t nearly makes him weep when he
tells of how he was once the pet elephant of a Prince of India
and how the Prince would never ride any other but himself when
hunting or riding in the royal processions. 'Only think of the
come-down,' he used to add, 'from having a Prince of the royal
blood on your back to a common circus rider in gaudy skirts! Then
my blankets and trappings were of velvet, studded with real
precious stones. Now they are velveteen with glass to imitate the
precious jewels. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! That I should ever live to
see this day.'"

Here the elephant's conversation was cut short by someone
screaming, "Fire, fire!"

"Where? where?" called Billy who was all excitement in a minute
and he started to run in the direction he heard the voice come
from, but alas for Billy! He forgot he was tied until he came to
the end of his rope and it gave him a quick jerk which sent him
head over heels, breaking the rope.

"Gee whiz! I nearly broke my neck. Blame their old rope!"

[Illustration]

"Fire, fire, fire!" called the voice again, followed by a laugh
and Billy, looking up, saw a green poll-parrot swinging on a rope
overhead, that commenced to call: "April fool, April fool!" as
loud as she could.

"How I do hate parrots and monkeys! I dare you to come down here,
you disagreeable, impertinent, pea-green, old maid of a bird!"
bleated Billy.

He had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when something
struck him on the back and began to pull his hair out by the
roots. It was Miss Polly who had dropped like a torpedo and who
was screeching, pecking and clawing him at a great rate. She was
in a bad humor that day as they had forgotten to feed her her
accustomed crackers and coffee.

As soon as Billy got over his surprise, which was in a second, he
lay down and rolled. This knocked Polly off but the minute he
stopped she flew onto his back again and pecked him until the
blood ran. The second time she lit on his back he thought of a
way to get even. He saw the elephant's tub of water a little way
before him and with two bounds he was by its side and before Miss
Polly was aware of what was up, she found herself doused in the
tub, and when she came up from under the water there was no goat
in sight.

As Billy went out of the tent he ran into the animal keeper who
was just coming in.

"Ho, ho! Master Billy, not so fast. I was coming to look for you,
for we are about to start and you have a way of turning