lder 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!