"Oh, can't you keep quiet?" asked Woo-Uff, the lion, in his deep, rumbly voice. "Let Umboo alone! He'll tell us what happened."

 

"Oh, I beg your pardon," said Chako. "I was so anxious that I could hardly wait to hear. We monkeys are very much afraid of snakes, you know."

 

"So I have heard," said Woo-Uff. "Please go on, Umboo."

 

So Umboo told the rest of his story.

 

In the jungle he stood, with one foot raised, ready to crush the big snake.

 

"Please do not step on me!" hissed¹ the snake, for that was his way of talking. "Please do not put your big foot on me, elephant boy!"

 

"But I am afraid you will bite me," said Umboo.

 

"No, I'll not do that," answered the snake. "I do sometimes bite, when I am hungry, but I am not hungry now. Besides, you are quite too big to bite."

 

"Oh, ho, if you feel that way about it, all right," said Umboo, and he put his foot down, but not on the snake. "There are much larger elephants though, than I am. I wish I could see some of them now. Tell me," he asked the hissing² serpent, "did you see anything of the elephant herd³ on your travels through the jungle?"

 

"No, not exactly," the snake made answer. "But, as you were kind enough not to step on me, I will do you a favor. I will show you the way through the jungle to where the other elephants are.

 

"Can you do it?" asked Umboo.

 

"Surely," replied the snake. "We serpents are the wisest of all creatures, not even excepting you big elephants. For we have to stay so low down on the ground that we would easily be stepped on and killed by other beasts, if we were not wise enough to keep out of the way. So, though I have not seen your mother, or the elephant herd, I can find them for you."

 

"How did you know I was looking for my mother?" asked Umboo. "I did not tell you that."

 

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