He quickly learned what had caused the trouble.
And then he was mad all through. He raved up and down the line
threatening to get out a warrant for the arrest of the man who
had stuck a knife into his elephant.
Later in the afternoon matters took a different turn. A lawyer
called on the showman, demanding the payment of ten thousand
dollars damages for the injuries sustained by his client, and
which, he said, would in all probability make the man a cripple
for life.
If the showman had been angry before, he was in a towering rage
now.
"Get off this lot!" he roared. "If you show your face here again
I'll set the canvasmen on you! Then you won't be able to leave
without help."
The lawyer stood not upon the order of his going, and they saw no
more of him. They had about concluded that they had heard the
last of his demands, until just before the evening performance,
when, as the cook tent was being struck, half a dozen deputy
sheriffs suddenly made their appearance.
They held papers permitting them to levy on anything they could
lay their hands upon and hold it until full damages had been
fixed by the courts.
There was no trifling with the law, at least not then, and Mr.
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