TO THE SALT SPRING
Quickly, as the other elephants in the jungle heard the trumpet call of Tusker, they ran in from the different trees, where they were pulling off leaves or stripping bark, and gathered around the big leader. Tusker stood with upraised trunk, his eyes flashing in the sun.
"What is it?" asked Mr. Stumptail, and some of the others. "What is the matter now?"
"I smell danger," cried Tusker. "I smell the man-smell, and that always means danger to us. There are hunters coming--either black or white--and they will have guns or bows and arrows to shoot us. We are near danger and we must go far away. Come, elephants--away!"
Tusker raised his trunk again, and took a long breath through it. He was smelling to see in which direction the danger of the man-smell lay, and he would turn aside from that.
"The smell comes from the South," he said to the other elephants. "We must march to the North! Come!"
So he led the way through the jungle, Umboo and the other elephants following. As yet only a few of the others had smelled the danger-smell, and none of them heard any noise made by the hunters, if they were coming to shoot their guns or bows and arrows. But they all knew that Tusker was a wise elephant, and would lead them out of trouble.
So they followed him.
On and on through the jungle crashed the big animals. They did not stop when trees and bushes got in their way, but broke them down, and stepped on them. A rush of elephants through the jungle to get away from danger is almost as hard to stop as a runaway locomotive and train of cars.
"Can you keep up with us?" asked Umboo"s mother of him as he trotted along beside her. "Are we going too fast for you?"
"Oh, no. I can go quite fast now," said the elephant boy, and he really could, for he had grown much in the last few months. Plenty of palm nuts and the bark and leaves of the jungle trees had made him taller and stronger, and his legs were better fitted for running.
Still Tusker was a wise old elephant, and he knew, even in running from danger, that it was not well to go so fast that the smaller animals in the herd could not keep up. If he did that they would fall behind, and be caught or killed. So, every now and then the old elephant leader stopped a bit, and looked back. If he saw any of the boys or girls lagging, or going slow, he would stop for them to rest a little.
Still, even with rests now and then, the herd went on very fast, crashing through the jungle, to get away from the danger. At last Tusker stopped, and said:
"Well, I think we have come far enough. We are beyond the reach of the hunters now. We can stop and eat and sleep in peace."
So the elephants stopped. You see, now, why it was they had no regular homes. They have to move so often, either to go to new places in the jungle to find food, or to run from danger, so that a cave, such as lions or tigers have, or a nest, such as birds live in, would be of no use to elephants. They must live in the open, ready to hurry on for many miles at a moment"s notice.
Tusker, and some of the older and wiser beasts, listened as well as they could, flapping their big ears slowly to and fro. They also smelled the air with their trunks. And, as there was no sign of danger, they felt that it would be safe to take a long rest.
They were hungry; for running, or exercise, gives elephants appet.i.tes just as it does you boys and girls. And some of the smaller elephants were sleepy. For, though they do not lie down to rest, elephants must sleep, as do other beasts, although they do it standing up. That night the herd remained quietly in the new spot in the jungle whither Tusker had led them. Some of them ate and some of them slept, and when morning came they went to a river of water; and each one took a long drink. Some of them swam about, and it was now that Umboo and the young elephants had some fun.
For you know that jungle beasts--even the largest of them--like to play and have fun. You have seen kittens at play, and puppy dogs; and little lions and tigers, as well as the smaller elephants, like to do the same thing--have fun.
Umboo was standing on the bank of the river, having just been in for a swim, when Batu, another elephant boy, came up to him.
"Do you want to have some fun?" asked Batu.
"Yes," answered Umboo. "What doing?"
"Do you see Keedah over there, sc.r.a.ping his toe nails on a big stone?"
asked Batu, for sometimes the toe nails of elephants grow too long and too rough, and have to be worn down. Keedah was doing this to his.
"Yes, I see him," answered Umboo. "What about him?"
"This," answered Batu, with a chuckling laugh that made him shake all over, for he was quite fat. "We will go up to him, as he stands with his back to the water, and while I am talking to him, and asking if his toe nails hurt, you can give him a push and knock him into the river."
"Oh, yes, we"ll do that. It will be fun!" laughed Umboo.
For he knew that it would not hurt Keedah to splash into the water, and the elephant boys and girls used often to play that trick on one another, just as you children, perhaps, do at the seash.o.r.e.
So up to the elephant boy, who was sc.r.a.ping his toe nails on a stone, slyly went Umboo and Batu. And Batu said:
"Ah, Keedah! Do your toes hurt you very much?"
"Oh, no, not so very much," was the answer. "I am getting to be a big elephant now, and I do not mind a little hurt."
"Ha! Then maybe you won"t mind this!" suddenly cried Umboo with a laugh, as he quietly went up close to Keedah, and, b.u.t.ting him with his head, as a goat b.u.t.ts, knocked him down the bank into the river.
"Oh! Ugh! Blurg! Splub!" cried Keedah, as he splattered about in the water. "What are you doing that for?"
"Oh, just to have some fun," answered Umboo and Batu, laughing as they ran off.
"Well, I"ll show you some more fun!" cried Keedah, as he scrambled up the river bank, and ran after the other two elephant boys, his trunk raised high in the air.
Umboo and Batu ran as fast as they could, of course, and Keedah raced after them. Finally he caught them, and struck them with his trunk.
But it was all in fun, and no one minded it. Then, a little later, when Umboo was standing near the river, Keedah came up behind him and knocked him into the water.
"Now we are even!" laughed Keedah as he ran away.
"I don"t mind!" said Umboo. "I was going in for another swim, anyhow.
I like to be wet."
So he splashed about in the water and had fun, as did the other elephant boys and girls, and the larger elephants watched them, and let the water soak into their own tough hides.
For about a week the herd of elephants stayed near the jungle river.
It was a good place for them. Many palm trees grew about, and there were plenty of other things to eat. There was water to drink and bathe in, and shade to rest in when the sun beat down too hot on the jungle.
So the elephants liked it there.
But one day when Umboo and Batu were thinking up another fun-trick to play on Keedah, suddenly the trumpet call of Tusker was heard again.
"More danger!" exclaimed Umboo. "I wonder what it is this time?"
"Let us go ask," suggested Batu. "The others are getting ready to leave. They are closing in. Perhaps we have to run away again."
And that is just what the elephants had to do.
"It is the hunters once more!" cried Tusker. "I smell the man-smell!
The danger-smell comes down to me on the wind. We must hurry on. Once more the hunters are after us!" and he trumpeted loudly on his trunk, to call in from the farthest parts of the forest the elephants who might have wandered away for food.
Soon the herd was on the march again. Swiftly they went through the jungle, breaking down small trees and big bushes. They stopped not for thorns, nor anything else in the path. On and on they went, crashing along--anywhere to get away from the hunters with their guns and arrows.
"Are these the same hunters from whom we ran before?" asked Umboo of his mother, as he trotted along beside her.
"I do not know," she answered. "It may be that they are."
For many miles Tusker led his elephant friends through the jungle.
Then suddenly he stopped and gave a loud trumpet call.