Jimmy ran off. Certainly there was a storm coming. Great drops of rain fell on him as he ran through the town and stung his face. The thunder rolled nearer. A flash of lightning lit up the sky, and Jimmy saw that it was full of enormous black clouds, hanging very low.
Jimmy’s mother was glad to see him, for she had been afraid he would be caught in the storm. She bundled him into bed and he fell asleep almost at once, for he was tired.
The storm crashed on. Jimmy slept peacefully and didn’t hear it. Away up in the circus field the folk there listened to the pouring rain pattering down on their caravans.
Crash! The thunder rolled again. The horses whinnied, half-frightened. The dogs awoke and barked. Jemima, the monkey, who always slept with Lilliput, crept nearer to him and began to cry like a child. Lilliput petted her gently.
Jumbo, the big elephant, raised his great head. What was this fearful noise that was going on around him? Jumbo was angry with it. He threw back his head and trumpeted loudly to frighten it away.
Crash! Crash! The thunder still rolled on, and one crash sounded just overhead. Jumbo, half-angry, half-frightened, pulled at his post. His leg was tied to it, but in a trice the big elephant had snapped the thick rope. He blundered out of the tent, looking for the one man he trusted above everybody—his keeper, Mr. Tonks.
But Mr. Tonks was fast asleep in his caravan. Not even a storm could keep Mr. Tonks awake. He snored in his caravan as if he were trying to beat the loudness of the thunder!
Jumbo grew frightened in the dark. He stood in the rain, waving his big ears to and fro and swinging his trunk backwards and forwards. Another peal of thunder broke through the night, and a flash of lightning showed the gate to Jumbo. It was open.
The elephant, remembering that he had come in through that gate, made his way towards it. No one heard him, for the rolling of the thunder and the pattering of the rain made such a noise. Jumbo slipped through the gate like a great black shadow, and set off alone up the lane that led to the town.
No one was about except Mr. Harris, the town policeman. He was sheltering from the rain in a doorway. He got a dreadful shock when he saw Jumbo lit up in a flash of lightning, coming up the street towards him. He didn’t know it was only Jumbo. He fled away as fast as he could back to the police-station. He was the only person who met Jumbo running away.
The storm passed. The rain stopped. The night became peaceful and everyone slept. The circus dogs lay down and Jemima the monkey stopped crying.
The morning broke peaceful and bright, though the circus field was soaking wet.
Mr. Tonks dressed himself and went straight out to see his beloved Jumbo. When he looked into the tall tent and saw no elephant there, he went white.
“Jumbo! Where’s my elephant!” he shouted, and he tore all round the field, waking everyone up. Heads peeped out of caravans and scared faces looked up and down.
“Jumbo’s gone! My elephant’s gone!” cried Mr. Tonks, tears pouring down his cheeks. “Where is he, where is he?”
“Well, he’s not in anybody’s caravan, that’s certain,” said Stanley, the clown. “Can’t you see his tracks anywhere, Tonky?”
“Yes—they lead out of the gate!” said Mr. Tonks, almost off his head with shock and grief. “What’s happened to him? I’ll let the police know. He must be found before anything happens to him.”
“Well, he’s too big to lose for long,” said Mr. Galliano, coming out of his caravan with his hat on the side of his head. “Don’t worry, Tonks. We’ll soon find him.”
But somebody already knew where Jumbo had gone—and who do you suppose that was? It was Jimmy!
In the middle of the storm Jimmy awoke suddenly.
He sat up in bed, looking puzzled. He had heard a funny noise outside his house. It sounded like “Hrrrumph! Hrrrumph!” Who made a noise like that? Jumbo, of course!
“But it can’t be Jumbo,” said Jimmy, in the greatest astonishment. He hopped out of bed and ran to the window. A flash of lightning lit up the little street—and quite clearly Jimmy saw Jumbo, plodding heavily up the street towards the town!
“It is Jumbo—and he’s frightened of the storm-and has run away!” thought Jimmy. “I must go after him!”
He dragged on his coat, put his feet into his shoes at the same time, and slipped downstairs. In a trice he was out of the house and running up the street after Jumbo. He must get him, he must! Poor old Jumbo, running away all alone, frightened of the storm!
