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 appetites
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, scraping 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 seashore.
So up to the elephant boy, who was scraping 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, butting him with
his head, as a goat butts, 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.
"Does that mean it is all right, and that we can stop to rest?" asked
Umboo.
"I do not think so," said Mr. Stumptail. "That still is Tusker's
danger call. Perhaps there are hunters ahead of us, as well as
behind."
Tusker stopped, and around him gathered the other elephants.
"What is the matter?" asked Umboo.
"See, boy," answered the old elephant. "There is a fence of big trees
ahead. We can not get through that. It is right across our path," and
with his trunk he pointed to where there was, indeed, a high fence
made of trees, cut down and set closely in the earth and so strong
that even the biggest elephant would have had hard work to knock them
down.
"Well, if we can't go that way we can go another," said Tusker.
So he turned about, and walked off another way, the other elephants
following him.
"Who put the fence there, Mother?" asked Umboo.
"I do not know," answered Mrs. Stumptail. "Perhaps the hunters did, so
we could not get into their gardens and eat the corn and other things
that grow there. Very good things grow in the gardens which the white
and black men plant, and, more than once in the night, I have broken
in and eaten them. But it is dangerous, and Tusker does not want to
lead us into danger. We will keep away from the fence."
Now, though the elephants did not know it, this fence was not built to
keep elephants out of a garden. There were no gardens in that part of
the jungle. The fence was put up by hunters on purpose to turn the
elephants back, and soon you shall hear why this was done.
"Are we in danger now?" asked Umboo of his father as they hurried
along, close beside Tusker.
"No, I think we are all right now," said the oldest, wisest and
largest elephant of the herd. "I am going to lead you to the salt
springs, where we can taste the salt of the earth. One way is as good
as another, and if the fence stops us on one path we will go a new
way. We are going to the salt springs."
Every year the herds of elephants in India come down to eat salt, for
they need it to keep them well, as horses and cows do on the farm. And
the elephant hunters know this too, and so they get ready to capture
the wild elephants when they come down each season to get the salt.
The herd was not going so fast now. Tusker felt that they were well
away from the hunters, and, though seeing the fence at first scared
him a little, he now thought everything was all right.
"We will have good times when we get to the salt springs," said Tusker
to the other elephants. "There we can rest, and the hunters will not
shoot us."
"Yes, I am hungry for some salt," said Mrs. Stumptail, for she had
been to the springs before, and so had many of the older animals.
Along marched Tusker at the head of the herd, and after him came the
others. They, too, were hungry for salt, and Umboo was quite anxious
to taste some, for he had had very little, as yet. But he liked it
very much, and was anxious for more.
But an hour or so later, when traveling along toward where the salt
springs bubbled up in the jungle, Tusker suddenly stopped again. Once
more he gave the danger signal through his trunk.
"What is the matter now?" asked Mr. Stumptail. "More trouble?"
"Another fence!" cried the old elephant. "The jungle is full of strong
fences! We can not go this way, either!"
"What can we do?" asked Umboo. "There is a fence behind us, and now
one in front of us. What can we do?"
"Let me think a minute," said Tusker. "I fear there is danger on both
sides of us."