Beadle's Dime Library, No. 406 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 ms =< ere Sh 2 EA Uwe ew a snoring between wo OE A Di tl API, 10 —_ --_- OS — a a a —— CHAPTER XI. ELEPHANT JIM. SomME men get stupid drunk, and go to sleep ‘peaceably; others weep and lament over their ‘woes and the whisky; others are full of fun and music; still others are grave and owl-like in their wisdom, while the remaining class puts on war-paint and goes on a tear. Jim Perkins generally began by fun and singing, ending up by putting on his war-paint, when he got frantic with excitement. He was a very tall man, with a tremendous skeleton and hard, brown muscle all over him but as thin as a rail. His hair and eyes were dark, his complexion naturally sanguine, his temperament excitable, and he was kept in a constant state of nervous tension by the gigan- tic brute he had to keep in control. The enormous strength and viciousness of his charge, and the watchfulness to which it im- pelled him, gave him a contempt for the opposition of mankind; and he gloried in the complete subjection to which he had brought ‘King Philip. Drink had brought out all his qualities, es- age his vanity and ferocious daring, and he ept shouting as he came: ‘*Here goes Elephant Jim, Emperor of the beasts! Ten thousand dollars, no other man can handle King Philip, and [ll whip the hide off the sucker that goes to deny it. Whoop! Hooaloo-aloo ! ! !” The country ple shrunk out of the way in dismay, but ald. Pop Hicks instantly started forward to meet Jim, saying: ‘*Good-evening, Mr. Perkins. Come along in. I want to speak to you on business.” Jim would have struck him had he shown any fear, and might have resented any sort of re- proof, but the commonplace tone and jolly man- ner completely disarmed him, so that he burst out into a laugh, threw his arms round Pop’s neck and shouted: ‘Pop Hicks, by Jerusby, you’rea gentleman, sir, ’n I know it! Gentleman, Pop Hicks, the oldest showman in the business, and the best, by Jerushy! Ill lick the man that says he ain’t. TTey! Whoop !” Sut the men of the show were too much used to drunken people to hesitate what to do, when atuing of this sort took place in front of the ti xet-wagon. Pop gave a signal, and a good dozen of men rushed on Jim and hauled him off to the ring entrance, howling and laughing, but good- natured, till they got him to his unwieldy and vicious pet when they threw him in under King Philip’s tusks, and he rolled over be- tween the animal’s feet and went to sleep forth- with. The gigantic brute, the moment before, had been ‘‘ weaving” its head uneasily, oe from foot to foot as well as the chains wonlc allow it, striking viciously at everything that passed with its trunk, and occasionally trum- ting furiously so as to frighten all the horses. ng Philip was growing more and more angry so that the oldest beast men in the show did not dare to go near him, and they began to feel anx- ious about the strength of the iron chains that _ confined him. Besides the bands round his tusks, by which al , his head was bound down to the steel gyves on his forelegs, so as to cripple his motion, huge chains were padlocked on his hind legs, and around an anchor that was supposed to ye of defying his wildest efforts. the great brute had drawn the anchor Half out of its bed before Jim was brought in, and the hands in the show had passed a thick - eable round it, for fear it should come out, tak- ing the ends of the cable under the tent to a large tree close by, in the lot. ; ut the moment King Pbilip felt his master rolling helpless under his feet, the whole mood of the irate changed. He ceased to ‘‘ weave” his head and shift his feet, which he spread apart so as not to hurt the drunken man while he soft- ly caressed him with his trunk and uttered a -Jow whining sound, expressive of affection and joy at Jim’s return. | As for the drunken man himself, he seemed to ‘be perfectly satisfied with his position; for he rolled over on his back, clas King Philip’s nk in his arms, and growled out: ““ Was ye glad to see me, ye old thief? Whoop! Go to blazes, all of ye.” And in five minutes he was snoring like a pig, when Pop Hicks said to the men: - ‘* Keep him in sight, and don’t let him get out again. I guess he'll sleep now.” They went away, leaving the elephant-trainer King Philip’s feet, while quiet settled over the show, and Pop Hicks returned to the door. It wanted half an hour yet to the opening of the performance, but the house was filling rap- idly, and Pop rubbed his hands as he watched the steady stream of people flowing in, and re- marked to Moone: ‘‘ Guess the trouble’s over, hey?) Whatdo you - think, hey? What d’ye think?’ Moone’s only answer was: — Fe ee ee ee Old ran as hard as ee Se. 5 stayed behind from their show, and I’ve got a kind of idea we shall find him with our girls, somewhere.” ‘Hem! hem! Why d’ye think so?” **T judge from human nature, sir. Didn’t you take every chance you could get to see Mrs. Hicks before you were married?” Pop Hicks sighed slightly. ‘* Ay, ay, boy—I did, Idid. PoorSally! My Sally’s jest like her, at herage. Little bit of a woman. Used todo bareback. Most pluck of any womanl eversaw. Ay, ay, 1 suppose so. But look here, Moone, how’s this? I don’t know the man. Never spoke to him. How can Sally speak to him?” ‘*Zoralina was with him in the same show last year,” returned Moone. ‘‘I wouldn’t won- der but he works his little racket, all respecta- ble, through her.” Pop frowned. ‘* What do — mean?—that my darter gets introduced to him by Zoe?” “Why not, sir?” ne re still more angry. ‘‘ Why not? By gum! I’d have you know Mr. Moone, that my darter is my darter, an don’t pick up with strangers out of her own show.’ Moone laughed. ‘*T’m afrad you'll find girls the same all over, sir, no matter if they be managers’ daugh- ters.” Pop Hicks had been peering round in the now slowly gathering dusk; for it was getting time for the ladies of the show to come in, and now he interrupted Moone, with a voice of triumph, pointing down the street. ‘* 'You’re mighty smart, Mr. Moone,” he said, ‘*but not as smart as you might be. There comes my darter, now, with the other gals; and they’re all alone, jest as they always are.” Little Moone’s eyes followed his, and he saw Sally Hicks, with Fanny Rounder, Bridget Stubbs (alias Hippolyte), and poor little Zora- lina, who always looked so mournful, coming down the street to the tent, with no one but Tom Fowler, who was known as the steadiest of married men. Moone said nothing, though he felt that he would rather his prophecy had come true; but, as it had not, he did like other wise prophets, held his peace on the subject and waited for the day when he could exclaim: ‘‘ I told you so,” The girls went into the show, all but Sally, whose father beckoned to her to say, uneasily: ‘** Sally, child!” ‘* Yes, pa,” she answered, looking up at him in her usual frank manner. ‘‘ What’s the matter? Business bad?” ‘* No, *tain’t that, Sally, but—” ‘* But what, pa?” “Do you ever think of getting married, Sally?’ asked the old showman, nervously. Sally burst out laughing ina way that, had Pop been a student of human nature, outside of his own line, would have convinced him she was as yet but a child, with no ideas of love, “Me? Married? What an idea, pa! That would be a racket!” Then she giggled again, as if the idea were too preposterous. ‘*No, no, pa. As long as the guys come in, and you run the show, ’m your right bower, ain’t I? You bet I am, and I know when I’m well off, too.” ‘* There’s this Noble,” interrupted the old man, nervously. ‘* You know him, don’t you?” He watched his daughter like a hawk, and saw she never changed color, though she smiled as one well pleased. ‘Ob, yes, I know Lion Charley,” she said, carelessly. ‘* He’s Zoe’s mash, not mine. They used to be together in the Silver Palace Show, last year. IL wouldn't be a bit surprised to see him come into our show to-night, about the time she goes on. She’s dead game on him, you know, pa.” Pop was immensely relieved. ‘*Oh, is that it?’ he said. “I’m glad you told me. Zoe’s a good girl, and I guess he'd make her a good match. Be civil to the young fellow, Sally, and leave ’em all the chance you can. ‘* You bet I will,” was the saucy reply. ‘I’m fly, pa. Two's company, three’s none, But he hasn’t been here to-night.” Then she went into the tent, and Pop was about going round to attend to his own dress- ing. hen he heard, again, the well-known angry scream of King Philip, inside the tent, followed by a woman’s shriek. It was his daughter’s voice, and the old man e could tothe back entrance, where he rushed in, to find the performers in a bunch near the door, all chattering to- gether, ‘‘ What's the matter? Where’s Sally?” he asked, pale as death. ‘* Here, pa, not hurt,” she answered, in rather a faint voice, and he saw her near the entrance, leaning up against Zoralina or Amelia Briggs, who looked as white as a sheet. “> oe the matter, then?’ he asked, anx- ously. Pop Hicks, Showman ——— and I—in fun—threw a peanut at him,” she said, between suppressed pantings of fear, ‘‘ and the