Show I ON A LARK A Baby Elephant Ilni a Gay Old Time Copyrighted 1893 by W M Graydon A traveler who goes around tho world necessarily sees a great deal This ruby ring which I wear on my finger was purchased pur-chased at Colombo the capital of Ceylon and it always reminds me oi Very amusing amus-ing thing that occurred during my brief stay on that island As I was strolling along one day whom should I meet but an old friend Mr Menzies whose acquaintance ac-quaintance had made In Calcutta He I was there on business at tile time and had since returned to Ceylon He owned I V I 1 TOBY FULL OF FROLIC a tea and coffee plantation a mile or two northof Colomboand he insisted on taking tak-ing me home with him over night Mr Menzies introduced me to his wife and to his son Donald a fine lad of sixteen six-teen and after luncheon we all strolled out on the lawn to see Toby the bib > elephant Toby was tethered to a stout tree by a tenfoot rope He was a pretty big baoy but full of frolicsome gambols He took biscuit and fruit from our hands and when we had no more to give him he rolled over on his back and screamed just like a spoilt child After a long drive among the surrounding surround-ing plantations we returned to the bungalow bun-galow in time to dress for dinner and had i barely seated ourselves at the table which was waited upon by Hindoo servants in white linen when a babel of angry bark and shrill trumpetings rose outside Rushing to the windows we saw Toby circling round and round his tree in 0 ain attempt to get hold of a brown and white dog who was retreating backward with an agility that kept him out of danger dan-ger Toby was in dead earnest while the dog evidently thought the whole affair a huge joke Several of the servants had already rushed out of the bungalow but before I they could reach the spot Toby had come to the end of his tether Not having sense i I enough to go in the opposite direction and unwind himself he reared and 11 plunged so desperately that the rope i snapped The moment ho was free the cunning rogues fright vanished Turning tail on the approaching servants he shuffled 11 L rapidly across the lawn trumpeting with deliaht as he went i That means a stubborn chase cried my host as he snatched couple of heavy walking sticks and tossed one to his son They rushed > irom the room and after hesitating aew seconds between a sense of propriety and a desire to see the fun I snatched another stick stammered a hasty excuse to my hostess and followed I caught up with them just in time to see Toby dash lull tilt at the broad gate which speedily became a mass of broken I pillars and rails As we clambered over I the ruins we were joined by more of the I bungalow servants several of whom carried car-ried coils of thick rope and of we all went down the smooth road calling to Toby to stop Ladies and children watched the procession pro-cession from neighboring bungalows as we swept by and I have no doubt they were highly amused Mr Menzies I Donald and Iwere in advance and as we I I ran the tails of our dress coats streamed out behind us Donald and I were hatless I but Mr Menzies wore a canvas sunhel met which looked ridiculously out of i place with his starched shirt bosom 1 As for Toby he was in high spirits and paid not the slightest attention to the pursuit behind him He shuffled along Just fast enough to prevent our gaining on him Every now and then he lifted his trunk and gave a tremendous roar It being the dinner hour the road was fortu I rushed after Toby whoso high spirits were evidently on the increase A little beyond the bungalow he met the Cingalese postboy who was taking a short cut across the grounds to the house He charged on him with a terrific scream and the terrorstricken lad bolted her the neares tree scattering his letters and papers in every direction He pulled himself him-self into the branches just in time to dodge a vicious fillip of the elephants trunk Toby sniffed at the mail and then trampled it under foot and shuttled on were sure to corner him on the other side of the grounds cried Donald Mr Menzies seemed ot the same mind for he shouted to the rope bearers to hurry up There was no need of their services however Toby went clumsily over the low wall and into the grounds of tho adjoining estate which were of large extent The bungalow was some distance off and was hidden by trees I As we ourselves scaled the wall in hot pursuit ot the rascal we heard faint strains of music I worse and worse groaned Mr Menzies as he mopned the dirt and perspiration 1 I pers-piration from his face There will be a 1 oretty muss if the brute steers for the house Thts is the day that Colonel Hardy was to give a dinner to Borne friends from England Thats just where hes going too cried Donald I Sure enoueh Toby headed in the direc j JvJfjsIS t 2t4J fJh try i W N WE SCALED THE WALL IN HOT PURSUIT nately clear of pedestrians and vehicles This sort of thing soon proved too monotonous for Toby and so he turned oil into a side avenue As we swept around the corner after him we saw alight a-light carriage not far ahead It contained contain-ed two ladies