Umboo, the Elephant | Page 9

shutting the animals up in them. The tent was taken down, horses were
hitched to the wagons, and away went the whole, big circus on a train
to the next town where the show was to be given.
"It's too bad!" exclaimed Horni, the rhinoceros, who had a big horn on
the end of his nose. "It's too bad, Umboo! I wanted to hear you tell
about sliding down hill."
"I'll tell you tomorrow," said the elephant. "Now I have to go and help
the horses, by pushing on some of the heavy wagons with my head. I'll
finish the sliding-down-hill part of my story tomorrow."
"All right, don't forget!" called Chako, just before the men closed down

the sides of the monkey cage.
"I won't," promised Umboo.
"It was the same way when I was telling my story," said Snarlie, the
tiger. "Every now and then I had to stop when the circus moved from
one place to another."
All through the night the trains of cars, with the circus wagons, tents,
horses and performers, rolled along. In the morning the cars stopped
just outside a big city, where the show was to be given for three days.
"And now I'll have a chance to tell you a lot more about what we
elephants did in the jungle," said Umboo, when, once more, all the
animal friends were in the tent together. "That is I'll tell you more, if
you aren't tired of hearing it," he added.
"Tired? I should say not!" chattered Gink. "Go on, Umboo, if you
please. Tell us a lot more!"
"And don't forget about sliding down hill," added Woo-Uff, the lion.
"Did your mother let you?"
"Oh, yes, she let me," answered Umboo. "At first she did not want to,
for a lot of the big elephants were having this fun. But, after a while,
when they went away from the hill, having slid down enough, and
when Keedah, and some of the other elephant boys and girls, took their
turn, I went with them.
"At first I was a little afraid, when I got to the top of the hill, and saw
how steep it was, and how far it seemed down to the bottom where the
river ran. But I stuck my front feet out in front of me, and I sat down on
the back part of my hind legs, where my skin is very thick, and then, all
of a sudden Keedah came up behind me and gave me a push." "Did you
go down?" asked Snarlie, laughing so that his sharp, white teeth
showed in his red mouth.
"Did I go down? I should say I did!" cried Umboo. "I went down so

fast I almost turned over in a somersault, the way the trick dogs do in
our circus. And, at first, I was scared.
"But the hill of dirt was smooth, without any big stones in it, and away
I slid. When I got to the water, in I went with a big splash; though of
course I didn't make as much of a splatter as some of the larger
elephants did."
"Was it fun?" asked Humpo, the camel.
"At first I didn't like it," answered Umboo. "The water got up my trunk,
and choked me a little, and took my breath away. But my mother stood
on the bank of the river and soon pulled me out; and when I went down
next time I curled my trunk up, so then I was all right."
The other circus animals liked so much to hear Umboo's story of
sliding down hill, that they kept asking him questions about it until
nearly dinner time. But when the men came in the tent, bringing hay for
the horses, elephants and camels, big chunks of meat for the lions and
tigers, and dried bread for the monkeys, then all the animals were quiet
for a time--at least they made no noise except chewing.
And after their meal they all went to sleep for a little while, those in
cages curling up in a corner, and the horses lying down on straw, but
the elephants took their sleep standing up, for an elephant, even in the
jungle, never lies down except perhaps to roll in water, or a
mud-puddle. And the only time they lie down in a circus is when they
are doing some trick.
"Now I guess you have slid down hill enough, Umboo," said the
elephant's mother to him. "It is all right to have some fun, but there are
other things to do in the jungle besides that. You must learn a few
things."
"I had to learn things too," said Woo-Uff. "I had to learn how to creep
up on fat goats, and knock them over with my