Jack found Sam, and had a long talk with his friend. The head clown again advised the boy to write to the professor, and see if any news had come from the boy’s folks. “If they’re still somewhere in China,” said Sam, “you had better stick with the show. Maybe I can help you get a place in some theatre this winter.” “All right, I’ll do as you say,” agreed Jack. “I’ll write to-morrow. But now I’ve got to go and fix some things on my airship. I broke a hoop in the bag this afternoon.” Jack started for the property tent, and he had scarcely reached it when, from the menagerie, there came such a terrifying yell, mingled with a trumpet of rage, that every one who heard it stood still in horror. “That’s an elephant!” cried Mr. Delafield. “Something’s gone wrong!” “Ajax! It must be Ajax!” shouted Jack. “Bill told me he was acting queer a while ago!” “Then he’s killed some one,” exclaimed the property man, as he rushed from his tent. “I know that yell. I heard one like it once before! Ajax has killed a man!” Jack ran out of the tent after Mr. Delafield. As he got outside he heard the shrill trumpet again. Then came a rattle of chains, and a side of the animal tent bulged out. “Ajax’s loose! Ajax’s loose!” cried a man, and the next instant the mad elephant, which had broken the double chains, rushed from the tent, trunk in the air, trumpeting shrilly, its wicked little eyes agleam with rage. CHAPTER XXIV JACK’S BAD FALL Behind the big brute came a score of the animal men, armed with clubs, pitchforks, iron bars and elephant hooks. But Bill Henyon was not among them. The elephant trainer--the master of Ajax--had given that big brute his last command, for, as they ran, the men from the animal tent told how the elephant had seized Henyon in his trunk, and dashed him to the ground, maiming him so terribly that he was a cripple for life. But now every man who could be spared from the circus grounds started to race after the fleeing elephant. Canvasmen, drivers, trainers, even the trapeze performers, joined in the hunt, and of course Jack, Sam, and several of the other clowns were there. “If he runs toward town he’ll do a lot of damage, and maybe kill two or three people before his rage dies down,” said Sam. “Can’t they catch him in time?” asked Jack. “It’s a hard question. There, he’s heading for the creek. Maybe that’ll cool him off.” The circus tents had been pitched near a small stream, and toward this the big brute was now headed, for, heavy as an elephant is, he can outrun a man for a short distance, and sometimes beat him in a long race. Into the water plunged Ajax, filling his trunk with it and spraying it all about. He took up his position in the middle of the stream, as if to bid defiance to his pursuers. “Go slow now,” cautioned Hank Servdon, who was the boss animal man. “I’ll keep him engaged in front, while some of you sneak up behind and shackle one leg with a long chain.”