“Jumbo, Jumbo!” called Jimmy-but Jumbo padded on.
JIMMY HUNTS FOR JUMBO
Jimmy rushed up the street, calling Jumbo. The thunder rolled round and every now and again a flash of lightning showed him the big elephant padding through the streets. Jumbo could go very fast indeed when he liked and Jimmy couldn’t catch up with him. “If only I can keep him in sight,” panted Jimmy to himself. “Jumbo! Can’t you hear me shouting to you? Jumbo! Come to Jimmy!”
Jumbo took no notice at all. He went round the corner. He lumbered up the next street and the next. He came to the market-square and crossed it. Jimmy panted and puffed a good way behind him, pleased when the lightning lighted the night and showed him where Jumbo was.
Jumbo came to the better part of the town where the roads were wider, and where the houses were large, with big gardens. He padded along, his great feet making very little sound. Pad-pad-pad he went through the night, his big ears twitching and his little tail swinging. His trunk was curled up safely, for Jumbo was afraid that the thunder and lightning might harm it. Sometimes he gave a loud “hrrumph!” and then the people in the houses nearby sat up in alarm and wondered whatever the strange noise was!
The elephant left the town behind. Beyond lay the woods, sloping up a big hill. Jumbo was pleased to come to trees and grass. He plodded on right into the wood and climbed half-way up the hill. Jimmy still followed him—and then he lost him!
It happened like this—the storm suddenly died down, and the lightning stopped. Jimmy could no longer see the elephant in the flashes, and as the wood was thick it was difficult to know which way Jumbo went now that he was not going down a road. Jimmy stopped and listened. Far away he could hear something crashing through the bushes—he knew it was Jumbo, but he could not tell which way to go to find him.
“Oh dear,” said the little boy, terribly disappointed. “I’ve come all this way and I haven’t found Jumbo after all!”
He stood there by himself in the dark woods, wondering what to do. And then he suddenly saw a little light shining through the trees! He stared at it in surprise.
“What can that light be from?” he wondered. He made his way towards it, feeling before him as he went, for he did not want to walk into trees. It was dark and everywhere was wet. Jimmy shivered. He wished he were back in his own warm bed!
Stumbling over bushes and roots he came at last to the light. It shone from a cottage window. The blind was not drawn and Jimmy could see inside the room. He peeped in at the window.
A man was in the room, dressed in a gamekeeper’s coat and leggings. He was bending over a dog that lay in a basket. The dog was ill, and one of its legs was bandaged. The man was stroking it and saying something to it, though Jimmy could not hear a word.
“He looks a kind man,” thought the little boy. “Perhaps he will let me come in and dry my clothes.” So Jimmy knocked gently at the window.
The gamekeeper looked up at once, in the greatest astonishment, for it was the middle of the night. He walked to the window and opened it.
“Who’s there?” he said.
“It’s me, Jimmy Brown,” said Jimmy, the light shining on his face. “I came to look for Jumbo, the elephant, but I’ve lost him, and I’m so wet I thought perhaps you’d let me come in and dry my clothes.”
The gamekeeper stared as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“What nonsense are you talking?” he said. “Looking for an elephant—an elephant! Whatever do you mean?”
“It’s Jumbo, the circ
us elephant,” said Jimmy, and he was going on to explain everything when the keeper told him to go to the door and come inside.
The little boy was glad to get into the cottage. The gamekeeper listened to his story in surprise. Then he felt Jimmy’s coat, which he had thrown on over his pyjamas.
“I’ll make a fire here,” said the man. “You’ll get a terrible chill if you keep those wet clothes on any longer. It’s a mercy you found me up. My dear old dog, Flossie, got knocked down by a car this morning and I’m sitting up with her tonight to make sure she’s all right. Else I should have been in bed.”
He made Jimmy take off his wet things and put on a coat and dressing-gown of his. They were much too big for Jimmy, but they were dry. The man lighted a fire on the hearth and soon there was a cheerful crackling of wood. Jimmy sat drowsily by the fire, drinking hot cocoa and feeling suddenly very sleepy.
