“I knew you wouldn’t let my little girl get hurt,” he said.
“Of course not!” grunted Chunky. “I came to the top as soon as I got her on my back, for I knew she couldn’t stay as long under water without breathing as I can.”
Alice was very much frightened, and she cried. She was wet, too, but not hurt a bit, and her father called an automobile and took her home with Don.
“I’ll come and see you to-morrow and let you know how she is,” the dog promised the happy hippo.
“I wish you would,” said Chunky.
And Don did. Alice was all right as soon as she got on dry clothes, the dog said, and she promised never again to run up to a tank of water to see what was happening to a hippo.
What Chunky did—saving Alice from drowning in the pool—became known to many people who went to the park, and there was even something in the papers about it. It made quite a hero of Chunky, though of course he did not know that. All he knew was that crowds of people came to see him, and his keepers were good and kind to him.
So Chunky lived in the park menagerie for many years. He did his tricks and was glad to have the boys and girls come to look at him.
“It is much better, after all, than the jungle,” he said to one of the elephants.