CHAPTER XVI
RUTH'S ALARM
"Minnie's loose!" cried Neale to Mr. Howbridge after the flight of thecircus men. "Minnie is one of the worst elephants in captivity! She'salways making trouble, and breaking loose. I imagine she's the one thatwrecked the farmer's barn Uncle Bill was telling about. If she's on therampage in the animal tent it means mischief!"
"An elephant loose!" cried Mr. Howbridge. "And Ruth and the children inthe tent! Come on, Neale!" he cried. "Hurry!"
But there was no need to urge Neale to action. He was off on the run,and Mr. Howbridge showed that he was not nearly so old and grave as hesometimes appeared, for he ran swiftly after his more youthfulcompanion.
The shouting continued, and the trumpet calls of the angry or frightenedelephant mingled with them. Then, as Neale and Mr. Howbridge came withinview of the animal tent, they saw bursting from it a huge elephant,followed by several men holding to ropes attached to the "ponderouspachyderm," as Minnie was called on the show bills. She was pulling ascore of circus hands after her, as though they were so many stuffedstraw men.
Mr. Bill Sorber at this time reached the scene, and with him wereseveral men who had hurried after him when they heard the alarm. Theringmaster seemed to know just what to do. He caught an ankus, orelephant hook, from one of his helpers, and, taking a stand directly inthe path of the onrushing Minnie, he raised the sharp instrumentthreateningly.
On thundered the elephant, but Mr. Sorber stood his ground. Men shouteda warning to him, and the screams and cries of women and children roseshrilly on the air. Minnie, which was the rather peaceful name for avery wild elephant, raised her trunk in the air, and from it came thepeculiar trumpet blasts. The men she was pulling along were dragged overthe ground helplessly.
"Can he stop her, Neale?" gasped Mr. Howbridge, as he ran beside theformer circus boy.
"Well, I've seem him stop a wild lion that got out of its cage," was theanswer. "But an elephant--"
And then a strange thing happened. When within a few feet of the brave,resolute man who stood in her path, Minnie began to go more slowly. Hershrill cries were less insistent, and the men being dragged along afterher began to hold back as they regained their feet.
Mr. Sorber raised the ankus on high. Its sharp, curved point gleamed inthe sun. Minnie saw it, and she knew it could cruelly hurt her sensitivetrunk. More than once she had felt it before, when on one of herrampages. She did not want to suffer again.
And so, when so close that she could have reached out and touched theringmaster with her elongated nose, or, if so minded, she could havecurled it around him and hurled him to death--when this close, theelephant stopped, and grew quiet.
"Minnie! Minnie!" said the man in a soothing voice. "Behave yourself,Minnie! Why are you acting in this way? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
And the elephant really seemed to be. She lowered her trunk, flapped herears slowly to and fro, and then stood in her tracks and began swayingto and fro in the manner characteristic of the big beasts.
Mr. Sorber went up to her, tossing the ankus to one of his men, andbegan to pat the trunk which curled up as if in anticipation of a treat.
"Minnie, you're a bad girl, and you oughtn't to have any; but since youstopped when I told you to I'll give you a few," said the ringmaster,and, reaching into his pocket, he took out some peanuts which the biganimal munched with every appearance of satisfaction.
"She's all right now," said Neale's uncle, as the regular elephant mencame up to take charge of the creature. "She was just a little excited,that's all. How did it happen?"
"Oh, the same as usual," replied Minnie's keeper. "All at once she gavea trumpet, yanked her stakes loose, and set off out of the animal tent.I had some ropes on her ready to have her pull one of the wagons, and wegrabbed these--as many of us as could--but we couldn't hold her."
"I'm afraid we'll have to get rid of Minnie, she's too uncertain.Doesn't seem to know her own mind, like a lot of the women folks," andMr. Sorber smiled at Mr. Howbridge.
"You were very brave to stop her as you did," observed the lawyer.
"Oh, well, it's my business," said the animal man. "It wasn't such arisk as it seemed. I was all ready to jump to one side if she hadn'tstopped."
"I wonder if any one in the animal tent was hurt," went on the lawyer."We must go and see, Neale. Ruth and the others--"
"I hope none of your folks were injured," broke in Mr. Sorber. "Minniehas done damage in the past, but I guess she only just ran away thistime."
With anxious hearts Neale and Mr. Howbridge hastened to the animal tent,but their fears were groundless. Minnie had carefully avoided every onein her rush, and, as a matter of fact, Ruth, Agnes, Dot and Tess were inthe main tent when the elephant ran out. They heard the excitement, butRuth quieted her sisters.
"Well, now we'll go on with the show," said Mr. Sorber, when matters hadsettled to their normal level. "I'll see you afterward, Neale, and youtoo, Mr. Howbridge, and those delightful little ladies from the oldCorner House."
"Oh, Uncle Bill, I almost forgot!" cried the boy. "Have you that trickmule yet--Uncle Josh? The one I taught to play dead?"
"Uncle Josh? No, I haven't got him, but I wish I had," said the circusowner. "One of the stablemen took him away--stole him in fact--and I'dgive a hundred dollars to get him back!"
Neale held out his hand, smiling.
"What do you mean?" asked his uncle.
"Pay me the hundred dollars," was the answer. "I have Uncle Josh!"
"No! Really, have you?"
"I have! I thought you hadn't sold him!" exclaimed the boy, and he toldthe story of the man on the towpath.
"Well, that is good news!" exclaimed Mr. Sorber. "I'll send for UncleJosh right away. I sure am glad to have him back. He was always good fora lot of laughs. He's almost as funny as Sully, the clown."
A few minutes later Neale and Mr. Howbridge joined Ruth and the othersin the main tent.
Tess and Dot especially enjoyed the performance very much. They took ineverything from the "grand entry" to the races and concert at the end.They were guests of the show, in fact, Neale having procuredcomplimentary tickets.
When the performance was over, they visited "Uncle Bill" in his ownprivate tent, and the Corner House girls had a glimpse of circus life"behind the scenes," as it were, Tess's first experience of the sort.
Neale met many of his old friends and they all expressed the hope thathe would soon find his father. Uncle Josh, the trick mule, was broughtto the grounds by Hank, and the animal seemed glad to be again among hiscompanions.
"Will you be back again this evening?" asked Neale's uncle, when thetime came for the party to go back to the houseboat for supper.
"I think not," was Neale's answer.
He said good-by to his uncle, arranging to write to him and hear fromhim as often as needful. And then they left the circus lot where thenight performance would soon be given.
"Well, I have real news of father at last," said Neale to Agnes, as hewent back toward the canal with his friends. "I would like to know,though, if he got rich out in the Klondike."
"If he wants any money he can have half mine!" offered Dot. "I haveeighty-seven cents in my bank, and I was going to save up to buy myAlice-doll a new carriage. But you can have my money for your father,Neale."
"Thank you," replied Neale, without a smile at Dot's offer. "Maybe Ishan't need it, but it's very kind of you."
Mrs. MacCall had supper ready soon after they arrived at the boat, andthen, as the smaller girls were tired from their day at the circus, theywent to bed early, while Ruth and Mr. Howbridge, Agnes and Neale sat outon the deck and talked. As they were not to go on again until morning,Hank was allowed to go back to the circus again. He said seeing it twicein one day was not too much for him.
"I do hope you will find your father, Neale," said Agnes softly, as,just before eleven o'clock, they all went to bed.
But Ruth, at least, did not go to sleep at once. In her bosom shecarried th
e letter she had received from Luke, and this she now readcarefully, twice.
Luke was doing well at the summer hotel. The proprietor was sick, so heand the head clerk and a night man had their hands full. He was earninggood money, and part of this he was going to spend on his education andthe rest he intended to save. He was sorry he could not be with thehouseboat party and hoped they would all have a good time. Then he addeda page or more intended only for Ruth's eyes. The letter made the oldestCorner House girl very happy.
Soon after breakfast the next morning they were under way again. Thecircus had left town in the night, and Neale did not know when he wouldsee his uncle again. But the lad's heart beat high with hope that hemight soon find his father.
The weather was propitious, and hours of sunshine were making the CornerHouse girls as brown as Indians. Mr. Howbridge, too, took on a coat oftan. As for Neale, his light hair looked lighter than ever against histanned skin. And Hank, from walking along the towpath, became almost asdark as a negro.
One morning, Ruth, coming down to the kitchen to help Mrs. MacCall withthe dinner, saw two fat, chubby legs sticking out of a barrel in onecorner of the cabin.
The legs were vigorously kicking, and from the depths of the barrel camemuffled cries of:
"Let me out! Help me out! Pull me up!"
Ruth lost no time in doing the latter, and, after an effort, succeededin pulling right side up her sister Tess.
"What in the world were you doing?" demanded Ruth.
"I was scraping down in the bottom of the barrel to get a little flourthat was left," Tess explained, very red in the face. "But I leaned overtoo far and I couldn't get up. And I couldn't call at first."
"What did you want of flour?" asked Ruth. "Goodness, you have enough onyour dress, anyhow."
"I wanted some to rub on my face to make me look pale," went on Tess.
"To make you look pale! Gracious, Tess! what for?"
"We're playing doctor and nurse, Dot and I," Tess explained. "I have tobe sick, and sick people are always pale. But I'm so tanned Dot said Ididn't look sick at all, so I tried to scrape some flour off the bottomof the barrel to rub on my face."
"Well, you have enough now if you brush off what's on your clothes,"laughed Ruth.
"And be careful about leaning over barrels," put in Mrs. MacCall. "Youmight have been hurt."
"Yes," agreed Tess, "I might be but I wasn't. Only my head felt funnyand my legs felt queer, too, when I wiggled them."
They were approaching the end of the stretch of the canal through whichthey must travel to reach Gentory River. The boat would be "locked" fromthe canal to the larger stream, and then Neale could have his wish ofoperating the motor come true.
Toward evening they arrived at the last lock of their trip. Just beyondlay the river, and they would proceed up that to Lake Macopic.
As the _Bluebird_ emerged from the lock and slowly floated on the littlebasin into which just there the Gentory broadened, the attention of Ruthand Agnes was directed to a small motor boat which was just leaving thevicinity.
Ruth, who stood nearest the rail, grasped her sister by the arm, andcried an alarm.
"Look! Those men! In the boat!" exclaimed Ruth.
"What about them?" asked Agnes, while Mr. Howbridge glanced at the twosisters.
"They're the same men who robbed us!" exclaimed Ruth. "The men who tookour jewelry box in the rain! Oh, stop them!"