"Oh, Flossie! Come back! Come back!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, who had been so
frightened at first that she could not say a word.
"I want to get my apple," answered the little girl. "The elephant can't
have it! I only wanted to let him smell how good it would taste if he
could eat it."
She was stooping over now, to pick up the fruit, and the tip of the long
trunk was brushing the fluffy hair on Flossie's head. Nan covered her face
with her hands, and Bert looked eagerly about, as though for something to
throw at the big animal.
Mr. Bobbsey was climbing over the rail that was in front of the elephant's
cage, and the people around were calling and shouting.
The elephant really did have the end of one of Flossie's curls on the tip
of his trunk, when along came one of the keepers, or animal trainers.
Somebody had sent him word, that a little girl was in one of the animal
cages. The keeper knew right away what to do.
"Back, Ganges!" he cried to the big elephant. "Get back there! Back!
Back!"
The elephant raised his trunk high in the air, and made a funny trumpeting
noise through it, as though half a dozen big men had all blown their
noses at once. Then, as the keeper himself went in between the bars, the
elephant slowly backed to the far end, his chain clanking as he did so.
"There! I got my apple!" cried Flossie, as she picked it up from where it
had rolled in the straw. And then, before she knew what was happening, the
keeper picked her up and carried her to the outside rail, where he placed
her in Mr.
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