ELEPHANTS 75 



the boats, and when they finally went on, 

 they did it with such a sudden rush that fears 

 were entertained for a few minutes that they 

 would run right through the boat and into 

 the river from the end. 



But as soon as they saw the water, the ele- 

 phants stopped, drew back as if realizing the 

 danger and were quiet the rest of the trip. 



It was at Somerville that Coco nearly lost 

 his life through his bad reputation. Just 

 before one performance, a storm came up 

 quite suddenly. All storms are specially 

 dreaded by animal show proprietors, par- 

 ticularly on account of the elephants' dread 

 of thunder and lightning. So that, needless 

 to say, when blinding flashes of lightning were 

 followed by deafening crashes of thunder, 

 the herd of elephants got wild and excited. 

 A fierce, strong wind sprang up and, getting 

 under the canvas of the tents, tore it off, 

 wrenching the poles out of the ground as 

 though they were matches, and unfortunately 

 hitting the poor elephants stinging blows 

 across the backs with them. 



