Chapter II: Tum Tum Is Caught

CHAPTER II TUM TUM IS CAUGHT Tum Tum, and the other elephants who were in swimming, made no more noise than a fly walking up the window. They all kept quiet and listened. Through the jungle again sounded the trumpet call: "Umph! Umph! Boom! Boom! Toom!" "That sure means danger!" cried Tum Tum. "Come on! We had better go back to where our fathers and mothers are." "Indeed we had!" said Thorny, as she and Zunga waded to the shore, water dripping from them. "That's always the way!" complained Gumble-umble. "Just as we are having fun, something has to happen." "Look here!" exclaimed Whoo-ee, "you don't want to be caught in a trap, do you?" "Of course not," said Gumble-umble. "And you don't want a hunter to shoot you, or to carry you away far off somewhere, do you?" "You know I don't," and Gumble-umble did not speak quite so crossly this time. "Well, then," said Whoo-ee, "let's do as Tum Tum is doing, and start for home. There must be some danger, or Mr. Boom wouldn't have called to us that way." "Indeed he wouldn't," said Tum Tum, and he did not laugh in his jolly way now. "My mother told me to be sure and listen for a call from Mr. Boom. She said he would be looking for danger, and when he called, I was to hurry home." Tum Tum was out on the bank of the river now. Gumble-umble was the last one of the elephants to come from the swimming pool. "Let's hurry," said Tum Tum. "That's what I say!" cried Thorny. "I don't want to be caught by some hunter." The elephant children knew what hunters were, for their fathers and mothers had often told them about the natives who tried to catch elephants. Indeed, some of the older elephants had more than once been caught in traps, but they had gotten out. Without stopping to put on any clothes, for of course elephants do not wear any, Tum Tum and the others hurried off through the jungle toward where the rest of the herd was feeding. Several times as they hastened along, they could hear Mr. Boom trumpeting, and it sounded as though he said: "Hurry along! Hurry along! There's danger! Danger!" And Tum Tum and the others did hurry, you may be sure of that. Before the elephant children reached the place where they had left the herd feeding, Tum Tum saw something pushing through the jungle toward them. "Look out!" he warned his playmates. "Something is coming!" The five elephants stopped short, and were beginning to get afraid when, all at once, Tum Tum's mother burst through the bushes and came up to him. "Oh, I was so frightened!" she said, speaking through her trunk. "I thought you were never coming!" "Oh, we heard Mr. Boom," said Tum Tum, "and we came on as soon as we could. But what's the matter, mamma?" "Plenty is the matter, or, rather, is going to be, unless we can get away," said the mamma elephant. "A big band of hunters is in the jungle, and they are coming this way." "Did you see them?" asked Whoo-ee. "No, indeed! If we waited until they were close enough for us elephants to see them, they would be so close, that we could not get away. Some monkeys brought word that the hunters were on the march. So we are going to start at once and go afar off, into a deep, dark part of the jungle, where they cannot find us." "Well, we had a swim, anyhow," said Tum Tum. "I'm hungry, mamma. Have we time to eat?" "No, indeed," said the lady elephant. "We'll just have to eat as we go along. You children had better go to your fathers and mothers," she said to Whoo-ee, Gumble-umble, Thorny and Zunga. "They are, very likely, looking for you." So the four friends of Tum Tum started off, and soon the whole herd of elephants was moving off through the jungle, led by Mr. Boom, who had heard of the danger from a monkey friend. All that day the herd of elephants kept on, crashing their way through the jungle. They did not follow any path, but made one for themselves. Through the thick, strong vines they pushed their way, breaking down trees, or pulling them up by their roots. Nothing could stop the elephants when they were running away from danger. "Oh, dear! This is no fun! I'm tired! I'm not going to run any more!" complained Gumble-umble. "I don't believe there is any danger, anyhow." "Oh, but there must be," said Tum Tum, who, with Whoo-ee, was hurrying along beside his play-fellow. "Otherwise they wouldn't make us go so fast," and he pointed with his trunk to Mr. Boom, and some of the older men elephants, who were leading the herd. "Well, I'm not going to go so fast," said Gumble-umble. "I'm going to stop and have a rest." "No, you're not!" exclaimed his father, who came up behind Gumble-umble, just then. "I'm sorry," the papa elephant said, "but you must keep on. It would never do to stop now, or the hunters would get us. Here, I'll push you along," and with his strong head, Gumble-umble's father shoved his son along, whether Gumble-umble wanted to go or not. Tum Tum needed no pushing. He was glad enough to hurry along as fast as he could. So were the other small elephants, for they did not want to be caught. Then, after a while, Mr. Boom signaled that they were far enough off now, and need not hurry any more. They were safe, at least for a time. "And I'm glad of it!" exclaimed Gumble-umble. "I can't walk another step," and he lay down to rest. All the elephants were tired, and hungry. But they had come to a place where there was plenty of food and water. Soon they were eating, drinking and getting ready to spend the night in the jungle, for it was now almost dark. Tum Tum found a nice cozy place between his mother and father, and soon he was sound asleep. For some time after this, the herd of elephants was kept on the move by the hunters. Then, finally, the men with guns were left so far behind that there was no more danger for them. Then all the elephants were glad. They did not have to run through the jungle any more, and they