is quiet at last at the midnight pool, as all the animals have
gone away.

_The Law of the Jungle--Clear Water for All_

But before _we_ leave the place, I want you to remember something. I
showed you first the elephants; they were on our right--that is,
_down_ the stream, the way the water flows. And the elephants drank
first among all the animals.

Then all the other animals came to the stream, but more to our
left--that is, _up_ the stream. Why was that? Think!

I shall tell you. By the time the elephants finish drinking by dipping
their trunks into the stream many times, the water begins to get
muddy. In fact, after drinking, the elephants jump into the water to
have a bath and a swim, as I shall tell you in the next chapter.

So the water gets muddy near the elephants and all the way down stream
from that place, as the water flows that way. And as the other animals
do not want muddy water to drink, they always go _up_ the stream,
where the water is still clear.

That is _The Law of the Jungle_, though it is not written down in a
book, like the laws among men. The Law of the Jungle says that as the
elephants are the lords of the jungle, they shall drink _first_: but
they must be careful to drink _down the stream_, so that all the other
animals may have a place higher up, where they can get _clear water to
drink_.

And that law has never been broken, for many thousands of years, among
all the different sorts of animals.

But with men the laws among the different sorts of people, called
nations, are often broken, because some of them want all the best
things and the best places, and do not care if they muddy the water
that their neighbors have to drink.

So, my dear children, we can learn many things from the animals, even
how to be better men and women when we grow up.

CHAPTER III

The Elephants' Bath

I have just told you that, after drinking, the elephants jump into the
water and have a bath and a swim. That is, all the grown-up elephants
do that, while the little ones stay on the bank and play about.

But, you may ask, why does not the tiger try to grab one of the little
ones then? Because even when the Mammas go into the water they keep
their eyes on the babies, who play quite near by, so that the Mammas
can come to them any minute.

And the Mammas can _smell_ a tiger a little before he gets there, so
that they have enough time to climb out of the water. Besides, the
babies themselve