brute nearly struck me with his trunk. Pa, why didn’t you tell me he was in a bad temper to-night? I might have caught it.” **He didn’t hit you, did he?’ asked Pop, in a still more anxious tone. ‘** Only—only—a little brush—it was the wind knocked me down,” she said, faintly. ‘‘1’ll be better soon, pa.” But Old Pop Hicks strode off to the place where the elephant stood over its master, and called out angrily: ‘* Perkins! Jim Perkins! Wake up, you drunken brute! Wake up instantly.” CHAPTER XII, LION CHARLEY. ELEPHANT JIM heard the voice, and woke with a apg oes that surprised the show- man, rolling over and roaring: “Git out o’ that, ye old thief! Who’n the anes is A cegped i aps en he scram up to a sitting posture and rubbed his eyes, blinking. ‘*You, Jim erkins,” cried Pop, angrily, **do you know who I an, sir?” Jim looked round and instantly bounded to his feet with a howl. ‘*'Whoop! Hooray for Pop Hicks! Th’ best showman in’ States, b’gosh! Whoop! I’m Ele- phant Jim!” ‘*Shut up your head and listen to me,” cried Pop, angrily. ‘* Your brute nearly hit my daughter just now. Do you know it, sir? Do you hear? Elephant Jim stood there, leaning up against King Philip’s foreleg, blinking at his employer, but the words hardly seemed to penetrate to his consciousness, for he said, slowly: **'What’s that? Wha’ that?” ‘*T say your brute of an elephant very nearly killed my daughter, Sall icks, a moment since, while you lay, drunk asa fool, between his feet,” cried Pop, in great excitement. ‘‘Is this your promiee to me, Elephant Jim? You swore you’d keep sober, and bere you are drunk again. And now you want to kill my Sally? Is that what you want todo?” Elephant Jim seemed to be sobered at once by the accusation. ‘* Me kill Sally Hicks!” he repeated, as if over- whelmed with amazement. ‘‘ Me? Why, Pop, I'd give King Philip himself, if she’d axed me for him,” ‘* Well, you nearly let Aim kill her,” said Pop, more placably. ‘‘She was going by, and the brute struck at her.” ‘*He did, did_ he?” cried Elephant Jim. ‘Then, by gosh Jerushy, Pop, I’ll jest give him the most all-firedest. lambastin’ he ever got in his life, arter this show’s over. Hit at Sally Hicks will ye, ye old thief? What'd I tell ye? Hey?” And with that he ran for a pitchfork and be- gan to jab it into the elephant’s sensitive trunk till King Philip roared aloud with pain and bugged at his chains so hard that Pop shouted: ‘Let be, Jim! Let be, you drunken idiot! Do you want him to break loose and start a panic? Let be!” Jim started and drew back at the word “panic.” It roused, in his muddled brains, some recollection of the compact into which he had entered that day with the opposite show, wherefor the money was still stuffed into his pockets. , . He turned sullen and insolent at once, ‘*T ain't goin’ to make no pe. he growled. ‘Drunk or sober, I’m able to take care of my- self and King Philip, in any show in this coun- try. I ain’t Spehol en to no man. I can go be 2 I please.” ‘‘ Wherever you go,” retorted Pop, firmly, ‘‘vouwll keep your engagements, Perkins, or you'll find le won't trust you long. ow attend to your brute, and be ready to do your act when your time comes. You ain’t dressed ” ‘* Oh, it don’t take me long to dress,” the ele- hant trainer replied, in the same sulky way. ‘I’m ready to go on, dress or no dress, Iknow my biz.” en to the elephant: “Get up there, ¥ old thief! Dye want to git me into disgrace?” — ; Pop looked at him a while, and finally be- came convinced that Jim was sobering down ra va } Fre known him to do his act before, when boozy, and Jim Perkins never staggered, what- ever his load of liquor. So Pop went away to dress for the ring, and very soon after heard the stam ing and clap- ing that told of the impatience of the audience ae the show to begin, He gave the signal while he was dressing, and watched King Philip narrowly while the horses of the opening cavalcade went by his box, to- ward the ring. The elephant never noticed them, and Pop be- came satisfied that Jim was attending to his business. He went into the ring and passed through the ab fi ‘<j ‘“ Have the girls come yet, sir?” . : a Be+ic--why d’ve ask, why, why?” “‘ Wothing—only—asI went by King Philip— | opening performance as usual, till the time came i; *‘ Because I find that Lion Charley Noble! 1 saw Jim Perkins asleep—between his feet— for Jim to perform his beast, oar y . ] he | r ny 7 \ _ eee | | UGGS 5 Lge Gomicbooks-com > < d 4 . : j ot Lad in wk. ? ; ts 2 TP : 2 : ; dy uk "4 oP A, ha 2 i ile rf = «? & 1. ” 4A >. oth “ ; a “iy Pes ‘ ‘ f ail ”