“The crowd on the lot is cheerin’, an’ the animal men walk along by the beasts, but there’s no more spearin’. Jed jes’ leans against the hay an’ keeps callin’. He finishes, an’ as the last elephant comes along he loops down with his trunk, an’ pickin’ Jed up sits him on his trunk an’ walks away proud like jes, as he does in Ring Three at the finish of the act.
“Say, the Boss is almost wild about it, an’ the whole town follows the herd to the train. The Boss had Jed put in the sleeper, but Jed won’t have it, and crawls out to sleep in the elephant car, where he was most at home.
“Say, that’s what I call havin’ a heart. Them elephants knew that voice. Jed had been leadin’ ’em up hill and down hill, from sea to sea, an’ they wasn’t goin’ to have it any other way.”
“Well, did they take him back for good?” asked the Saw Dust Spreader.
“Take him back,” said the Concert Manager. “Well, I should say, an’ the Boss gives him a gold watch with elephant engravin’ on it, with a fancy band with some wordin’ about bein’ a faithful servant.
“An’, say, Jed was sober after that durin’ the season, but when we got into quarters the tavern for Jed all the time.”