Chapter 5. An Al-Fresco Lunch

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_ CHAPTER FIVE. AN AL-FRESCO LUNCH

There were plenty of those whom the great beast looked upon as foes lying prostrate, for with yells of dismay the crowd dashed off helter-skelter, trampling each other down in their efforts to escape, clearing the way as rapidly as they could; but the only object that offered itself for attack was one of the big van horses, which had swung round in the alarm, to stand right in the elephant's way.

And now, flapping its ears, giving its miserable little tail a twist in the air, and uttering a pig-like squeak, the elephant charged, catching the horse in the ribs and knocking it over on to its side; and then, without stopping to trample upon the poor animal, the monster indulged in a peculiar caper resembling a triumphant war-dance, a movement which but for the suggestion of danger would have been comical in the extreme. Then, stopping short as if to make a survey of its position with its piercing eyes, the elephant looked at the ruined van, then at the villa residences opposite the Doctor's great mansion, then at the blank wall (which seemed to puzzle it, with what looked like a palisade of boys' heads), and next up the road.

At last, turning sharply round to point with uplifted trunk down the road in the direction from which it had come, it went off in its curious shuffling shamble as if in pursuit of the flying crowd; while, now in a state of the greatest excitement, about a score of the wild-beast van-drivers, headed by the man who had the elephant in charge, cracking his whip and shouting for it to come back, started in pursuit.

The Doctor's pupils, evidently feeling that they were safe behind the wall, for the elephant displayed no intention of using his trunk to pick their heads as if they were gigantic cherries, all stood fast, most probably too much startled to stir; and having an excellent view of this unexpected episode in the procession, had the satisfaction of seeing the principal actor trotting away the whole length of the playground wall, his hind-quarters looking more than ever like an enormous pair of ill-made, ill-fitting trousers.

"Will he catch them--overtake any of them?" cried Glyn, as the elephant passed the spot where he and Singh were watching the proceedings, the latter with his dark eyes glittering and nostrils quivering, as the whole business brought back something he had once seen in his native state.

But as he spoke the loud shouting of the frightened crowd tearing away down the road suddenly ceased, as those nearest became conscious of the fact that their pursuit by the great beast had ceased.

Soon after passing the end of the Doctor's wall, the elephant, now fully at liberty, found itself by the tall, well-clipped mingled hawthorn-and-privet hedge that enclosed the lawn-like, verdant cricket-field, at the far side of which there was a grand row of old elms which brought back to the escaped animal memories of Indian forests and pendant boughs covered with fresh green leaves that could be torn down and eaten; and, stopping short in the rapid pace which it had pursued, swinging its massive head from side to side, it once more turned itself "half-right," as if upon a pivot, stared at the tall green hedge for a few moments, and then, curling its trunk right backwards over its neck, it uttered another trumpeting note which was no longer angry, but sounded cracked and partook of the nature of a squeak. Then it did not charge the hedge, but just walked through it; and as soon as its great circular feet began to feel the soft, yielding grass into which they sank, for the ground was moist, the great brute began to twitch its tail in the most absurd way, squeak with delight, and indulge in the most clumsily ridiculous gambol ever executed by monster ten feet high.

It was for all the world such a dance, magnified, as a fat, chubby little Shetland pony would display when, freed from bit, bridle, or halter, it was turned out to grass. And now, as the elephant began careering right across the cricket-field in the direction of the row of elms, there was a shout of dismay from the row occupying the forms; and, headed by Mr Morris, a retreat was made to a place of safety, that being represented by the doors opening on to the playground--Mr Morris, the mathematical master, charged as he was with his long study of Euclid, evidently considering it to be his duty for the benefit of his pupils to describe a straight line.

But he was soon distanced by the boys, whose wind was much better. The last, as if he considered it his duty to protect the rear, was the Doctor himself, looking exceedingly red in the face and breathing very hard. But, truth to tell, he--not being either a general, admiral, or even captain of a vessel of war--was not influenced by any brave intention to leave the field or vessel only after the last of his men. The Doctor's proceedings were caused by inability to keep up.

