mechanics, both of them--have
been fixing up some tackle and machinery that we needed, but I think
Androcles stayed back with his lions. I suppose he thought the lions
wouldn't do us any good. But if you're not too hungry to wait just for a
second--"

He paused.

"What?" queried Anton excitedly.

"Yes, there they are!" the Forecaster answered, gazing along the levee.

Both boys followed his glance.

Vast, bulky shadows stood outlined against the distant Arkansas shore
and the clearing sky. Unreal they seemed, until it was evident that they
were moving.

There, shuffling along with that heavy rolling gait which is unlike that
of any other animal in the world, came two colossal elephants.

Anton shrieked with delight.

"Elephants! Real elephants!" he cried. "Oh, Mr. Levin, I haven't ever
seen an elephant quite close."

He started off up the levee, but the Forecaster called him back.

"Have your breakfast first, Anton," he said; "you've got all day to look
at the elephants. They're the best workers I've got. I'd like to have a
gang of them at work on the levee all the time."

This sentiment was not shared by Rex. At the first sight of the huge
creatures, Lassie had given a low growl. Rex stood silent, with a
stillness that Ross knew to be ominous, and just as the Forecaster
finished speaking, with an angry growl, he started off to do battle
against the elephants. It was a sight to see him, with his hair
bristling, rushing forward to dispute the passage of these huge brutes
who dared to approach the vicinity of Lassie and the puppies. Only the
sharp commands of Ross availed to bring him back, and throughout
breakfast he lay well in advance of the tent, watching, and growling
loudly every time the elephants passed, dragging the flat sleds loaded
with sand bags to the cave-in a few hundred yards beyond.

"I've been wondering," began Anton, using the expression most often on
his lips, "why there are so many floods on the Mississippi. Why is it?
Lots of rivers I know don't have these awful floods every year."

"I've wondered, too," said Ross.

The Weather Man looked at the two boys, then took a cigar out of his
pocket.

"I can't stay away from the levee very long," he said, "but I need a
cigar after breakfast, anyway, and I'll tell you why the Mississippi is
one of the worst flood rivers in the world and why the safeguarding of
the Mississippi is the biggest piece of work to be done in the United
States. It