all the other elephants waited while tusker stood there, swaying to and fro in the jungle thinking. some people say animals do not think, but i believe they do. at least it is thinking to them, though it may not seem so to us.
"well, are we going to stay here all day?" asked a young elephant, who was crowded in among the others at the back of the herd. "i want to get to some place where i can have palm nuts to eat. i am hungry. let's go on!"
"be quiet!" called umboo's father to this elephant. "don't you see that tusker is trying to think, and find the best way out of danger for us. wait a bit."
so the elephants waited, and finally tusker with a shake of his big ears, said:
"i never knew anything like this before. always when we have come to the salt springs the way has been clear. there have been no man-made fences to stop us. but, since they are here it must be that it is not meant for us to go where the fences are. very well. i know how to get to the salt springs without going near these things across our paths. we can go straight ahead, between the two fences!"
and that was just what the hunters, who had put up the fences in the jungle wanted. they wanted the elephants to go along between them, for, at the places where the fences came to an end, was a strong stockade, or trap, to catch the wild elephants.
umboo, and none of the other elephants knew this at the time, but they learned it later, to their sorrow, some of them. when hunters in the indian jungle wish to capture a lot of wild elephants, to work for them, or to be turned into trick elephants for the circus, the hunters do this.
first they find the place where, each year, the wild elephants come down from the hills, or out of the jungle, to taste the salt. for, as i told you, elephants must have salt once in a while, just as horses, cows and sheep on the farm need it. the elephants will travel a long way, and brave many dangers, to get salt.
knowing this the hunters build long fences on each side of the road leading down from the hills to the salt spring. when the elephants crash their way through the jungle, on their way to the salt, they come to one of the fences. this turns them aside, and they go along until they come to another.
then, just as did tusker, and his friend umboo and the other elephants, being between two strong fences, there is only one other thing to do. they can go between them toward the salt spring, or away from it. but, as they want salt very much, the big animals tramp along the two miles of fence toward the salty place, and, knowing the elephants will do this, the hunters are ready for them. now i shall tell you what happened.
for a few minutes longer tusker stood swaying in the jungle. he was trying to think what was the best thing for him to do, for he was the leader of the herd, and they would all do as he did, just as a flock of sheep will follow the old ram, even on the dangerous railroad track sometimes.
"come!" trumpeted tusker through his trunk, "we will go between the two fences to the salt springs."
"is the salt good, mother?" asked umboo, for he had only had a little in his life, and as i told you, hardly remembered it.
"very good, indeed," said mrs. stumptail. "you shall soon see and taste for yourself."
so along through the jungle, half way between the two lines of fence, went the elephants, little and big. they had not gone very far before, all of a sudden, tusker stopped and raised his trunk in the air.
"be careful!" he cried. "i smell danger! i smell the man smell! oh, elephants, i fear something is going to happen."
and something did happen.
from behind the herd of elephants, and from both sides of them, came a terrible noise. it was as though a hundred thunderbolts had been shot off at once, and a terrible clapping sound was heard, as if the wings of great birds were flapping.
these noises were made by hunters up in the trees on each side of, and behind, the elephants. the hunters fired their guns, making the noise like small thunder bolts and other black men banged pieces of dry wood together, making the clapping sound.
the elephants were very much frightened. never before had they heard anything like this.
"oh, what is it?" cried umboo, keeping close to his mother. "what is it all about. does the salt spring make that noise?"
"no, it isn't that," said mrs. stumptail. "that must be the danger of which tusker spoke. be quiet and listen to what he is saying."
the old elephant leader had to trumpet through his trunk as loudly as he could to be heard above the noise of the guns and clappers.
"there is danger, o elephants!" cried tusker. "the man-smell is all around us, and the terrible noises are behind, and on both sides of us. there is only one place that is quiet, and that is straight ahead. we must go that way! forward!"
and straight ahead rushed the elephants, toward the place where there was no noise. as they went on mr. stumptail looked to either side and saw where the two lines of fence came together into a place like a big ring, and the ring also had a fence around it.
"look, tusker!" cried umboo's father. "is it all right to go there where the fence is?"
"it is the only place to go to get away from the hunters," said tusker. "they are behind us and on both sides. only ahead of us is there none. we must go that way!"
and this is just what the hunters wanted. they made no noise in front of the elephants on purpose so they would rush that way. for, in that direction, was the strongly fenced-in stockade, or trap, with long barriers on each side leading to it.
to the elephants, who were frightened by the shooting and clapping noises behind, and on both sides of them, the silence in front of them seemed just what they wanted. toward it they ran, not knowing that the trap was waiting for them.
into it they rushed, the noise behind them sounding louder and louder now, with more guns shooting and more clappers clapping. into the quiet of the stockade rushed tusker, mr. and mrs. stumptail, umboo, keedah and all the others.
and then, when they were safely in the trap, a great big door of logs, as strong as the fence of trees of which the stockade was built, fell with a bang behind them, shutting the elephants in. then the shooting and clapping stopped.
for a moment it was quiet in the jungle, the only sound being the wind blowing in the trees, or the rubbing of the rough-skinned elephants' bodies, one against the other, making a queer, shuffling noise. the big animals crowded together in the middle of the stockade trap, and waited for what would happen next.
"is this the salt spring, mother?" asked umboo.
"no," she sadly answered. "it is not. this is dreadful!"
"what has happened?" asked umboo. "and why do tusker and the other big elephants look so scared?"
"because we are caught in a trap," answered the boy elephant's mother.
"i have heard tell of these places, but i was never in one before."
"can't we get out?" umboo wanted to know.
"tusker will try, and so will your father," said mrs. stumptail. "all the strong elephants will try to break out. perhaps it will be all right yet. listen, tusker is going to speak."
tusker, the big bull, raised his trunk and said:
"o, elephants! i am sorry, but i seem to have led you into a trap. i did not know it was here. i tried to lead you away from the man-smell and away from the danger, but i have led you into worse. now i will try to get you out. i see what has happened. the hunters made their fences in the jungle so we could only come this way—this way into the trap. but we shall break out!
"come over here by me, mr. stumptail, and you too, mr. one tusk, and you also, bumper head. come, we will rush at the fence of this trap and batter it down. in that way we can get out. we shall fool these hunters yet. come, we will batter down the fence and once more we will be in our jungle!"
"yes, we will knock down the fence!" cried the other big elephants through their trunks. and they made such a rumble, and struck the ground so heavily with their great feet, that the earth trembled.
