Evening star., 1924-03-09

his head. His CLASSY eyes had fast
ened on dim line Of small, white
boxes which jiggled uncertainty be-
fore him. Beelgie extended his trunk.
shifted, paused, shifted again, and
then smashed the box. Honey.
Gobs of honey! But when he
gathered up the first trunkIoad of it
something interfered A million some
things, which entered the soft end Of
his trunk, turned around, pushed hard,
then flew away again: which settled
on his tender flanks and on the thin
skinned expanses behind his ears,
where formerly only f1eas had dwelt,
and there put forth their every effort.
Beelgie squealed. He smashed another
box, this time for spite. 1t only made
matters worse. Then Beelgie lit out
When he came to halfway clear
understanding Of things, he was
in a small forest which lined a murky
|stream. The storm had settled into a
|steady rain.
Beelsie's head ached. his trunk
ached, his mouth was swollen, and he
was cold, distressed-and lonely.
Things never had happened like this
back in the old days. There every
thing had been enjoyable, companion
able
That was it. companonable. Vague
1 To- 10
cupola that he wanted companionship-
some one who could lead him through
the rain-wet fields and along the soft
roads, and at the same time give him
protection. He sloshed up the muddy
bank Of the stream, shimmying with
the chill Of the storm-cooled night
wandered listlessly here and there,
stumbled over log, and then
Something flared out Of the night,
jumped at him, roared with the noise
of a thousand tornadoes, then went
crashing on into the darkness, while
Beelgie cut new path for himself
through the woods, cleared his back
of the howdy and then suddenly
halted. After all, that thing had a
Injected his muddled mind with hap
penings which now seemed far away
1t was the same sort OF noise which
kept him awake all night; the noise
.of train. A train, to Beelgie, meant
folks; folks meant the circus, and the
circus, right now meant company. He
leaned against a tree and scratched
thoughtfully. Then, with the joy of
the wanderer homeward bound, he
sashayed out of the forest, climbed
the slight embankment to the railroad
track and started happily along in the
direction which the freight train had
taken.
Mi1es-and more miles, in which
nothing happened. Wearily, Beelgie
put his trunk in the air, shifted long
and carefully, and chirruped uncer-
tainly. Then, his trunk curled high,
and a shrieking trumpet call shrilled
the announcement of joyous dis
covery. Family, from far away, his
sensitive nosfrils had caught the
scent of .cat-animals. Out ahead
somewhere-.
iiC piQH6Su @OlNdfu IcNeTlSHly.
Lights appeared. Carbides-the mov-
ing forms of men and hoyses? Beelgie
wheeled from the railroad tracks,
scattered a half hundred shadowy
watchers, topped into a muddy ditch,
Topped out again, and then, at the
edge of the circus lot, halted. once
again to raise his trunk and to trumpet
with call almost of triumph.
For an old, happy thing, was before
Beeigie.
Here was a circus stuck in the mud,
just like the Hame G. Howard was
wont to be stuck in the mud, when
every one yelled for BeeIgie. Before
him was a pole wagon, sunk to it's
bed! A bit of a hoochie-koochie move
ment came into Beelgie's. hind quar-
ters. His high shoulders began to
jazz. His head swung with an old,
confident movement. Dfsdaining the
shouting workmen, he walked through
ropes. piles Of canvas, lowered his big
head, heaved his shoulders, snorted,
roared, squea1ed, bellowed-and pushed
the wagon ont Of the mud!
Far across the lot was another ve-
hicle, literally swimming in gumbo.
More work! Knee-deep in mud, he
went on. to scramble, to slip about
in. the slime, to squeal and once
more bring a wagon to safety. 1t
was about this time that the Old
Man started to roar orders.
'Hey-lay off on them horses. Let
Beelgie do it--and, listen you" He
halted the mud-caked lot. superin-
tendent. Tell the trainmaster in
the morning that ] want one eIe-
phant car hooked on the second Sec
tion. not to go out till the big tops
off the lot. See what he got US into
tonight by pulling out with all the
bulls and not leaving us nothing for
pinch? Except. of course, Beelgie
bere-and he never knew what he
was DOING
Nor did Beelgie care. Beelgie was
himself again, hard at work and
happy The Old Man yelped to a
pony punk:
Grab a horse somewhere and light
out and find them menagerie men.
Tell 'em we've found that bull. And