But he was not the last. The sight of an elephant cantering across country, or in its customary shuffling gait, was nothing new to Singh and Glyn. Experience gained in more than one hunt, and in a land where these mammoth-like creatures are beasts of burden, as well as perhaps a feeling that if they did happen to be pursued youth and activity would enable them to get out of the brute's way, caused the two boys to stand fast alone upon the last form, thoroughly enjoying the acts of the performer, and wondering what he would do next.

"Oh, Glyn," cried Singh, clapping his hands as hard as he could, "and I was grumbling! Why, this is a procession! I haven't seen anything like this since we left home."

"No," panted Glyn, who was as excited as his companion. "Why, it's like old Rajah Jamjar, as we used to call him, on the rampage. Here come the men," he continued.--"Hi! I say, the Doctor won't like you breaking through his hedge," he shouted, though his words were not heard.--"He's broken a way for them, though."

"Here," shouted Singh, with his hands to his mouth, "you mustn't go after that elephant with whips. He's raging, and if you go near he'll turn upon you perhaps, and kill you."

But the men could not hear his words, and, each with his big carter's whip, they followed slowly across the field, unheeded by the elephant, and evidently without the slightest intention of overtaking the fugitive.

The great brute turned neither to the right nor left, but stopped as soon as he reached the row of elms, beyond which were the garden and grounds of the most important resident in Plymborough, a very wealthy retired merchant, who took great pride in his estate, and whose orchard annually displayed a vast abundance of red and gold temptations of the kind beloved by boys in other counties as well as sunny Devon.

It was pleasant and shady beneath the elms, and a faintly heard grunt of satisfaction came to the two boys' ears as they saw the great fugitive reach up, twist its indiarubber-like trunk, and gather together a bunch of twigs, which it snapped off, and then, reversing its elastic organ, stood tucking them into its peculiarly moist mouth.

"Oh, he's quiet and tame enough," said Glyn.

"No, he isn't," cried Singh; "he's in a fury."

"But it's a regular tame one," said Glyn. "I dare say they might walk up and drive it in now. I'll go and help them if you will."

"Well," said Singh, slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't know. It's a strange elephant; he's been scared, and I saw as he passed that he was in a temper; but I dare say we know as much about elephants as they do."

"Yes, let's go."

But as they were speaking, and the elephant stood refreshing itself with another bunch of green leaves, it appeared to catch sight of the group of drivers, who, whip-armed, had now stopped together to consult in the middle of the field, where they were being joined by a fat, chuffy-looking little man, who was hurrying to them, hat in one hand, yellow silk pocket-handkerchief in the other, with which he kept on dabbing his very smooth and shiny white bald head.

The elephant was evidently watching, and had recognised this white shiny head, for he raised his trunk and let fall the twigs, blew a defiant blast upon his natural trumpet, and, wheeling round once more, did not charge, but made a crashing sound as he walked right through the park-palings which divided the two estates, where beneath the trees a green hedge would not grow.

As the elephant disappeared in the next field, only a glimpse being obtained of it through the one panel of the split oak fence, every one seemed to recover his departed courage. The men, now joined by the bald-headed personage, who was really the proprietor of the great show, began to follow the fugitive to the boundary of the Doctor's grounds.

The two boys sprang off the form and ran to join them, while away to the right, bodies began to appear from the Doctor's premises where heads only had been seen; and chief amongst these was Mr Morris, the mathematical master, who, influenced by his conscience, and reminded of the fact that he had gone on drawing that line very straight till he reached the shelter of the house, an act which he felt must have rather lowered his reputation for bravery amongst the boys, now came out a few yards into the playground; and, as the boys began to gather round him, he moved on again a little way, making a point of keeping himself nearest to the danger, if any danger there were, but not going so far as to preclude an easy retreat.

Now, in naval law, during an action there is a tradition that the safest place for a sailor, and where he is least likely to be hit, is the hole through which a cannon-ball or shell has crashed into the ship. Possibly, being a mathematician, Mr Morris may have calculated the possibilities against the elephant that had marched through that piece of fence coming back through it again. And so it was that as the Doctor's grounds were clear, the enemy having departed, he followed farther and farther out into the cricket-field, and then headed a cluster of the first-form boys who, unknown to the Doctor, were making for the broken fence. The fact that they soon saw the elephant's pursuers pass through, and with them the bald-headed man, with their fellow-pupils Glyn and Singh on each side leading, had doubtless something to do with the forward movement.

