One of the
hard things the hunters shoot in their guns had hit me. Then another
struck me in the leg."
"Didn't any of you smell the hunter coming?" asked Mr. Stumptail.
"Didn't you smell him and get out of the way?"
"No," answered Bango, "none of us did. The wind was blowing the wrong
way, I guess. But as soon as we heard the gun, and when I gave a blast
through my trunk, as I felt myself hurt, then all the herd knew what
had happened, and away we rushed, just as we are rushing now. We went
very fast."
"Did the hunter get any of you?" asked Umboo.
"Not that time. I was the only one hit," said Bango. "But another time
five or six of the herd I was with were killed by hunters."
"What for?" asked Keedah, who was now more friendly with Umboo. "Why
did the hunters kill the elephants, Bango?"
"To get their big teeth, or tusks. Our tusks are ivory, you know, and
the hunter men, so I have been told, take our teeth to make into round
balls, with which they play games, or they use them to put on machines
that make tinkle-tinkle sounds."
By this Bango meant pianos, the keys of which used to be made from
ivory, though now they are mostly celluloid.
Pages:
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54