Umboo, the Elephant | Page 6

will march."
"Why isn't the jungle safe here any more?" asked Umboo of his mother.

"I'll tell you," answered Tusker, who heard what the little elephant
asked. "The other day," went on the big chap, "I went to the top of the
hill over there," and he pointed with his trunk. "I heard up there a noise
like thunder, but it was not thunder."
"What was it?" asked Umboo, who liked to listen to the talk of the old
herd-leader. The other little elephants also gathered around to listen.
"It was the noise of the guns of the hunters," said Tusker. "They are
coming to our jungle, and where the hunters come is no place for us. So
we must march away and hide. Also there is not much food left here.
We must go to a new jungle-place."
Raising his trunk in the air Tusker gave a loud call. All the other
elephants gathered around him, and off he started, leading the way
through the green forest.
"Now if I go too fast for any of you baby elephants, just squeak and I'll
stop," said the big, kind elephant. "We will go only as fast as you little
chaps can walk."
"You are very kind," said Mrs. Stumptail, helping Umboo, with her
trunk, to get over a rough bit of ground.
On and on marched the elephants to find a new place in the jungle,
where they would be safe from the hunters, and where they could find
more sweet bark, leaves and palm nuts to eat. Umboo walked near his
mother, as the other small elephant boys and girls walked near their
mothers, and the bigger elephants helped the smaller and weaker ones
over the rough places.
Pretty soon, in the jungle, the herd of elephants came to what seemed a
big silver ribbon, shining in the sun. It sparkled like a looking glass on
a circus wagon, though, as yet, neither Umboo, nor any of the other big
animals had ever seen a show.
"What is that?" asked Umboo of his mother.

"That is a river of water," she answered. "It is water to drink and wash
in."
"Oh, I never could drink all that water," said the baby elephant.
"No one expects you to!" said his mother, with an elephant laugh. "But
we are going to swim across it to get on the other side."
"What is swimming?" asked Umboo.
"It means going in the water, and wiggling your legs so that you will
float across and not sink," said Mrs. Stumptail. "See, we are at the
jungle river now, and we will go across."
"Oh, but I'm afraid!" cried Umboo, holding back. "I don't want to go in
all that water."
Mrs. Stumptail reached out her trunk and caught her little boy around
the middle of his stomach.
"You must do as I tell you!" she said. "Up you go!" and she lifted him
high in the air.
"Oh, did she let you fall?" suddenly asked Chako, who, with the other
animals in the circus tent, was eagerly listening to the story Umboo was
telling. "Did she let you fall?"

CHAPTER III
SLIDING DOWN HILL
"Look here!" cried Snarlie, the tiger, when Chako, the monkey, had
asked his question. "Look here, Chako! You mustn't interrupt like that
when Umboo is talking! Let him tell his story, just as you let me tell
mine. And maybe Umboo's jungle story will go in a book, as mine did."
"Is yours in a book?" asked Humpo, the camel.

"It is," answered Snarlie, and he did not speak at all proudly as some
tigers might. "My story is in a book, and there are pictures of me, and
also Toto, the little Indian princess. For I came from India, just as
Umboo did."
"Now who is talking?" asked Woo-Uff, the lion. "I thought we were to
listen to Umboo's story."
"That's right--we were," said Snarlie. "I'm sorry I talked so much. But I
was telling Chako about the books we are in, Woo-Uff."
"Yes, books are all well enough," said the lion, "but give me a good
piece of meat. Now go on, Umboo. What was it Chako asked?"
"I wanted to know if Umboo's mother let him fall when she lifted him
high up in her trunk when they came to the jungle river," said the
monkey in the circus cage.
"No," answered Umboo, "she did not drop me. My mother was very
strong, and her trunk had a good hold of me. She didn't drop me at all."
"Then what did she lift you up for?" asked Chako. "Once, in the jungle
where I came from, I saw a big elephant lift up a tiger in his trunk, and
the elephant threw the tiger down on the ground as