and a native groom At sight of the vehicle Toby pretended to be I in a tremendous rage He galloped forward for-ward to meet it1 swinging his trunk from side to side and trumpeting shrilly The ladies screamed but they had sufficient suf-ficient presence of mind to turn the horses and drive back the way they came A moment later they wheeled into abroad gateway Tobyreached the spot just as the groom banged Jhe gate shut in his face This angered the elephant and he I twined Iiis > trunk afund the top rail with i the evident intention of forcing his way in But when he saw how near we were to him he shuffled off again Toby was going at a pretty fast pace now and from time to time he glanced wickedly back at us as much as to say Its no use old fellows Im out for a lark and I dont intend to come home just yet awhile Then in the exuberance of his spirits he would halt lie down and roll on his back once or twice and kiok up a cloud of yellow dust that settled thickly on our dress suits as we came dashing through it Confound that rascal growled Mr Menzies I Hes bent on making all the trouble he can Ill have a pretty bill for damages on my hands I There he goes shouted Donald I straight for Mr Forbes bungalow Sure enouEhTo hadvanished through an open gate He was trampling down shrubs and flower beds when we surged in after him but seeing us he instantly forsook that diversion and galloped across the grounds sheering to one side of the bungalow We numbered two dozen or more by this timehaving been augmented along the way by laborers from the neighboring neigh-boring estates a few Europeans two Malay i Ma-lay print sellers and a greasy Afghan fakir lOur I shouts brought Mr Forbes out of his bungalowa red faced gentleman in white flannels who shook his fist at the procession and used some very emphatic language There was no time to explain On we II I tion of the music I really believe that he knew all about the dinner party and was determined to be one of the cuests We strained our utmost to overtake him or head him off out it was no use As we burst out from the trees with Toby a scant twenty feet in tho lead we saw a pretty sight on the open lawn At a long table shaded by an awning of striped canvas can-vas sat a dozed ladies and gentlemen the latter in full dress military uniform Servants were flitting to and fro with dishes and two Scotch Highlanders stationed near by were playing lively strains on their bagpipes A few yards away was the bungalow gaily trimmed with flags and decorations in honor of I i the occasion The music had quite drowned the noise of ourapproach and the diners had no suspicion of what was coming until Toby charged at them with hoarse trumpeting Such yelling and confusion and panic I neer heard in my life The bagpipers fell over each other and the servants in their haste to escape The guests tumbled tum-bled off their chairs some diving under the table others running for the shelter of the bungalow Colonel Hardy himself tried to climb a palm tree But the table was Tobys objective i point He whisked it over in a trice and trumpered with delight as he trampled the linen and silver and gorged himself with such viands as took his fancy When we closed in on him and tried to throw noosed ropes over his head he got angry and charged through our ranks A union jack suspended between two trees caught on his ears and with this patriotic decoration for a collar he made off at full speed through the grounds By this time Colonel Hardy had rushed i into the bungalow for a rifle and had I the elephant been within range he would have shot himand very deservedly I must confess Mr Menzies tried to pacify the angry officer by apoligiea and explanations but he only raved and stormed the more and ordered us off the grounds with dreadful threats So we departed as speedily as possible from the scene of havoc and destruction expecting nothing less than a repetition of the catastrophe ere long But now Toby took a westward direct tion and led us over scrub jungle and t I tea fields for considerably more than a mile We caught up with him on the seacoast sea-coast where he was rolling on nis back at the edge of the surf He made off at once and headed inland to a shallow lagoon Here ho rolled and floundered to his hearts content and when some venturesome natives waded toward him he squirted torrents of water at them until the fled to the shore But he grew tired of bathing after awhile a-while and took refuge in a piece of thick Woods By a littlo strategy we surrounded sur-rounded the place and cornered the runaway run-away against a big tree where he showed fight and held the rope men at bay Finally theAfghan fakir crept up to the tree ou the opposite side climbed into the branches and managed to get a noose under the elephants hind leg and then the other notives quickly threw one over his head That did the business and Mr Toby was marched triumphantly home by moonlight with the aid of several stout ropes When I left for Colombo the i next day he was locked in the stables with stout chains clamped to his fore and hind I legs and for all I know he is there yet |