“It’s an extraordinary business, when you come to think of it,” said Pierce. “Where did he get the elephant?” “He says something about that too,” said Hood referring to the letter. “He says, ‘I may be a quarrelsome fellow. But quarrels sometimes do good. And though it wasn’t actually one of Captain Pierce’s caravans----’” “No hang it all!” cried Pierce. “This is really too much! To see one’s own name entangled in such hieroglyphics--it reminds me of seeing it in a Dutch paper during the war; and wondering whether all the other words were terms of abuse.” “I think I can explain,” answered Hood patiently. “I assure you the reverend gentleman is not taking liberties with your name in a merely irresponsible spirit. As I told you before, he is strictly truthful when you get at the facts, though they may be difficult to get at. Curiously enough, there really is a connexion. I sometimes think there is a connexion beyond coincidence running through all our adventures; a purpose in these unconscious practical jokes. It seems rather eccentric to make friends with a white elephant----” “Rather eccentric to make friends with us,” said the Colonel. “We are a set of white elephants.” “As a matter of fact,” said the lawyer, “this particular last prank of the parson really did arise out of the last prank of our friend Pierce.” “Me!” said Pierce in surprise. “Have I been producing elephants without knowing it?” “Yes,” replied Hood. “You remember when you were smuggling pigs in defiance of the regulations, you indulged (I regret to say) in a deception of putting them in cages and pretending you were travelling with a menagerie of dangerous animals. The consequence was, you remember, that the authorities forbade menageries altogether. Our friend White took up the case of a travelling circus being stopped in his town as a case of gross oppression; and when they had to break it up, he took over the elephant.” “Sort of small payment for his services, I suppose,” said Crane. “Curious idea, taking a tip in the form of an elephant.” “He might not have done it if he’d known what it involved,” said Hood. “As I say, he was a quarrelsome fellow, with all his good points.” There was a silence, and then Pierce said in a musing manner: “It’s odd it should be the sequel of my little pig adventure. A sort of reversal of the _parturiunt montes_; I put in a little pig and it brought forth an elephant.” “It will bring forth more monsters yet,” said Owen Hood. “We have not seen all the sequels of your adventures as a swineherd.” But touching the other monsters or monstrous events so produced, the reader has already been warned--nay, threatened--that they are involved in the narrative called the Exclusive Luxury of Enoch Oates, and for the moment the threat must hang like thunder in the air. V THE EXCLUSIVE LUXURY OF ENOCH OATES V THE EXCLUSIVE LUXURY OF ENOCH OATES “Since the Colonel ate his hat the Lunatic Asylum has lacked a background.”