lways like to be perfectly accurate in my
statements I made a scientific study of it. I found that, as a matter
of fact, there was no such thing as a white elephant known in natural
history, although there was an occasional absence of the usual pigment
in the skins of some beasts which give them a trifle lighter color, and
that these animals were apt to have a few spots on the body which were
nearly white, just as you sometimes hear of a negro who is spotted. When
such a spot occurs in the center of the forehead the Buddhists regard
the beast as sacred, from the fact that the god, Buddha, is always
depicted as wearing a jewel in that position and it is looked upon as
his special mark of protection. It is the ambition of every Indian Rajah
to possess one, for then he is billed as 'The Lord of the Sacred White
Elephant,' a title which seems to fill a long-felt want in the heart of
an Oriental potentate.

"Well, Barnum's agent had, by some hook or crook, procured one of these
and sent it to London, but owing to the lateness of the season it was
decided to leave it there in the Zoological Gardens and get up a
controversy which, in itself, would be a good advertisement for it. The
average Englishman is very fond of writing to the _Times_ to expose a
fraud, and we knew that there would be a protest from those who would be
disappointed in the brute's color. There are hundreds of retired
officers who have served in India living in London, and they know all
about Sacred White Elephants, and time hangs heavily on their hands.
They were only too anxious to certify to its genuineness, and they wrote
the peppery kind of replies to the criticisms which might be expected
from men who had spent the best years of their lives under a hot sun and
lived upon curries and red peppers. Of course, I saw that the letters
were copied in the home papers, and before the circus season opened I
had the Great American Public watching anxiously for the reported
sailing of the Sacred White Elephant.

[Illustration: _"Walking upon its hind legs, BACKWARD."_]

"I should have been on my guard, for the Forepaugh bunch just kept
sawing wood and saying nothing, but whenever I met their press agent he
gave me the quiet laugh. Our elephant was finally shipped, and you can
imagine that I made the most of it in the papers. I had 'em filled up
for two days, and then, while ours was still in mid-ocean, out comes
Forepaugh's announcement that his Sacred White Ele