grab him in my trunk, before he has time to scratch me, and push him back in his cage again," thought Tum Tum. "By that time the keepers will come, and shut the cage doors. Yes, I'll do that with Sharp Tooth; but what about Roarer? I need help there. I'll get Maggo."

So Tum Tum told Maggo, about the lion and tiger going to escape from the circus.

"And if you'll stand in front of the lion's cage, he won't dare run very far," said Tum Tum to Maggo. "If you'll look after the lion, I'll look after the tiger."

"All right," said Maggo, "I shall. It would not be right for those fierce animals to get away."

Toward evening, when the show was over for the afternoon, Maggo and Tum Tum were allowed to roam about the animal tent a little, the chains being taken off their feet.

"Now's our time, Maggo," whispered Tum Tum. "You go over by the lion's cage, and I'll stay by the tiger's."

"All right, I will," said Maggo.

Over she went to stand in front of the lion's cage. The cleaning man had been around, and the doors of the cages were open.

Then, before Tum Tum could get to the tiger's cage, that big, striped beast gave one blow with his paw on the unlocked door, pus.h.i.+ng it open.

He sprang out, crying:

"Come on, Roarer! Come on with me. I'm out! Jump out through the door and we'll go to the jungle!"

CHAPTER XII

TUM TUM'S BRAVE DEED

Tum Tum tried to get in front of Sharp Tooth and stop the tiger from getting out of his cage, but the big elephant was not quick enough.

Besides, the tiger moved so swiftly, that hardly any one could have stopped him.

"Come back here! Come back!" cried Tum Tum, when he saw Sharp Tooth running out of the tent.

"Indeed I will not! I'm off to the jungle!" snarled the striped beast.

"Come on, Roarer!" she called.

But Roarer could not, for Maggo, the big elephant, had placed herself in front of the door of his cage, and was leaning against it. And Maggo was so big and heavy that Roarer could not push open the iron-barred door.

"Get out of my way!" cried the lion to the elephant.

"No, no! I will not!" answered brave Maggo.

Then the lion put his paws through the bars of the cage and scratched Maggo, but the lady elephant did not mind that. She made a loud noise through her trunk, and this call brought the keepers on the run. One of them saw what the matter was.

"Quick!" cried this keeper. "The lion's cage door is not fastened. He is trying to get out, but the elephant is holding him in. Quick! Fasten shut the door!"

Then the circus men, very quickly, made the door tightly shut, and that was the end of Roarer's chances for getting out. Oh, but that lion was angry!

He sprang about the cage, roaring loudly, but he could not get out to go and join Sharp Tooth, the tiger.

"Some of you put some salve on the elephant's scratches," said the head circus man, "while I look to see if any other animals have gotten loose."

Then he saw the open door of the tiger's cage, and he cried:

"Sharp Tooth is loose! We must go and find that tiger!"

Then some one else called:

"And Tum Tum is gone also!"

"What, Tum Tum gone!" cried the elephant trainer. "That's so," he said, as he saw that the place where Tum Tum used to stand was empty.

"I wonder where Tum Tum can be?" said the keeper. Maggo wished she could tell how Tum Tum had tried to stop the tiger from running away, but how the big elephant had not been in time. However, the head keeper must have guessed it.

"I don't believe Tum Tum ran away," he said. "He must have gone out after the tiger. Come on, we must find them both."

As it happened, the circus performance was over, so there were no boys or girls, or men and women, to be frightened by hearing that the tiger was loose. Sharp Tooth was so excited at getting out of the cage, that she did not try to bite anybody. She slipped out of the tent, and ran toward some woods near the circus lot.

But Tum Tum was right after her. The tiger could go along very fast, but the elephant could travel almost as quickly, and he kept right behind the striped beast.

"Ha! Go on back! Stop following me!" snarled Sharp Tooth.

"No, I'll not," answered the brave elephant. "I want you to come back to the circus."

"I'll never come!" snapped the tiger.

"Oh, yes, you will," the elephant said.

The tiger kept on, and Tum Tum followed. Finally the tiger ran up a tree and crouched out on a big limb.

"Ha! Now you can't follow me!" she said to the elephant. "You can't climb up this tree!"

"No, but I can stay here until you come down," said Tum Tum, "and that's what I'll do."

"Bah!" snarled the tiger. "Go away and let me alone!"

But Tum Tum would not. He stayed under the tree where the tiger was, for he knew that soon the circus men would come to hunt for Sharp Tooth, to put her back in her cage.

And, surely enough, that is just what happened. The head keeper could easily see which way the tiger and elephant had gone, for, though Sharp Tooth did not make much of a track, Tum Tum did. An elephant cannot crash and push his way through the bushes and trees without making a broad path. And this path the circus men followed. Soon they came to the tree in which Sharp Tooth was crouching.