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Shaggo, the Mighty Buffalo

<h2 id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI SHAGGO GOES TO SLEEP</h2> Shaggo, the mighty buffalo, felt as though he had met an old friend when the bear in the next cage said that his name was Dido. Shaggo wanted to talk, and to ask a lot of questions of the shaggy bear, who was eating the carrot he had clawed from the buffalo’s cage. But just as Shaggo crowded close to the bars of his cage, to ask how Dido felt and how he liked it where he was, a great growling and snarling arose at one end of the big building where the zoo animals were kept. “What’s the matter now?” asked Shaggo. “Oh, it’s the keeper coming to feed us,” answered Dido. “I hope he brings me some sweet buns. What would you like best, Mr. Buffalo? I don’t believe I know your name,” said the bear. “I am called Shaggo,” was the answer. “And, to tell you the truth, I do not feel much like eating. I am not very hungry.” “Then there must be something the matter with you!” exclaimed Dido, as the growling, snarling and crying among the other zoo animals sounded louder and louder. “I am always hungry.[102] You’ve heard it said, I dare say, ‘as hungry as a bear.’ Well, I guess I’m that bear,” laughed Dido, showing his teeth, “for I’m always ready to eat.” Shaggo looked out through the bars of his cage and saw a man coming along with a big basket, and Shaggo could smell that the basket held good things to eat. But, somehow or other, the buffalo, as he had said, was not hungry. He felt rather ill, and as he twisted his eyes to get a look at his shoulder, he saw that the lump on it was much larger. “And it hurts worse, too,” said Shaggo to himself. “I haven’t felt exactly well since I gave that big jump and sailed over the wire fence away from the range. It surely must be a punishment on me for leaving Bumpo, Rumpo and the other buffaloes.” But by this time the man with the basket was in front of the bear’s cage. He picked out some buns, the man did, and held them up for Dido to see. Shaggo could also see them. “Now then, Dido!” cried the zoo keeper, “here are some of the nice buns you like. Let me see you dance and do some of your tricks before I give you any. Dance for the boys and girls!” Then Shaggo noticed that, following the man around as he fed the animals were a number of[103] boys and girls who had come to the zoo as a sort of picnic. They were allowed to come in and see the animals eat. “Dance for the boys and girls, Dido,” called the man. Shaggo did not understand this talk, but the bear seemed to do so, for he shuffled to the front of his cage. “Hi there, Shaggo, watch me if you want to see some fun!” called Dido to the buffalo in the next cage. “This is one of my tricks. I do it nearly every day. Watch me and perhaps you can learn to dance.” “No, I don’t believe I can,” replied Shaggo. He and Dido talked in animal language, which, of course, neither the keeper nor the boys and girls could understand. “My shoulder is too sore for me to dance,” went on the buffalo. But Dido was not troubled that way, and soon he was sliding about his cage, doing a funny, shuffling dance, waving his head from side to side, and holding out his paws like a begging dog. Around and around his cage went the bear, while the boys and girls, gathered out in front, laughed as they watched the funny antics of the trained bear. “That’s good, Dido!” called the man. “Now then, turn a somersault, and you shall have an extra bun!” [104] Dido must have known what the man said, for the bear suddenly got down on all four legs, put his head between his front paws, kicked up with his hind legs, and over he went! Dido turned as good a somersault as any boy could do, and when he stood upright again, and held one paw out through the bars of his cage, the boys and girls laughed harder than ever. “Well, you have earned your buns, Dido!” cried the man, and he tossed half a dozen into the bear’s cage. Then Dido shuffled back into a corner to be by himself while he ate. The children stood watching the bear a little longer, and then some of them passed on to stand in front of the cage where Shaggo was kept. After the keeper had passed on, to feed the lions and tigers of the zoo, Dido once more spoke to Shaggo. “Here is an extra cinnamon bun I do not want,” said the kind bear. “Eat it, Shaggo,” and with a toss of his paw Dido sent the bun spinning through the bars of the buffalo’s cage. Shaggo sniffed at it and nibbled one end. “Say, what’s the matter with you?” asked Dido. “You don’t seem at all like a lively chap, Shaggo.” “I’m not,” answered the buffalo. “Something is wrong with me. It’s my shoulder, I guess. See how swelled it is.” [105] “You have got a funny lump there,” said the bear. “What do you think it is?” “Well, Don, the runaway dog, and some of the animals in the circus said it might be rheumatism,” answered Shaggo. “I was in the circus you know, with Tum Tum, the elephant. It was Don at first, and afterward Tum Tum, who told me about you. That’s how I knew your name.” “Dear old Don and Tum Tum, that jolly elephant!” exclaimed Dido. “I wish I could see them again. So they told you about me, did they? Well, some of those circus animals know a lot, but I think they’re