<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></SPAN>CHAPTER IX</h2><h3>TUM TUM AND THE BALLOONS</h3>
<p>"Come away, Tum Tum!" cried the
elephant's keeper. "I don't want you
getting all excited about a fire, and
maybe burned. A few peanuts are not worth
it. We'll let some of the tent men put out the
fire. Come away!"</p>
<p>But Tum Tum did not want to go away from
the fire. He was not much afraid of it. Most
wild animals are afraid of fire, but Tum Tum
was tame now, and he knew that though fire
burns, it also does good, in cooking food, even
for animals. Besides, Tum Tum had seen so
much of fire, since he had come to the circus, and
had seen so many flaring lamps at the night performances,
that he was not afraid of just a blazing
peanut wagon.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry to see all those peanuts burned up,"
thought Tum Tum. "I wonder if I can't save
them—maybe I'll get some for myself, if I do."</p>
<p>Tum Tum thought quickly. There was a
great deal of excitement around him, for the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</SPAN></span>
straw was now blazing in many places and the
peanuts and wagon were all in flames.</p>
<p>"Come away, Tum Tum!" called his keeper.</p>
<p>"Fire! Fire! Fire!" yelled the peanut man.</p>
<p>"Bring water here, somebody!" shouted another
man.</p>
<p>"Get a pail! Get a pail!" one of the boys
yelled.</p>
<p>"Call out the fire engines!" said another.</p>
<p>But Tum Tum knew a better way than that.
His trunk was just like a hose, only, of course,
not so long. He could suck it up full of water,
and squirt it out again, just like a pop gun shoots
out a cork. And that was what Tum Tum did.</p>
<p>He put his trunk into the tub of water, and
sucked up as much as he could. Then Tum
Tum aimed his trunk right at the blazing peanut
wagon and the straw.</p>
<p><SPAN name="water" id="water"></SPAN>Whooo-ish! went the water, as Tum Tum
squirted it out of his trunk. On the fire it spattered.</p>
<p>Hiss-s-s-s-s! went the fire, like an angry
snake.</p>
<p>"Ha! That's the way to do it, Tum Tum!"
cried his keeper. "You know how to put out a
fire! That's the way. You're as good as a fire
engine yourself!"</p>
<p>Tum Tum did not answer. In the first place,
he could not talk to his keeper except in elephant<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</SPAN></span>
language, which the circus man did not understand.
And, in the second place, Tum Tum
was going to suck up more water in his nose, for
the fire was not quite out yet. And you know it
is hard to talk when you have your nose full of
water, even if you are an elephant.</p>
<p>Whooo-ish! went more water from Tum
Tum's trunk on the blazing peanut wagon and
straw.</p>
<p>Hiss! went the fire again, as it felt the wet
water. Fire does not like water, you know.</p>
<p>"Once more, Tum Tum! One more trunk
full, and you'll have the fire out!" cried the elephant's
keeper.</p>
<p>Again Tum Tum dipped his trunk into the
tub of water, and spurted it on the fire.</p>
<p>This time the fire went out completely. Tum
Tum had made it so wet, with water from his
trunk, that it could no longer burn.</p>
<p>"Oh, what a smart, good elephant!" cried the
peanut man. "He saved my wagon from burning
up. I must give him some peanuts!"</p>
<p>A few of the peanuts were burned, but there
were plenty left, and, though some of them tasted
a little like smoke, Tum Tum did not mind that.
He chewed several bags full—shells and all—and
was hungry for more.</p>
<p>But now it was time to go back into the circus
tent, and have his handsome blanket put on, to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</SPAN></span>
take his place in the procession. The boys, one
of whom had accidentally upset the peanut
wagon, looked at Tum Tum eagerly.</p>
<p>"Say, he's a smart elephant all right!" he
cried.</p>
<p>"That's what he is!" said another. "I'd like
to have him!"</p>
<p>"Huh! What would you do with an elephant?"
asked his friend. "An elephant would
eat a ton of hay a day."</p>
<p>"Would he?"</p>
<p>"Sure he would."</p>
<p>"Well, then, I don't want an elephant," said
the boy. "I guess a dog is good enough for me.
