"There is danger," replied Tum Tum. "I must tell the others to get out of here."
"That cannot be done," said the old elephant. "We are in a ship, on the big water, and if we got out now, in the ocean, we would surely drown. Be quiet!"
"But why am I tossed about so?" asked Tum Tum. "Why can I not stand up straight?"
"Because the ship is in a storm," answered the old elephant. "I know, for I have been on a ship before. The wind is blowing and tossing the ship up and down.
"But there is no danger. Only keep quiet, and, since you are the new leader of the elephants, tell them to be quiet, or some of them may be hurt. See, down come the sailors to see what is the trouble."
Surely enough, down came a whole lot of sailors, in white suits, to see why all the elephants had trumpeted so loudly, and why Mappo, the merry monkey, had squealed.
"Hush! Be quiet!" called Tum Tum to the other elephants. "Be quiet or I shall beat you with my trunk, and make you."
When Tum Tum spoke that way, all the other elephants heard him, and they grew quiet. Some, who had fallen on their knees, when the ship tossed from side to side, now got up. They placed their big legs far apart, so they could stand steadily.
"We will be all right when the storm passes," said the old elephant who had spoken to Tum Tum.
Mappo picked himself up off the pile of hay, and, just then, his friend the sailor came to get him.