Slegge, too, was the biggest and loudest there. He was looking very white, almost as white as Ramball's bald head, but he said it was all a "jolly lark;" and then for want of something else to say to express how he was enjoying himself, he made the same remark again, and then laughed aloud. But it was the same sort of laugh as would be uttered by the victim of a practical joke who has suddenly sat down upon a tin-tack or a pin.

Mr Morris, too, grew braver and braver, and he smiled a ghastly smile which rather distorted his features as he addressed his pupils.

"Come along, boys," he said. "This is a holiday indeed. We are going to search for the unknown quantity. An elephant hunt in the Doctor's grounds! It is quite a novelty."

"But it isn't in the Doctor's grounds now, sir," said Burney.

This was meant to be facetious; but it turned Mr Morris's smile into a glare, and brought down upon the boy's head a rebuke from Slegge.

"Here, don't you be so fast, youngster," cried the latter, with the wisdom of a sage in his stern look. "Just remember whom you are talking to, if you please." Then, to curry favour with the master, "I beg your pardon, Mr Morris, would this be an Indian or an African elephant?"

"Well, Mr Slegge," said the mathematical master, with his ghastly smile coming back, "now if this were a question of a surd in a compound equation I should be happy to tell you; but as soon as the captive is taken again, and the 'lark,' as you call it, is over, I should recommend you to ask Mr Rampson. He'll tell you, and give you some information as well respecting the Carthaginian army and the elephants with their towers that they marched against the Romans. My mathematical studies take up all my brain-power, and I never venture upon another master's ground. By the way, who are those boys that we just saw walk through that fence with the show-people? Trespassers, of course. We don't want any of the town boys here. No violence, mind; but I think you might give them a lesson and turn them out."

"But they were the two new pupils, sir."

"What! Severn and the Prince?"

"Yes, sir," came in chorus.

"Dear me! The Doctor would be very angry if he knew. He strongly objects to his young gentlemen making friends with strangers."

"Yes, sir," said Burney; "and they have gone out of bounds."

"Will you keep your mouth shut?" whispered Slegge; and, dropping a pace behind the master, he clenched and held up one fist very close to Burney's nose as if it were a curiosity that the boy might like to see.

"Ah, well," said Mr Morris, "perhaps they thought that it would be the safest place behind the elephant's keepers. These tamed animals have a great dread of the whip."

All was beautifully calm now out in the field. The grass seemed greener than ever. There was an excited crowd in the main road by the damaged hedge, and quite a cluster of pupils, masters, and servants up by the house; but Morris and his little party were alone, and all seemed so safe that they grew thoroughly brave, and quite nonchalantly edged their way on towards the broken panel which looked temptingly clear.

All was still, and there was no suggestion of danger, while as they slowly went close up there was no sound of voice. It was perfectly evident that the elephant must have been followed far away, and had probably gone right on through the neighbouring grounds and made his way somewhere out at the back.

They were approaching diagonally, and as they came very near to the opening a curious electric kind of feeling such as is called by old women "the creeps," manifested itself in what doctors term the "lumbar regions" of every one's back.

But they were all very brave, and Morris suddenly became conscious of the fact that the boys were all looking at him in a very questioning way, so he could not help feeling that there were drawbacks to being the leader of a party when there is possible danger somewhere ahead, and it is impossible for the sake of one's credit to retreat.

This is especially the case in connection with dogs that are supposed to be mad and have to be driven away, or in haunted rooms, and the walking of ghosts and other vapours of that kind which a puff of the wind of common-sense would always blow away.

Somehow or other, Morris began to talk very loudly to his young companions as he screwed his courage up to the sticking-point, feeling as he did that at all hazards he must go right up to that opening and just look through. And with this intent, followed not quite closely by the boys, he went so near that he had but to take one more step to be able to look through into the next field; in fact, he was in the act of stretching out his hand to lay it upon one of the big oaken splints that hung from its copper nail, when there was a sharp report as if a pistol had been fired just on the other side, and in an instant the whole party were in retreat.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Morris. At least it was supposed to be a laugh; but the sounds were very peculiar, and he looked strangely white as he shouted, "Stop, boys, stop! What are you afraid of? It was only one of those carter fellows who cracked his whip.--Well, my man," he continued, in a husky voice that did not seem like his own, to one of the van-drivers who now appeared in the opening, "have you caught the elephant?"

