"Hum, ha," said the gruff man.
Toots now saw that when the Princess' father said "hum, ha," he was talking to himself. He stood with his back against the rail in front of Mahmoud's stall. The old elephant was acting strangely. At every exclamation of "hum, ha," he would flap his ears and move a step nearer the large man.
"Hum, ha," mused the large man gruffly, again, as he took off his hat to wipe the perspiration from his brow, over which swept the grayish yellow locks. Instantly Mahmoud gave one of his little squeals of delight and began fondling the large man with the tip of his trunk.
"Why, he remembers you, sir," said Toots. "Or else he mistakes you for the surgeon who mended his trunk."
"Hum, ha, he doesn't mistake me, boy. I am the surgeon who mended his trunk. I flatter myself that it was the first case of elephant skin-grafting ever attempted. Hum, ha." And having closely inspected the scars on the old elephant's proboscis, the large man said "hum, ha," several more times, evidently with great satisfaction, then said to Toots:
"What's the matter with your leg?"
"It's too short, sir."
"Born so?"
"Oh, no, sir. It was broken below the knee when I was six years old, and my mother was too poor to get a good surgeon."