"Oh, yes," said the man, "it is a poor fellow who works here at unloading ships."
"He has got a very intelligent animal!"
That was all.
But Mr. Oldham continued to look at me; and as for myself, my vanity being awakened, I made a point of not missing a single ring, and Mr. Oldham gave vent to "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" of admiration, and murmured:
"'The Elephant Juggler'—That would look well on our play bills!"
They now began to bring ashore the luggage of Mr. Oldham and his friends.
There were enormous boxes and crates of strange shapes, bales of rope, stacks of poles, and many things scarcely covered at all, of which I could not imagine the use. Then they brought up out of the ship great chariots, cages of wild animals, and at last numbers of horses, who seemed bewildered by the voyage.
Well, these are strange travellers, thought I—and they have strange luggage! They loaded the boxes and bales onto the chariots, and harnessed to them the least fine-looking of the horses; a number of men, who seemed to be the servants of Mr. Oldham, took the horses by the bridle, or mounted on the chariots, and all were moving off, when Moukounj arrived!
He was not very drunk, and he went at once to Mr. Oldham to offer his services. It was too late.—But as he pointed towards me, Mr. Oldham said to him:
"Ah! You are the owner of that intelligent beast? You had better come to the Hotel Victoria, and ask for Mr. John Hardwick, Director of the 'Grand Circus of the Two Worlds'—he may have something to say to you that will be to your advantage."