“Not a word to a soul,” echoed the animals in chorus.
So, swinging his hat as he went, Diggeldy Dan danced down the length of the menagerie tent and then, stopping at the end of it to give a last wave to his friends, disappeared in the depths of the dusk.
CHAPTER IV
IN WHICH THE ANIMALS ELECT OFFICERS
On as fine an evening as one might wish for and at exactly seven minutes past half-past twilight by the Petal Watch, Diggeldy Dan stood in the very center of the great menagerie tent, while before him were grouped all the animals of Spangleland.
Coming from their cages and from out their corrals or, like Elephant, Zebra, and Camel, being unhooked from their chains by Monkey and Dan, they had arranged themselves much as one sees them pictured in great atlases or on gayly colored posters, but never, strangely enough, at the circus itself.
In the front row sat Puma, Monkey, Seal, Leopard, Hyena, and Little Black Bear, and all their families. Next in order came Lion, Tiger, Ostrich, Great White Bear, Deer, Emu, Kangaroo, and their families; while, ranged behind these were Elephant, Camel, Hippo, Zebra, and Rhino, and their different cousins and aunts, with Giraffe and his folks still back of them.
There they sat, chattering and laughing and making quite as much of a clatter as people do at the theater, just before the curtain goes up.
“Now,” began Dan, pulling his hands from his pockets and clapping them together for silence, “it seems to me the first thing to do is to get ourselves organized.”
“Yes, yes, that is it,” answered the merry crew. “Let’s do that very thing!”
“We should begin, then,” continued Dan, “by choosing a chairman. Who, say you, shall it be?”