As the man replied the boys began to collect again from their ignominious flight, and it was observable that they were all laughing at one another in an accusatory manner, each feeling full of contempt for the pusillanimous behaviour of the others, while the looks of Morris might have given the whole party a conscious sting.

But there was the van-driver answering as the boys clustered hurriedly up.

"No, sir, and I've had enough of it," said the man. "It aren't my business. I'm monkeys, I am; and got enough to do to keep they mischievous imps in their cage. I don't hold with elephants; they are too big for me, and I know that chap of old."

"Indeed!" said Morris, eager to cover his last retreat by drawing the man into conversation.

"Yes, sir, he's a treacherous beggar. Pretends to be fond of a man, and gets him up against a wall or the side of a tree, and then plays pussy cat."

"Plays what?" cried Slegge.

"Pussy cat, sir. You know: rubs hisself up again' a man same as a kitten does against your leg. But it aren't the same, because if the pore chap don't dodge him he gets rubbed out like a nought on the slate."

"Dear me! Extraordinary!" said Morris. "But--er--er--where is the fugitive beast now?"

"Ah, you may well call him a fugity beast, sir. I don't quite know what it means; but that's a good name for him, and he desarves it. Oh, he's over yonder now, right in the middle of yon orchard, and nobody durst go near him. Every time any one makes a start he begins to roosh, and then goes back in amongst the trees, and when I come away I never see anything like it in my life. It was bushels then."

"Bushels--bushels, my man?"

"Yes, sir, he was a-picking the apples with that trunk of his, and tucking them in as fast as ever they'd go. A beast! he'll fill hisself before he's done. He won't leave off now he's got the chance, and he'll kill anybody who goes nigh him. You see, the master keeps him pretty short to tame him down and keep him from going on the rampage. It's all a mistake having a thing like that in a show. You take my word for it, sir. If you goes in for a mennar-gerry you take to monkeys. They don't take nothing to keep, for the public feeds them on nuts and buns, and if it warn't for their catching cold and going on the sick-list they'd be profit every ounce."

"Er--thank you, my man," said Morris haughtily; "but I don't think it probable that I shall venture upon a peripatetic zoo--eh, young gentlemen?"

"Oh no, sir!" came in chorus.

"Can we see the huge pachyderm from here?"

"Packing apples, sir? No, no, don't you alter that there, sir. You called him fugity beast just now, and you can't beat that.--No, you can't see him. He's in there among them apple-trees."

"Why, he's got into old Bunton's orchard, sir," cried Slegge, and he stepped forward to the opening. "Yes, you can't see the elephant, sir, but you can see the men all round. I think they are tying him up to a tree, sir."

"Yes, that's likely," said the man grimly. "I dare say they've all got a bit of string in their pockets as will just hold him."

"Er--do you think we could go up a little closer, my man, without the young gentlemen getting into danger?" said Morris, in the full expectation that he would be told it would be dangerous in the extreme.

"Go closer, sir? Yes, of course you can. He won't hurt none of you so long as you don't try to take his apples away. If yer did I shouldn't like to be you."

"Let's go, then, sir," cried Burney eagerly, and the desire seemed to be growing in the other boys' breasts.

"Well, I don't know," said Morris; "that is, if you will promise not to go too close."

"Oh, we won't go too close, sir," cried Slegge warmly, and he looked as if he were speaking the truth.

The result was that the master, trying very hard to carry off his disinclination to go with the remark, "We don't often have such an opportunity as this, boys," led the way across the park-like field of the Doctor's neighbour towards an extensive orchard, in which, nearly hidden by the trees, the escaped monster was having his banquet of apples, and turning a deaf ear, or rather two deaf ears of the largest size, to all orders to come out. _

Read next: Chapter 6. Glyn And Singh To The Rescue

Read previous: Chapter 4. The Elephant Cries "Phoomp!"

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