all wrong about what’s the matter with you. I don’t believe that’s rheumatism you have.” “What is it then?” asked Shaggo. “I know it hurts a lot.” “You’ve got indigestion, that’s what you’ve got!” declared the bear. “You’ve got indigestion from not eating enough. Come, now, eat up your hay, and then swallow that bun and you’ll feel better.” “Well, perhaps I will,” agreed Shaggo. “I’ll try it, anyhow. Maybe it is indigestion I have, but I’ve been thinking, all the while, that it was rheumatism.” So the mighty buffalo, who did not feel as strong as he used to feel when he roamed the[106] plains of the big Park, nibbled the bit of bun the dancing bear had tossed him, and then ate some hay. But, instead of feeling better, Shaggo seemed to feel worse. At last he was in such pain that he stretched out in the corner of his cage and groaned. Animals can groan when they are in trouble as well as persons can, and when Shaggo groaned you could hear it a long way off. “My goodness! what’s the matter, Shaggo?” asked Dido, waking up from a little sleep. “Is that one of the tricks you learned in the circus?” “I didn’t learn any tricks in the circus,” groaned Shaggo. “Maybe that’s why they didn’t want me there. And I limped, too. I guess they didn’t want a limping buffalo. But groaning is not a trick. I do it because my shoulder lump hurts me so.” “That’s too bad,” said Dido. “I wish I could do something for you.” By this time Shaggo’s groans had been heard by some of the zoo keepers. One of them came running into the building where Shaggo’s cage stood. By this time it was early evening, and there were no visitors in the zoological park. “What’s the matter here?” asked the keeper. Of course Shaggo could not answer and tell what ailed him, but the man knew something about animals, and when he saw the buffalo crouched[107] down in the corner of the cage and noticed how much larger the lump on the animal’s shoulder had become, the keeper said: “We’ve got to have a doctor here. I’ll get one.” A little later another man came in to look at Shaggo—three or four men altogether, but only one was the doctor, and he had a queer smell about him—a smell that Shaggo did not like. The other animals, too, sniffed the air strongly. They did not like drugs or medicine. “Take a look at the lump on that buffalo’s shoulder, doctor,” said one of the zoo keepers. “Hum! I can’t see it very well,” the doctor said. “Can’t you bring him out here in the open?” Shaggo did not pay much attention to what was going on, but, a little later, he felt the prick of a stick which was being poked in his ribs, and naturally, he moved away from it. He limped over to the front of his cage to look at the men gathered there. “Now I can see the lump better,” said the doctor. “It’s too bad. It must be taken off. That’s the only way to cure that buffalo.” “How can the lump be taken off?” asked the zoo keeper. “You’ll have to get another doctor,” replied[108] the first one. “You need a doctor who knows more about animals than I do. There’s one in New York, and I heard he was coming out this way. I’ll see if I can get him.” “I wish you would,” said the zoo keeper. At last the celebrated animal doctor arrived. One evening Shaggo saw a number of men enter the zoo and walk over to his cage. There was that same, queer medicine smell. “There’s the buffalo,” said the zoo keeper. “Can you cure that lump on his shoulder, doc?” “I think so,” answered a big, bearded man, who wore large shiny glasses. “But first we must put the buffalo to sleep and bind him with ropes so he will not kick when I try to cure him. Yes, we must put him to sleep.” Of course Shaggo did not know what all this talk meant, and he was rather frightened when, a little later, a number of men poked long poles through the bars of his cage. Some of the poles had ropes on them, and though he tried to keep out of the way of these ropes, they were soon cast about his legs, and poor Shaggo found himself all tangled up. “Dido! Dido! What are they doing to me?” bellowed Shaggo to his friend the dancing bear. “Don’t worry, Shaggo,” Dido answered.[109] “They will not hurt you. The keepers are trying to cure your indigestion, or whatever it is you have. They will not hurt you.” But Shaggo could not believe this, so he kicked and struggled, hurting his sore shoulder all the more, until, at last, he was so tangled in the ropes that he fell down on the bottom of his cage. “Ah, now we have him!” said the doctor. “Now I’ll put him to sleep, and cure him.” Shaggo was now so tied with ropes that he could not move. He lay on one side, and a moment later a cloth was put over his nose. There was a strange, sweetish smell to the cloth. Shaggo tried not to breathe the perfume from it, but he could not help himself. He began to feel very strange. His breath came more and more slowly. Then he began to feel as if he were once again sailing through the air as he did when he jumped. He seemed to be floating on clouds or a feather bed. His eyes closed—he could hear, as though from a far distance, the voice of Dido saying: “They won’t hurt you, Shaggo.” Then Shaggo fell into a deep sleep. <hr class="chap" /> [110] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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