had time to eat and drink. Tum Tum and his friends went in swimming many times, and Tum Tum grew so fat and large and strong, that he was soon the largest of all the children elephants in the herd. In fact, he was almost as large as his father and mother, and of all the elephants he was the strongest, except only Mr. Boom. No elephant was stronger or braver than Mr. Boom. That was what made him the leader. One day, when Tum Tum had grown to be a big, fine strong elephant, though as jolly as ever, something happened to him. I shall tell you all about it now. The herd of elephants was in the forest as before. They were eating away, when, all of a sudden, Mr. Boom gave the signal with his trunk. "Danger! Danger!" he cried, in his deep, booming voice, that was like distant thunder. "Oh, we've got to run again!" cried Mr. Tusky, who was the father of Tum Tum. It is a good thing elephants do not live in houses, and also good that they have nothing to move with them, when they go from place to place, or they would have trouble, because they have to run away from danger so often. Once again they were on the march, with Mr. Boom in the lead. Now Tum Tum was so big and strong, that he was allowed to march at the head of the herd with Mr. Boom. "Oh, but I am afraid to have him there," said Mrs. Tusky to her husband. "Nonsense!" exclaimed the papa elephant. "He must learn to take his place. Some day he will be the leader of the herd, and will warn the others of danger." Through the forest jungle rushed the elephants, trampling down the trees and bushes. Behind them could be heard the shouts of the hunters, and the firing of guns. There was also the noise of big wooden and tin drums being beaten, and horns being blown. There was also the trumpeting of other elephants--tame elephants. For hunters use tame elephants to help them catch the wild ones. "Wait! don't run away! You will not be hurt!" called the tame elephants to Tum Tum, and the other wild ones. But the wild elephants did not want to be caught. They did not know they would be kindly treated by their masters. All the wild elephants wanted to do was to get away. So with Tum Tum and Mr. Boom at their head, away they rushed through the jungle. All at once the rushing herd of wild elephants came to a fence in the jungle. It was a strong fence, made of big bamboo trees stuck in the ground. It was such a strong fence that even Mr. Boom, try as he did, could not break it down. When he found that after one or two blows from his head would not break the fence, he called out to the other elephants: "Never mind the fence! We can't break through it, so we'll run along beside it. Maybe there'll be a hole in it somewhere." So the elephants rushed through the jungle, alongside of the fence, just as you might do, until you came to a gate, or hole. That was what Mr. Boom was looking for--a hole in the fence. But he did not see any. In fact, this fence was a trap, and soon Mr. Boom and the other elephants knew this. "Run away from the fence! Run over this way!" called Mr. Boom. The elephants ran, but soon they saw another fence in front of them--a fence as strong as the first one. Mr. Boom and some of the strong elephants, including Tum Tum, tried to break it down, but they could not. If they had all gotten together, and pushed at one spot, they might have broken it, but they pushed in different places, and the fence held them back. "Never mind!" called Mr. Boom. "Maybe this fence has a hole in it. We'll run along it and find out." "Why can't we turn around and go back?" asked Gumble-umble of Tum Tum, behind whom he was now running. "Because the hunters are behind us," said Tum Tum. "If we turned back, they would surely catch us. The only thing to do is to run on." Tum Tum was beginning to be a smart elephant, you see. He knew many things about danger. But, had he only known it, there was something he did not know--and this was that he and the others were, even then, running right into a trap. On and on rushed the elephants. The two lines of fences that had been far apart, were now so close together that they could both easily be seen at once. It was like going down a long lane, in the cow pasture, with a fence on either side. Then Mr. Boom saw the danger. "Go back! Go back!" called the big leader elephant. "Go back!" But it was too late. Right in front of the elephants was a big round place, like a baseball park, with a high fence all around it--a very strong fence. There was a gate by which the elephants could be driven into this park, only it was a trap, and not a park. And there was no way out of it. The fence ran all about it, except this one hole. And through that hole the elephants were being driven. "Go back! Go back!" cried Tum Tum, waving his trunk at the other elephants as Mr. Boom was doing. But the elephants were afraid to go back because the hunters were rushing up behind them. The hunters had driven the elephants into the trap, and were going to keep them there. Up rode the hunters on tame elephants. Into the trap they drove the wild ones, Tum Tum and all the others. "Alas! We are caught!" cried Mr. Boom. "Come, let us see if we cannot break through this fence!" He rushed at it with his big head, but the fence was too strong for him. Into the midst of the wild elephants came the tame ones, with the hunter-men on their backs. The tame elephants talked to the wild ones. "Be quiet!" said the tame elephants. "You will not be hurt! See us! We were once like you, but we were caught and we like it. Be quiet!" Some of the elephants quieted down, but others rushed about, trying to break through the fence. Tum Tum was one of these. Then, all at once two tame elephants, with men on their backs, rushed at Tum Tum. Chains and ropes were thrown over his back, and around his legs. The chains and ropes were pulled tight. Tum Tum was caught in the trap.