The Sandman: His Sea Stories  by Willliam J. Hopkins

The Teak-Wood Story

NCE upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalks were much worn.

Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob owned the wharf and all the ships that sailed from it. The brig Industry  was one of the ships that used to sail from that wharf, and after Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob moved to Boston she sailed from a wharf in Boston. And she had sailed from the wharf in Boston on a voyage to the far country, and little Jacob and little Sol had gone in her. And she had sailed through the great ocean and past the country where the monkeys lived and through another ocean to India, and she had anchored in a wide river. And many little boats came off to her from a city that there was on the shore of the river, and they began to take out of the Industry  all the things she had brought to that country.

Little Jacob and little Sol were as quiet as little boys could be expected to be, for they knew that Captain Solomon was very busy at first. But, at last, the things were all out of the Industry;  and Captain Solomon had to go ashore to buy things for the ship to take home again. So he had the sailors let down a boat, and he looked around for the boys. And they were so close behind him that he didn't see them until little Sol touched him.

"Hello, boys!" cried Captain Solomon. "Want to go ashore with me?"

"Yes, sir," called out little Jacob and little Sol, together, so that it sounded as if there was only one boy.

"Well, hop in, then," said Captain Solomon.

And little Sol hopped in, and little Jacob hopped in; and Captain Solomon got in, and the sailors rowed them ashore. And they got out of the boat upon some wide stone steps that went down to the water, and the boys were very glad, for it was the first time that they had set foot upon the ground for a long time. And little Jacob was surprised to find that the ground seemed to be waving around just like the deck of the ship, so that he couldn't walk very well. And he spoke of it to little Sol, and Captain Solomon heard him, and he gave a great laugh.

"So it does," Captain Solomon said. "So it does. And so it will for the next three days, Jacob, if I'm not mistaken. It's queer ground, Jacob, isn't it, to be waving around so? Must be an earthquake."

And little Jacob looked up at Captain Solomon to see whether he was joking or not. For Captain Solomon was very apt to joke, but you couldn't tell whether he was or not unless you looked at him, and you couldn't tell, even then, unless you knew him pretty well.

And little Jacob decided that Captain Solomon was joking, so he smiled. "Yes, sir," he said. "It must be an earthquake. We were very lucky, weren't we, to be just in time for an earthquake?"

It was Captain Solomon's turn to look at little Jacob to see what he meant.

"Ha! Ha! Very lucky, indeed, Jacob," said Captain Solomon. "We're lucky dogs, Jacob."

And little Sol didn't say anything, but only grinned; and he could do that pretty well. And they went, by queer streets, to the office of Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's agent, who sold the things for them. And after that they went about among the shops and saw all the things that the men had to sell, and Captain Solomon went with them. And the men were very polite to Captain Solomon because they thought he might buy some of their things, but he didn't. And so they did all that day, and, late in the afternoon, they were rowed back to the ship. Little Jacob and little Sol were very tired, and went to sleep right after supper.

The next morning the boat was waiting for them, and in it were bundles for little Jacob and little Sol. And, after breakfast, they were rowed ashore again to the stone steps. And, at the head of the steps, two bullock carts were waiting for them. Little Jacob was surprised, and he asked Captain Solomon if they were going to see the elephants that his grandfather had spoken of. And Captain Solomon said that they were going to that place, but he didn't know whether the elephants that Captain Jonathan had spoken of had been obliging enough to wait thirty years or not. And little Jacob smiled and got into the bullock cart.

The bullocks went very slowly indeed; and the little boys saw the villages that they passed through on the way, and they saw the women washing the clothes in the water of the river, and they saw the crocodiles that looked like so many old logs. And, in time, the bullocks got to the place where the elephants were. It was late one afternoon that they got there, so that Captain Solomon thought that they wouldn't go to see the elephants that night. And, just as Captain Solomon said that, they heard a great gong ring. And Captain Solomon said that it wouldn't be any use to go to see them then, anyway, for the elephants stopped work when that gong rang, and nobody could get them to do anything after that. And the little boys thought that was queer.

