"Did your mother let you?"
"Oh, yes, she let me," answered Umboo. "At first she did not want to,
for a lot of the big elephants were having this fun. But, after a
while, when they went away from the hill, having slid down enough, and
when Keedah, and some of the other elephant boys and girls, took their
turn, I went with them.
"At first I was a little afraid, when I got to the top of the hill,
and saw how steep it was, and how far it seemed down to the bottom
where the river ran. But I stuck my front feet out in front of me, and
I sat down on the back part of my hind legs, where my skin is very
thick, and then, all of a sudden Keedah came up behind me and gave me
a push." "Did you go down?" asked Snarlie, laughing so that his sharp,
white teeth showed in his red mouth.
"Did I go down? I should say I did!" cried Umboo. "I went down so fast
I almost turned over in a somersault, the way the trick dogs do in our
circus. And, at first, I was scared.
"But the hill of dirt was smooth, without any big stones in it, and
away I slid. When I got to the water, in I went with a big splash;
though of course I didn't make as much of a splatter as some of the
larger elephants did.
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