The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-24
THE ADVERTISERS DAILY SHORT STORY

se' It was rather an extraordinary stu
 ation. Tom Beiwynd, elephant man witf the Three World Show admitted with l out so much as an instants hesitation | that never during his career, which had not beel a commonplace succession oi events by any means, had he known | anything like 1t. He was inclined tC believe for a period of perhaps three minutes, while the effects of the shock were still strong upon him, that he was in some Kind Of a heaven, sitting upon green grass by the side of running wa ters. Across the stream upon the other bank was his ideal woman, the lovely creature of his dreams. He had never expected to see her in this world, and 1t 1t, was not strange therefore, that Iinons he with deliberate intention, first with one eye, then with the other. lest the spell should be broken. It would not have surprised him had a pink cloud de; the vision away. He had a dim recol- lection of having read or heard that pink clouds were up to tricks of this sort.
 Then a loud splashing and trumpeting down the stream distracted his atten- ton, and he turned his gaze anxiously and with reluctance in that direction The vision upon the other bank rose to it's feet, giving utterance to squeak of the most conventional wordliness. The squeak settled it. The vision was such no more. Belwynd smiled. and his smile was answered He spoke.
 You are in no danger. miss" he said. reassuringly. Tt is only one or the elephants
 precision of relief to the girls face that he had hoped for, and he spoke again. introducing himself.
 II am the elephant man with the show, xlF hnr Pnl wynd. And when l tell you there's no danger I know what I'm talking about. It's old Pilate making all that fuss. He hadn't had good play in the water age of his opport Inity. Tisn't every day that & tornado strikes us. and noth- ing short of tornado gives the old chap the liberty he nSs most 5.nbnn;s9 deslres quired the girl dubiously.
 "Pll be blessed If l know, miss; but I do know that they're not with Pilate He's an aristocrat. and he won't asso- it I have to chGin him by himself in the menagerie tent. and I have to let him do his turn in the ring alone. He becomes offended if l don't. and sulks and makes a regular bowling snob of
 himself Here he comes now. Stay where you are, miss. Don't run. If you run he may take 1t into his head to run after you-tust for fun, of course;
 The elephant, numbering gleefully up the he'd of the stream, his small eyes twinkling. his trunk standing bolt up, right before his face, caught sight or them as the last words left Bslwynd' 5 lips, and stopped abruptly. Belwynd addressed him:
 'Pila9s, oid man." said he. quietly "come here." .,. master, but he was not yet weary or vacation. His great body swayed back and forth uncertainty. for time; and the end of his trunk was graduaiiy dressed him again, sharply:
 None of that, Pilate! Come here,
 With a sound not unlike groan the beast ooeyed.
 Down Pilate!"
 was stretched upon the grass and Bel- wynd, small s5eK nt1x at m ths hs Firl d&hu was
 You see, miss" he said, people are afraid of elephants because they don | know 'em. There are animais Tn almost handle. Now cows-Tm umid of cows I never feel safe when there are COW around. left home as much for that that I help to milk, and just slung a few of my morH valuable, possessions into a bandanna handkerchief and rol- lowed off the first circus that come aIons L home since, though I write to mother regularly every Sunday morning. sent he1 the money to clear the mortgage off the old place last week. Know any
 The girl raised her big brown eyes, hig brown eyes and yellow, curly hair had heen the prime essentials to beauty i'm O BeIwynds estimation-from the ele- nhant to Relwynd's faces She was trembling slightly, and her voice quaV- cred. ..,tS CT came from near Chillicothe.
 That's funny. So did I. Who'd ner eyer have thought that two lonesome people , e From the same place, who'd never see m each ether before would have been blown out from among ten th,usand bv a tornado and pumped down togeth- CT in a rice, pleasant place like tms
 Fridays story. "ToLoL,'' by Marion A