“I do wish I could have found Jumbo,” he said. “I don’t know how I can find him now. Mr. Tonks, his keeper, will be so upset.”
“Don’t you worry about finding elephants,” said the man. “I can track a baby rabbit if I want to—and you may be sure that Jumbo will leave tracks quite plain to see! We’ll go hunting for him in the morning!”
“But I must go home tonight,” began Jimmy—and then somehow his eyes closed, his head nodded, and he was fast asleep in the keeper’s chair by the blazing fire!
He didn’t wake up till morning. He heard the gamekeeper moving about and opened his eyes. Breakfast was on the table! There was porridge, bread and marmalade, and hot cocoa. It looked good to Jimmy.
The man had put him on a sofa in the corner, still wearing his large coat and dressing-gown. But now Jimmy’s own clothes were dry and he put them on, chattering to the kind keeper all the time, and really feeling most excited. They were going to find Jumbo after breakfast!
“How is your dog Flossie?” asked Jimmy, patting the sleek head of the big spaniel in the basket.
“Better,” said the keeper. “I think her leg will heal all right. I’ll leave her in her basket this morning with some milk nearby, and she’ll sleep and be all right. If it hadn’t been for Flossie you wouldn’t have seen a light shining in my cottage last night, young man!”
“I know,” said Jimmy, stroking the dog, who lifted her pretty head and gave Jimmy a feeble lick with her tongue. “Good dog, Flossie! Get better soon! Good dog, then!”
“You’re good with animals,” said the Keeper watching Jimmy. “Flossie hates strangers—you’re the first one she has ever licked.”
Soon after breakfast things were cleared away and the two of them slipped out-of-doors into the wet woods. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everywhere was golden. It was a beautiful May day.
“Look! That’s where Jumbo passed last night,” said Jimmy, pointing to where some bushes were trampled down. “We can follow his track from there.”
“Come along, then,” said the keeper. So the two of them followed Jumbo’s track. It was not at all difficult, for the elephant had made a real pathway for himself through the wood.
“Look! Jumbo pulled up a whole tree there!” said Jimmy in surprise. He pointed to where a birch tree lay uprooted. How strong he was!
“Elephants can easily pull up trees,” said the keeper. “Come on—the track goes over to the right just here.”
They went on and on through the wood, up the side of the hill—and quite suddenly they were upon Jumbo! He was lying down beneath a thick oak tree, his ears flapping to and fro, and his little eyes watching to see who was coming.
“Jumbo! Dear old Jumbo! I’ve found you at last!” cried Jimmy, and he ran up to the big animal and stroked his long trunk. Jumbo trumpeted loudly. He was pleased to see Jimmy. He was no longer frightened, for the storm had gone—but he felt strange and queer by himself in a quiet wood, instead of in the noisy circus field, with all his friends round him. He got to his feet and ran his trunk round Jimmy lovingly.
The gamekeeper stood a little way off, looking on in surprise. He was half afraid of the enormous elephant—but Jumbo took no notice of him at all. He had got his friend Jimmy and that was all he cared!
“Jumbo, you must come back to the circus field with me,” said Jimmy, stroking him. “Mr. Tonks will be looking for you.”
“Hrrumph!” said Jumbo, when he heard Mr. Tonks’s name. He adored his keeper. He put his trunk round Jimmy’s waist and lifted him up on to his neck. But Jimmy cried out to him to take him down again.
“Jumbo, let me down! If you take me through the trees on your back the branches will sweep me off! You are so tall, you know. Let me walk beside you through the woods and when we come to the town I’ll ride.”
Jumbo understood. He lifted Jimmy down again, and then the two of them started off through the woods, down the hill towards the town. Jimmy called goodbye to the kind gamekeeper, who was staring at them in wonder, and very soon the two were out of sight.
After a while the woods came to an end and Jimmy walked beside Jumbo up a lane. Jumbo stopped and looked down at Jimmy. “Hrrumph?” he said gently.
Jimmy understood. “Yes, you can carry me now,” he said. “We can go more quickly then.”
Jumbo lifted him up on to his head. Jimmy crossed his legs and sat there. Jumbo set off at a good pace down the lane and into a big road. He knew the way back quite well, although he had only been there once, the night before.
