Tamba, the Tame Tiger: His Many Adventures

by Richard Barnum

The dock was crowded with wagons, horses, automobiles and men, all being driven or hurrying to and fro, to get the big ships ready to sail. For there were two ships in this dock, one on either side of the pier, and Tamba was in a place called a warehouse, in between the two vessels.

So, as I say, the dock and warehouse was a very busy place at noon. And as men must eat, as well as tigers, when the twelve o’clock whistles blew some of the drivers tied their horses wherever they happened to be, put nose-bags of oats on the horses’ necks, and then the men went to get their own dinners.

Now, as it happened, a wagon, with a load of meat on it, was stopped by its driver near Tamba’s place. The end of the wagon, which was filled with big pieces of beef, pork, and mutton, was near the hole among the boxes where the tiger was hiding. And of course Tamba could easily smell this meat. In fact, the smell of it awakened him from a little sleep into which he had fallen.

“Ha! What’s that?” asked the tiger of himself, as he opened his eyes. He sniffed harder. The meat smell became plainer. Then he looked up. Right over his head was the end of a big wagon, where the man driving it had backed it to get it out of the way while he fed his horses and went to get his own dinner. And on the end of the wagon was some nice, juicy meat, just the kind Tamba had been fed in the circus. Only there was more meat than Tamba had ever seen at one time before.

The meat, as I suppose you have guessed, was to be put on board one of the ships to feed the passengers and crew on its journey over the salty sea. Of course Tamba did not know that. All he knew was that he felt very hungry, and that here was meat.

“Well, it was very kind of some one to bring me so much meat,” thought the tiger to himself. “I’m sure I’m much obliged to them. And they left me to myself to eat it, too. They didn’t stay to stare and watch me, as the folks do in the circus. This is very nice.”

So Tamba rose up on his hind legs, and, hidden as he was in his snug nest, where no one saw him, and with the end of the meat wagon so easily within reach, the tame tiger made a good meal. Of course he chewed the ends off several nice pieces of meat that were meant to go on board the ship, but it did not completely spoil them, and, after all, the tame tiger was very hungry.

“My, but this tastes good!” thought the tiger, as he took bite after bite of juicy beef. “This is even better than the circus. I can have as much as I want, and there are no bones to hurt my teeth. Of course I like to gnaw a bone now and then, but when I am as hungry as I am now I want just plain chunks of meat.”

And Tamba had all he wanted. He just stood there and ate and ate from the back of the wagon, and then, licking his jaws to make them clean, he curled up in his nest again, and went to sleep once more.