“Oh, I’m looking to see if there are some wild elephants about, so the men with whom I am staying can catch them and train them for a circus,” was the answer.
“Are there men hunters around here?” Big Foot asked in an awed and very rumbling whisper.
“Yes, they are back in the jungle, and they will soon be here,” answered Tum Tum.
“Then we’d better run!” cried Big Foot to Chunky. “My folks always told me to look out for hunters.”
“That’s right!” agreed Chunky. “We had better go back to the river.”
“Oh, don’t be in a hurry,” said Tum Tum. “The hunters are not here yet. I can hear them coming long before they can see you, and I’ll tell you in time for you to get away. Still, maybe you would like to be caught and sent to a circus.”
“Not me!” cried Big Foot.
“Nor I,” added Chunky, though the more he thought about it the more he wished he could have some adventures, such as Tum Tum had had, many of them being written about in a book like this one you are reading.
So the elephant and the two hippos stayed in the jungle for some little time, talking. Then, all of a sudden, Tum Tum raised his big ears, lifted his trunk, sniffed the air, and said: