IN THE NICK OF TIME.
It may sound like slander for me to say that the elephant, which isadmittedly one of the most intelligent members of the animal creation,is also one of the most vicious and treacherous. But it is a fact allthe same. I have seen one of those beasts, that had been fed andtreated with the greatest kindness for years by his keeper, turn uponhim like a tiger, and, seizing him with that wonderful trunk of his,dash him to death before he could do more than utter a cry of protestand terror.
I have seen another, after waiting weeks for the opportunity, suddenlygrasp an innocent person, and, kneeling upon him with his beam-likelegs, knead him out of all semblance of humanity.
Columbus, who was the main attraction of Barnum's establishment someforty years ago, killed several keepers, and was likely to start on oneof his terrible rampages at any moment. The giving away of a bridge inNew England so injured him that he died, long before any of my youngreaders were born.
An elephant, fully as bad as Columbus, was Vladdok, who was brought tothis country when quite young. A glimpse at his enormous ears told hisAfrican nativity at once, those from Asia and Ceylon having muchsmaller ears. He belonged to the old traveling circus of Blarcom &Burton, and made several journeys through our country in the days whenthose establishments found no use for the railways, but patientlyplodded from town to town, delighting the hearts and eyes of ourgrandfathers and grandmothers when they were children just as we arenow.
Vladdok had killed two keepers, besides badly wounding a couple ofspectators in Memphis, when he yielded to one of his vicious moods. Hehad been fired upon and wounded more times than any one could remember,and Mr. Blarcom, who always traveled with his show, had been on thepoint more than once of ordering his destruction; but he was of suchlarge size and possessed such extraordinary intelligence, that heconstituted the main attraction of the exhibition and he hesitated,well aware that sooner or later, the wicked fellow would die "with hisboots on."
It was after an afternoon performance in one of the Western States thatVladdok indulged in his last rampage. His sagacious keeper had come tounderstand the animal so well, that he knew the outbreak was coming.While Vladdok was unusually tractable and obedient, there was adangerous glitter in his small eyes, and an occasional nervous movementof his head, which proved that he was only biding his time and waitingfor the grand chance to present itself.
Fortunately, he did not rebel until after the exhibition was over, andthe crowds had departed. Then, with a fierce trumpeting and one vastshiver of his enormous bulk, he made a dash which snapped his chainslike so much whip-cord and went through the side of the tent as thoughit were cardboard.
On his wild charge, which set all the rest of the animals in a panic,he reached for his keeper, who with prodding spear and shouts,interposed himself in his path and tried to check him. But the man'sinimitable dexterity and good fortune enabled him to dodge the beastand escape by a hair's breadth. The next minute, the elephant reachedthe public highway, down which he swung awkwardly but swiftly, on anexcursion that was destined to be the most tragic in his whole career.
The first object on which he vented his wrath was a team of horses,driven by a farmer, whose wife was sitting beside him on the frontseat. Neither they nor the team knew their danger until the avalancheof fury was upon them. The animals screamed in an agony of fright, andwere rearing and plunging, when Vladdok grasped one with his trunk,lifted him in the air and dashed him to death. The other broke looseand plunged off at such headlong speed, that the elephant followed himonly a few paces, when he turned to attack the man and woman.
But they were nowhere in sight, and, with a trumpet of disgust, hewheeled about, and turning from the highway, took to the woods.
The couple were saved by a singular occurrence. The violent rearingand backing of the horses overturned the wagon body, and the farmer andhis better half were caught beneath it, before they could escape. Theyhad sense enough to remain quiet, until the brute left, when they creptout, none the worse for their mishap.
"Consarn his pictur!" exclaimed the husband; "if that don't beat allcreation! I allers said that circuses and shows was a burnin' shame,and now I _know_ it; I'll make the owner of that elephant pay tenthousand dollars for the damage he done us, for he scart you and me sobad Betsy, that we'll never grow another inch."
Meanwhile, the runaway kept things moving. He knew his keeper andattendants were hot on his trail, and his sudden change of course wasundoubtedly with a view of misleading them. It is hardly to besupposed that he expected to find any "game" in the woods, butnevertheless he did.
It so happened that Jack Norton and Billy Wiggins, a couple of boys notmore than fourteen years of age, were engaged on a little hunt thatsame afternoon. The teachers had sent such bad reports home about themthat their parents inflicted the most awful kind of punishment; theydid not permit them to attend the circus, to which they had beenlooking forward for weeks. The father of Billy was specially stern,and forbade his hopeful to take his gun, when he joined Jack on alittle hunting ramble in the woods. Mr. Norton felt some slightcompunctions, when he noted how patiently his boy accepted his fate,and relented to that degree that he permitted him to take his rifle,though he knew there was little chance of his securing any game.
The boys had walked about a mile, and, coming to a fallen tree, satdown to rest awhile, for the day was warm and the gun which they hadtaken turns in carrying, was heavy.
"I guess this hunt ain't agoin' to amount to much," sighed Jack, as heleaned the rifle against the prostrate trunk, on which they were seated.
"Why not?" asked Billy.
"'Cause there ain't nothin' to hunt; I heerd Budge Jones say that whenhe was a boy, these woods used to be full of bears and deers and tigersand lions and giraffes and that sort of thing."
"Yes, and the folks were so mean they killed 'em all, but I've theidea, Jack, that maybe some of the lions or tigers has hid somewhere inthe woods and we might find 'em."
"Golly! I don't know whether I'd want to find 'em or not," repliedJack, looking about him, with a scared expression.
"Why not? Hain't you got a gun?"
"Yes, but while I was killin' one the others might chaw me all topieces; but if there was only one, I wouldn't care, if he was anelephant as big as a barn----"
"My gracious! there he comes!"
A terrific crashing of the undergrowth caused both lads to glanceaffrightedly behind them, and there, sure enough, was Vladdok, thefearful elephant, almost upon them. They started to run, their coursesso diverging that the beast was forced to select one and let the otheralone for the moment. He fixed upon Billy Wiggins, who had takenbarely twenty steps, when the trunk of the beast inclosed his waist andhe was lifted, as if he was a feather from the ground, and the nextinstant he felt himself whizzing through space.
A marvelous providence saved him. Instead of dashing him against atree, or upon the ground, the elephant, in one of his mad freaks, flunghim from him as though he was a ball. He spun through the air, theleaves and limbs whizzing against his face and body, and instinctivelyclutching with both hands, succeeded in grasping enough branches tosupport the weight of his body and check his descent.
Then, when he collected his senses and stared around, he found that hewas a dozen yards above the ground, with the elephant beneath, lookingup, and apparently waiting for him to fall within his reach, that hemight finish him.
"Not much," muttered Billy; "I'm going to stay here and I don't believeyou know how to climb a tree. Helloa! how do you like _that_?"
Jack Norton had dashed only a few yards, when the terrified look hecast over his shoulder told him the elephant was giving his wholeattention to Billy, and seemed to have forgotten all about him.Instantly he was filled with alarm for his young friend, and startedback to the log to get his rifle, that neither had thought of in thepanic.
As he knelt behind the fallen tree, to make his aim sure, he descried aqueer object going through the limbs of a larg
e oak, and did notidentify it, until it lodged fast, as his friend Billy Wiggins.
Jack had no more idea of the fatal point at which to aim his weaponthan you have, but knowing that he must do something, and, with a dreadthat the elephant after all, might succeed in climbing the oak andgetting at his friend, he let fly.
Gordon Cumming himself could not have done better. The tiny bulletbored its way into the vast bulk, just back of the fore leg and wentdirectly through the heart. The huge brute, as if conscious that hewas mortally hurt, swung part way round, so as to face the point whencethe shot had come. Catching sight of the kneeling youngster, with themuzzle of his rifle still smoking, he plunged toward him. He took acouple of steps, swayed to one side, moved uncertainly forward again,then stopped, tried to steady himself, and finally went over sideways,like a mountain, crashing the saplings and undergrowth near him, andsnapping one of his magnificent tusks into splinters. He was dead.
When the boys fully comprehended what had taken place, they were not alittle alarmed and puzzled, and started home, wondering whether theirgame was a descendant of the creatures that used to inhabit thatsection, or whether he was a visitor to these parts. They had not gonefar, however, when they met the attaches of the menagerie and circus towhom they related what had occurred.
The proprietors were relieved on learning the whole truth, for therecould be little doubt that the sudden ending of the career of Vladdokwas the means of saving more than one person from death.
As for Jack Norton and Billy Wiggins, it was generally conceded thatthey spoke the truth, when they declared:
"Our fathers wouldn't let us go to the circus that afternoon, but Iguess we had a bigger circus than any of you all to ourselves."