“Yes,” kindly said the elephant, “I’ll stay a little while, and do some of my tricks for you.” Then he explained how he suddenly found that he could talk, and he liked it very much, and so he kept on doing it. I, myself, don’t know how an elephant can talk, so, if you please, don’t ask me why. But I know this one did it, just the same.
Then he did a lot of tricks, such as sitting down on the wash-bench, and sucking a whole lot of water up his nose, and then squirting it out again, like a fire engine. And he lifted all the children up together, as they stood on a table, and he sat down on a very strong chair, and rang the dinner bell, only, of course, everybody had had dinner, and so they didn’t eat again. And then the elephant played a mouth-organ that Tommy had given the poor boy—what do you think of that?—the elephant played it by blowing on it through his trunk.
“Well, now it’s time to go home,” said the jolly sailor at last. So they said good-by to the poor family, and Mary and Tommy and Johnny promised to send them something more to eat, and some warm clothes to wear, and the sailor said he would ask Mr. Trippertrot to get the poor man some work—and he did, I’m glad to say.
“Up on my back!” cried the elephant, as he walked out of the poor family’s house, for it was a very large house, you know, and had once belonged to a rich family, so an elephant could easily get in it through the wide doors. Then the elephant lifted Mary and Tommy and Johnny up on his back, and then the sailor—the jolly sailor, you know—and away they started through the night (for it was now dark) to the Trippertrot home. The jolly sailor knew the way very well, and so the children could enjoy themselves.
Then, all of a sudden, a man came running along. “Hold on there, Mr. Elephant!” he called.
“What is the matter?” asked the elephant.
“Why, I guess you have forgotten that you are to do your tricks in my theatre to-night,” said the man. “You must come with me, if you please.”
“So I must,” spoke the elephant. “I did forget. I can’t go along any farther with you children just now.”
“But how are we ever to get home?” asked Mary, sorrowfully.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said the elephant, kindly. “I will send my friend, the two-humped camel, along, and you can ride home on his back—you and the sailor.”