<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</SPAN><br/> <small>SLICKO AND TUM TUM</small></h2>
<p class="cap">“Mappo,” asked Slicko, as she sat under
the shade of a tree, near the road,
and looked across at the tents in the
vacant lot, “is that what you call a circus,
Mappo?”</p>
<p>“That is a circus, little Slicko,” answered the
monkey, kindly.</p>
<p>Slicko saw the white tents, she heard the bands
playing music, she heard men and boys calling
out strange words, such as “ice cream cones!”
“pink lemonade!” and “peanuts!” The last
word was the only one Slicko knew, for she had
heard that before.</p>
<p>Once a squirrel who had lived in a city park
came to visit Slicko’s mamma and papa. And
this city squirrel told how the children used to
go to the park and feed the squirrels peanuts.
So Slicko knew what peanuts were, when she
heard the circus boys and men shouting about
them.</p>
<p>“So that is a circus, is it?” asked little Slicko,
as she looked at the big, white tents, all gay with<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</SPAN></span>
colored flags, fluttering in the wind, and heard
the nice music.</p>
<p>“Yes,” answered Mappo, “that is a circus.”</p>
<p>“And you ran away from it—you ran away
from a nice place like that?” asked Slicko in
surprise.</p>
<p>“Oh, well, I got tired of being in a cage all
the while,” said Mappo, the merry monkey. “I
am going back again soon, I guess, as it is no
fun to have to hunt for things to eat all the while.
In the circus, though I did have to stay in a
cage, I got all I wanted to eat without any trouble.
Yes, I think I shall run back again, soon.”</p>
<p>“I should think, if you had run away, they
would come after you, to find you,” said Slicko.</p>
<p>“They did come once,” spoke Mappo, with a
laugh. “Once when I was in the woods, talking
to Squinty, the comical pig, some circus men
came after me to catch me, but I ran away.
They haven’t caught me yet,” and he laughed
and chattered, showing his many, white teeth.</p>
<p>For a little while Slicko and Mappo sat in
the woods looking at the circus, and then, all of
a sudden, the little girl squirrel cried out:</p>
<p>“Oh, Mappo! What are those funny animals,
as big as houses, with two tails? What are
they?”</p>
<p>“Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed Mappo, the
merry monkey. “Two tails! Ho! Ho!”</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>“Well, they <em>do</em> have two tails,” said Slicko.
“What are they?”</p>
<p>“That’s just what Squinty, the comical pig,
wanted to know,” spoke Mappo. “He thought
they had two tails also. Ha! Ha!”</p>
<p>“Well, haven’t they?” asked Slicko, frisking
her big tail.</p>
<p>“No,” answered Mappo. “Those are elephants,
and they have only one tail. The short
thing is their tail, and the long thing, in front
of them, hanging down, is their nose.”</p>
<p>“Their nose!” cried Slicko. “What a funny
nose!”</p>
<p>“It is called a trunk,” explained Mappo.
“But it is really the elephant’s nose. He
breathes through it, but he can also use it like
a hand. He picks up what he wants to eat in
it, and it is hollow, like the hose with which
they fill the circus tubs, so we animals can drink.
Through his hollow trunk, the elephant sucks
up water, squirting it down his throat when he
is thirsty.”</p>
<p>“What a funny animal an elephant is!” exclaimed
Slicko. “And how big! Especially
that first one, with the two big, white things
sticking out of his mouth. What are those?”</p>
<p>“Those are his teeth, or tusks,” explained
Mappo. “But you need not be afraid of that
big elephant.”</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>“Why not?” asked Slicko.</p>
<p>“Because he is the kindest, and most jolly elephant
in the whole circus,” went on Mappo the
monkey. “His name is Tum Tum, and if you
were to meet him you would like him very
much.”</p>
<p>“Did Squinty, the comical pig, meet Tum
Tum?” asked Slicko.</p>
<p>“No, Squinty did not have a chance,” said
Mappo, “but he saw him. If I can, I’ll call
Tum Tum over here to see you. I’m sure you’d
like him. And he’d give you a ride on his back.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’d be afraid to let him!” exclaimed
Slicko.</p>
<p>“Pooh! He wouldn’t hurt a fly!” laughed
Mappo. “Lots of the children who come to the
circus ride on Tum Tum’s back. He is very
kind to them, and he would be kind to you.
Only, if you should see him, be sure to tell him
you’re not a rat or a mouse.”</p>
<p>“Of course I’m not a rat or a mouse,” said
Slicko. “Why should I tell Tum Tum, the elephant,
that I am not, when he can see for himself,
if he has any eyes?”</p>
<p>“Well, you do look a little like a great rat,”
said Mappo. “Not that it’s any harm, Slicko.
