And he began to imitate her:
“I’m not crying, only my eyes perspire so!”
When Nell saw that he was joking she concluded that they were in no danger.
“If we tame him,” she said, “then my eyes will not perspire any more, even if ten lions should roar.”
“Why?”
“Because he will protect us.”
Stasch quieted Saba, who had continued to bark in answer to the elephant’s trumpeting, then thought a while and continued:
“But, Nell, there is one thing that you did not think of. We shall not stay here forever; we must ride on further. I do not say immediately—on the contrary. This place is very convenient and healthy, so I have decided to remain here one week—perhaps two—for you and I and in fact all of us need a good rest. Well, all right! As long as we stay here we will feed the elephant, although this is an enormous task for us all. He is imprisoned, and we can not take him with us. But how will this end? We shall go away and he will stay here and starve once more, until he succumbs. And of course we will grieve even more than we would now.”
Nell felt very sad, and for a time sat there silently, apparently not knowing what answer to make to these very sensible remarks, but soon she raised her head, and pushing aside the lock of hair which always fell over her forehead into her eyes, she turned her eyes confidently toward the boy.
“I know,” she said, “that you could get him out of the gorge if you only wanted to.”