it is the duty of the President to
keep his own herd away from the two that are fighting, and not mix in
the fight in any way. All these wonderful things and many others you
will read in the other book, when you are a little older.

But let us see what the President has to do when the whole herd is
standing in line, facing the water. He is at the bottom of the line,
far down stream; so he looks up along the line to see that all are
ready. Then he gives the signal for them to begin drinking; he does
this by dipping his trunk into the water. Then the second one sees him
do it, and does the same; in that way each elephant higher up the line
sees that the next one below him has started drinking, so he too does
the same. Soon they are all drinking, as you see in the picture at the
beginning of this book.

But why does the President have to give the signal to begin? Why is it
that any elephant, anywhere along the line, cannot start drinking,
just as he or she pleases? Think!

Because if any one along the line started drinking too soon, he might
muddy the water for those that stood _below_ him along the line,
because the water flows down that way. But if the lower ones drank a
little before, it would not matter if they _did_ muddy the water, for
the higher ones would still have clear water to drink. That is why the
lowest one drinks first, then the next, and so on up the line. Is not
that very wise, and very fair to all?

_How the Elephant Drinks_

But you must not think that an elephant actually drinks _through_ his
trunk! He does not! The elephant's trunk is really his nose, though it
is a very long nose. What he does is to dip the trunk into the stream
and suck in the water about halfway up the trunk; then he curls up the
tip of the trunk and gets it near his mouth; then he _blows_ through
the nose, and _squirts_ the water into his mouth. Of course he has to
do that many times, to get enough to drink. But he tries each time to
dip only the tip of the trunk into the stream, so as not to muddy the
water willfully!

_Why the Elephant Drinks with His Trunk_

But, you may say, why cannot he drink like other animals, by going
right into the stream till he gets his _mouth_ into the water? Because
his mouth is so high up, and his neck is so stiff, that he would have
to go quite two or three yards deep into the stream before he could
get his mouth into the water, and then his heavy feet would stir up
the mud in the stre