“Of course I don’t want to see them hungry,” thought Tamba, “but they may get something to eat in the woods, and perhaps I couldn’t do that. There may be no muskrats there.”
Everything came out all right. The twilight faded, and it became dark. Then Tamba, who remained hidden in the stable, crept softly out to the plate of meat and bones that had been left for the dogs. He ate up everything and gnawed the bones, and then he got a drink of water from the horse trough and felt much better.
“And now, Tinkle, I will bid you and your kind friends good-by and be on my way to get back to the jungle,” said Tamba, after he had eaten.
“Oh, are you going to run away?” asked the trick pony. “You’ll be just like Don, the dog, then. He ran away, too.”
“But he ran back again, as I have heard my friend, Nero, the circus lion, say,” replied Tamba. “I am not exactly running away from you. I ran away from the circus, but I am only leaving you after paying you a visit. And I liked my visit very much. That meat, too, was very good. Thank you, Tinkle.”
“I only wish there had been more of it,” said the trick pony. “But, if you have to go, I suppose you must leave. I hope you’ll get safely to your jungle.”
But Tamba had many adventures ahead of him before that time. He said good-by to Tinkle and the farm animals, and then, looking out of the barn and peering through the darkness, to see that none of the farmer’s men were on the watch with their guns, Tamba slunk out into the night.
Once more he was on his way, traveling to find his jungle. On through the dark woods and over the fields went Tamba, taking care to keep away from houses where people might live who would see him and tell the circus men to come and get him. Tamba did not want to be caught.
So, for several days, Tamba traveled on. Often he was hungry and thirsty, but he managed to find things to eat once in a while, and now and again he came to springs of water or streams where he drank. So, though he did not have a very good time, he managed to live.