But, you see, Tum Tum and other elephants are
very much afraid of rats and mice. I don’t
know why, unless they are afraid the little creatures<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</SPAN></span>
will run up inside their trunks and make
them sneeze. But, anyhow, you’re not a rat or a
mouse. And if you see Tum Tum, be sure to
tell him that, the first thing.”</p>
<p>“I will,” promised Slicko, “but maybe I won’t
see Tum Tum to speak to.”</p>
<p>“Oh, you might,” answered Mappo. “You
can’t tell.”</p>
<p>Just then the merry little monkey gave a jump,
and cried out:</p>
<p>“Ha! There come some circus men over this
way. I think they are going to hunt for me
again. I don’t want to be caught just yet, and
be put back in my cage, so I’m going to run off
and hide in the woods again. Good-bye, Slicko.
I am glad I met you.”</p>
<p>“Good-bye, Mappo!” cried the little girl
squirrel. “I am glad I met you, and I’m sorry
you’re going to run away again. But I won’t
tell them where you are. I guess I’ll go hide,
too.”</p>
<p>So Mappo, the merry monkey, ran off through
the woods one way, and Slicko ran the other, and
they did not see each other again for some time.</p>
<p>I might say that I expect to tell you, in a
book after this one, some of the adventures of
Mappo, the merry monkey, but I have no room
for him in this story.</p>
<p>Slicko ran on through the woods, jumping<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</SPAN></span>
from tree to tree as she had been taught. She
was all alone again, and she was feeling rather
lonesome without Mappo, or for some of her
squirrel friends.</p>
<p>Slicko made her way back to the nest where
her aunt had lived. She rather hoped Mrs.
Whitey might be back there, waiting for her, but
the nest in the tall tree was still empty. There
was no sign of the nice old lady squirrel.</p>
<p>“Well, I guess I had better gather some nuts,
and hide them away,” thought Slicko. “I may
have to stay in this nest a month or more, until
papa and mamma make a new home for me, and
my sister and brothers.”</p>
<p>So Slicko scrambled down to the ground
again, and began to gather nuts and acorns.
These she carried up to the nest, hiding them
away under the leaves. Some she put in a hollow
stump, on the ground not far away from the
tree where the nest was.</p>
<p>When Slicko had done this, she sat down on
her tail, curling it up at her back like a feather,
to take a rest, for she was rather tired.</p>
<p>“My!” she thought, as she sat there. “What
a lot of things have happened to me since I had
to leave my home. An owl got after me, I have
seen a circus, I met a monkey and I have seen
a creature, with two tails, called an elephant.
At least an elephant looks as though it had two<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</SPAN></span>
tails, no matter what Mappo says,” went on
Slicko. “I wonder if I shall ever meet Tum
Tum, and tell him I am not a rat or a mouse?
What a funny thing it would be if I did.”</p>
<p>Slicko sat on the edge of the nest for some
time, and then she began to feel hungry.</p>
<p>“I wish I had some of those peanuts I heard
them talking about in the circus,” said Slicko
in a whisper. “I know they must be good, from
what that city-park squirrel said. And I wonder
what pink lemonade and ice cream cones
are? I don’t believe they are good to eat.”</p>
<p>You can see that Slicko had many things to
learn—things that you know already, such as
that ice cream cones are good to eat. But, if
Slicko did not know that, she knew other things
that you children do not know, such as where to
find nuts, and how to gnaw through the shells,
and get at the meat without using a nut cracker.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, as Slicko was running toward
the spring of water to get a drink, after her dinner,
she heard a crashing in the bushes.</p>
<p>“I wonder if that is Mappo coming back,”
thought Slicko. She looked through the trees,
and saw something almost as large as a house,
and dark in color, pushing through the bushes.</p>
<p>“Why, it’s an elephant—it’s Tum Tum!” exclaimed
Slicko, as she saw the big creature, with
his trunk on one end, and his tail on the other,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</SPAN></span>
and two big, long, white teeth sticking out of
his mouth. “Yes, that surely is Tum Tum!”</p>
<p>Slicko spoke the last words out loud.</p>
<p>“Ha! Who is calling to me?” asked the circus
elephant in his deep, rumbling voice. “Who
is calling me?”</p>
<p>“I spoke your name, Tum Tum,” said Slicko.
“Here I am, by this old stump.”</p>
<p>Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, looked at the
little squirrel, and then he began to shiver and
shake as hard as he could. He shook so hard
that he shook a lot of pine cones down off a pine
tree up against which he was leaning.</p>
<p>“Oh my! Oh dear! This is terrible!” cried
Tum Tum in his big, deep, rumbling voice.
“Oh dear!”</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</SPAN></span></p>
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