People looked up when they heard the big elephant padding along—and how they stared when they saw Jimmy on the elephant! They ran after him, pointing and shouting in surprise and amazement.
“It’s the elephant that was lost! Look, it’s the circus elephant!” they cried.
Through the market-place went Jimmy, feeling tremendously proud, for really he was making a great disturbance and everyone seemed most astonished. Jumbo padded on to the circus field—and there he and Jimmy were met by the whole of the circus folk, Mr. Galliano and Mr. Tonks at the front, Mr. Tonks yelling himself hoarse with delight to see his beloved elephant safely back again!
Jimmy had to tell his tale over and over again. Mr. Tonks flung his arms round him and hugged him till Jimmy felt as if his bones were breaking. The elephant’s keeper was quite mad with joy and delight. Tears poured down his cheeks as he stroked Jumbo’s trunk, and the big elephant stood trumpeting in joy to see his keeper again. Everyone was excited and pleased.
And in the middle of it all, Mr. Galliano, his hat well on one side, suddenly made a most surprising speech!
“Jimmy Brown!” he began. “You are a most remarkable boy—yes? You love animals and they love you—you should live with them and care for them. Yes? Very well. We will take you and your father with us, both of you, and if your mother will come too, then we will have your whole family, and it will not be too much for us. No? You shall belong to the circus—yes, no, yes?”
Mr. Galliano got quite muddled, he was so pleased and excited. As for Jimmy he was almost off his head with delight. Belong to the circus? Go off with them—and Lotta! Oh, what joy! The very thing he would like best in all the world.
“I must go and tell my mother!” he said, and he ran off home at top speed!
JIMMY JOINS THE CIRCUS
Jimmy tore home to tell his mother all the adventures of the night—and to ask her if she would go with the circus. Then Dad would have a job, and he, Jimmy, would be able to help with the animals, and Mother would be with them to care for them and love them. Nobody would have to be left behind.
His mother and father were looking very worried when he got home, for they had found his bed empty that morning and hadn’t known where he had gone. And what had puzzled them more than ever was to find that he had left his trousers behind! Wherever could he have gone in his pyjamas?
Jimmy soon told them all about how he had gone to find Jumbo in the middle of the night—and how he had spent the night at the gamekeeper’s cottage—and they had looked for Jumbo in the morning. His parents listened in amazement.
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“But listen, Mum—listen, Dad,” said Jimmy. “I’ve got something much more wonderful to tell you! Mr. Galliano wants me to go off with the circus—to help with the animals! What do you think of that? And he says you can go too, Mother—and Dad will be the odd-job man and do everything that is needed in a travelling circus!”
His mother and father stared at Jimmy as if he had gone quite mad. Then his mother began to cry, quite suddenly. She wiped her eyes with her handkerchief and said, “I’m not really crying. I’m happy to think your father’s got a good job at last—and you’re quite a hero, Jimmy darling—and I can go with you both and look after you.”
“Mother, then you’ll come?” shouted Jimmy, jumping up and down in joy, and flinging his arms first round his father and then round his mother. “We’ll all be together. Oh, that will be glorious.”
“Yes—but what about a caravan?” said his father. “We can’t all share the clown’s caravan, you know. That would have been all right for me—but not for you two as well.”
“We’ll ask Mr. Galliano about that,” said Jimmy. “He’s a wonderful man, I’ll go right away now. Mother, can you pack today and come?”
“Jimmy! Of course not!” said his mother, looking round at her bits of furniture.
“Oh, Mother, you must!” said Jimmy. “You won’t want much in a caravan, really you won’t. I’ll get Lotta’s father and mother to come along and tell you what to take.”
The excited boy rushed off to the circus field. He was singing for joy. First he must find Lotta and tell her the great news. He saw her with five of the dogs.
“Lotta, Lotta!” he yelled. “I’ve got news for you! I’m going to join the circus too.”
Lotta was so surprised and delighted that she dropped the dogs’ lead and all the dogs scampered off in different directions. The two children spent ten minutes getting them back, and then Jimmy told Lotta everything. She listened joyfully, and then gave Jimmy a big pinch.