So, early the next morning, they went to the elephant place. It was a great big place, and a high, strong fence was around it on three sides, and on the fourth side was the river. And, next to the river, were great piles of teak-wood logs, and the logs were piled very nicely and evenly, so that the piles wouldn't fall down. And, far off at the back of the great yard, next to the forest, were a lot of the logs which were not piled, but were just as they had been dumped there, pell-mell, when they had been brought in from the forest. The logs that were all piled up nicely were to be sent down the river.

Little Jacob and little Sol had just time to see all that, when the great gong rang. Then the elephants began to come out of a big shed that was in the back of the yard, and the little boys saw that some of the elephants had mahouts, or drivers, on them but the most of them didn't have any drivers. And the mahouts sat on the necks of their elephants, just back of the heads, and each mahout had an elephant-goad, something like an ox-goad, only that it was shorter and the end that was sharp was bent around so that it was something like the claws of a hammer, but the claws were sharp.

And the elephants that knew their business walked slowly over to the logs that were piled pell-mell, and they made the elephants that didn't know their business go there too; and if any elephant, that didn't know, tried to go another way, the old elephants would butt him and jab him with their tusks. And then there was great squealing and noise. And when the elephants got to the logs, each one knelt down and put his tusks under a log and curled his trunk over and around it, and then he got up and walked slowly to the place where the logs were piled so nicely. And he put his log on the pile so that it wouldn't fall down, and when the pile was so high that he couldn't reach then he began to make a new pile. But some of the elephants didn't have any tusks and they just curled their trunks around the logs and carried them that way.

Little Jacob and little Sol were very much interested in watching the elephants and in seeing how wise they were; for they piled the logs just as well as if a man had told them where to put each one. And Captain Solomon said that they piled the logs better than any man there could have done it. And little Jacob caught sight of one elephant that had his ears torn and had only one tusk.

When he caught sight of that elephant, little Jacob called out. "Look, Captain Solomon!" he cried. "See! There is the elephant that grandfather told about, that will let little boys ride him."

And the elephant was pretty near and he heard little Jacob, but he couldn't understand what he said, for those elephants only understand the language that they speak in India. But the old elephant stopped and turned his head as far as he could, which wasn't very far, for elephants haven't any neck worth mentioning, so he had to turn his whole body before he could see the little boys. And, when he saw them, he began to walk up to the place where they were. And little Jacob was a little bit scared, for the elephant was very big and he didn't know what he might do. But little Jacob didn't run or look scared, and little Sol wasn't frightened at all.

And, when the old elephant had got near the little boys, he stopped and stretched out his trunk toward them. And little Sol gave him a lump of sugar that he had in his pocket, and the elephant ate the sugar and stretched out his trunk again, but he didn't move.

"I know what he wants," cried little Jacob. And he got up from the log where he was sitting, and raised his arms, and the old elephant curled his trunk about little Jacob and put him up high on his back, very gently. And little Jacob grabbed hold of a sort of harness that the elephant had on, and he laughed. Then the elephant stretched out his trunk for little Sol and put him up behind little Jacob. And little Sol held on to the harness, too.

Captain Solomon didn't know what to do while the elephant was putting the little boys up on his back, but then he made up his mind that the boys were well enough off; and the old elephant walked away, very carefully, and he walked all around the great yard with the boys on his back. And the boys laughed and said that it was fun. But Captain Solomon called to them to hold on tight. And they held on tight. And when they had been all around the great yard, the old elephant came back to the place where Captain Solomon was sitting. And he reached up with his trunk and took the boys down, first little Sol and then little Jacob, and he set them down on the ground very carefully. And the boys gave him some more sugar and stroked his trunk, and then he went away to his log piling again.

He walked all around the great yard with the boys on his back.

And when they had been watching a long while, the gong rang. And the elephants all stopped their work at once and went into the shed. And that amused the boys very much, and the gong reminded them that they were very hungry, so they went away to get their dinner. And, after dinner, they watched the elephants again all the long afternoon, and by that time they were tired of watching elephants.

So, the next morning, they got into the bullock carts again, and they went back to the ship. And the boat was waiting for them at the stone steps, and the sailors rowed them to the Industry. And they were very tired and glad to get back, and they went to bed right after supper.

And that's all.