"How do you know?" she asked.
""Cause I heard Daddy tell Mother he was going to take us to Bronx Park to see the animals."
"Oh, will we see the monkeys?" cried Flossie, who heard what her older brother had said.
"Well, there are plenty of them there, so I"ve read," went on Bert, "Big ones, too."
"I like little monkeys best, even if one did pull my hat to pieces," went on Flossie. "Oh, I wish to-morrow would hurry up and come."
To-morrow finally did come, after the Bobbsey twins had gone to bed, though when it came it was to-day instead of to-morrow. But that"s the way it always happens, doesn"t it?
"All aboard for the Bronx!" cried Bert as, with his sisters and brother he followed Mr. Bobbsey into the subway train that would take them to the big animal park.
If ever you are in New York, I hope you will go to see this place. There are many strange animals in it, and it has beautiful birds and gardens also. Of course, when the Bobbsey twins went it was in Winter, and most of the animals had to be kept shut up in their cages in the warm houses.
Some, however, like the deer, buffalo and other cattle, could stay out of doors even in cold weather.
There were so many things to see, even though it was Winter, when the park is not at its prettiest, that the Bobbsey twins hardly knew where to look first. Flossie and Freddie were anxious to get to the house where the monkeys were.
Some of the larger ones were uglier than they were funny, and in front of the cages were many persons who never seemed to tire of looking at the queer tricks the "four-handed" animals played on each other. You might say a monkey had five hands, for those that have tails certainly use them as much as they do their paws.
"Oh, look at that one big monkey, chewing a straw just like some of the men in front of the hotel at home chew toothpicks," said Nan, pointing to a chimpanzee crouched in a corner of his cage. He did, indeed, look like a little old man thoughtfully chewing on a toothpick. And he was so natural, and so much in earnest about it, that the Bobbsey twins, all four of them, burst out laughing.
This seemed to surprise the chimpanzee. He darted toward the front bars of his cage, shook them, as if in anger, and then ran into a corner, turning his back on the people.
"Just like a spoiled child," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Well, where shall we go next?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, for whenever he and his wife took the children on a little pleasure trip, the parents allowed the twins to choose their own places to go, and what to see, as long as it was all right.
"Let"s go to see the elephants," cried Freddie. "I haven"t seen any since we went to the circus."
"I want to see "em too, and feed "em peanuts!" added Flossie.
"No one is allowed to feed the animals in the park," said Mr. Bobbsey. "It isn"t good for them to be eating all the while, and I suppose an elephant would keep on eating peanuts as long as you"d feed them to him. So we can"t offer the big animals anything. They get all that is really good for them."
As it was cold, the elephants were all inside the big elephant house, with its several cages, in the front of which were heavy iron bars, set wide apart.
"They are close enough together to keep the elephants in," said Mr.
Bobbsey, when his wife pointed out these bars, "though I suppose some animals might get out between them."
"Whew! they _are_ big!" cried Freddie, when he stood close in front of one of the cages, or dens, and saw the elephant swaying to and fro back of the iron bars. "I wouldn"t like one like him to step on me."
"I should say not!" laughed Bert. "Even a baby elephant would be too heavy. Look at this one stretch out his trunk to us. He wants something to eat, I guess!"
The big elephant, in front of whose barred cage the Bobbsey twins stood, did seem to be begging for something to eat.
Flossie had carried from the hotel a rosy-cheeked apple, which the waiter had given her at breakfast. Not wanting to eat it, she carried it with her to the park, and had it in her hand.
Now, for some reason or other, probably without thinking, she held it out to the elephant. The big animal saw what she was doing and turned toward Flossie.
"Oh, you mustn"t feed the elephant!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "It"s against the rules."
"I"m not feeding him, Mother," Flossie answered. "I"m just lettin" him _smell_ it. It smells awful good!"
And just then the apple slipped from Flossie"s hand and rolled or bounced straight into the elephant"s cage, between the iron bars.
"Oh, my nice apple!" cried the little girl, and before any one could stop her she had crawled under the front rail, and had run in between the bars.
Right into the cage of the big elephant ran Flossie after her apple.
CHAPTER XVII
CALLED HOME
For a moment Mr. Bobbsey, as well as his wife, was so surprised at what Flossie had done that neither could say or do anything. They just stood and looked at the little girl who was walking toward the apple, which lay in the straw just in front of the big elephant. Nan and Bert, however, together gave a cry of fear and Bert made a jump as though he intended to go into the elephant"s cage, also.
His father, however, stepped in front of him, and said quietly:
"One child in there is enough at a time. I"ll get Flossie!"
And Flossie, not at all thinking of danger, if danger there was, kept going on to get her apple.
The elephant, as it happened, was chained by one leg to a heavy iron ring in the side of his cage, and he could move only a short distance. But he was so anxious to get the apple that he stretched his legs as far as he could, pulling hard on the chain, and then he stretched out his trunk.
And truly it seemed made of rubber, that elephant"s trunk did, from the way he stuck it out. But, stretch as he did, the elephant could not quite reach the apple, which he wanted very much.
"No, you mustn"t take it!" Flossie was saying. "You can"t have my apple! I was only going to let you smell it, Mr. Elephant. It isn"t good for you to eat it, my mother says. I"ll take it back and maybe some day I"ll bring you another."
By this time Flossie was almost within reach of her red-cheeked apple, but, what was worse, she was also almost within reach of that trunk, which, however soft and gentle it might seem when picking up a peanut, was very strong, and could squeeze a big man or a little girl very hard indeed--that is, if the elephant was a bad one and wanted to do such a thing.
"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. Bobbsey"s arms.