A dog can eat old bones; he doesn't need a ton
of hay a day."</p>
<p>The boys helped the peanut man turn his
wagon right side up, and they also helped him
gather the scattered peanuts. Then the man
built another fire, and went around the tent, selling
his peanuts.</p>
<p>"Tum Tum, you are getting smarter and
smarter each day," said his keeper, as he led him
back to get ready for the parade. "I am proud
of you. You are the best elephant in the circus."</p>
<p>Tum Tum heard what was said of him, but
he only flapped his big ears, that were nearly the
size of washtubs. Then he stood in line with his<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</SPAN></span>
companions, and ate the peanuts and popcorn
balls the children fed to him over the ropes.</p>
<p>"My, I s'pose Tum Tum will be so stuck up,
and proud, that he won't want to speak to us,
after he has done so many wonderful things,"
said one of the jealous elephants. "He pushed
the wagon out of the mud, and now he has put
out a peanut wagon fire. Some elephants have
all the luck in this world."</p>
<p>Tum Tum's eyes twinkled, but he said nothing.
He just ate the popcorn balls and peanuts. But
he was not at all proud or stuck up.</p>
<p>Tum Tum was now such a gentle and tame
elephant, that children could ride on his back.
At first, some of the circus performers, who had
their children with them, let them get up on
Tum Tum, and then, when his keeper found that
Tum Tum did not mind, some of the boys and
girls who came to see the show each day were
allowed to ride. Up and down the tent they
went on Tum Tum's back, sitting in the little
house that was strapped fast to him.</p>
<p>Tum Tum was led about by his keeper when
the children thus rode, and very glad Tum Tum
was to give the boys and girls this fun, for he
liked children very much.</p>
<p>Tum Tum would have been very glad if
Mappo, the merry monkey, had come back to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</SPAN></span>
ride on his back, as he did sometimes. But
Mappo was far away; where, Tum Tum did not
know.</p>
<p>Nearly every day something new happened to
Tum Tum in the circus. Every day he saw new
faces, new boys and girls and once in a while,
he did some new tricks. He had enough to eat,
a good place to sleep, he did not have to work
very hard, and, best of all, he was in no danger.</p>
<p>So, altogether, Tum Tum liked the circus life
much better than he had liked being in the
jungle. Still, now and again, he would wish
himself back in the cool, dark woods, smashing
through the thick bushes, and breaking down, or
pulling up, big trees by their roots.</p>
<p>In the circus were some men from India,
where Tum Tum had worked in the lumber
yard, piling up teakwood logs, and these Indians
could talk the language spoken in India—the
man-language Tum Tum had first learned. He
liked to have them come to see him, rub his
trunk, and talk to him in their queer words.</p>
<p>One day another adventure happened to Tum
Tum. He was out in front of the circus tent,
after he had helped roll some of the heavy animal
wagons into place, when he saw some children,
with their papa, coming to the circus.</p>
<p>"Oh, papa!" cried a little boy, "couldn't we<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</SPAN></span>
ride on the elephant's back?" and he was so excited,
this little boy was, that he danced up and
down with his red balloon. All the children
had these toy balloons.</p>
<p>"Oh, I don't believe you could ride on the elephant's
back," said the little boy's papa.</p>
<p>"They can, if you will let them," said Tum
Tum's keeper. "My elephant is very kind and
gentle, and many children ride on him. I will
hold them on, if you are willing."</p>
<p>"Oh, let us, papa!" cried a little girl.</p>
<p>"All right, I don't mind," he said.</p>
<p>Tum Tum was led close to a wagon, from
which the children could easily get into the little
house on his back. In that they sat with their
papa and the keeper, and around the circus
grounds they went. It was not yet time for the
show, and Tum Tum did not have to go in.</p>
<p>"Oh, what a lovely ride!" cried the little boy,
when it was over. "Thank you so much!"</p>
<p>Tum Tum was glad the children had enjoyed
it.</p>
<p>Then, as the boy and girl got down from the
elephant's back, their toy balloons slipped out of
their hands and floated off through the air.</p>
<p>"Oh, there goes my balloon!" cried the little
girl.</p>
<p>"And there goes mine, too!" cried the little
boy. "Oh, papa!"</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</SPAN></span>"Never mind, I'll get you some others," said
the man.</p>
<p>"But I'd rather have that one," the little boy
said, half crying.</p>
<p>"I would, too," added his sister.</p>
<p>Just then the wind blew the two balloons into
the top of a tall tree. It was a tall, slender tree,
too little for any one to climb up, or put a ladder
against.</p>
<p>"Oh, now we can never get our balloons!"
sobbed the little girl, as the toys bobbed about in
the wind, the strings fast to a tree branch. Then
Tum Tum made up his mind, just as he had done
at the peanut fire.</p>
<p>"I'll get those balloons back for the children,"
thought the big, kind, jolly elephant.</p>
<span class="totoc"><SPAN href="#toc">Contents</SPAN></span>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</SPAN></span></p>
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