And I guess the Japanese cook heard him, for in a few minutes breakfast was ready, and this time the eggs were dropped on toast instead of the floor.
By and by, after Uncle Lucky had smoked his cigar, he and Billy Bunny went out to the garage and cranked up the Luckymobile and went for a ride. And when they had gone for a mile or less they came across their old friend the Circus Elephant.
But, oh, dear me! He was an awful sight. His left eye had a bandage over it and his trunk was rolled up in cotton and his left hind foot had an old carpet slipper on and his tail was done up in splints and he was weeping great big tears, for he felt dreadfully miserable.
“What is the matter?” asked Billy Bunny, as Uncle Lucky stopped the automobile.
“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” sobbed the big animal. “I was in a Fourth of July celebration and the roman candles got mixed up with the sky-rockets and the cannon crackers with the pin wheels, and the first thing I knew I was hit in two million, nine hundred and a few dozen places, and if it hadn’t been for a pink cross nurse I’d be a dead elephant by this time.”
“Get into the automobile,” said Uncle Lucky, “and we’ll take you home with us,” and in the next story, if the catbird doesn’t scratch the dogfish, I’ll tell you who broke the springs in the automobile, unless you guess who did before to-morrow night.
STORY XXX—BILLY BUNNY AND THE CIRCUS ELEPHANT
Let me see. I left off in the last story when the Circus Elephant stepped into the Luckymobile, didn’t I? You remember he had been injured in a Fourth of July celebration, and good, kind Uncle Lucky offered to take him home.
Well as soon as he sat down the tires burst and then, of course, the automobile wouldn’t go, for the cabaret wouldn’t work and the engine wouldn’t whistle. So Billy Bunny got out the sticking plaster and fixed the tires and then he made the elephant blow them up with his trunk, but he wouldn’t let him get in again.
No, sir. He said, “Now look here, Elly. You’re too heavy for the Luckymobile, so you’ll have to walk, but you can put your trunk in the back seat if that will help any.” So the Circus Elephant lifted his trunk into the automobile and ran along behind until they came to Uncle Lucky’s house.