into the first "house that Jack
built," he looked at it demurely for at least five minutes, as if he
were meditating on the probable intentions of the silly people who put
him there, but neither by look nor otherwise did he reveal the
conclusions to which he came. His intentions, however, were not long of
being made known. He placed his great side against the den; there was a
slow but steady rending of timbers, as if the good ship herself were
breaking up, a burst of laughter from the men followed, and "Sambo" was
free. When the succeeding houses were built so strong that his side
availed not, he brought his wonderful patience and his remarkable trunk
to bear on them, and picked them to pieces bit by bit. Then ropes were
tried, but he snapped weak ropes and untied strong ones.

At last he was permitted to roam the decks at perfect liberty, and it
was a point of the greatest interest to observe the neat way in which he
picked his steps over the lumbered decks, without treading upon
anything--ay, even during nights when these decks in the tropical
regions were covered with sleeping men!

Everybody was fond of Sambo. Neptune doted on him, and the children--
who fed him to such an extent with biscuits that the bo's'n said he
would be sartin' sure to die of appleplexy--absolutely adored him. Even
the gruff, grumpy, unsociable rhinoceros amiably allowed him to stroke
its head with his trunk.

Sambo troubled no one except the cook, but that luxurious individual was
so constantly surrounded by a halo, so to speak, of delicious and
suggestive odours that the elephant could not resist the temptation to
pay him frequent visits, especially when dinner was being prepared. One
of his favourite proceedings at such times was to put his trunk into the
galley, take the lid off the coppers, make a small coil of the end of
his proboscis, and therewith at one sweep spoon out a supply of potatoes
sufficient for half-a-dozen men! Of course the cook sought to
counteract such tendencies, but he had to be very circumspect, for Sambo
resented insults fiercely.

One day the cook caught his enemy in the very act of clearing out the
potato copper. Enraged beyond endurance, he stuck his "tormentors" into
the animal's trunk. With a shriek of rage Sambo dashed the potatoes in
the man's face, and made a rush at him. The cook fled to his sanctum
and shut the door. There the elephant watched him for an hour or more.
The united efforts, men